The Buick brand is one that I hold close to my heart, as I grew up in the city in which this make had once called its world headquarters home for almost a century. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Flint, Michigan, at one point, probably had the highest concentration of Buicks on the road than any other place on Earth. Town pride in Buick was very palpable when I was growing up, even as evidenced by a gigantic Tri-Shield sign and billboard that greeted northbound travelers on U.S. Route 23 with an enthusiastic “Welcome To The Buick City!” This GM brand wasn’t even the only one we represented, as we also built Chevrolets and GMCs, in addition to other factories that built components used by various divisions (AC Spark Plug, Dupont, etc.).
I had toured the Buick factory, colloquially known as “Buick City” for its last couple of decades, many times up through my teenage years, the last such instance being the summer of 1991, when the J.D. Power & Associates-awarded LeSabres were being built. We kids were given a whole bunch of Buick swag upon completion of the tour, including an orange “Buick City” fanny pack which I would never use, but wish I still had. Even today, the local vintage and thrift stores in the area will have more than a few Buick mementos for sale from a time when GM’s near-luxury make was still pumping out upscale, respected Rivieras and Park Avenues at a reasonable clip.
I usually make it back to Flint about four times annually, including right around this time of year, at the invitation of a close high school friend and a group of us “Flintstones” who went to school together. She and her husband really know how to make folks feel welcome, and usually one of them is right there to pick me up from the Amtrak station within five to ten minutes of my train’s arrival back near my old neighborhood in Flint. It has traditionally been a toss-up between a bunch of us going out and meeting up at one of Flint’s still-fun night spots, or having folks over to their house. I’m always good with either, as going out would allow me to relive some fun times at old Flint institutions that are still in business, but with a house gathering, I feel there are better odds of actually having conversations with people and getting to know someone better. It’s also a good thing for me that their couch is super-comfortable.
Last year’s get-together was a great time, and I’m pretty sure I went to the couch smiling that night, once the other guests had left. I had set the alarm on my phone in preparation for my early, 7:30 AM return train home to Chicago, had my carry-on bag packed, and even had my jeans, t-shirt, and meal-replacement breakfast bar sitting on my suitcase. This was to facilitate an easy exit so all the host would have to do would be to fire up the old Silverado, and we gentlemen could be on our way to the station. This all went according to plan… mostly. My alarm went off, and it was its usual, lovely tone, sounding as it does like a Brazilian rainforest. So… very… soothing. Ahhhh.
The next thing I knew, there was light coming in through the living room curtains. Oh, snap. Glancing at my phone, I realized that my train back to Chicago had left more than an hour ago, and there were no more trains heading back that day, as it was a holiday (Presidents Day). What had happened? The only thing I could think of is that I must have turned off the alarm with the full intent of getting up, closed my still-tired eyes for “just a few minutes”, which then led to unconsciousness and likely the sawing of the proverbial logs. At my request, my host and hostess then drove me to the airport, so I could rent a car to get back to Chicago, as I had to work the next day.
Sour at myself for my temporary lapse in good judgement at letting myself fall back to sleep instead of leaping into action as planned (a plan that had been successfully carried out multiple times before), I smiled and waved goodbye to my friends and entered Bishop International Airport, thinking about the price difference between a forty dollar return train ticket to Chicago and what would likely be another hundred fifty dollars for the now necessary car rental or plane ticket. It was under these circumstances that my jaw dropped upon coming across this 1981 Buick Regal Pace Car parked on the floor, sectioned off, near the departures area of the airport. Was this to be considered redemption of some sort?
Nineteen Eighty-One was the year the popular Regal A- (later G-) Body coupe was restyled, following its successful downsizing for model year ’78. The 240,000 or so Regals (which were still all coupes that year) sold for ’81 represented close to a 12% increase over the prior year’s 215,000 figure, even if 1980 had been a recession year. A gain is a gain. The ’81 restyle was, in my opinion, a very successful one, with its rakish, sloping shovel-nosed frontal styling and attractively squared-up rear deck. It may not be as dramatic and as immediately striking to me as a concurrent Dodge Mirada coupe (which turned out to be unsuccessful in the marketplace), but it’s still a handsome machine and a great basis, aesthetically, for an Indy Pace car.
Two different sources had indicated that either 100 or 150 ’81 Regal Pace Car replicas had been built (the jury’s still out), but reading further, I realized that what I had seen and photographed at Bishop Airport was not one of the replicas that were available to the public, but rather one of the original two pace cars (one paces the race, and a backup is also required to be built). American Sunroof Company (ASC) was responsible for the official pace cars, with their modifications to a t-roof-equipped Regal including removal of the rear section of the roof, and installation of a folding, cloth top, a roll bar, and a special, custom, leather interior featuring Recaros and a maple, orange and red color scheme. Buick installed a heavily modified, naturally aspirated 4.1L V6 rated at 281 horsepower in these two cars.
The replicas, by contrast, were handled by Cars & Concepts. Unlike the official pace cars, they lacked the partial convertible roof section, roll bar and custom interior, but otherwise featured the same exterior graphics. Also, in place of the modified 4.1L V6 was a naturally-aspirated 3.8L V6 with just the normally-rated 110-hp. I still say they all look pretty cool, and much like an appropriately modernized version of the ’76 Buick Century V6 Indy Pace Car.
As I (begrudgingly) drove my rental car the four-and-a-half hours or so back to Chicago, I did a lot of reflecting on both Buick’s past, present and possibilities for the future. There’s so much to emotionally unpack, with regard to my hometown of Flint and its relationship to Buick, for many of us from that area. Much like as in a dysfunctional relationship between two individuals, it’s hard to deny the mutual love that once seemed so unbreakable, yet a collective feeling of abandonment following Buick’s wholesale departure from the Flint area has left many of us questioning whether or not our love had ultimately been justified.
The recent announcement of the imminent discontinuation of Buick’s remaining passenger cars following their current model cycles has only brought many of these feelings back to the surface, even if none of those new cars are built in Flint. Still, the sight of this hot Buick pace car from my elementary school years brought joy to what would have, otherwise, been a day filled with both memories of a fun evening with friends and the regret of my temporary lapse in good judgement.
Flint, Michigan.
Monday, February 18, 2019.
Buick was the hot ticket for Indy pace cars for a while in the ’70s and ’80s, probably because the Buick V6 was the basis for a decent number of Indy Car powerplants. From what I recall, the Buicks ran fast laps but didn’t always last until the end, but I was a little kid when they were running. In ’83, Buick was back with a Riviera pace car with another special V6. Nice car!
“In ’83, Buick was back with a Riviera pace car with another special V6.
Ah, yes, the twin turbo. I recall drooling over its specs when it was featured in Popular Mechanics.
At the time, the ‘83 Riviera was also newsworthy for being a convertible. That particular body style was being reintroduced by US automakers, and had not been seen on a pace car since the ‘73 Eldorado convertible. Some of the pace cars from ‘74 to ‘82 may have been open or semi-open cars such as the featured Regal, but these roof modifications were only seen on the actual pace cars, and not available on the replicas that were offered to the public.
Neat. When I was a kid, Milwaukee airport always had a Rambler located on the way to the gates. More recently I was in Chattanooga where I saw a VW in their airport. Car building towns have always been proud of their products.
For me, 1981+Buick Regal=Daryl Waltrip & Rush’s Moving Pictures (RIP Neal Peart)
Thanks for posting this fine Rush video. Neil Peart was a fine, fine drummer.
+2… RIP, Neil.
Wow Joe, what a great capture! Living in Indianapolis, Indy Pace Car replicas are not uncommon sights, but genuine actual (non-retail-replica) pace cars are a rare sight anywhere. As you note, there are only one or two or three (depending on the era) ever made. The ones before the mid 70s are harder to discern because they were changed little from stock, but the later ones are – as you note – full on customs.
I will admit to a lot of yawning these days, not really caring when it is announced whether yet another Camaro or Corvette will be the Pace Car for the upcoming race. I miss the days when there was variety. Even seeing different GM Divisions in the mix was refreshing, and Buick was in there punching hard for about a decade or so. Thanks for this!
JP, you hit the nail on the head – I also miss the variety in those cars chosen to pace the Indy 500 (which I get to attend this year for the second time)!
I remember just how wild the Pontiac Fiero “Indy” looked at the time, with the “vacuum cleaner” thing attached to the trunk and stretching over the roof.
I don’t know why it struck me but the highlights in carpet in the concourse seem to match the accent colors on the Buick making for a very harmonious effect.
In any case a nice find, the ones that you least expect to find are the most gratifying ones and having the time to process it and photograph it without crowds or any other concerns make it even better.
Jim, right on both points – I hadn’t noticed the carpet before you pointed it out.
And it is very tricky sometimes to compose an image of a car in a public / semi-public setting without having other people in it. My experience at car shows is that it often seems like my interest in a car (with my camera) will actually draw other people to whatever I’m photographing, almost as if to say, “I wonder what’s so special about this thing!” A frustrating but sometimes cool phenomenon.
