Road Trip: Goldenrod Garage

My friend Silvester loves cars almost as much as I do; a survey of his yard will yield quite an eclectic bunch, including everything from a 1970 Cadillac Coupe DeVille to a 1982 AMC Eagle SX/4. Even though he recently turned in his man card with the addition of two Japanese vehicles to his fleet, he did it in a way that is all his own: his girlfriend's got a 1997 Infiniti Q45 and his own personal daily driver is a 1984 Datsun Maxima. Not a Nissan Maxima, a Datsun Maxima; say different and he'll pull a nutty on you much like he did on the poor girl at the RMV when she tried to title it the former. It's the last year the marque appeared in the States, and the last year they were rear wheel drive with an independent rear and had the single overhead cam 240Z motor shoehorned into them. A neat pairing, I admit, but still a huge step down from the 1986 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham and 1997 Cadillac Seville STS that previously occupied the two spots in the driveway. He owns a 1968 Camaro with a ZZ350 crate motor in it too, but it's in a very sorry state; this car would be turned away from a Mad Max movie for being "too rough." It's taken him five years to realize the Camaro's too far gone for what his current circumstances and budget would allow him to do, and he's finally decided to move on. Silvester's always been a fan of the heavy iron of the fifties; in particular the entire Buick lineup of 1959, and who could blame him?

Everybody always remembers the '59 Cadillac models for their outrageous fins, but they're too gaudy and over the top, in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, here; I'd still give my left nut to own one and nagged an old man that used to live around the corner with a beat up red and white '59 Coupe DeVille on an almost weekly basis to sell it to me, but I think, pound for pound, the 1959 Buick Electra 225 is just the right amount of fifties flash without going overboard; not to mention the majority of bigger Buicks in '59 were powered by the fantastic 401 Nailhead. