Centurion

The BoS '57 Caballero arrived Wednesday morning, and I shot a few photos during my lunch break. I headed outside to Tacoma's Museum of Glass, which serves as my stand-in for the General Motors Technical Institute. This is my first of BoS' big 1/18-scale models, and I find it very impressive for its price. The car's stance -- mostly, its track width -- is off, almost as though someone had planted the '57 body on something like a 1970 Wildcat chassis. But it was less evident to me first-hand than the early images indicated. I'm accustomed to seeing the '57 Caballeros riding on the Skylark wire wheels, so that part seemed fine to me. And the shape of the body seems highly accurate. Some of the finer details, like Buick's sweepspear side molding, might have been rendered more precisely, but this resin model is highly appealing. I loved to photograph the car, and, while some of the images may seem a bit repetitive, I hope that these images provide a sense of the car's shape and style.

AC, that's a whole other room, but it's kind of outside the scope of the Buick focus. Some days, though, the driveway becomes my stand-in for San Francisco International Airport, sometime near the dawn of the Jet Age: MrEarl, I'll try to nab a photo of that mirror in the near future. Oh, and the camera I use is a simple $199 Panasonic DMC-SZ02. It's a point-and-shoot camera, but it seems to work well for me.

Appearing in the background of a few photos is the WMCE 1972 Buick Electra 225 4-door hardtop. While WMCE's '72 Riviera seems spot-on in terms of accuracy, the Electra 225's proportions and details are a bit off, but I'm thankful to have the model and appreciate its white metal charms. As a parting shot, I had the pleasure of gathering fine, original examples of the 1971 and 1972 Rivieras for some photos last year, and had a blast seeing these cars together.

I believe that these boat tail Rivieras benefit from the best 1:43 replicas among all of the early Rivieras that have been offered, although Neo's 1969 and 1970 models are credible offerings. (Inexplicably, the beautiful 1966 and 1967 Rivieras have not, to my knowledge, been rendered in 1:43.)

Premium X's '72 may wear the most convincing small scale rendition of Buick's chrome-plated road wheels. All three display perfectly together.

WMCE modeled its Emerald Mist car with the heavy front bumper guard option, which was a first step toward the stronger bumper standards. In 1:1, the cleaner appearance of the 1971 models make them my favorite, and TSM's Vintage Red version illustrates the shapely body design.

1/43-scale models of the 1971 and 1972 Buick Rivieras have been available for a number of years, but my collecting is just now catching up to these cars. The cars themselves have long fascinated me, and I have often thought of them as the last genuinely distinctive large American cars. They were somewhat controversial even when new, but the controversy has served to boost their collector interest. I said to myself for many years that the cars were relative bargains, but the prices have been rising steadily during recent years for high quality examples. I've enjoyed photographing the 1:1 cars, and it's time to turn my attention to the 1:43-scale examples. My picks are the following: 1971 in Vintage Red by True Scale Miniatures 1972 in Champagne Gold by Premium X 1972 in Emerald Mist by Western Models Collector Edition There may be additional boat tail Rivieras available, but these cars are all well-detailed and have a very correct appearance. There are some small differences in scale among the three, but every one of these is a worthy addition for collectors seeking images of this kind. The 1972 offering from Western Models Collector Edition is my favorite of the group, as it should be given its substantially higher price point. The heavy white metal construction of the WMCE car is impressive, but the other two, both Chinese-made resin models, did not disappoint me.

SpecialEducation, I posed your question to a long-time Buick Club member I know in the Columbus area. He offered up the following response: "I never heard of any Buick dealer in Columbus with the name of Bachman associated with it. There were three dealers in the '40s to the best of my knowledge. Columbus Buick Co. was located downtown and was owned by George Simeon. It was first located at 288 E. Long St. and later at 32 S. Fifth St. but the Simeon's owned it for many years and I know they owned it in the 1930s. Remember the Packard Columbus/Columbus Buick picture that I sent The Bugle many years ago? That was from the Long St. location. "Saeger Buick was on the west side of Columbus at W. Broad St. near Central Avenue (I think the address was 1390 W. Broad) and Jack Saeger owned that dealership starting in 1939. "Kelley Buick was located at 3415 N. High St. and would become Bob Daniels Buick in 1950. Mr. Kelley was killed in an auto accident around mid-year 1950. I don't know how long he had been a dealer but IF there was much chance of a Bachman Buick dealership, I suspect this would be the most likely candidate but I really don't think so. "Of all the buildings listed, only the oldest one at 288 E. Long St. still exists. "I'll try to do some additional checking though."

Tom, good catch! There's a fellow here in the Tacoma area who produces all manner of one-off lamps, utilizing various automotive or household items. Among my favorites are his many lamps patterned after Seattle's Space Needle. He has also produced a variety of flying saucer lamps, but, when I saw this Sputnik lamp, I knew that it needed to find a home in my garage!

Thank you for the input, Willis. I'll be looking for a button in hopes that I can find something.

My 1990 Buick LeSabre Limited coupe has a dealer-installed GM accessory vehicle security system. My daughters have lost the key fobs for the car, so have simply been using the keys to lock / unlock the car. Somehow, my daughter parked the car in our driveway and activated the security system. The small red indicator on the instrument panel is flashing red, and the car has been disabled. According to the original "Buick Accessories" booklet that was in the car: "The basic Vehicle Security System offers a passive key activation of a system to prevent starting, a hidden button to disarm that system to enable starting and a valet switch that turns the Vehicle Security off." Is anyone familiar with this system? Does anyone know where the "hidden button" that would allow me to disarm the system is located? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

This is part of the image included on the reverse side of the Thomas Dolby "Aliens Ate My Buick" album cover.

Since it's not possible for me to add all the Buicks I would love to my collection, I've enjoyed focusing on the garage itself. Over the years, I've acquired several Buick signs, mostly reproductions, and have added Buick-related art prints and model cars. The garage is ever-evolving, but these images pretty well capture the present state.

Looks great, Brian! Thanks for posting your photos!

The image that avgwarhawk has posted above is NOT the upcoming LaCrosse. Look here for some quality photos of the 2017 LaCrosse: http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f70/gmi-design-analysis-2017-buick-lacrosse-231737/