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Clearly I am in the wrong generation for this...


michaelod

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Oh, that car! It is the old Sunoco Special. I remember the colors. It seems like there was also a legal battle with the New York State Troopers about a trade mark infringement with the blue and yellow. Last I heard the car had been hidden in an ENRON exec's garage.

They keep surfacing don't they.

Bernie

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Did y'all notice the flame motif sewn into the seat covers? With that suede-style cloth, you certainly would NOT be "Slip sliddin' away" in the corners! Now, being it's a car, I wonder if all of those speaker bezels spin when the tunes are going?

Now, the main questions might be . . . "Why is it being sold?" "IF everything works?"

But those "hard boiled egg slicers" for ventilation bezels in the instrument panel ARE questionable!

Perhaps we might give him a few "points" for putting "LeSabre" on the instrument panel, in a prominent place? I wonder if this car might have been a "basket case" that was saved? Looks like they installed the convertible top pretty well, too, even if it IS yellow.

Looks nice, other than the "oversize wheel/tire package", flames, "sound system", door sag, and "blue flames". Where are the seat belts???!!

Oh well . . .

NTX5467

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Guest shadetree77

That thing is wrong for ANY generation.....wow, hands down one of the tackiest, ugliest cars I have ever had the displeasure to see. It's amazing what some people will spend their money on in the pursuit of what they THINK is "cool". If there was a puking smiley available I would put it to good use right about here. :eek: Don't look at that yellow paint haphazardly smeared with blue too long or you might toss yer' cookies!

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Like Dude... too many Drugs for the Dead head in the back seat man! :eek: Actually, I think Cheech and Chong would look cool riding in that mess. :cool:

Say, I have a D8K Cat waiting for something like that to drive in here. The old dozer wants to play leap frog. I get to go first. :D Dandy Dave!

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Guest shadetree77

Come on now guys. Nothing personal was meant by any of the comments. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. That's one of the great things about this country. Yeah, some of the comments were a little strong but just a little ribbing.:D You have got to admit that is one funky lookin' Buick and when you put THAT much effort into making your car stand out outrageously, you have got to prepare yourself for some negative reactions. I do appreciate the time, effort, and money that went into it as I spend a lot of each on my own project but when it comes down to it, he (or she) made that car look like that to elicit reactions from people(be they negative or positive) and we were all just expressing some of those reactions. I guess what I'm saying is...no offense was meant.:o

Edited by shadetree77 (see edit history)
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Guest NikeAjax

Okay, I found out about two months ago they're called "Tonks", short for Tonka, as in "Tonka Toy", denoted by the over sized wheels.

The way I see it, it's only paint, suspension and seat-covers, and probably a wreck to begin with, but when I see a real bastardization like this:

tumblr_kx77jojmA81qz63qno1_400.jpg

I feel ill, or this:

'53 Buick Skylark | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I just moved back to the (California) Bay Area, where I believe Tonks originated from, and I see them no matter the make with BUICK PORTHOLES stuck on the side: if it ain't a Buick it's got no business having portholes. I saw a Maserati yesterday with portholes: and I had no idea they came that way until I checked on line! A friend of mine has a brother that works on cars (modern) and that's just about the only thing he won't do, make it into a Tonk. Apparently they come in with a wad of cash, he never asks where it comes from, and he either says yes or no. It's pretty hard to say no when you're looking at a $50K, in bills, sitting in someone's sweaty hand!

My wife and I just snicker when we see Tonks, they look like roller skates:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ7Nik7_WuJIGO24D4mvBdx2Sg4QyD4PtkjPteytVBd7N_dElU_GQ

Jaybird

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Guest 48buickkid
Okay, I found out about two months ago they're called "Tonks", short for Tonka, as in "Tonka Toy", denoted by the over sized wheels.

