I’ve seen this Estate Wagon slowly fading away over the years, and often in this spot in front of Mary Lou’s Laundromat? Is it Mary Lou’s?
B-Bodies in daily use are a rapidly shrinking species. As are laundromats. Quite a few here have been converted in recent years to trendy restaurants and such. Not Mary Lou’s, yet.
It even has the coveted Buick Road Wheels. For how many decades were these available? Is that an all-time record?
It’s easy to tell that the owner is short.
And there she is. She saw me shooting her car and came out to watch me in action. Or just keep an eye on me. She said she’s had it for a long time (no surprise there). And except for its thirst, she’s quite happy with it.
And I’m happy to see her, her Buick, and Mary Lou’s all still going.
Showing off, to good effect, those marvelous Buick exclusive chrome & black, all steel “Road Wheels” of the 1960’s and 1970’s.
I cannot think of a rear wheel drive Buick that does not have it’s appeal increased by these wheels.
+1 – one of my favorite stock wheels ever.
Hers could use a serious cleaning though. ;o)
Those look to be an imitation of the standard Magnum 500 wheel that was everywhere (mostly on Mopars and Fords) back in the day.
Unfortunately, by that time, all the manufacturers had cheapened them up by only having the center spokes chromed with a trim ring covering the now unfinished rim.
In fact, one of the most memorable of this little bit of cost-cutting was how the GTO Judge came with the popular Pontiac Rally II wheels without the trim rings.
The Buick wheels and Magnum 500’s both came out in the mid 1960’s so I doubt once copied the other. The Buick wheels are considerably different, which the above picture doesn’t clearly show. The had a narrower spoke and the were curved. The Buck road wheels also had several variations over the years, basically divided from 1964-70,71-78, and 1979+.
The Magnum 500’s were also used on AMC’s and Chevrolet’s, specifically the 1969-70 Chevelle SS. These were painted with trim rings Ford did use the chromed rim until 1973, when it was replaced by a trim ring. FWIW, correct Magnum 500 wheels had a brushed chrome finish on the spokes. Most aftermarket wheels today are incorrect with shiny chrome on the spokes. I have a set of OEM and repops, and the difference is obvious when side by side. Most cars today seem to have repops when examined. IIRC, Magnums were actually a Kelsey Hayes wheel.
The Judge was supposed to be Pontiac’s answer to the Road Runner, at least initially. It was always my interpretation that this car was supposed to be a “bare bones” GTO with just the performance options as standard equipment, but not much else to keep the price low. Hence no trim rings. However, once it reached production, the concept seemed to have been muddied.
My dad was a Buick man back in the late 70’s and 80’s, but his Midwestern Republican sensibilities precluded such cool wheels on his LeSabres.
The shortest time I ever owned a car (3 weeks) was an 85 LeSabre Limited coupe. I was kind of sorry that my plans changed because I really liked the elegant dash and the triple navy blue color scheme. Unfortunately it wore the mandatory 80s wire wheelcovers instead of these gorgeous Buick wheels. I am in complete agreement with Mark Reimer on this.
I was once in a case where a guy got in an accident in a yellow Buick wagon much like this. I cannot look at one of these without remembering the way my client described the people in the other car as jumping up and down yelling “Payday today!” It kind of turned out to be, though not in a very big way.
Ugh. Makes me nauseous as an insurance agent. Here in Florida if a prospective insured has 2 or more PIP (Personal Injury Protection, or Medical) claims in 3 years he’s ineligible for coverage with a voluntary market company and has to go through the State JUA (essentially the equivalent of assigned risk). In my office we have several clients who’ve fleeced the system for (presumably) dubious medical claims and other “reparations” only to find themselves with sticker chock when they discover 6 months later that their new Mercedes (thanks to that “payday” a while back) is now going to cost them 5 figures to insure for the next 3 years. These are the moments when I sit back and revel in the poetic justice of a system that I otherwise often consider broken.
Well, hello, Mary Lou!
