Thriller

She was dogging him.

Not exactly me, and not exactly the weekend, but unknown to me when I left the house this morning is that others had plans and we would have a shortage of vehicles. I wound up getting a text asking which vehicle the middle child should drive, the Skyhawk or the new Reatta. My response was what about the truck? Luke didn’t want the hassle of parking the truck back at home, so he took the Skyhawk. He’s driven it a couple times now and seems to be getting comfortable. It’s a happy little car (as Buicks go...it isn’t that much different in size than a Reatta, although it seats four). I’m thinking it may be worth cleaning up a bit and, in spite of no A/C, have it driven down to OK next summer. Oh, I should get going on hub caps for it. I got a casting call for it last week...I’m waiting to hear back, but the car coordinator for a film shoot would like to see it as the hero car.

Where are you located? I’m in the middle of the continent, but north of the 49th. I’ve got a 1956 Special 4 door sedan. I’d argue it’s restorable, but I don’t see ever getting to it myself. A couple trim pieces are missing, but otherwise it’s complete. I could use the space back that it occupies.

Doug - we were in Panorama this week for a family reunion. It was hazy there, highway 93 was closed due to smoke the day before we drove it, and there were still advisories when we left Thursday. Calgary (we flew through there) and Winnipeg have both had air quality statements issued from Environment Canada. It’s been like that for a couple weeks, although it’s less of a dominant feature here than further west.

1962 film, 1951 Buick.

Wow. About all I can say is that it’s a good thing I’m on my second or third glass of red wine having now completed this thread from start to finish. I like living in a news-free zone, and this thread is an example of why. After pretty much running out of “likes” for the day, please excuse me if I didn’t react to all the posts that made me chuckle or I agreed with. I was going to start with posting something like Dave S. did - how would the BOD view it if I walked in and petitioned the board to reorganize a division of the BCA that I was not currently involved with? I’m thinking it shouldn’t go over well. Granted, Jack was initially involved with the PWD and I enjoyed getting to know him and his wife through PWD events and judging (archival in 2007) and national meets generally. If the PWD was granted as a BCA Division without a charter and bylaws, whose fault is that? Didn’t the BOD of the day (2006 if my guess is correct) approve it? If granted interim approval, shouldn’t there have been a compliance issue that should have been addressed? Shouldn’t the BOD have worked with the PWD to address any shortfalls from a documentation perspective? That said, its water under the bridge. Thus, I believe the lack of a charter or other formal arrangements shouldn’t be the reason for wholesale change...an excuse perhaps, but not a reason. For the record, not that this is necessarily one, I was involved with the PWD from the formative meeting at the Rochester, MN National Meet in 2006. I attended as an owner of a 1929 McLaughlin-Buick. It certainly sounded like a good idea to me and I got involved in those early days working on a PWD website. Life got in the way a bit, I got behind, and my rudimentary HTML skills were surpassed by flashier things, so I bowed out of that role as I felt I wasn’t able to do what was necessary to do a good job with it. Back in the day, it certainly never bothered me whether or not we held elections...it was more of a volunteer organization and less formal in many respects. One thing I can say about the PWD, regardless of it's formal recognition or organization or what have you, is that it’s been a lot of fun, and I’ve made some good friends (Mark, Larry, Larry, and others) along the way, as well as losing some friends along the way too (John Maw of Thunder Bay with a 1929 comes to mind). There’s a “clubhouse” at every national meet - a patio type umbrella goes up amongst the pre-war Buicks. We have only participated in one after tour, and with modern Buicks, and had a blast, continuing to make and deepen friendships and see some fun and interesting sites along the way. I seem to be rambling (perhaps it’s the wine...nah...I just get this way), but I think the PWD has done a lot to foster camaraderie within the BCA. It may be unfortunate that some think that what didn’t seem to be (too) broken needed fixing. Now, you’ll have to excuse me...I have to send Joe birthday greetings.

Yeah...I wish I could justify the dollars right now. An unexpected Reatta purchase and new furnace/AC/hot water tank for the house have put a hold on additional toys. Sigh.

On Friday I drove the New Reatta home. I’ve got a few things to do yet this afternoon, but hope to get out to the garage and spend some time tidying up the cars there and take a few photos (once the camera arrives back home). The A/C compressor leaks, so R12 was evacuated and for now I’ll live with 2/60 as the parts were a bit much for a car that may not see very many miles under its own power. One step at a time.

I don’t see the chrome fins on the rear fender that i use as the definitive way to tell them apart so I’d say 1951. There is difference in the side trim as well.

