Charles Barnette is the guy that looks like he's having a lot of fun. Larissa Powell added beauty and charm as the Motorama girl. Robert K. Blair (blue suit) is the son of Robert F. Blair, the Buick executive credited with saving the Landau.

Tex-Ark Auto Museum. Located in downtown Texarkana, this building was built around 1900 next door to the town's Overland Auto dealership. This place has so much charm and lives off of donations. Charles, his father, and several other volunteers run the place through their love of old cars.

Mr. Earl and his family of Buicks were there in spirit.

Roy,

Thanks for taking us on a tour of the museum. Charles, thank you for all you are doing for the antique automobile "hobby" or "passion".

Charles, where can we send a little donation to help with the expenses. Hey everyone, if we all make a donation, no matter how small, it will help out Charles and the museum. Let's all send something.


stevo

Other Buicks at the Museum on Saturday included a 1950 Roadmaster, 1924 Buick, 1941 Special, and the nicest 1919 I've ever seen.

Roy you have done an excellent job with your photos. I was very pleased with the whole event. I selected 16 of my pictures to display here. I will ask member Brian Laurance to post them for me. I am extremely proud of our museum in having had two Motorama cars to display-the first being the 1956 Eldorado Brougham Town Car. Stevo asked for an address to send contributions to us if one feels so inclined. That address would be Tex-Ark Antique Auto Museum (in care of) Charles D. Barnette, Activity Director, PO Box 2077, Texarkana, AR 75504. Make checks payable to Tex-Ark Antique Auto Museum. We are a 501 C3 nonprofit corporation. Thanks and enjoy the pictures! Charles D. Barnette

Roy, thank you for your great report and excellent photos! Texarkana was clearly the place to be during recent days.

Charles has forwarded additional photos, documenting the Landau's arrival in Texarkana:

More photos:













Thanks for the wonderful photos and your effort to plan a truly memorable event.

Roy, the pictures are probably too big to be able to be viewed other than as an attachment. I'm not sure what the size limit for that is. So unless someone else can tell us, you can either resize them until you determine what that size is or you can post them to an image hosting site like PhotoBucket or ImageShack and transfer those links to your posts.I for one would love to see them without waiting for the attachment to pull them up and if necessary will save them all to one of my Image hosting sites and repost them. An administrator or moderator should be able to fix them for you though.(as we all know Roberta can fix anything)

Brian, we were apparently typing away at the same time. Sorry to inject between your and Charles' post.

WOW, that was an awesome event. If only it had not been 800 miles away. Let me get back and drool over the pictures some more.



Uhhmmmm, I like the girl better, bring back the girl

I have just received word from David Temple that his article to be done on the Landau at Texarkana will appear in a future issue of Hemmings Classic Cars magazine. Of course Roy Faries will be doing an article on the event for The Buick Bugle. As for the Landau itself, after October 28, 2008, it will return to Houston along with the 1928 Al Capone Cadillac currently on display at the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I am hoping that Mr. O'Quinn, the owner of both cars, will display the Landau in the future at Pebble Beach. Charles D. Barnette

Charles, I will watch eagerly for the articles from both David and Roy!

I agree with you regarding a Pebble Beach appearance for the Landau. This car is not sufficiently well-known as a true Motorama special. It would be great for it to be a part of the Concours displays of the GM Motorama cars.

I would not mind seeing it at a future BCA National either.

John

Charles Barnette reports that "all good things must come to an end. The Landau left Texarkana yesterday. Note I got to drive her out of the Museum and into the truck. I had to use the open back of the Landau to get out!"







Charles, this has been an extraordinary tale, and we're grateful that you shared all of this with us.

We look forward to David Temple's upcoming article in Hemmings Classic Car regarding the Landau, and hope that you or David will give us a heads up if you learn that the article is about to be published.

Charles, for an encore, perhaps you should aim for a loan of the 1953 Wildcat I to the Texarkana Auto Museum, since that's the other Motorama Buick that we rarely get to see. The Wildcat I is part of the Bortz Collection, so, unlike the LeSabre or Y-Job or others, has not appeared at a Buick National (to my knowledge) since the early 1970's.

For the benefit of the readers here, Charles will display the long-lost 1959 Buick "Texan" Estate Wagon at the Colorado Springs National Meet next year. Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, Charles' Texan is 1:25-scale, but I can assure you that he made a tremendous effort to track down the real Texan. This little-known Buick show car was very special, and its interior served as a pattern for the ultra-rare 1960 Invicta Custom Estate Wagon. The car featured a sun roof, and full leather bucket seat interiors. This car was built in the theme of the 1958 Wells Fargo convertible and a special '58 Caballero wagon constructed for Bill Mitchell. Here's the Texan at the Chicago Auto Show. The car probably did not survive.