To fans of the 1950 Buick, I issue my apologies for sharing this sorry sight. But when marlin_eightyseven posted this to the cohort, it really caught my attention.
What I’m most curious about with this car is whether or not it had any historical value when it was dumped in the Utah desert. I really hope that wasn’t the case. As a shot up hunk of metal today, it’s obviously worthless, with so little of its former grandeur visible.
Where it’s still evident, oddly enough, is in its engine block. Buick stuck to the straight-8 a bit longer than most other manufacturers, bar Packard and Pontiac. A little research suggests that V8s are actually smoother than inline eights at high output, and since they weighed less and took up less space, the writing was on the wall for Buick’s venerable engine, which had been around since 1931. I’m sure more than a few people were sad to see it go, but maybe not as sad as I am to see this beautiful wreck, despite its rather picturesque setting.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: 1952 Buick Super – Hmmm, Decisions, Decisions . . .
COAL: 1953 Buick Special Riviera
Well it IS only a three-hole. Small consolation….
I see a lot more than 3 holes on that thing….oh you mean from the factory…..
Once someone’s pride and joy as it rolled out of the dealership going home to a friendly garage. Washed and polished often, the admiring glances, the oohs and ahas now long gone. It’s sad in a way, but it’s only metal, glass and rubber. At least it’s final resting spot is beautiful and there are still those who remember it as more than a car.
I think of this a lot when I see a car in this shape. Once the shining product of design and labor and then the proud occupant of someone’s driveway, to go through a succession of owners and adventures, only to wind up in this circumstance. Not that cars are people, but you can almost empathize with it. (And, another straight-eight down the tubes…)
So…”Canyonside Classic”?
I think the same things sometimes, once, long ago, steel was stamped and pressed, parts were assembled, men worked, machines moved and the end result was this car, back when thing hit the end of the assembly it was a brand new shiny part of the GDP.
I think the same thing. But it is rare indeed that a car has what we might consider an honorable end to its life. They are either crushed, shredded, or picked apart at salvage yards. I often wonder whether people are hurt by the fruits of their labor being discarded like so much junk, but in the end they made thousands of them and we throw so much away that it probably doesn’t even register.
When you really think about it, most of this cars brethren had probably already been crushed by 1960, have you ever seen a photo of a scrapyard from the 1960’s, its amazing.
I think this cars final disposition is almost honorable, it sits there in the desert, like ruins from a long gone era, a Parthenon of the 1950’s.
Better not let Aaron65 see this – he may haul it home and start to work on it. 🙂
I look at this and imagine the poor thing slowly crawling along the desert sand, until its precious fluids are too depleated to continue. I can hear it, weakly moaning “Prestone, Prestone.” Now, here it sits along with all of the other bleached skeletons.
That rear bumper is oddly intact compared to the rest of the mess. Lovely photos.
I really like the photos.
Must have been a hell of a ride driving that into the desert hopped up on Billy Beer listening to Happiest Days of Our Lives, and wondering when the Iranian Hostage Crises is going to end. That is how I picture this Buick’s last ride.
+1
I envisioned a very similar fate and time period when I saw this car. It must have been one hell of a ride.
This car looks as though it has been there for 40 or more years without anyone touching it, except for people stripping it of its interior.
It does look like it’s been there a long, long time. Might have been into old age when it made its last ride, but not the caliber of classic it would be today, or 10 years ago, or…
I am reminded of a car we found in the Nevada desert in 1973 when we and my parents were field-testing their new VW Squareback. It was a mid-1930’s 4-door sedan, and it was an absolutely bare body shell with not a single removable part remaining. Also it was beat up in a way that suggested that cattle had been using it for a rubbing/scratching post. We finally found a data plate that had an Oldsmobile reference on it. I may have a photo, but I suspect it would take me three weeks to find the slide.
Hmmm… Looks like Toonces’ car after he drove it over the cliff!
hah!
Unlike the Pontiac and the Packard straight 8’s, the Buick was overhead valve, so it was at least more modern. The straight 8 was a really smooth motor, this Special has the small 248cid 8, but the big 320cid Roadmaster 8 is like a turbine, you can’t even tell the thing is running.
I am thinking the same thing, that Buick had OHVs. I don’t have my Buick reference books here but I think the 263 straight eight was redesigned or updated after WW2 making it a much more modern engine then the other straight eights of the early 50s. And even the Cadillac had L-head V-8 till 49 or so.
The 263 was introduced in 1950 and was a larger, but reengineered verson of the 248. The big thing was hydraulic valve lifters. Enough other changes that it is basically a new engine.
I read that Cadillac’s original V-16 was OHV, but their later version was flathead, allegedly smoother.
The US Southwest, like parts of Egypt, is a good place for preserving old stuff.
Yes, the first one was a 45 degree OHV. The second was a flathead 135 degree.
I reviewed what my Cadillac history book had to say about the V16. Most V16s were the OHV type with the flathead produced from 1938 thru 1940. The first V16 was considered to be exceptionally smooth.
1950 Buick easy restoration,99% complete.Needs slight attention to finish
Ran when parked….
“Ran when parked.” 🙂 (Yes, I’m thinking of you, Pete) (Oops, Carmine beat me to it.)
I’m just mystified when I see cars in desolate places like this. Was this anywhere near a major road?
It was adjacent to Temple Mountain Rd, a little dirt road that breaks through the San Rafael Swell. The closest ‘major’ road was Utah State Route 24, at least 5-6 mi east. Rural Utah is littered with old cars like this. I’m going to travel there again next month, so I’ll be snapping up a lot more pics!
That’ll buff right out….
When I first came West in the Summer of 1969 , the entire Desert was simply littered with old cars like this , some were all shot up . others were just sitting there where they’d been abandoned .
I wanted to bring so many of them home with me .
-Nate