Roadmasters on the roof/Buick City

[Guest imported_MrEarl]

a recent update from Ephemeranow.com , one of my favorite web sites. If you've never visited, be sure to go there "home" and cruise around it some. They have one of greatest collections of Buick ads, factory photos and other memorabilia presented in a beautiful format. enjoy

Buick City-Roadmasters on the roof

The last paragraph is sorta errie ,considering the recent media bs

[Centurion]

Mr. Earl, thanks for that fantastic link. Several months ago, we had posted here some photos of the 1954 Buicks taken in that location.

Norb shared at the time that the photos were taken atop Buick's engineering building, and the location allowed for outside photos in natural lighting -- far above any spies from Buick's competitors. My understanding is that an elevator was used to transport the Buicks to the top of the building, and there was a turntable to allow for positioning of the cars.

Here's a photo of a nearly production-ready '65 Wildcat on the same turntable:

[6219_Rules]

Great link, Brian. As you know I love the '59 Buicks. And speaking of Buicks, I saw a '60 the other day in white, four door with a round top (6 window) but could not see the badging. It was missing some. I still prefer the '59 as the '60s tail fins are slightly smaller and look odd.

Recently I sold my '47 so I could continue the restoration on the '56. We just got the fabric samples from SMS and they are dead on!!! Talk about being excited! Oh, and I love the '56 Buicks too. Sad that GM is even considering dropping Buick. I hope not. But as my son says, it will only make the older ones more valuable! Ha! Now thats a positive attitude for ya.

[Centurion]

Randall, sorry to hear that "Dutch" ('47 Cadillac) is gone, but look forward to updates on the '56.

Perhaps you noticed this cool Cadillac photo on the site that Mr. Earl referred to above:

http://www.ephemeranow.com/photos/photos008.htm

[Guest norb]

I have not seen most of those pictures on the roof before.The shed was a dressing room for the models & storage for the lights, etc.The elevator was at the south end of the building. Years later we installed natural gas to run about 20 engines on an endurance test in this metal building.We also used the roof for a parking area.It would hold about 50 cars.I often wondered why the roof did not fall through.This was on the forth floor.Joe, A good friend, was driving a car to the elevator one day when the brakes failed . He knocked a double row of blocks over the side & the front third of the car went over the side of the building and dropped onto the frame.He was so shook up they sent him home for a couple of days.In one of these pictures you can see a long 4 story building where the photo studio was .This was the last of the Engineering buildings to come down.I was over there every week for a year with my camera taking demolition pictures.I will have most of this stuff in Batavia if you want to stop by. Norb

[shart]

Brian,

I love that glossy of the 65. I have the real car in Sahara Mist. In fact, I have three 65's. Kind of an obsession with me. Do you have any more unusual 65 factory photos like this one and would you consider emailing me some hi-res copies?

Thanks,

Steve

[Centurion]

Shart, I do indeed have some other interesting '65 Wildcat photos. I learned to drive on a '65 Wildcat coupe, and it is my favorite Buick of the 1960's. I will create a separate thread during the weekend with the other photos, and we can figure out how to get you the images you want.

Your Wildcat is spectacular, and I'm eager to hear all about it.

[shart]

Okay Brian, now you've got me drooling for those oddball '65 photos...

Steve