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attention Buick lovers --one of a kind


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Gosh - lots going on there! :unsure:

 

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Took my son to see the Oscar Mayer mobile in the early 90s, great fun!

 

Seeker I had a friend once who worked for Zimmer in the 80s.  Good guy but I think he thought they were actually legitimate fine automobiles...  I would take the "Stutz Blackhawk" of the early 70s over one of those anytime. 

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All of those early 80's neoclassics including Excalibur and Tiffany,  just make me scratch my head.  You have a Tbird or monte carlo shell, maybe even an 80ish caddy shell then bolt a bunch of poorly shaped 30's style reproduction pieces on it and call it a classic.   LOL

The scary part is they are now being restored and the sellers are asking real money for them.  Who buys them?  They looked as tacky then as they do now. 

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I have always liked the neo-classic cars. They are more a social statement than technology. I am glad I was around to see it. Many younger people don't get it in context and looking half a century or even thirty years later, they can be a little clueless.

 

Brooks Stevens had a real knock out with that Excalibur. The style, even the name was perfect for the time. I only got to do a few things together with my Dad that didn't involved the whole family. We drove his new black '63 Galaxie 500 Fastback to the Grand Prix at Watkins Glen in 1963. There was a concourses in the town park. An Excalibur, an Avanti, and a Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow were on the show field that day, XKE's were up on the track racing the new Sting Rays, and Buick Rivieras were in the showrooms being a pretty close knock off of a Bentley Continental.  The Exners were riding that creativity when they designed the Revival cars in 1965. And that set a lot of the pace.

Exner Jr. went to work at Ford and put an awful lot of neo-classic Duesenberg into the 1970 Thunderbird. The revived Stutz wasn't many months behind. They aren't engineering feats. They are big as life "Hey! Look at me"'s.

They don't look right today because the culture has beaten many into a state of worshiping humility above all. I even know some whom thing an extravagant car is a Toyota with a chrome grille.

 

I haven't bought my Stutz yet, but I spend some time here: http://www.madle.org/estutz.htm

I almost bought that Stutz that keeps surfacing as the car from Hell. When I get one I'll enjoy it just like the Rat Pack guys did and use it through their dying memory.

 

For today, we'll probably drive over to the next county for lunch in my bright white tailfinned car about 20 feet long with the big whitewalls and when a head turns our way I'll be proud to know it is someone recognizing the improvement of the Triple Turbine Dynaflow over the FlightPitch or dreaming about the smooth power flow through the torque tube.

 

Always did like that Zimmer Quicksilver, too. I heard the State of Vermont banned them because they thought they had Mercury in them.

 

Bernie

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I prefer them Stock. In out, underneath, under the hood.etc.   I have rarely seen someone's creativity add much to an original design.  There are a few exceptions. Xander's Hudson pickup might be one of those.  Most seem to fall short.  Then some you couldn't even save with a 50 foot rope. 

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