1. It’s amazing to me that there were a quarter million 2 door coupes from only one model in one GM division sold in one 1981. Wow.
2. Take it easier on yourself for missing that train, It happens. I make frequent trips from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale to visit friends about every 6-8 weeks. They’re usually just weekend jaunts, since it’s only a 45 minute flight. After missing the Monday morning red eye back on 2 occasions I finally decided to just make these trips 3 day weekends. I hated beating myself up for missing that 6:15 AM flight by *that* much, and having to eat crow when I called the office to let them know I’d be an extra day, so now I spend Monday on my friend’s couch watching Wendy Williams while he’s at work, have a leisurely drink and a snack with him after work, and fly out at a civil 9PM. It’s so much easier for me to just accommodate my own shortcomings than to berate myself for them.
MTN, it’s funny you should mention flying. When I priced my car rental versus the quick plane trip back to Chicago, it was maybe a difference of less than $20 – before luggage. Had I not made some purchases at some of the local vintage stores in the Flint area that weekend, I could have gotten away with my carry on bag an a personal item on a flight that would probably have been less than an hour between runways. However, I needed to stash all my cool finds in the trunk – hence the need to drive.
I’ve since let it go that I missed my train, but I won’t be doing that again! LOL
WOW!
With the exception of the color choices for the pace car, it was as tough we were getting a preview of the Grand National to come.
Nice Post, Joseph.
I was always amazed back in 1981 at this car and that it only featured the base lowly 110 Hp 231 V6 which virtually 90% of the Regals sold that year had. Why the 175Hp 3.8 turbo wasn’t used remains a mystery or even the optional 4.3 Pontiac V8 but then that wasn’t a Buick engine and back then it was all about perception. The 1982 Grand National was another weird thing. It used the 4.1 liter V6 at only 125 HP when the improved 175 Hp 3.8 turbo was offered as std on Sport Coupes that dropped 0-60 times from 11 seconds in 1981 to 9 seconds flat for 82. Apparently a handful of 1982 GN’s slipped out the door with the turbo but that was a fluke.
This is the auto version of Paul Newman with a mullet haircut.
Let’s all focus on what it can do, not how it looks.
Joe, you have every reason to be proud of growing up in Buick City. As a little kid growing up in the 50’s I didn’t like Buicks much. They were too bulbous and with grilles too huge – the very image of the cartoon car, the Belchfire from Grin and Bear It. They got better in the mid-50’s but then the 59 came along and though I wasn’t keen on the canted headlights, overall the car was lighter and modern looking. The next year our neighbors traded in their 53 Special for a new Invicta fully equipped (power windows – yowza!) that we rode to church in every Sunday. Then came the 62 Wildcat coupe, such a gorgeous car, and the incomparable 63 Riviera. And my friend’s 65 Wildcat convertible with the 465 and a four-speed stick shift. Buick was no longer just the doctor’s car. And they turned out some fantastic automobiles for decades. Sorry to learn the sedans are going away.
Years ago I was with friends on an overnight ship from Dover to the Hook of Holland. We took Dramamine, overslept, and had to be wakened by the crew cleaning the ship – all other passengers had disembarked. We missed our early express train to Amsterdam by caught a local that gave us a leisurely and close-up view of many colorful towns enroute. Sometimes things work out fine despite our little failures.
You referenced so many memorable-looking Buicks. I actually really liked the ’59 with those wild, canted headlamps. Those may have been the peak of Buick excess in terms of styling (or perhaps the 58), but I find them appealing. And then there’s the model name of “Invicta” – just this side of wicked-sounding. They should have kept that one.
And I also agree with your last sentence. It often all just works out.
Nice shots. I toured the Buick plant in 1981 with the grade 11 and 12 shop major classes from my high school in Sarnia, Ontario. I liked the Regals, but I really liked the Rivieras with the flat floor…the legroom was a revelation to an 18 year old with long legs. Ahh, to have something like that in our driveway. My dad’s ‘77 Century wasn’t a bad car by any stretch, but that Riviera in the factory showroom would have been great. Too bad that the pace cars sold to the public in ‘81 didn’t have something more substantial under the hood. Maybe someone retrofitted a later GN 3.8 into one of them. Now THAT would make a great pace car.
In that same spot in 2018 was Buick’s show model of a one off Buick 1954 version of the corvette.
Yes! The 1954 Wildcat II. I photographed it in the summer of 2015 at Back To The Bricks. The Buick Gallery at the Sloan Museum must be sourcing some (or all) of these cars.
http://flintcultural.org/buickgallery.htm