Wagons in vintage Street scenes

Oops found it to late

 

I noticed that instantly in fannie's pic....and in the links you posted. Epic screw up or what, I mean maybe by a slim chance one 2 second scene backwards but........but then again the convertible although driving on the wrong side of the road, the driver is in the correct seat...?????

Anyone notice the driver of the tan Chevy 4 door is the young CSI guy, very young?

 

It had to be intentional, for whatever reason. That big crash scene was huge, and would have taken quite a while (weeks, maybe) to plan and plot out. Maybe it worked out better that way, and they were hoping to 'flip' the film to make it look 'normal'. Thing is, if you did it that way, all the drivers would be on the right side of the vehicles.

I'll see if I can come up with some more info.
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EDIT: On a IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) trivia page, we have this:

"The freeway car chase was filmed with the traffic flowing backwards. While Chance and Vukovich appear to be driving against traffic, they are in fact going in the proper direction for the U.S.; it is the rest of traffic that's moving on the wrong side of the road (Chance drives on the right side of the road, but the traffic is driving on the left). This was done to increase tension for the audience."
- That still doesn't make sense to me.....

From Wikipedia:
"The wrong-way car chase on a Los Angeles freeway sequence was one of the last things shot in the film and it took six weeks to shoot.[2] At this point, Friedkin was working with a very stripped down crew. He came up with the idea of staging the chase against the flow of traffic on February 25, 1963 when he was driving home from a wedding in Chicago.[8] He fell asleep at the wheel and woke up in the wrong lane with oncoming traffic heading straight for him. He swerved back to his side of the road and for the next 20 years wondered how he was going to use it in a film. He told stunt coordinator Buddy Joe Hooker that if they could come up with a chase better than the one in The French Connection then it would be in the film. If not, he would not use it. Petersen did a lot of his own driving during this sequence and actor John Pankow's stressed out reactions were real.[2] Three weekends were spent on sections of the Terminal Island Freeway near Wilmington, California that were closed for four hours at a time to allow the crew to stage the chaotic chase.[9] With delays, the film ran a reported $1 million over budget.[10]

Adding to the chaotic feeling of the chase, Friedkin staged it so that the freeway traffic flow was reversed. That is that the normal traffic in the scene has the drivers driving on their left in the left hand lanes (as in Britain) while the cars driving against the flow were driving on their right (as would be usual in North America)."

Everything I'd read indicates it was the directors' decision to do it that way because it "adds to the confusion".
- Doesn't make sense to me. The characters that are being chased are on the right (correct) side of the road, and EVERYBODY else decides to drive on the wrong side?

 

1974
SB Police on Elder Avenue by 49er Badger, on Flickr

 

1973
Chevy Vega GT in the Rain by 49er Badger, on Flickr

 

1971
Little known historic day in Seal Beach College Park East on Elder Ave. by 49er Badger, on Flickr