Buick Sabbath

Sabbath is to relax and take it easy, look outside, 68F, clear, reasonable humidity. Truly it is a beautiful day. Thinking about cars will be my sabbath rest. Outside is a light colored Buick Regal sedan 

beside it, a red Buick station wagon, both with the trademark Buick front grill, all plastic these years instead of metal chrome.

The classic Buick grill goes back to the 1938 Buick Y concept car 

that would have been an astonishing contrast to the 1938 Buick then in showrooms and on the street. 

A hint of the Buick Y grill showed up the next year on the 1939 Buick as a sign of things to come, 

then disappeared for 1940 and 1941, but returned-to-stay on the 1942 Buick that was short-lived when all automobile production stopped because the industry shifted to production of war materials immediately after Pearl Harbor.

The to-become-classic grill returned on the 1946, '47, '48 models and, with various changes, has been with Buick off and on for long years. 1948 and 1949 Buick cars below:

Linda’s father, UJW Peters, had a 1950 Buick Super with Dynaflow when we first met, 

then a ’53 Super sedan, no power steering or air conditioning of course. 

Mr. Peters later had a 1958 Buick Roadmaster, an enormous automobile that he insisted we use to haul stuff when we moved to Jacksonville in 1959. 

I refused to use it a second time, because it cost $7.00 to fill the gas tank. It did not have the classic Buick grill --

-- which had been dropped with the 1955 models and for some years:

Our car at the time we drove Pete's 1958 Roadmaster the 600 mile round-trip between Panama City and Jacksonville was a 1959 Opel that always cost $2.40 for a fill-up. His last Buick was a beautiful 1961 Buick Invicta hardtop, white with red leather interior that they owned after they moved to Arizona for his health.

My family had a couple of Buicks, a 1954 Century hardtop coupe with a red hot V8 that I loved to drive when home from college. Unfortunately, it was NOT a red convertible, but this photo shows the classic Buick front grill.

Later my mother had a 1960 Electra 225 Riviera sedan, a huge, lengthy car with subtle tailfins. Gone from 1955, the classic Buick grill returned that year, but was concave.

My brother has a couple of Buick LeSabre sedans, both with the trademark Buick grill.

Before my parents gave me the 1948 Dodge, my first car was that memorable 1947 Buick Special with the fender-skirt on one side only, owned with a college buddy.

My later Buicks included a 1976 Regal coupe with that goofy half-vinyl-roof that was trendy at the time, but a marvelous road machine. Later, a 1981 Skylark sedan, ordered new from the factory; during rainstorms, water poured through the cowl onto the feet of the front seat passengers. It was one of the prettiest cars we’ve ever owned; but also the worst quality, and we traded it in quickly. After it we moved to Apalachicola, where the Ford dealer was a parishioner and friend the fourteen years we lived there.

The two Buicks that we have at the moment are the safest, smoothest, most comfortable, and best quality cars we’ve had in all our years. We’ll undoubtedly “go smaller” next time; but the 2013 Buick Enclave continues the tradition of that 1938 concept car.

Tom