The grey vessel was owned by K-Lines, which still exists to this day and operates car carrier and container vessels.

circa 1930s

Grey and white car parked in front of the Cadillac convertible.

Looks like an Austin A55 Cambridge.

I made a mistake in my post. That ship is not Klaveness, it
looks to be instead a K Line ship (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha)

Downer asked about one of the ships. I just happened to go over to Pier 45 that day and took this shot of them. The closer is the Djakarta Maru; even fully enlarged all I can make out of the other is [Something] Maru in small letters below five Japanese characters. Click to enlarge.

I'm curious about the Japanese Group 2 merchant ship docked pierside on the right -- the rising sun is clearly astern. Maybe its a the delivery of transistor radios, or the first Honda motorcycles. It certainly wasn't the first of many that brought cheaper merchandise to the USA.

My eye was drawn to the red Chevy truck on the right, perhaps belonging to a sign company, with a very tall stepladder and another lying on its side on the sidewalk -- looks almost like a setup for a slapstick comedy movie, especially with the remarkably large man walking toward it in the background.

I wonder if the guys in the white shirts might have been looking at that 1962 Cadillac convertible parked at the curb. Impressive car.

I wonder if it's the same one that kept appearing during the "Bullitt" chase scenes?

And it looks like the folks by the VW Bus and the very red service truck are waiting for you to take the shot and join them. Nicely timed.

Those two guys in the white shirts checking the Super Sport flags on the front fender. Hopefully it was a 409.