Dear mid-60s Buick lovers of classic car shows,
Sorry I couldn’t attend this weekend’s gathering. I think my wagon would have provided just the right spice! However, I did my duty to promote 1965 Buicks by taking my trusty wagon to the
Orinda Classic Car show. It isn’t like a really had much of a choice. Orinda Motors who has done a lot of work on my wagon and is the main sponsor of the show -
really - wanted my wagon to be there. They are doing a lot more classic car business and wanted to highlight their expertise in installing Electronic Fuel Injection in classics.
So since I was asked, I did my duty. I created two posters explaining the installation of EFI in my wagon and why this is desirable. You can see the posters taped to the hood in this photo:
I’ve attached the posters as PDF files for the curious. You can see some other changes. First, my wagon how has a personalized license plate. Since we have owned the car, she has been called by the French slang word:
Biquette. It roughly translates to billy-goat. We have only 7 characters for license plates so I cheated by dropping the
’u.’The other thing I added for the show was the Eastwood hood LED lamp I bought a few weeks ago:
http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-professional-folding-led-light.htmlAs I hoped this was a real improvement in a dimly lit location like the service bay where my wagon was being displayed:
I'm not sure if it was the personalized license plate, the new light to illuminate the engine bay, or the additional posters, but all of sudden, the crowds were really taking a liking to my trusty wagon!
Here is one photo showing my last minute addition to jazz up the tailgate area:
Buick didn't use as much chrome on the tail end of the wagons as they did on the sedans and coupes. So I thought a tasteful hitch receiver cover might look very nice. Since my wagon had the the nickname of the
Divemobile during all the dive trips associated with my PhD, I thought a reminder of her service during my studies of scuba as a site of communal learning was appropriate. So her is hitch receiver cover features a scuba diving flag. I’m pleased with how it turned out.
There were over 190 cars at the show and I had very little time to enjoy the show myself. However, I saw a few cars that perhaps have some general interest to car guys. The first is a 1941 Pontiac Deluxe Custom Torpedo 8. Clearly it must have been one of the last cars built before the switch to wartime production:
Here is an photo of that straight 8 engine:
There were only 2 other Buicks in the show and one was from the 1950s and the other from the 1970s. A friend of mine has a 1956 Buick Super, but it was located in a very dark corner of the service bay. Being a black car - it was basically impossible to photograph.
The other Buick was a 1970 GS:
It is a very nice and original car:
Regrettably it is 5 years too immature!
There were a few Firebirds. Here is a 1969 model:
Next to it was this convertible:
I suppose we all daydream about what Buick might have done with a F-body platform car.
Perhaps I can finish up with a battle of Ford versus Chevy. Here is a 1964 Ford Falcon Ranchero:
Next to it was this 1964 Chevy El Camino:
Hopefully that’s a pleasant taste of a show that had a whole lot of cars. Just one problem,
not nearly enough Buicks!
Still, I did my part! Not only did my wagon hold up the Buick flag, but I wore my Buick Club of America embroidered shirt and my 65GS.com cap!
Cheers, Edouard
