I am wondering how you all got into Buicks? For me it was at WIR a bunch of years ago when I was setting in the staging lanes when Guy Parket, [sorry I don't know how to spell it] pulled up next to me and his car was shaking and making my car rumble, I thought that was so cool, Also the blue alky burner I thought was cool. :TU: :3gears: Tom
Like many of us, my love of Buicks started early on. For me it was because of my Uncle Jim. He owned an Artic white 68 Riviera GS that he bought brand new. He used to teach me how to adjust the points, change plugs and adjust the carb. I learned the basics from him at an early age. I was the only kid in grade school that could rebuild a Q-Jet. I remember sitting in that car as he peeled out. I was very close with uncle Jim and I though his car was soooo cool. When I turned 16 I bought a 69 Riviera GS just like Jim. That was the first of many many GS's that have passed thru my fingers over the past 21 years.
Into Buicks since birth I was born into Buicks. My first ride(home from the hospital) was in a 46 Roadmaster. Our family always had at least one Buick and most times two when I was growing up. My Dad owned Buicks from the time he came home after World War II until the day he died. I have owned at lease one or more (or sometimes many more) since I was in 8th grade, and that was 1965! What can I say, when you got the best, why try the rest?
I bought a '72 Cortez Gold GS350 when I was 20 and I've been hooked ever since. I actually found the car when I went to look at a 69 442, the guy was selling the Buick too and I just had to have it.
i needed a ride while i was building my chevelle and i wanted something old and cool that i could work on so against my (now ex) wifes objections i bought the skylark (she wanted me to have something newer) had to sell the chevelle but ive kept the skylark. been about for or five years now. chaz
Not from my Dad, but my Mother's brother. When I was born in '61. my Father owned 2 Fords. A '57 Ranch Wagon and a '60 Fairlane. It was my uncle's car, a '61 Buick LeSabre that captured my attention as a toddler. The speedometer that was reflected in a mirror. White with bright red interior. Something about the Tri-Shield emblem. I was hooked on Buicks from then on.
Lee Bacon (on this board) got me into Buicks. I was a junior in high school when Lee took me for a late night ride in his 70 Stage 1 4-speed. He buried the speedo on one stretch, felt smooth as butter. Went 60+ down this winding two lane road and he held it in his lane! I was hooked and soon purchased my first car, a 70 Skylark Custom. Ah, memories.
I rode home from the hospital in the car I now drive. 1976 buick century, not the fastest nor prettiest, but it's a buick and I love it-That's where it all started. After I rode in the buick a few times I couldn't get my mindset off of buicks and how cool they are, etc. Despite all of the chevy ford and mopar nuts around-Ive managed to keep ground with buick :grin: :TU:
A sunny Colorado day in 1970 when my uncle showed up in my Dad's driveway in his brand new 1970 Buick GS 455. After a very long, very fast ride, I was hooked and yes..It's the car in my avatar. :Brow:
Grandfather I will blame my Grandfather for my love of Buicks - I can remember seeing my Grandfather running around Kittanning, PA in his flashy Tri-tone Blue & white 60 LeSabre Coupe and it was always so easy to pick out on the street. Then he did it, he traded the 60 on a brand new special order 67 Special Deluxe - the rest is history. I can remember riding in the car as a kid and being totally blown away by something as simple as the "Speed Alert" - I also was always amazed at how quiet and smooth the car sat and idled. Well in 1979 he had to get rid of the 67 to buy a 79 Park Ave as my Grandmother was having health issues and needed the creature comforts of the Park Ave. So I bought the 67 in still ulta ultra clean original condition for $500 as my first car. I drove it during college(sparingly) and even took it hunting (including hauling a deer home in it's trunk) (on a side note with posi it was spectacular in the snow) - well, I replaced it as my "driver" in 1982 with a 66 Special 2 door sedan and by the end of 1982 it had it's first restoration, it's 2nd and current was done in 1986 and is still holding it's own!! :grin:
I was going to GM school. Worked at a Pontiac dealer in 1990. Saw a few Turbo TAs come through the shop. Got canned and needed a job at at a GM dealer to stay in school. My teacher talked a local Buick dealer into hiring me. I was the quality control guy. I had to test drive all the "fixed" cars. I was lucky enough to "test drive" all of the 200R4 rebuilds in the GNs. The way I was taught was "if it is going to fail, might as well be on the test drive". The Chevy truck blood was thick in my blood, but those GNs sure turned a screw. After I sold my 1987 Chevy 4X4 I had a few $$ that I wanted to put into a "GM two door convertible". Found a 71 custom and here I am. JP
For me it started when I got my first buick(they will be plenty more down the lane!). A 1984 Buick electra. When I went to go see it, I was driving my first car(Oldsmobile cutlass calais 1991). I said since its old it may be falling apart, lets look anyway it was near the house. So I see it, it was beautiful. Maroon outside with a maroon non leather interior. I started it up, it started up just right from that point on I wanted it. It had everything my Cutlass calais didnt, power windows/locks, electronic seat, bigger motor, V8. I didn't know back then that almost all of the late 70's to early 90's GM cars didn't go past 120mph. So I had a choice, Either take $600(The Buick cost $600, but I got it for $500). Take $600 to fix the calais or buy this car, so this car needed nothing but a windsheild(it has a small crack and would not pass inspection, and fix the muffler). Then I found out later on from this great site!, that the 455's had mucho HP/Torque. So thats how I got into Buicks, sadly the Electra is gone, the police took it cause I owed two tickets that was not even my fault. So now I bought a mopar just have to wait to get a "real" Buick electra.
