1965 Sportwagon - "The Red Pearl"
I am the second owner of this beauty...the original owner was Eddy Manson, the Oscar award winning musician & composer of the "The Little Fugitive" for Disney in 1956 ! I purchased the car from Eddy in l989 & since I am also a musician & composer I feel like it's stayed in the right family ! This has been my 'daily driver' for 19 years...
There were 28,356 total Sportwagons made in 1965. The 'custom' series lead the way with the highest number produced at 11,166 autos. My 3 seat model is the 'mid' level series with 4,664 cars produced that year. Altho most people refer to the upper scenic windows as 'vista cruiser' windows, Buick referred to them as 'skyroof' windows !
I rebuilt the original engine (300 c.i.w/ 2 speed tranny) in 1994 & junked that one in Dec. '04 & put a new Corvette 350 crate engine (290+ hp) with a 700R4 tranny & a 3.73 Currie rear end. I also added Hooker Headers & 2.5 inch exhaust pipes. I added disc brakes in 1999...glad I did !
GOOD NEWZ EVERYONE ! after much deliberation i decided to keep the ol' gal & stripped the outside, gutted the inside, put in a new windshield & had some custom seats made in august of '08...the color is "medium red pearl" - a very mutable color indeed...depending on the light it can be a deep, ruby red to a golden/brownish red to a maroon tone...GLAD I DID IT !!! getting lots of looks & thumbs up ! Mike's Upholstery did a great job on the seats...he's in Mission Viejo, CA ! highly recommended !
I've always loved those big, bold Buicks & even wrote a song about 'em called "The Land of the Buicks" with former "Computone" partner Ian Taylor in Hawaii in l986 ! I had a'73 Century wagon back then that was a beautiful burgandy red & it got us to a lot of gigs around Oahu...
ciao 4 now, ross
Visit my website: www.rosscosta.com !
