Altadena's answer: the Badass Buick.
I spent too much time with the thesaurus, looking for a "b" word to describe this car's attractive, sophisticated, yet intimidating look. I finally settled on Roget's initial suggestion, "badass." John agreed. "That is some serious, street-level badassary."
Let's assume it runs.
24 comments:
I'm sure I recognise this from "The Untouchables" (The "Robert Stack, Walter Winchell" Untouchables)
Gloriously badass, Petrea!
I so want to clean it until it gleams.
I know I'm two cylinders short but I'm now playing Dylan's "From A Buick Six" while I gaze longingly at its badass big brother.
Bodaciously badass. {I'm guessing this B was one of your discards, Petrea.} No wonder Dive is beside himself.
Definitely a beautiful Buick. I think it's winking at you! (Or maybe the windshield wiper is just stuck.) There's definitely something cool about vintage American automobiles. I took a spin in a friend's 1960 convertible Corvette when I was in Minneapolis. Wow.
Well, you KNOW I love this.
Beautimus! sorry, does that cut the badassness factor?
I've with dive---I wanna wash and wax that thing to within an inch of its life! Where'd I put the chrome polish?
I would assume it runs, since on the pole behind it is, what I assume, is a parking limitation sign. Would LOVE to hear that thing start up and purrrr!
It was parked near the Coffee Gallery, across the street from where I used to see these. If there's a connection, it's about to get shined within an inch of its life.
Bodacious! That'll teach me not to use the online thesaurus when there's a real one on the shelf in my office.
Supposedly, we have a plethora of fabulous old cars here because our weather makes it possible for them to last longer. Go click around Laurie's blog if you don't believe me.
Badassery is my new favorite word.
Grrrreat glorious beautiful badass Buick!
I like cars that growl and purr rather than peep and beep at you. (Never mind that phony-sexy girl-voice on the GPS)
And then there's this ...
http://www.montecarlodailyphoto.com/2011/09/classic-week-bubble-car-audrey-hepburn.html
Criminy.
Glad you like it, Margaret. John knows how to make the language work even when it doesn't want to.
Speedway, embrace new things but I may never embrace the voice of the GPS.
And yes, Jilly's always finding something interesting. I follow her Menton blog and don't look at the Monte Carlo one that often. How does she maintain two (or is it three) daily blogs?
Khreincehrkxjehrjkerjvnh.
Petrea,
This is the colorful Altadena character and Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast/architect and former Altadena Town Councilmember and local blogger Haunts of the Fat Man http://hauntsofthefatman.blogspot.com/
I'll let him know you've been talking about his father's car, which has been in Steve's family forever. Steve usually wears a Fedora and reminds me of William Conrad in the TV Series "Cannon" driving around in this Los Angeles Noir 1938 Buick. You'll usually find him in the Coffee Gallery mornings holding court and drawing Frank Lloyd Wright'esque achitectural sketches. Really a beautiful Art Deco sculpture, that Buick. And yes, it runs, it's his daily driver! We keep the old cars alive on North Lake Avenue!
Yep, that's my daily driver, Josephine (after Josephine Baker)She is a 1938 Buick model 47, meaning in Buick language she is a 40 (special series- 248 CU Inch straight eight motor)) body type 7 ( 4 door streamline -flat back- sedan)Dad used to take the '38 to Mexico in the late 1940's and early 1950's collecting orchids and dated Mom in it.
She's had the head off twice, once in 1956, and again in 1990 when I re ringed her and gave her a valve job. The babbit bearings were fine at that point.
She got painted black back about 1960 when another relative had her.
She is my daily driver. I am thinking about restoring her once I get my 1940 ford truck on the road, but then I'll have to wash her and keep her clean and worry about paint chips and such. Now I just toss her around like the wonderful workhorse she is.
I guestimate she has over 700,000 miles on her. George Lewis used to maintain her mechanically for me, now Mike Gibson does, but she hardly ever needs a thing. She just keeps rolling along.
Hi Thal, Hi Steve,
Thanks for sharing the story behind this car. It's a perfect illustration of a subject that's been growing in my brain for a week or a year or ten: when you build something well it lasts and when you build cheap it doesn't. Seems simple but the point is, cheap ends up costing more in the long run. That is to say, your father may have spent a lot of money on this car, but neither of you ever needed to buy another.
Okay, this was a fabulous post for starters with that badass buick, bathed in black. To hear the story that goes with it is just about the nicest little vignette of the week!
Bises,
Genie
Actually, Dad bought it used from a little old Lady who was a Lamb Brothers (my Grandfather's mechanical repair shop on Walnut and Wilson down in Pasadena) customer who couldn't drive anymore. That was 1949. She was eleven years old and already had 119,000 on the clock. Car went all the way through WW2. It was a easy car to get through the war because she was precision built. G.M. in 1937 began building Buick's to high tolerances to gear up for the war they thought may be coming. Buick Mechanics and Engine builders spent ww2 making engines for fighter planes and were pre trained on precision assembly. 1937-41 Buicks are simple cars, but they are fitted together like high quality aircraft of the time period, so they last forever, much more so than other cars from their time.
Badassary? Oh I"m loving that term. I can feel it being used in many venues! :)
I'm glad the DIvester approves.
V
Great story about a great car. My grandfather always drove a Buick. He would have been 54 years old when this beauty rolled out of Detroit. I would love to hear this baby purr.
I've come late to today's photo and what more can I say? The way the story has developed is fascinating. Good badassery.
That is one baaad car! Fun to read the post from the owner, too -- and everyone else's as well.
It gives me a good small-town feel to have had Steve show up and talk about his car. We live pretty close to Los Angeles, but I think we feel like we've got something else here in "the Dena." Altadena has its own character, as does Pasadena, as does South Pas. But we're a family, and today made me feel all fuzzy and related.
It's sweet to end the day with a badass Buick and the Dena small-town vibe.
You lucky thing. You get to do it in person.
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