Thursday, May 3, 2012

Buick Redux

I was as surprised as anyone when I logged onto String Too Short to Tie this morning and found that there was no new post. For anyone who made a return trip, here, accept this repost for today. Will try to have something for tomorrow!

 I have never owned a Buick, but yesterday's post and the comments thereon suggest that a sequel is in order. A few days ago, I saw this 1939 phaeton model Buick parked on a downtown street. It evoked memories. I saw this same car yesterday as it drove down the street.

One pleasant day somewhere in the early fifties, a bunch of us drove from the Springs to Denver in a 1939 Buick. It belonged to the parents of one of the girls in the group and was driven by her boyfriend, who was a wildman behind the wheel. But we survived without incident. The purpose of the trip was to spend a day at Elitch Gardens, Denver's "fun park." The old wooden roller coaster, The Wildcat, got well used that day. I suspect that it met its demise decades ago. Given a car full of teenagers and the freedom of choice they had, it hardly needs to be told that we arrived back home very, very late at night.

About the same time in history, I had a friend whose father owned a 1951 Buick Roadmaster. This beast was a beautiful bronze color and was equipped with "Dynaflow" transmission. I vividly remember the "winding up" as one attempted to accelerate from a stoplight. The auto had a quite powerful engine, a 320 ci straight eight, and once you got it going, the car would cruise at exhilirating speeds. But the Dynaflow was not designed to win any drag races!

I was talking with my sister yesterday who just the day before had had a conversation with the friend mentioned.  Reminded me of this post.

5 comments:

Vee said...

Elitch Gardens is still in downtown Denver - a 70 acre amusement and water park.

Hubby has been very satisfied with his Buick purchases over the years. I liked the Pontiacs better - but they are no longer an option.

Shelly said...

Those are truly glorious cars. I would love ride in one some day. I'll bet they were fun to drive~

vanilla said...

Vee, north of Colfax and east of the river; I guess that is "downtown." Seemed a fur piece out back in the day.
BBBH is partial to Pontiacs and doesn't understand what happened; but is happy to keep the one she has.

Shelly, they used to build automobiles; now mostly transportation capsules, much more reliable, more efficient, indistinguishable from one another, and totally blah when it comes to style. well, that's how I see it.






























Shelly,

Jim said...

That transmission wasn't nicknamed the Dynaslush for nothing.

vanilla said...

Jim, too true.