There are cars and then there are AUTOMOBILES. The former are appliances on wheels that we purchase and use to get from point A to point B. The latter are objects of desire. Our pulse increases when we see one and we have a great desire to own one. For me at least, it’s a practical matter as to why I don’t own the AUTOMOBILE of my dreams. I don’t have a multi-car garage, I don’t have a mechanic on my staff and I don’t have a whole lot of money for more than just one vehicle.
For car lovers like me, that’s why there are a growing number of car shows each year. Event organizers have discovered that by hosting a car show, it will attract people like me so we can spend a few hours in the hot sun and maybe, just maybe, come across the object of our desire. For most people who lust for cars, the object of their desire seems to fall into several categories: their first car, the car they lusted after when a young man or woman, the car they had a momentous occasion in (use your imagination on that one!) or the car they would like to be seen in if money was no object.
I have a rather large number of vehicles that I lust after. Some make sense, most don’t. Personally, I’m sick and tired of 100-point cars that are either a two-door hardtop or a convertible from the 50s and 60s. I’m more attracted to rarely seen two-door station wagons (like the 1954 Plymouth coral colored wagon at this past summer’s Krasl Concours) or to lowly bottom feeder four-door sedans like a 1958 Chevy Biscayne sedan with a six-cylinder engine and a three on the tree. Perhaps it’s because you seldom see them and when you do, they remind you of the car your best friend’s parents owned back in your youth. When I visit the big Auburn/Kruse auction each Labor Day weekend in Indiana, I head for the car corral and enjoy seeing all the less popular cars on display like a 1959 Rambler sedan, a 1958 DeSoto wagon or a 1962 Chevy Corvair 500 coupe. One car I’m always looking for a shows is the 1961 Buick Special Deluxe 4-door sedan. My mother and I pestered my poor dad into buying a turquoise and white ’61 Special and it remains one of my all time favorite cars.
That said, it was a thrill to get an email from a Coloma reader recently who wondered if I would be interested in chatting with his dad who lives in Illinois and owns not one but two Buick Specials. He had read my column a few weeks back that included a photo that showed me standing next to a 1962 Buick Special that I had spotted at the Hershey show in October and wrote about. It didn’t take me too long to get on the phone and track down this lucky guy who owns both a 1962 Buick Special Deluxe station wagon and a the same year Buick Special Skylark convertible.
Meet Frank Tarpey of Highland Park, Illinois. A Buick fan from way back, probably because his family owned Buicks over the year, and still loyal to the fading Flint brand. While he has the two Specials in his collection for fun and show, his daily driver is a last-of-its-kind-and-built-in-Texas 1996 Buick Roadmaster station wagon. Yes, a station wagon. Back when the auto industry still called vehicles with a storage room out back a station wagon and not a crossover or a SUV. The big V-8-powered Roadmaster has over 163,000 miles on the odometer and is still going strong. No word on if and when he will replace the dependable ride but I would bet the crossover Enclave will be on his short list.
Frank enjoys both of his Specials, but is partial to the little convertible. The Skylark, as readers may recall, was Buick’s response to the small sporty car craze that swept the auto industry in 1961 and 1962 after the huge success of the Corvair Monza introduced in mid year 1960. Chevy discovered that there was a market for a compact two-door with bucket seats and an upgraded interior. Soon all four U.S. automakers followed suit with similar models. Ford introduced the Falcon Futura, Plymouth made the Valiant into the Signet, Pontiac gave us the LeMans and so forth. Buick’s answer was the Special Skylark. The Skylark was especially attractive and was the best looking of the so-called B-O-P small senior compact cars (Buick-Olds-Pontiac) that GM introduced in the fall of 1960 after the success of the Falcon, Corvair and Valiant the year before. The Skylark was introduced in mid-model year 1961 as a coupe, and then added a hardtop and a convertible in the 1962 model year. It was a fairly popular car with production figures of 12,683 in 1961 (total Special sales were 86,868) and improving to 42,973 in 1962 (total Special sales improved to 153,843).
Like the regular Special sedans the Skylark featured the all-new 215 cubic inch aluminum V-8 engine initially. Only 2,871 of the Skylark convertibles were built in 1962. Frank’s ’62 Skylark convertible has the 190 horsepower 4-barrel V-8 (and not the famous V-6 engine Buick introduced in 1962 – and won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award) plus the usual automatic transmission, power steering and brakes and it has a power top. He bought it in 1979 in really rough shape from a Chicago fire department caption (whose daughter drove it as a daily driver) for $125. It needed a lot of work. On the drive home he had to stop twice to fill the overheated car’s radiator. It is now restored and resides comfortably at Frank’s summer residence in Wisconsin.
While I’d take either Special, I’m really partial to his wagon. First it is really rare as only 10,380 were built. It, like my dad’s car, is turquoise with a white top. Lucky for Frank, the wagon has several useful options that add comfort and appeal to the car including air conditioning, a roof rake and the power operated rear window in the tailgate. Its aluminum V-8 engine has the 2-barrel carburetor and produces 155 horsepower. The wagon was purchased in 2000 from a member of the Buick Club of America and has 111,000 miles on the tires. He paid $2,200, which is an excellent price for such an unusual and rare car. The car listed for $2,890 without options in 1962.
My dad didn’t complain about it much but our little Buick’s engine was troublesome. I asked Frank if he had problems with his two aluminum V-8’s. He said no but he did know what the problem was. Apparently my dad’s Special was an early production model when Buick initially was careless about flushing out metal fillings from the engine block after casting. As a result, the filings found their way into the cooling system and caused overheating. The problem was eventually identified and immediately fixed.
So why did Frank end up with two Buick Specials? Easy answer. Frank’s first new car was a 1962 Buick Special convertible with a 3-speed stick shift and a manual top. He ordered it not with the newly available and popular V-6 engine, but with the aluminum V-8. It was burgundy in color and got great gas mileage. He likes best about his two cars the peppy yet economical V-8 engines. Next he finds both cars fun to drive. That’s what I remember about my dad’s car – it was light on its feet and a blast to drive. Lastly, Frank liked the styling. I totally agree. By far, the Special was the nicest looking of the B-O-P cars. I liked the pointed front fenders; the aggressive sculpturing alongside the car that reminded me of the dramatic side sweeps found on Buicks of the early and mid ‘50s and I especially liked the Skylark’s taillight design. Overall, Frank and I both agree that the Buick Special was, indeed, a special car. Let’s hope I can convince him to bring both cars to next year’s 5th annual Krasl Concours car show.
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