 |
| Pete, Bob and Wes and our '48 Pontiac "Silver Streak" |
We are "old car" guys- we appreciate them, enjoy looking at them, enjoy talking about them, and have wanted to own one since we were kids. We even toyed with the idea of sharing the cost of buying one some day and having adventures in it together.
One summer afternoon in 2012, Wes called me and Pete to say he spotted an old car for sale while on one of his jaunts around MN. It was in our price range and he wanted to know if he should make an offer. On a lark, we told him to go ahead on the condition that if we DID buy it, we'd drive it down Route 66. Ha! Long story short, the owner accepted our offer and we became proud owners of a '48 Pontiac Streamliner- with dreams of driving the Mother Road.
Admittedly, we don't know how to work on cars, nor much about the mechanical intracies that car nuts 'should' know- somehow we missed that detail during our boyhood years. But that didn't stop us from finding and buying the Pontiac. We promised ourselves, many years ago, that IF we ever owned a vintage car it would be a driver and NOT a collector item, so over time, the joke about driving from Chicago to Santa Monica became a promise to ourselves.
By early 2016 we became frustrated that after several years of work on the Pontiac it was not much closer to being road worthy and we began to explore other options. In February Pete and I flew back to MN with the idea of helping Wes move the Silver Streak to another shop that could speed up our timeline.
While visiting various shops around Rochester, we discovered, quite by accident, this beautiful '48 Buick Super. It's in 'great shape', has been stored for 30+ years, was consistently maintained, was driven in parades and to local events. It was for sale and at a price we couldn't resist. So, we bought the Buick, put the Pontiac on hold, and are making plans to begin our big adventure in just a few days!
On August 22nd my buddy Pete and I fly to MN to meet Wes. We are giving ourselves 2 days to make final preparations and then, on the 24th, we hop into the Buick and cruise to the start of Route 66 in Chicago. Ours is about to become the first Pontiac journey down the Mother Road, in a Buick.
 |
| Our '48 Buick Super |
