Jump to content

A Nice Fall Drive


60FlatTop

Recommended Posts

Yesterday my wife and I took a 180 mile round trip in the '60 Electra to visit her sister and our brother in law. We went south about 12 miles and the took the Oatka Trail east. It runs along the Oatka Creek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatka_Creek). Then we rolled over the hills along Rt 5&20 (http://www.routes5and20.com/).

The weather was perfect both ways and we had lunch and a walk along Seneca Lake in Geneva.

As I drove along I noticed:

The bias 8.20 X 15's rolled smoothly and the car steered straight and effortlessly.

The finned aluminum brakes brought us to smooth stops as needed.

The points ignition system fired on demand without faltering.

The Dynaflow transmission performed smoothly and flawlessly.

The AFB carb was responsive and not problematic.

I had topped the tank off with plain old regular gas and had a little over the half mark when we got home; maybe 17 or 18 MPG.

I don't think the engine ever went more than 2500 RPM, if that, so the factory exhaust system was not restrictive.

An old friend was out in his yard in Avon so we stopped for a few minutes to say Hi. The car started right up just like it did when we made the obligatory old people's pit stop at a McDonald's a little farther down the road.

We had both front windows rolled down and the vents open; quite comfortable of a mid-70's day. And we could carry on a conversation.

All in all a pretty nice ride in a stock 53 year old car.

AND (to paraphrase Woodie Guthrie about my hard working Buick,

) I'm just sitting here thinking about what kind of modification I could make so's the next ride would be better.

Oh! My brother in law was really impressed with the "voice command" starter on the car, too!

Bernie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The real point I was trying to make is that an older Buick in its original form is a pretty good car when it is maintained. No matter where a person looks, especially with old cars, whatever is existing is not good enough or not recognized for its value.

The thought of driving 200 miles with mechanical points and a generator appears to send chills down the spine of many. A single bore master cylinder with drum brakes? Shouldn't such a vehicle me required to have a flag waving, walking escort preceding them?

Biased tires, oh, the sweat must have been rolling off that poor person just trying to keep the car on the road!

And I like modified cars. Its just that there are a lot of lesser cars out there that would actually benefit from modifications. Didn't hot rodding start with guys making Fords better. I think some even used Buick parts to do it.

Bernie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's quite the trip from Brockport to Seneca Lake. Too bad we did not know you were out and about. Linda and I met up with Jerry and Sherry Root in Utica for dinner yesterday. We took the red GS, the one with the black interior. It was fun!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Right on Bernie. You know buick man has never ever owned a new car. Not in 59 years. Not once and certainly not even twice.

".... Riding on like the pillow ride of my big fendered car

Liking the fall sun that dances with the crimson leaf from the old willow to the tar.

Open road gleaming, open road past that hood, bright chrome so glazed so bright.

Fall rides with cool wind warmed lighted dash with sunglasses nothing just the road up ahead.

Oh breath in and smell deep the fall

Ttake in what you can with that fat fendered and long hooded car ..."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...