This Is Not Your Old Man's Buick

black mamba

But it was called a Buick. In fact, it was called a Buick LeSabre. It was a GM concept car developed in the early '50s. Many of the design features were incorporated into production models of many GM cars as the years rolled along.

Dogdots

This is a nice car. I had to show it to the hubby because I couldn't find the headlights. He thought it was COOOOOL

blind.spider

That is one of the coolest early concepts I've seen in a long time.
Makes me want to go out and cruise with my oldie.
Nice shots!

black mamba

Hi Mary,

I doubt this car had headlights. Most of these concept cars were design exercises only....very few were intended to be driven on the street, if driven at all. It sure is one sharp car, though.

Tom

black mamba

Hey Nick,

Thanks for looking in. The " cove " trim behind the front wheel on this concept car was the inspiration for the body cove presented on the Corvettes from 1956 - 1962.

Tom

wendell

What a unique auto. It looks like a missile on wheels with the intake and exhaust out the rear. It looks like it was designed by someone who designs aircraft.

Azzaro

Wow Tom ..... that is one cool Buick....In the early 50s the family car was a 48 Mercury..... My dad would have liked that Buick......:D gary:D

black mamba

Hey wendell,

Thanks for looking in. A good many of the concept cars out of Detroit in the early '50s did, in fact, exhibit a huge influence from the aviation world. That was a period when the jet aircraft were beginning their domination and some of their design characteristics began to show up in all sorts of products....particularly cars.

Take care,

Tom

black mamba

Hi Gary,

I remember my dad taking me to a GM Motorama car show in the early '50s where a few cars like this one were on display....in fact, this very Buick was probably one of those cars shown. That show must have been in 1953 because I distinctly remember seeing the first Corvette I ever saw there. Soon after that show, our neighbor, who was a local Chevy dealer, brought a Corvette home. He gave all of us neighborhood kids a ride in the thing....I don't think I touched ground for a week after that.

Tom

TonyCooper

In today's mail a friend of mine sent me an attachment with some photographs of a couple of
1948 Buick Streamliners. Beautiful car, but the photos are not as sharp as yours.

Email me and I'll forward it to you. tony_cooper213@earthlink.net

redleash

Cool car and nice shots, Tom. What lens do you use to shoot car shows like this? There are some around here once in a while and I would like to give them a try. Your shots have such clarity in them.

Lauren

black mamba

Hi Lauren,

It's great to hear form you.

Long-range optics are almost useless at shows like this. I use, almost exclusively, short-range zooms. As a dyed-in-the-wool Nikon man, I used their AF-S 17 - 35 MM F/2.8 for a long time. For quite some time, though, I've been using, and GREATLY prefer, my Tokina AT-X Pro 20 - 35 MM F/2.8. I don't know if all Tokina lenses are this good, but this one is one of the sharpest and truest-color rendering lens I've ever run across in over 40 years of shooting. If I anticipate doing any really close-up abstract work, I'll drag along My Nikor 105 MM Macro F/2.8 lens. If you try this type of shooting, be sure and use a circular polarizer to help deal with the glare issues.

Take care my friend and good luck,

Tom

squirl033

interesting design. you can see the influence of the jet age in the styling... the designers were obviously enamored of then-still-new jet aircraft, and gave this concept car some jet fighter styling cues... the long, round "exhaust" at the back, and the "intake" in front of the hood...

DaddyO

Quite the beauty. Very refined. :D:D Beautifully dressed.

Nice color... Nice rear. Luxuriously smooth contours.
Clean. Beautiful chrome works everywhere. :whew
A treat to see these Tom.

redleash

Hi Tom-

Thanks for the info! I have a Tamron 17-50 2.8, which sounds like a good choice, eh? There's a classic car show in mid-May up in Blanco--I might take a ride up their and check out the rides!

Cheers,
Lauren

black mamba

Hi Rocky,

I appreciate you looking in and thanks also for your comments.

Tom

black mamba

Yo Michael,

I started looking all over the picture for the girl you were describing....then it dawned on me you were talking about the car.:D:D She is a beaut, isn't she?

Take care, Tom

black mamba

Hey Lauren,

Your Tamron should do you well. Don't forget the polarizer.

When you're shooting shows like this, you are, of course, stuck with the positioning of the cars as they are displayed.....nothing you can do about that. Explore, though, changing position of yourself. Pay attention to what elements may be reflecting off of the car....perhaps an adjoining car, people, etc, etc. Changing your position can often mitigate, or minimize, the presence of those reflections. You'll soon learn, too, that patience is a real virtue at shooting shows.

Take care,

Tom

redleash

thanks for the tips!