My Buick history

I wanted to put the history of my family with Buicks here on the site along with some pictures of our present Buicks. My grandfather ran a custom corn shelling business for many years. At the begining of WWII he owned a 1942 Plymouth that was nearly new. After they quit manufacturing new cars he sold it to a rural mail carrier who needed a new car rather than put if on blocks or leave it sit. My dad tells me that during the war they drove a 1936 Chevy pickup as their only transportation. At the end of the war my grandfather was at the top of the list for a new car from the local Plymouth dealer. When the first new cars arrived he was contacted by the dealership and also by an individual from nearby Sioux FAlls that wanted a new car very bad. Grandpa was offered $1000 cash if this man could purchase his new car and without batting an eye he took the cash. My grandmother was not happy, another year of riding in that damned old pickup everywhere. After some time cars became more plentiful and he decided to look at other brands besides what the local dealer sold. (Chrysler and Plymouth) He went to Sioux Falls and found he could get a new Buick for the price of what the local man was selling Plymouths for. That started his love affair with Buick. He didn't put many miles on his cars and they were maintained very well. In late 1948 he took his 46 Buick to a dealer in Canton for service and found out he could trade for a new 1949 for just $150. From then on he traded cars at least every two years for a long period. From what I can find out he started with a 46 then came 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, then in 1958 he decided he wanted one of the new 58's so he traded his 57 for a new 58 Special. He kept that car until 1965 because he liked the styling so well. He sold the 58 to my dad and bought a 1965 Buick Special station wagon. In 1967 he bought a new Le Sabre and dad bought the Wagon from him, the Le Sabre is still in the family today and has alway been owned by someone from the family. When I first was married in 1982 it was our car for several years. In 1970 Grandpa bought a new 1970 Skylark that was planned on being given to me when I turned 16. He special ordered it, 2 door hardtop Skylark 350. The only option on this car was the AM radio. My dad was given his first car at 14 by grandpa and it was a 1952 Plymouth (new) that lasted a couple years and granpa traded it for a 54 Special with a manual transmission. He did not like the manual transmission and becasue he drove the car from time to time traded it in 1955 for a new Cherokee red and white Special. This was the car my mom and dad had when they got married. After 1970 Grandpa didn't drive much so that was the last new Buick he bought. I started driving at 14 in 1971 and my main transportation was the 1966 International one ton pickup we had, from time to time I would drive the families 1965 Special wagon. In the fall of 1973 I was duck hunting early one Sunday morning and fell asleep while driving the wagon and ran into a bridge totalling the car out. Dad bought a 1962 Chevy station wagon at that time and I ended up driving that until I was 17, at that time I received the 70 Skylark on my birthday. I worked on farms and in a local machine shop through high school and bought the old wagon from dad to use as an everyday car and kept the Skylark for special occassions. I also learned to work on cars and did tune ups and minor repairs on most of my freinds and even some teachers cars for extra cash. I kept the Skylark through high school and during my first year of Tech school made a deal with my dad to give it to my sister and bought a pickup. Through the 2 years of Tech school I made extra money by buying and selling older cars, cleaning them up and repairing them and then reselling them. During this time I owned a 65 Chevy Bel Air, 63 Impala, 69 Kingswood wagon, 3 or 4 63 through 68 Chevy pickups. 66 Dodge pickup, 68 Le Sabre, 70 Estate wagon and 2 69 Electra's. Most of these were purchased from private owners and had some small problems that they didn't want to deal with. Often they had been replaced and had been parked for awhile. Most needed a good tune up and maybe a muffler or shock, some needed timing chains or something a little more important. I usually drove the cars myself and fixed them as I drove them if possible and within a month or two would sell them and then look for my next project. My favorite during this time was a 1969 Buick Electra 4 door hardtop that had been sitting in a farmers yard for nearly a year. It had started over heating and he parked it after he bought a 75 Caprice. I pulled out the radiator and had it cleaned and replaced the water pump and thermostat and kept it for nearly two years. During my time at tech school I purchased my 1970 GSX, that was in the fall of 1977. After graduating from school I started driving truck for a small local company and still worked on cars when I had time. In 1978 I purchased my own truck and started to drive long distance. When I was married I owned the family 1967 Le Sabre and a 1972 Plymouth Duster 340 with a 3 speed manual transmission. My wife had a 1966 Fairlane 2 door hardtop and we often talk about how we wished we could have kept the Duster and the Fairlane, with the GSX in a garage for safe keeping it was not practical to have all the cars so we did the practical thing and sold them and kept the Le Sabre to drive. Over the next few years I owned a variety of used cars but I always drove a Buick when I could. We owned a 78 Le Sabre and that car had 125000 miles on it so I saw a 1980 Ford LTD for sale at a dealer for a good price and purchased it. I only kept it a short time and sold it, it only had 65,000 miles on it and the dash rattled all the time and the chrome on the knobs and switches was peeling of and I just never did like it very well. We traded that for a 83 Le Sabre and then with a growing family wanted a mini van. For the next few years we drove Plymouth mini vans until we purchased our first Park Avenue in 2000. All this time we owned the GSX and in 1999 we added the 55 Special that I gave to my dad and mom on their anniversary. In 2000 we bought our 1958 Special. In 2005 after some sould searching and after being forced to change jobs we found we had to sell at least some of the cars. After owning the GSX for 28 years and the 58 for 5 we sold them along with our new Rendevous. Last winter I purchased a 64 Riviera to work on and for our next car but my wife did not like the car so just recently we sold it and bought our 70 Skylark that my wife is in love with. From the first car I ever remember, which was my grandfathers 1958 Special until today with my 3 Buicks in the garage I have always love my Buicks and expect it will always be that way. Here is a link to some pictures of my car, my gas pump and a picture of dads 2 Electras from a parade this summer.

http://photos.aaca.org/showphoto.php?pho...&page=1

Just a little more. When I was 10 I road in a freinds fathers Model A, the owner of this car had a 1928 Studebaker, 1910 Hudson, and this Model A. I could spend hours in their garage looking at these cars and from this day on I was hooked. My grandfather ran threshing machines from around 1912 until the mid 1950's and a corn shelling business from 1925 until 1973. Early in my child hook I remember him selling 2 threshing machines and one of his tractors to the Prarie Village museum in Madison SD. I beleive he actually donated his Case 30/60 tractor and Wooden Threshing machine to them. This wooden machine had been purchased new and other than during the season never spent a day outside. Grandpa maintained everything perfectly and even after he parked them they were kept inside. He gave this to the museum with the understanding that it had to be kept inside unless in use and to this day you can see this tractor and threshing machine working in Madison SD every fall. We kept an Altman Taylor 30/60 tractor until I was just into high school when my dad sold it because he knew I was interested in working with it. He was afraid I would kill myself starting this giant machine. I don't remember what he got for it but I do remember I was very upset and in the end he promised me we would take the money from that tractor and buy an old car. I ended up buying the GSX after much discussion. The past year with out a drivable car has been disheartening to say the least and I made a mistake of buying the first car that caught my eye. Right now we are thrilled with our new Skylark but had to borrow part of the money to do that. If I had a way to do it I would have a garage full of cars, I have the garages just not the money to do it and for the near future don't see that it will happen.