Photos from the Cohort by William Oliver.
It was back in 2000 when a close friend of mine living in LA asked me: “So Ric, what SUV would you like to buy?” This after he purchased a Lexus RX300. He was ecstatic about the vehicle.
I struggled with the question then, and I struggle with it now. What SUV-CUV kind of practical tall car would I purchase? I mean for, real?
When the question comes, my mind always goes blank…
And here, in these Cohort images, the answer had always been there. None of course! Why not grab an old mean-looking Detroit machine and give it the outback treatment?
Gosh, the possibilities are endless, aren’t they? This ’59 Buick serves the “angry appliance” look quite well, and just think, what about a ’61 Plymouth in wagon form? A raised ’61 Fury wagon, seen in a rearview mirror, would most likely be a frightful sight to the unsuspecting! What fun!
Of course, you may have trouble with the concept of ruining a classic in such a way. And that’s fine. And if you love CUVs and SUVs as they currently are, no problem by me. To each their own. But I’ll admit, this idea has gotten some gears running in my head. Next time I go to the local Marketplace in search of old metal, if a rusty 1970 Pontiac Catalina wagon appears, I’ll know what to do with it.
Ugh. I think the Safari car trend is really foul, aside from Paul’s functional and properly used XB.
That said, I can’t envision any CUV or SUV I’d want, either.
I check in on the Lifted xB FB page once in a while, and yesterday there was a guy showing off his gen1 lifted xB; he’s running 235×75 15 tires and he was complaining that he can only go 55, maybe 60 maximum, and that the automatic can’t ever hold 4th gear, and it gets 19 mpg. But everyone was complimenting him on how cool it looked.
It’s also quite clear that the great majority of these never go off road; it’s just the look. In fact a number of them had formerly slammed (lowered) their xBs and now were jacking them up.
This is very timely as just yesterday I saw a Toyota Sienna minvan that had been raised, had bigger wheels and A/T tires and of course the obligatory roof rack. Sadly it rolled by quickly before I could get a shot of it. Does that mean that the overlanding fad has finally reached its peak and is destined to fizzle out?
Having said that, I can’t help but chuckle over this, as the ’59 GM cars are the ultimate non-off roading cars ever. I’d be happy to drive this through Nevada!
I think it’s just getting started in earnest, I too have recently seen a lifted Sienna with A/Ts, at least it was an AWD model so probably is pretty useful depending on the snow depth here at times.
Here’s a little cousin of it that I came across last year that could well be your xB’s successor…
One of the Cohort posted a bunch of pictures of a dealer in Tokyo that had a whole lot full of lifted kei vans. They are mighty cute.
We saw a non-lifted but serious looking Sienna – dirty, a few dents, well-used and non-trendy camping gear on the roof – with AT tires on the Cottonwood Rd in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument this morning. It was maybe 10-15 miles from pavement but about 40 miles overall. The Sienna driver looked like the human equivalent of this Buick, though he may have been a 1949 model. In fact other than his covered wagon, he looked like he just stepped out of 1849.
The nice thing about old iron is body/frame construction makes it at least a bit easier to slip more modern running gear from a 4wd K10 or Blazer underneath those 1959 Buick clothes
That’s not the most attractive Buick I’ve seen. In fact I would have been wrong if guessing what it was.
Anyhow, two things come to mind when I read your story. First, how I’ve turned from an SUV guy to the hater of SUV’s. Way back in 2001 is when I purchase my first SUV: a brand new Jeep Cherokee Classic in gray. I hated it. It was too noisy, rode badly and got poor MPG. I sold it to a friend about 8 months later since her old Jeep had over 235,000 miles and she wanted to give it to her nephew. So she did and purchased mine and I happily went back to a sedan. A couple years later I went back to another Jeep, but got the more refined Grand Cherokee. Since then I owned numerous of them including the Liberty I drove on my move from IL to CA. Once here, with gas prices and so much traffic, I quickly tired of the SUV and went back to cars. About 10 years later (2014) is when my attitude towards SUV’s changed as every soccer mom and mall rat began to drive them. I don’t honestly see myself ever going back to any SUV/CUV.
The second thing the article made me think of was back in 1985 when Buick was introducing the all new Park Ave and Electra models in front drive. I recall seeing advertising and articles about how Buick tested the new car and one was of them with a gray Electra with big round lights on the front and I think a rack on top. If I’m not mistaken, they may have been doing that testing in Australia.
found the pic
Let’s try this again. Found the pic. Now trying to put it here. Looks like it was maybe in Germany and not Australia.
You need to reduce the size 1(200 pixels or less in width) before it will attach here.
Thanks. I will give it another try. But I’m sure many have seen the picture I’m talking about. It was actually them testing the new T-type Electra on the German Autobahn.
These are Mad Max times.
The SUV I drove was my father in laws 18 Equinox, and that was only to trade it in!
We had a 92 S10 Blazer, a 97, and a 99 Suburban . None for me, thanks.
However, the angry Buick almost looks completed now!
