1971 FIRST BCA NATIONAL IN FLINT, MI

[DAVES_BUICKS]

Great article in the May Bugle by Jack Gerstkemper.  I thought I'd add some of my photo's that I took there.  (The black & grey '41 Sedanette is mine, still have it, and the factory buildings in the background of some of the photo's is the original AC Spark Plug factory, which was demolished a few years later).  

Dave

[jscheib]

Dave,

 

Thanks for sharing.  Love the space between cars.  The good old days.

 

John

[DAVES_BUICKS]

Here's a few more photo's of some of the Buicks that were at the show.  Wonder where they are now.  If I remember, A Buick photographer took individual photo's of each car.  They developed the 35mm slides in time to use at the awards banquet to show the cars that received awards.  The banquet was held at the IMA auditorium which was later converted to a theme park called Auto World.  Later the auditorium was demolished to make room for expansion of the U of M Flint campus.  I believe that a full set of the individual photo's of all of the cars at this meet exists in the Sloan Museum.

 

Dave

 

 

[The Old Guy]

I am driving the Buick "Bug" in these pictures. Also the black 32 Model 97 was mine,

            Joe Taubitz

[DAVES_BUICKS]

The photo's were 35mm slides which I digitized several years ago.  However, given the age at the time, the slides were still in pretty good shape.

Actually, I had owned the car since 1963 (it was my daily driver my senior year in college), but that was the first time that I had taken it to a show. (car shows were a rarity back then).  When I read about the show being planned by Terry Dunham, I wrote a letter to him, along with a photo of the car, asking if he thought it would be OK to enter it into the show.  He wrote back and said "Sure!  It's a Buick!"  It was a great experience, and led to the formation of the "Buicktown" chapter.

 

Dave

[DAVES_BUICKS]

By the way, Joe Taubitz (the OLD GUY) was the first Director of the Buicktown Chapter in 1972.

[Mark Shaw]

It seems prewar Buicks were much better represented in that first meet.

[Barney Eaton]

I liked the picture of the "Old Guy" in the Bug......... and they are both still around.

[JohnD1956]

I love the third picture in post # 1, with all the "new" cars in the background, which are now "old" cars to many. 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

3 hours ago, Mark Shaw said:

It seems prewar Buicks were much better represented in that first meet.

 

 

  Reckon that was because post war were still "just used cars"?

 

  Ben

[Brian_Heil]

Great stuff!

 

Looks like all together parking too!

[Larry Schramm]

The pictures  were taken in the now torn down Buick Administration parking lot which was across the street from the original AC Spark Plug factory.   The pictures in the series that are sitting in front of the black garage door which was the entrance for the executive garage.

[Barney Eaton]

This 38 custom convertible caught my attention and it can be found in the Buick complete history, in the color plates.

it is a 46C with coachwork by Letourneur et Marchand according to the id in the book.......wonder where it is today?

 

[Terry Wiegand]

I'm with Barney on that.  Looking at the cars in the photos I cannot help but wonder if a lot of these are still in the club and if not, where did they end up?  There are some really beautiful automobiles on display.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

[jscheib]

Well, Allentown is certainly an opportunity.  Let's see what shows up!! 

 

John

[JohnD1956]

Sure wish I could have attended!  I do miss those cars at the Meets.

[60FlatTop]

I was a little later and attended my first National at Strongsville in 1977. I had a 1939 Special, formerly with sidemounts, stream boards, and Century window trim. Ot was eventually restored by Bill Manoya, near Rochester, NY. I showed up in a red 1971 Ford LTD convertible. Here's the picture I took of the 1939's that day.

Most of the cars were right in that 1938 to 1948 range, 25 year old, good reliable cars passed on by very conservative original owners in a lot of instances. It made me remember one of the rants about the 100 year old car recognition. The Club was really formed around a majority of good 25 year old cars. The older ones were in the minority.

Bernie

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

The top picture in Posting #1 shows Buicks from 1949, 1955, and 1957.

In 1971, they were 22, 16, and 14 years old respectively.

Were they welcomed as show cars, or were they just 

older Buicks that people happened to drive to the meet?

 

Having grown up in snow country, I know that even a 10-year-old car

would have been a rare sight in Michigan.  So perhaps they were just

unusually well preserved "drivers" that people took to the show.

 

Anyone with a list of cars registered could say for sure.

[Centurion]

With regard to the '55 Roadmaster hardtop in the first photo, this car still belongs to Gary Klecka (BCA #1955).  He traveled with the Chicagoland Chapter in this car for the first BCA National Meet.  He stayed at the Pick Durant Hotel, and has fond memories of the event.

 

This car was not a daily driver for Gary.  He acquired it from the original owner in 1969 when he was fifteen years old.  

 

Gary drove this beautiful car to many of the Flint meets during the 1970's, and drove it from Alaska to the Buick Centennial Celebration in Flint in 2003.  This was a 10,000-mile round trip, and the Flint-built Roadmaster performed beautifully.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Centurion (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

4 hours ago, Centurion said:

With regard to the '55 Roadmaster hardtop in the first photo, this car still belongs to Gary Klecka (BCA #1955).  He traveled with the Chicagoland Chapter in this car for the first BCA National Meet. ...This car was not a daily driver for Gary....  

 

Mr. Centurion, do you know whether the B.C.A. had exhibits

for cars like this 1955 Roadmaster at the 1971 meet?

Or did Gary just park on the sidelines?  It was 16 years old then.

[Centurion]

Ever since I have been part of the BCA (since 1975), Buicks 12 years old or older could be displayed at the National Meets.

 

Gary did not park the car on the sidelines; the '55 was very much part of the show.  Gary admits that it felt a bit odd to have a later model car than the vast majority of the Buicks that were displayed.  In the first image on this topic, you can plainly see the National Meet windshield card on the car.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Centurion (see edit history)