I always thought it was sneaky of Buick to disguise a b body Chevy as a Buick. Those nasty little filler panels that were added to the tops of the front doors near the review mirrors, looked to tacked on for a classy car like this. At least with the faux wood grain, it’s not as noticeable.
At least Oldsmobile didn’t try to hide the fact that the Custom Cruiser was a Chevy wagon. They left the front doors alone, and used what looks to be Chevy front fenders.
I agree the fillers were tacky but required in that thr Chevy doors didn’t have the indentations of the Buick fenders….The filller provided the transition….The LeSabre doors lined up with the fender as they were unique to Buick
If you want to see a worse example , take a look at a 79 Mercury Wagon. They had square taillights as compared to the Country squire rectangular. They used the country squire cut out and welded a flush piece to fill the gap.
The body/fender discussion comes up when talking B-body wagons. The sedans had two different basic bodies, the Chevrolet/Pontiac and the Olds/Buick. You can see some of the difference in the body lines in lower portions of the doors/quarter panels. All wagons bodies used the Chevrolet/Pontiac body lines. Because the wagons used the Chevrolet/Pontiac style sheet metal, this means the Olds/Buick sedan fenders will not match the body lines on the wagon body. This means all 77–90 Olds/Buick B-body wagons used unique from fenders that are different from the sedan fenders. Chevrolet and Pontiac wagons however, could share their fenders with sedans.
Buick road wheels: the start of my awareness of junk yards (or whatever they may be called today).
In the early spring of 1980 I bought a local 1972 LeSabre convertible. Red car, black top and black interior. But it had white walls mounted on the stock steel wheels with LeSabre wheel covers. Boring.
So I tracked down a set of cheap Buick road wheels and mounted those white walls flipped backwards, black side out. Much improved the car.
This entire set of pictures is such an awesome slice of pure Americana. I’m glad Mary Lou didn’t take issue with you taking them. Nicely shared.
Without the Di-Noc that would be a solid nice-looking car. Only a few rust blisters, no dents.
Down Here you can turn this into a cab and put 10 Folks in it each way and make a good living
We have something similar over here but call it “The Bus”. Except it doesn’t make money…
I have extra fondness for CC’s where the owner is involved, especially where that owner fits the story the car might be telling.
These shots will be art 20 years on, like the Andrew Bush photos seen here the other day. Hell, they are now.
To my chagrin, my local laundromat went. Inevitable when the once-small priced Victorian-era shop building on a main road would now be $1.5 million. Small change ain’t gonna pay THAT mortgage.
Great post, Paul. Quite sweetly melancholic.
It´s sad to see that the old times had gone. Yesterday my family and I watched E.T. for the billionth time. That neighborhood, those clothes, that Cheesiness of the home decor and the cars. That was a long time ago, but when I see a Buick like this in this article, It seems just like I´ll walk through my street until it´s corner, and after turning it, the world will change and I´ll back in time and see all that life all over again. Happy to see the Buick, the old lady and Mary Lou´s Laundomat. So 80´s……..
It gives me a lot of pleasure to see older cars still going and that includes old mom and pop owned Laundromats, hardware stores, variety shops and many others. And good luck to the little old lady and her nice Buick wagon!
“She’s had it a long time. And except for its thirst, she’s quite happy with it.” Damn straight. That car was as top-of the-line woody wagon as they came back then. And I’d happily drive that, too. The faded di-noc gives it nice character.
Some people say I’m nuts, but I cannot figure out why no aftermarket outfitter has come up with a woodgrain kit for modern Suburbans. There’s got to a market for it. If signage companies can come up with those one-off wraps, surely someone can develop a di-noc wrap along with some outline trim. How expensive could it be? A couple thousand? I mentioned it to my dealership’s subsideraries, DVA (Dealer Vehicle Accessories) and FAR (Florida Automotive Restylers), that supply other dealerships with aftermarket mods theroughout the southeast; and they just laughed at me. I’m not crazy. Or am I?