It looks pretty cool! (And I’m a traditionalist!)
I’ve seen a couple of later model Crown Vics and even an old Lexus LS400 with this treatment. Don’t know how well those would do on a fire road. Yes, it’s all about the looks and image, as an old chopper fan I know! All kinds of compromises of function to project a certain image.
I had read contemporary criticisms that later ’50’s cars were not very usable on the occasional gravel or dirt road trip for camping and fishing. Most buyers were used to more utility in their vehicles.
My first SUV was a high mileage V8 Ford Explorer. I liked driving it, it was the right size, but fuel economy was poor. I’ve currently got a big CUV, my Flex, and a big SUV, my Navigator. I like the Nav as a luxury car, and it’s got room for everyone and everything. The Flex is just as roomy and comfortable but gets better mileage. I would love a new Aviator, but they are way too expensive for me, and I’ll have to wait until they depreciate to a level I can afford.
Until then, I’m considering getting a smaller Lincoln SUV like an MKC or MKX. I think that a vehicle of this size would be a good compromise for daily use. Yeah, I’m a Lincoln fan.
It looks Cuban!
Love the Buick. But I’m looking forward to the day when I see one of these beauties double parked outside my local Starbucks.
The Buick also reminds me of this Holden wagon, sheathed in corrugated steel – an ‘art car’ in the collection of the Te Papa museum in Wellington, NZ.
Sounds like you don’t live in Northern California. I swear they’re already here, parked outside coffee shops. But often with highway tires befitting of a 60s Cadillac on them.
That’s intense.
I think the ’72 Fury also has a face for this sort of build, along with the ’59 Buick and ’61 Plymouth..
Make mine an SUVista Cruiser! A lightly lifted 4WD 68 to 72 Vista Cruiser.
Looks like this car was part of an off-road race called the Gambler 500 (the race name is on top of the windshield) where I think the objective is to compete a 500-mi. off-road event in a $500 car:
Nice way to deal with that GM coil spring sag.
When I was 19 I took an ’83 Honda Civic more places off-road in West Texas than most Jeeps/CUVs/SUVs will ever see. I never had another vehicle that was as easy to maneuver around the rocks, cacti, and mesquites. Now I use a Polaris Ranger, and it’s not as practical.
Most are probably doing it for the look. definitely better then the Carolina Squat.
Their are others though that actually do use the vehicle for its intended purpose.
Being conditioned to our times, the stance almost looks normal, and fits in with today’s vehicles. Recalling how much these longer, lower, wider cars would drag their butts and plough their noses, it may actually be a better driving experience with the modifications.
This looks a bit like a nicer Gambler 500 car. Bend is full of these since there is a Gambler event here, plus lots of “overlanders”. My favorite local ride is a VW Rabbit we often see on the Forest Service roads, usually delivering a mountain bike to a trailhead.
That is one awesome ’59. The rear may be angrier than the face, with the elevated stance.
“Don’t even think about it!”
I kind of like the look. Not every American car of the period could pull it off, but it suits the angry Buick.
Gotta admit it’s kinda awesome.
Reminds me some, of the Richardson Pan-American Highway Expedition. And its 1941 Plymouth. Recall, reading about this adventure, as a little kid.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2013/11/27/recreating-history-the-bbc-wants-your-1941-plymouth-sedan
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/cc-vintage-the-adventure-south-to-the-tip-of-south-america-in-a-1941-plymouth/
Had a 91 S10 Blazer four-wheel drive I honestly have to say until it got about around 140k to about 150k it was a great little truck SUV what you ever you want to call it never got it stuck nowhere and I took it through some crap when people with jacked up high up trucks went through and mine wasn’t raised or nothing all I had was good all terrains I actually kind of miss that thing is that 4.3 L Vortec V6 did have a little bit of balls not big balls but decent balls
Remember many years ago taking my hundred dollar fiesta camping a t Summit Point . There was a fair mudhole in the infield and after watching jeeps and such crawl around the edges we (fortified by bourbon at seven am) took the poor beater car wide open right through the middle. It was our ride home after all . There was applause when we emerged brown but still running
There’s an event in Oz called the Shitbox Rally, where you can’t spend more than $1500 on a car, but you must raise at least $5K in sponsorship for cancer. Participant cars sometimes look a bit like this, as they drive off through thousands of miles of the outback. Remarkably enough, it’s raised over $40million for cancer research since 2010.
Caroline Kennedy (as in daughter of JFK) drove in it in what looked like a scungy old ex-taxi Falcon wagon called “Moonshot” in February this year. (I should add she’s the current US ambassador, and so, alas, had to be followed by a what’s described as a huge, black amoured SUV, but it’s the spirit of the thing that counts, right?)
I will go a different direction – I am not one to name cars, but if this one was mine, I would name it “Invictus”. First, it is a play on Buick’s short-lived “Invicta” model name. But more, this car (or certainly its owner) could be the subject of the poem that celebrates the stoicism of the Victorian British:
Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.
’59 Buicks are incredibly versatile cars. They can also be amphibious!