My father had a white 57 Roadmaster convertible when I was a little kid. Then on to 64 Riv, a 66GS Riv, 69 Electra 225 (which I learned to drive in). He switched over to Cadillacs after that but I was pretty well hooked on them by then. I had a 72 Skylark Sun Coupe in college which was pretty snazzy at the time, and my room mate had a 71 GS455 which was faster than snot. The 66GS Riv was the most fun, and we kept that car in the family until the mid 80s, passing it on from dad to me (he kept it as a second car until he passed away in 79) and then from me to one of my brothers kids when he got his drivers license. After a lengthy hiatis with Corvettes, I'm back fooling around on the old Buicks like I grew up with.
Hmmm... I was looking for a car. Looked at several in fact, saw a '69 Skylark for sale. Had never seen one before, nor did I know anything about them. Went online looked up information, and came here. Once I saw how the Buick community was, I was hooked.
Let's see... Hmmm... Spent my VERY early years (infancy, if you will) being carted around in a LEMON, yes lemon, 70 Riv GS, which was traded in for a burnt orange (is that even a color?) 71 GS 350 bench seat 4-speed. This was back in the day when you'd go to a dealership and they'd let you take the car you were interested in buying home for a few days, to get a "feel for it"... Needless to say, mom kept it for a few years until someone ran her off the road and pretty much totaled the poor Gran Sport. I'm still trying to find some pics to post but haven't had much luck... After the GS came a 1977 Regal with the "Landau" top that we had until the 1984 4-door Century came along. Sis and I were getting older and between that and two kids playing soccer, four doors was a necessity. After that came the 87 Electra which was a total piece of garbarge, which I ended up backing into with my first car and from there came the 1990 Gran Sport....which spawned the 96 Gran Sport... Mom then decided she liked my 98 Regal LS so much that she ended up buying one of her own....with HEATED SEATS!! :rant: So, I think you can pretty much tell how I got into Buicks... :Brow:
As a child, my mom would take my sisters and I to the beach in the '62 Skylark convert she bought back in 1964. I seemed to like the GM muscle cars, which may be a result of the Chevelles, El Caminos, 442's that my dad had. But I wanted something a little different and found out about the Buick A-bodies. My older sister was driving a 73 Pontiac Ventura Sprint when I turned 16. I started to learn to drive in that. Then she got a 75 Skylark with the 231. I shared that with her as I was learning to drive and got my license. I wanted a Skylark though (or a GS). My dad and I drove by a '66 Skylark sitting at a grocery store in north Seattle with a For Sale sign. He bought it for me for $450, this was in mid 1985 after I had been driving my mom's 62 convert for the summer. Towards the end of the same year I came across a 72 GS350 in the Seattle paper and we went and bought that. We sold the Skylark to a friend of mine's mom and it was his Xmas gift that year. During college I got into 5.0 Mustangs, especially cop cars, since they got decent mileage and ran pretty quick. Then I got back into the Buicks again in 1998 when I bought my GS455.
My dad drove Buicks most of his life, and when he died in 78 I decided to carry on with the legacy. My first car was a 66 Wildcat. I went onto other cars for a while but after my dads death, I decided to buy Buicks as a tribute. I never knew the GS existed until I began my search for the first tribute car. Patrick
my dad was into 67-70 cougars when I was a kid...When I was able to afford my first car I wanted a cougar but also liked the looks of the 68-72 A bodies.. when I couldn't find a cougar I likedthe buick next because the styling was a little more off the beaten path than the other A bodies...I had also heard that the buick and olds 350's were better .....
First Buick About 12 years ago I was in a used car lot in North Seattle. Noticed this 68 GS400 setting there looking very neat but did in no way appear fast. Asked the sales rep. for a test ride and pointed out the 68. He replied that is the fastest car on my lot. I remember thinking (YEA RIGHT). Since I had my son and friend along all four of us (Including the sales rep.) piled into the Buick. My son was driving. When he nailed it I was very very impressed. I remember we all broke out laughing. No way did we expect it to have so much torque. It was hard to believe a 4 speed car pulling 2:93 gears with that much weight could pull that way from pracitally an idle. It would almost get out of hand. I was always a Chevrolet guy prior but that test ride in the old 68 Buick impressed me so much I now have 3 of them and will have more in the future. I later found out the 68 had a built 455 in it. I still have it and I must say I and my son have become strong Buick Fans. Bob Swarthout