I’m younger than many of y’all, but I didn’t pay much attention to cars in my youth overall. I grew up in a small farming community of about 1600. There were probably more pickups than anything else. We had Ford products primarily...1969 Meteor, 1977 Mercury Marquis (demonstrator) and I think Dad replaced that with a 1992(?) Crown Victoria. There was a bank house down the street (we have effectively 5 big banks in Canada that operate branches across the country...the bank owned the house and transferred managers in every number of years)...I remember them having a New Yorker or similar. When it comes to wealth, you may want to read The Millionaire Next Door. It was written in the 1990s if I recall. They examined millionaires in the US and drew some conclusions. Most were self-made and typically business owners. However, one way they kept their wealth was by being frugal and not spending it. So, they tend not to have the ostentatious show of wealth like the proverbial Jones’. They would buy used cars or something practical rather than spending a lot on something considered more prestigious. I recall one gentleman who owned a cement company. He could easily have afforded a BMW or MB, but drove a 10 year old Cadillac. He had practical reasons - in the construction world with concrete dust, gravel lots, and so forth, it was hard on a car. Why subject a nice car to something like that when the environment would ruin it. By keeping a “nice” car, he didn’t feel too bad about the conditions it was in while he still had a fairly nice, comfortable ride. One conclusion - if someone is trying to impress you with “stuff”, they probably aren’t wealthy...if they are, it is very new money and they haven’t adapted to keeping money yet.

A friend here has his father’s 1958 Canadian Pontiac that has the opposite colour scheme. Interesting.

On Friday I picked up the new Reatta and got it to the mechanic for the provincial inspection (required to register). We are putting new tires on to replace the 30 year old originals, but I will keep them for possible display with the car.

I may have one, but that collection is in the country, so can’t verify at the moment. Brian DePouli likely has it as well, to say nothing of others.

Wish I could be there...there’s just too much going on this summer.

More details to come as they progress, but the Facebook group turned up a new 1988 just a couple blocks from my current office. It has less miles than a lot of new cars being sold as demonstrators do. Portfolio, pen, floor mats...it’s all here. Sunroof and 16 way seats. It has a few dings but is overall very nice...no winters, little rain. The original owner of the car also insisted on reducing the price as it has the original tires on it. My biggest challenge may be about how much it gets driven. At a BCA National, it would easily qualify as Archival Elite and with a Delco battery would likely be a Senior.

Finn! We miss you buddy. Had to substitute with petting an Irish wolfhound last weekend.

Good luck. There are a number of experienced ‘55 folks in Texas so hopefully you will get the help you need. I’m not sure how close any of them are to the DFW region though.

Now I’m curious. I haven’t judged Archival Class recently (since the change was made). Is it that rigorous now? I haven’t gotten down on a knee on all four sides judging chassis for 400 point (maybe I’m at fault, but we’ve always been told not to kill the car). 23 cars in 5 hours suggests in the range of 12 minutes per car (taking off half an hour for lunch). Again, judging school always suggested 5-10 minutes per car in the 400 point. I’m not suggesting you didn’t go through anything physically demanding. I judged Archival in Bellevue where they were parked by year and we really enjoyed it...I think U1 ended around 1970 or in the 70s that year. Honestly I believe we need to re-assess judging and how we do in the the BCA when I hear of issues like this. Either we need to recruit more people to judge, or we need to somehow get fewer cars to be judged if the classes get too large to handle. If we spend no more than 10 minutes per car, and have no more than 10 cars in a class, judging teams should be off the show field well before noon. They can then enjoy lunch and if they so desire, actually look at the rest of the assembled show field before it dissipates.

The local car club was the feature club for a cruise-in Sunday evening. A thunderstorm moved through and the event was postponed to Monday. Since it was a long weekend for many with it being Canada Day on Sunday it worked out ok. Since we were going to be in the area as we were meeting my sister for dinner, I drove the Skyhawk over. It attracted a lot of attention and I spoke with a number of people about the car. I even won one of the hourly prize draws.

Jack’s last point is what has me most concerned. Once again, we are airing the BCA’s issues on a site that is not closed to BCA members. There’s potential issues of opinions being expressed related to the topic coming from those who have no skin in the game to the potential impact on Buick enthusiasts who are not presently BCA members. Too much drama too public.

Reserved 2 rooms for the 5 of us as the maximum per room is four...sigh. Oh well. Of course, with being nearly a year away, it’s possible one of the young’uns Won’t be able to attend.

P&L? I can’t deduce what that means at the moment. Thanks in advance.

Thanks Brian D. That’s the one I was referring to.

In post 46, is that a close-coupled 1929 in the background? Model 51 perhaps? That would theoretically be the colour scheme for my car so I’d love to get some detail shots or the means to get in touch with the owner. Thanks.

Friday and Saturday, I drove the Skyhawk about a mile to downtown for the movie shoot. 1978 was the newest they would accept, based on the timeline for the movie. The Skyhawk and a Cutlass were the only cars actually from the 1970s. Overall I’d say the group of cars was too old. That said, they didn’t actually do any shooting with the cars. Filming wraps up this week so they may be requesting the Skyhawk again. We we were somewhat sworn to secrecy so that’s about all I’ll say for now. Overall, we were treated quite well, paid in cash, and a couple owners were on standby as drivers / extras so got paid more.