This site is dedicated to Buicks! Not just the Gran Sports and other Hot Rod Buicks of history but the “Big Boats” as well. 

While Ford Chevy and Mopar hate to admit that it was a Buick Gran Sport that set the fastest quarter mile time for any stock car with a back seat, still the reason we drive on the street (besides getting from point A to B) is to enjoy the pleasures of street driving, right?

Of course a  Hot Gran Sport can deliver lots of street pleasure but not in the same way an ol’ Boat from the 40's, 50’s or 60’s can!

So this site is here to tell the story of beauty, comfort, ride and room to kick back while still being able to deliver the kind of torque and horsepower that can give you goose bumps. You'll find lots of great stuff here. Be sure and check out the Official Harley Earl Site.
 

I hope you enjoy the Big Bad Buicks site. I will try to cover as much of the Buick Story as I can. Buick was the King of the Big Cruisers! I hope to also feature as many Ford and other Street Rods powered by Buick as I can also because it was the torque of the motors from the early Straight Eight to the Nailhead V-8's to the 455 and Turbo V-6's that made Buicks history.
 
           
This 69 Electra 225 (Left) was bought new by my Dad, then passed on to me (I drove it over 300,000 hard miles as a musician on the road,  sometimes pulling a horse trailer full of very heavy band equipment) 

It now belongs to my son, Jake who had the 430 engine overhauled. It has been bored .060 over and now has a front timming cover and oil system from a 455. This almost two and a half ton beast is very hard to catch and it has seen 140 MPH! It is a mild custom with black tuck 'n roll dash and interior. It has a big 2 1/2" exaust system with a pair of glass-packs that'll curl your hair!

Enjoy a pictorial walk through Buick's “Big Boat” History below

This beautiful 38 Buick (left) is the perfect example of an early big, fast, and comfortable “boat” These Straight Eight powered cars could do a little over 100 MPH. These Buicks out ran the V16 Caddies and V12 Packard’s of the time. About the only competition was the ultra fast Straight 8 Dusenberg!

When I was a teenager in San Diego I used to surf a lot and there was this wagon just like this 1950 Buick (seen below left) that was always at the beaches. I rode in it once with some other surfers to get to another beach and we had to tell the guy, "slow down your doin’ 100 MPH!" Man I would love to own this beauty! 

These first Nailhead V8 powered 1954 Buicks (below right) were very fast. (around 110 MPH) My Dad had a 1955 Roadmaster. I have seen it’s speedometer move up to way over a hundred MPH many times as a kid when we lived near Las Vegas . (There were of course, no speed limits at that time in Navada)


 

 My Dad also had a 1959 Electra that looked a lot like this ‘59 LeSabre. (left) The Electra’s 401 C.I. Nailhead with 325 horsepower could get us to 120 MPH easily. I wrote a song about that ol' 59 called,"Blues From a Buick" (Feel Free to snag this mp3 for private use) If you would like info on the CD it's from  check it out at CDBaby.

   
The Buick Riviera came out in 1963 (shown below) and had a tremendous impact on the American automotive scene. The Riviera represented one of the most successful American attempts at capturing European styling and performance in a large automobile. Positioned at the top of Buick's coupes line up, the Riviera always represented cutting edge styling and performance and deserves a special place in American automotive history.



                                                                                                                                   
The Buick’s Nail Head V/8’s were built through 1966. In 1967 they were replaced with the 430 V/8 which was the same block as the 1970 455’s of Gran Sport Fame. These powerful boats of the 30’s, through the 60’s will never be forgotten! There will never be any kind of steal like this again and I hope more and more will be saved from the rusty junk yards of America before it is to late! 

 I plan to get a '59 Buick some day and drop a 455 or possibly a more modern V/8 in it (Keeping the horse power to around 1,000) and put some kind of two speed rear axle in it. One speed for the ¼ mile and one for the salt flats - I plan on getting it over 200 MPH!