"Buick Heritage Tour: Building for a New Century,"
FOR RELEASE: June 10, 2002Buick's Heritage Tour Goes To Reno
RENO, Nev.- "Buick Heritage Tour: Building for a New Century," a traveling exhibit featuring rare vintage production Buicks and seldom-seen dream cars, will be on display at the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno between June 14 and Aug. 25, 2002.
"Buick, which will celebrate its centennial in 2003, has had a major impact on the American automobile industry - almost from the industry's beginning," said Tim Shickles, director of the Alfred P. Sloan Museum in Flint, Mich. (where Buick was headquartered for 95 years). "And the best way to tell that story is with the cars themselves. This collection has been put together over several decades and we're proud to take this exhibit on the road for the first time." The exhibit includes about a dozen vintage Buicks, plus engines and other artifacts. It was developed by Sloan Museum with support from Buick Motor Division of General Motors.
"We're very excited about this opportunity to display these rare cars to the public," said Jackie Frady, executive director of the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection). "This is the first time this unique collection that spans more than a century of automotive craftsmanship and history is being shown to museums and their visitors in the west."
The tour started at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in February and was there through Memorial Day. Shickles said that after Reno, the exhibit will move to St. Louis, Mo., and Saratoga Springs, N.Y. On May, 19, 2003, Buick's official 100th birthday, the exhibit will open at Renaissance Center (General Motors headquarters) in Detroit, and then travel to Flint in July of 2003. There Buick and the Buick Club of America will hold a celebration with more than 2,000 vintage Buicks expected from collectors throughout North America and several other parts of the world.
Buick claims one of the most important and dramatic chapters in U.S. automotive history, according to Buick General Manager Roger W. Adams.
Adams pointed out that Buick was the financial foundation on which General Motors was created - and GM became the largest automaker in history. Buick was also a starting point for many auto pioneers including William C. (Billy) Durant, GM's founder; Charles W. Nash, a founder of what became American Motors; Walter P. Chrysler, founder of Chrysler Corp.; and Louis Chevrolet, a star of the Buick racing team before he and Durant created Chevrolet Motor Co.
A "Century of Buick" brochure, containing small color photos of at least one Buick from every model year, will be available without charge to every visitor to the Buick exhibit while supplies last. Other Buick collectibles will be available for purchase at the museum's gift store.
Among the cars on display will be:
- A replica created by Sloan Museum of the first Flint Buick. It's a running model with a genuine 1904 Buick engine - one of only two known to exist.
- A 1905 Model C, the fourth oldest existing Buick and one of a dozen surviving cars of about 750 built in Buick's first full model year. This specific car is said to be the first Buick ever sold on the West Coast.
- A 1908 Model 10, considered GM founder Billy Durant's masterpiece. The Model 10 sold so well that Buick claimed to lead the industry in production and sales that year - and Buick's profits provided the financial backbone for Durant's creation of GM, also in 1908.
- A 1925 Opera Coupe. In the mid 1920s, Buicks starred on a world stage. Buicks won government tests in the Soviet Union for speed, power, durability and fuel economy; won a mountain-roads fuel economy test in Australia; were favored by royalty in Great Britain; were recommended by business leaders in Shanghai. In the mid-1920s, when adventurer Lowell Thomas led what he called the first automobile expedition into Afghanistan, he chose Buicks for the rugged terrain. Also in 1925, a Buick was sent around the world without a specific driver, handed from organization to organization to demonstrate Buick's durability and reliability and GM Export's worldwide operations.
- A 1936 Century -- it could easily hit 100 miles per hour. The small Buicks of 1936 - Century and Special, its low-priced sister -- helped Buick recover from the Great Depression and along the way helped boost General Manager Harlow Curtice toward the presidency of GM in the 1950s.
- A 1949 Roadmaster Riviera, sometimes considered Buick's greatest model. Features that are closely identified with Buick made their debut in '49: Portholes (officially called VentiPorts), hardtop convertible styling (no center side pillar) and sweepspear (a bright metal side decoration that swept down from the front fenders to the leading edge of the rear fenders, then kicked up over the rear wheels). In addition, the famous "carnivorous" pop-art grille remained an icon and Dynaflow automatic transmission was in its second year. The convertible version of this car was prominent in the 1988 Academy Award-winning movie, "Rain Man."
- A bright red 1953 Skylark, a limited-edition model often considered one of the most beautiful automobiles ever produced. This top-of-the-line Buick was the division's 50th anniversary model, and this was the first year for the Buick V-8 engine.
- Flashy concept cars from the 1950s - including the 1954 Wildcat II that looks like a Buick version of an early Corvette, and the 1956 Centurion, a bubble-top dream car.
- Buicks of a more recent vintage, such as a classic 1963 Riviera, and a 1970 GSX from the muscle-car era.
Looking to Buick's future in the new millennium, he said Buick has a solid foundation. The marque has remained a leader in recent quality surveys, the Buick LeSabre has completed its 10th straight year as the No. 1-selling full-size car in the U.S. market and the 2002 Rendezvous, Buick's first truck in nearly 80 years, has helped the automaker reach new customers.
ABOUT THE MUSEUM
Families should plan to spend about two hours visiting the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection). Admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, $2.50 for children 6 to 18 and free for children 5 and under. Members always enter free, and family memberships are available for $55 a year, which includes parents, their children and grandchildren under age 19. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from 10 to 4, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ample, free parking is available in the museum's parking lot off Mill Street. For more information, call (775) 333-9300 or visit www.automuseum.org.
