Here comes the finale. The first 6 pics show the car as it was first completed and was waiting for the trailer to show up to take it to the 99 GS Nationals. The short guy in the first pic is my Dad. The next one shows the car at the Nats, and the next one is from the restoration clinic we had that year. Brad wanted my car to be displayed with his even though it was a modified car. He said we would have "Prototype Night", the Prototype car and the Prototype truck. The last pic was taken when I was washing the car in the hotel parking lot just before I took it to the car show. My buddy George Thomas took it and gave it to me later. I was wondering why he was taking a pic of me washing the car, but he wouldn't tell me why at the time. This ends the build. Duane
The two best pictures I have of the car were taken by Paul Gawel, so I will post them here. Hope you guys enjoyed the story. Duane
You pulled it off so perfectly. Every obstacle was met with a determined solution. You didn’t back down - not once. It’s not what we do in front of others that defines our character; it’s what we do when we’re the only ones looking. You, Duane, have shown us your true character. THANK YOU!!!!
Yeah, well when I "go on a mission" I get an extreme case of tunnel vision. It's really bad. The trick to building this car, or any car for that matter, is to keep on working on it every day. Sometimes that just means thinking about it, or rolling ideas around in your head, or finding some obscure part, it doesn't matter as long as there is progress. Guys often get depressed with the amount of work needed to build a project, especially if they look at the overall project. I was forced to look at this build differently. I have such a small garage that I was forced to section off jobs by what I could do that week. I would make sure I had all the tools and parts needed to do a specific operation, and at the same time get everything ready for the following week. Then when that part of the project was done, I often had to move tools out of the garage, put them back in storage, bring in different tools, and continue the next week's progress. I did this same type of thing with my Upholstery business. I used to hang the seat covers or door panels, that I wanted to make, around my shop. This made me think about them everyday, until I figured out how to make them. Then they would come down, the parts would get made, and I was on to the next project. The other thing that helps is I married a saint. My wife Beth sees this type of thing happening to me and just lets me go. Sometimes it's a car, once it was writing a book, or helping put a show together with another guy, it doesn't matter. She stands with me and lets me accomplish what I need to do. Duane
This cannot be overlooked, a supportive spouse is a true gem. Thanks for the story Duane, you are a true craftsman.
its a tie between this car and Ryans retro GS as my favorite Buicks. sweet ride Duane, you should be extremely proud of what you built, simply awesome....
Fantastic thread and hats off for your craftmanship! I hope to be blessed with seeing the car one day in real life. I Cant wait to see the 69 Motion in Cecil too.
Will you do a brief GSX thread next? I haven’t seen too much about the car. A 71 GSX will always be my holy grail.
"Will you do a brief GSX thread next?" No, probably not. That car was restored at Then & Now Restorations in Marietta, Georgia. I was not present for much of that build so I do not have the pictures to do something like I did here, or with the 69 car. I can tell you when I got that car the majority of it was in boxes and I had to sort thru everything I got, and use date codes to figure out which parts came with the car. I think the only option we could not verify was the steering wheel. I could not tell which style came with the car, but had a really nice original Rallye wheel, so I went with that. I can also say that I wanted a 71 Stage 1 Stratomist Blue GSX real bad, and tracked this car for about 10 years before I finally got it. There are only a few of them around, and at the time everyone that had one was keeping it. I even went so far as to buy some of the specialty GSX parts long before I got the car, just in case I did end up with one. It took years to collect everything I needed for that car. There is no way I would be able to gather those parts today if I had to. Duane
As was stated, great thread and thanks so much for taking the time for sharing the story. Lots of custom work went into it to make it look factory! You definitely accomplished your goal, the car/truck just looks "right".
Thanks for sharing the build of the "X-Camino" Duane..... The "Regamino" was a little easier, due the fact it was built at Buick engineering with unlimited resources. But like your build there is a lot of "unseen" work for the correct flow. I helped with this project from start to finish with the help of others in Explorer post #504 at Buick engineering in Flint....unfortunately no build pictures of this as cameras weren't allowed in the engineering building. Someday I'll have to write up the history/story on this one.
John, The "Regamino" looks good. Do the write-up, come on in the waters fine. Gary, Your wish is my command. I only put the air cleaner foams in for the shows, so that's why they are missing. Duane PS. I just noticed in the pic that the radiator hose clamp is clocked wrong. I guess I will have to fix that.
John, does ‘Regamino’ still exist? It’s such a cool build, I’d love more details and photos. I always imagined two ‘what ifs’: both would be GMC Caballeros (because the link of Buick to GMC in the ‘80s). One would be a parts hauler for the ASC group, thus a full treatment GNX Caballero. The other would be more mild, as if GMC had simply offered a sporty drivetrain upgrade that mirrored the turbo T option at Buick. Thinking Light Blue, Dark Blue cloth interior, very plain except the 15” T wheels and a little T badge. Patrick
Patrick, I'm going to say no, its gone. These are the last/other 2-pictures I have of it. This is at one of the local storage facility's that Buick used in Flint. I was always told it only lasted as long as it did because everybody loved it and no one had the hart to scrap it. I along with a couple other explorers/scouts were working on trying to get it repainted as I wanted to see it donated/displayed in the Sloan museum or what is now the "Buick Gallery" but obviously that never came to be. It disappeared from this location after I started making some phone calls then nobody could say where it went..........
There is one more thing I need to add to this story to complete it, and that is the reason I could not sell the car. Basketball Sam's mom June really loved and wanted that car and they offered me way more monetarily then I could ever hope to get for it, but it wasn't meant to be. The day the car was finished and I was waiting for the guys to pick it up so we could go to the Nats, my Dad came over early and we were sitting on the wall along the driveway next to the car. It's the same wall that he is standing next to in the picture I posted with him. We were sitting there and he told me he was really proud that I got to do something that he never got to do. I knew he had an old Model A with a rumble seat and had sold it before I was born, but never knew the story of that car. He proceeds to tell me that he had the car and it was all covered up in the back yard, and was working on it, and hoped to restore it some day. My parents had just bought their first house, a new one, but were constantly tracking mud into it because all they had was a dirt driveway. Some asphalt guy was going down the street and was asking everyone in the new development if they wanted a new driveway. The guy stopped to ask dad, and he said sure but he didn't have any money. The guy asked what was under the tarps, and after looking at the car told him he would swap the car for the new driveway. The deal was made, the driveway was put in, and the guy drove my fathers car right down his new driveway and that was that. He said he was really proud of the finished car, and the fact that a bunch of guys got together and built an entire car out of a pile of parts. He told me I had a great group of friends and that I should appreciate them. There was just no way I could sell that car. Duane
