I survived the BOP-C-GMC

[electra225]

I am tired, hot, hungry, ready for a hot shower and some kip. They had over 250 cars there. 55 Oldsmobile, 38 Buick, 18 Cadillacs and the rest Pontiacs of various descriptions. They had a class for almost every Pontiac there, then lumped the Buicks, Olds, and Cadillacs in two or three classes each. I won't go next year until the make that a little more equitable. We had a good trip, saw lots of nice cars I had never seen. I had not seen a single Buick that was at the show this year, not one. I met a lot of new Buick people and we may get an informal Buick club going in the East Valley. The oldest car there was a 1928 Pontiac, the first year they built Pontiacs, back when they were a division of Oakland. There was a 1940 Cadillac "senior" car there ( whatever that is). All I know is it had two radios and was HUGE. The oldest Buick was a 1935 that I had never seen before. There was a Buick "concept car" there, a 2009 Buick Lucerne with a Cadillac Northstar V-8 in it. Why anyone would, on purpose, put one of the worst engines ever built in anything, then have the audacity to call it a concept car is beyond me. Lots and lots of Pontiacs there. It is surprising how much modification they are doing to Pontiacs. When the BOP started, they would disqualify modified cars if they were entered in a stock class. I was SHOCKED by how many LS engines power GTO's anymore. And those dumb looking, big buggy wheels they put on nowadays. I'll shut up now, I'm getting grouchy. I have pictures for another day.

[TC Chris]

"Senior" Cadillac must have been a limousine? Fleetwood body?

I was curious about the Northstar so Google helped out. I've always admired GM for being willing to experiment a bit, to innovate (hey, I owned & liked a Corvair). Sounds like an engine that was great in concept and basic design, a bit deficient in initial execution, and then better after they addressed problems.

Chris Campbell

[walyfd]

Sounds like quite a show. That Lucerne... I thought they did offer that car with a V8 derivative of the N*... I had the base model with the 3800 6 cylinder. That whole series of GM weren't the greatest. Lotta cheap parts. I lost defroster when one of the diverter motors stripped.

As for the Cadillac. Sounds like a series 75 limousine. "Senior" is usually an AACA award level.

[maxidyne]

Pictures.......

This was the toughest class I have been in at the BOP. A Lesabre, 3 Wildcats, then 4 Electras plus mine. One Electra was a convertible. All done cars....

[TC Chris]

Love that '56 Olds, except for the color, and that '59 is, uh, exuberant....

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

The red on the bottom of the '59 Super 88 should go up to the top chrome strip on the fin. They followed the body line instead. The Oldsmobile guys were giving the owner sand because his two-tone was in the wrong spot. Ralph Musselman would be proud. Ralph would have had a 98, but they had his colors right. He bought a new red and white 98 four door hardtop every years.

The '56 98 Starfire convertible is the only Garnet Red over Raven Black Olds 98 there is. The owner already had a blue and white Starfire so when he got this one, it was also blue and white. He wanted something different. Art had his Garnet Red over Raven Black '57 Roadmaster convertible and the Olds owner liked the colors, so Art painted the '56 Olds '57 Buick colors. Cadillac used that color, not sure about Olds, but nobody had it in 1956 that I'm aware of. Due to the metallic content, Garnet Red looks orange if you take pictures in the sun. That is a factory air, loaded, loaded, loaded 1956 Oldsmobile 98 Starfire convertible.

The guys from the Pontiac club called this afternoon and spoke to the wife. They made a mistake giving out trophies. I got a first place award. They are sending it in the mail. I don't care about trophies, but it was nice of them to recognize the car and admit a mistake had been made. So, in tribute to Arthur B. Wright II, eight of his restored cars, one done nearly 30 years ago, won their classes at the BOP-C-GMC this year. Four of them were painted his signature Raven Black.

No, Bill, Rich's '63 Bonne wagon was not there this year.

3 Buicks, 3 Cadillacs and 2 Oldsmobiles that had "Arthurized" stickers on the radiator core support won their classes.

There was a guy there who questioned the bright paint on some of the underhood brackets on my Buick. The BCA judging manuals says that, with a couple of exceptions, the underhood brackets should be black. It does not specify the gloss of the black. There is a bracket that head bolts pass thru and one that the timing cover bolts pass thru that should be Apple Green engine color. My brackets and the air cleaner are all gloss black. This is considered over-restoration with no point or status deductions. Gloss black underhood brackets were an Art feature. "Gives it eyeball" he would say. "The last 5% that nobody does". The firewall is body color. There should be overspray on the fuel pump, distributor, plug wires and carburetor, but nobody does that, per the BCA judging manual "workman like manner" rule. Nobody restoring a car would paint the engine with everything on it like the factory did.

[William]

Do I see a couple of Riviera's?

Bill

[electra225]

Yep. A really nice white with black deluxe interior '71 GS, parked right next to the Buick. There was also a '68 with an LS6 engine and those dumb looking huge wheels that took that class. The '71 was nice, very well done, but white paint doesn't win a trophy. Somebody took a lot of effort to do that car right. Had the chrome dressup kit and the whole shot. No Stage 1 option, though.

Bill, you and I were at Art's shop when he was working on the '56 Starfire I posted. He was under the dash doing something, just his feet sticking out the door. The blue '56 Special I posted had a 455 under the hood. Better than repowering with a junkyard Chevy engine. I always threatened to repower a '56 Century with a 401 and make it look like a 322.

The red and white '59 S88 I posted was an example of needing the last 5% to make it a knockout car. Make the two-toning right, put the right wire wheels on it, get rid of the kiddie exhaust tips. It was an air, Autronic eye car, power windows, dual antennas very well optioned. Had tri-power but I don't know if that is right for '59 or not. Make that car right, and everybody would moan knowing they had lost their first-place trophy when you drove it to the show field.....

Air conditioning was a fairly exotic option for the midwest in the 1950's. I'd be willing to wager that 80% of the cars on the show field had factory air. Another 10% had hung-on air added later. Very seldom do you see even old collector cars out here without "refrigeration"....