Oh, boy do I remember the old Buick Special.
My friend Ray (who I inherited my house from) was in the Army in North Carolina in '55 and bought a brand new special order Buick Special with a 3 speed transmission on the floor.
He drove it to Acropolis, North Carolina and rolled up to Lee Petty's yard and asked him to help him tune his Buick. Lee Petty is Richard Petty's father and a NASCAR Hall of Fame member in his own right. Lee Petty told him he wouldn't get his hands dirty but that Ray could do the work right there using Lee's tools.
It worked. I have a newspaper article that mentioned my friend Ray being arrested and jailed for street racing against a Jaguar XKE. The article also stated that the Buick clearly won the race :)
Ray said that race cost him a stripe (from Sargent back to Corporal) but it was damn sure worth it!
Wow, you certainly have a great story here about that Buick and it deserved a mention.
Now have you ever seen a Buick 8?
Very plain and primitive inside.
A pity that Hive does not have a pumping old car community, as there is nowhere to post these beauties and I have many of them.
I am sure that you also have many!