The way I see it, it's only paint, suspension and seat-covers, and probably a wreck to begin with, but when I see a real bastardization like this:

tumblr_kx77jojmA81qz63qno1_400.jpg

I feel ill, or this:

that ran naturally aspirated to 150+ at bonneville with an inline 8 and the factory 3 speed there is another team that has a supercharger on theirs and barely were faster than this guy. i plan on rodding my inline 8 and making a lead sled. the only thing that should make u ill is that this guy is faster,will get more attention for his car, has less in it than u, and definetly has more fun.garage queens blow

Edited by 48buickkid (see edit history)
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Guest NikeAjax

Oh, and as far as trailer/garage-queens go, yeah, I couldn't agree with you more. I don't show my car, I drive it; I take it camping and fishing and use it to tow my trailer. I don't need any one, other than myself, to appreciate my car either. As for speed, I hope my car NEVER goes 150MPH: that's not a safe highway speed:D Perhaps that guy does have more fun than me too, but I don't have a desire or need to care about that!;)

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The Bonneville racer looks neat, chopped and obviously on a different chassis (cue the front wheel openings), but those "headlight covers" just look a little obscene to me. I'd better stop there!

First it was the GM A/G-cars with the big wheels, some even with just the front ones until they could obviously afford the rear ones, too. Seemed a little flaky as the wheels/tires easily cost more than the basic car did. More recently, it's been 24s on 1990s Grand Marquis sedans, many are white with no special paint or other adornments.

The stick-on portholes (sourced from the auto supply section of WalMart, where I first saw them last year) seem to have caught on with many people. They get attached to lots of non-Buicks!

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Guest NikeAjax

It's only an opinion about an inanimate object, and just an opinion, I hope we're still allowed that here The irritating part is when someone gets all butt-hurt when someone else doesn't like the same thing they do, so they start making it a personal thing and throwing insults around. Seems to me if they felt that strongly about something, they should discuss why they do: such as the artistry that goes into such a piece of machinery, or why you should keep a part of your car stock... I'll do mods to my car, or not, and I don't expect someone else to appreciate it. I happen to like my car to look stock, but I will do things like upgrade the braking system, ignition, or other electrical, etc.

We've gotten a bit of notoriety here as of late because the next town over, Oakland, has football fans that will brawl with the other football fans, San Francisco. Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense because...hmmmm? Cars and sports should be fun, and a little, hopefully good natured, ribbing is part of the deal, "Vive la difference!”

Jaybird

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Guest NikeAjax

Thanks Brian!

Okay, back to the original part of the discussion:

I stand corrected:

Hi-Riser (automobile) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The info I gave was given to me by someone who works on modern cars. My wife and I would drive around town and see them, "What the (expletive-deleted) is that, what do they call them, they gotta have a name..." We asked our friend, and she asked her brother; the answer we got was both Tonks and Donks. I didn't use Donk because she told us it was a bit of a derogatory term, but I guess it's not, I hope? Yeah, I know, I'm an old fart and just don't understand them crazy kids nowadays, "Hey, get off my lawn... Speak up yer mumblin'... When I was yer age..."

Jaybird

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Okay so I'll get involved in this brew ha ha. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder tiz been said I agree with Bleach I'll probably have a few of my own bad dreams over the posted pictures. I have a hard enough time with the whole "Rat Rod" concept. Poorly partially done cars in my opinion and most are destroyed in the process not even making most of them good parts/donor cars. I live in the "Golden State" and see these high wheeled boom-boom machines on a regular basis with enough hydraulics in them to rival a 747. What a waste of good automobiles that 10-20 years down the road will be no more. Mark

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While you might not like the car, you have to admire the work that went in making it the way HE (or SHE) wanted the car.

Just because it doesn't float your boat, dont knock the car or the person who saved it for others.

What Bill said. While certainly not my cup of tea, it is somebodies and I respect that. However I always have the thought, "Man what I could do with the money he spent on that". I just wish they'd keep their damn britches pulled up.

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Guest NikeAjax

SNORT! Yeah, I've thought about handing out belts and suspenders to the little mongrels but the idea of getting "gutshot" just doesn't appeal to me...

Jaybird

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I remember some "wasted" Packards, Buicks, possibly an Auburn, Cord or the like. When I was first getting into the hobby I was cautioned by the knowledgeable collectors of the time to NEVER be so foolish as the invest my time or money into a closed car. They were more of less a parts source for the really good cars.

In my junkyard touring days of the '60's I saw a lot of interesting sedans, stripped to the bone. And I remember a lot of stashes of parts that might be needed "sometime".

I'm sure glad I didn't listen.

Bernie

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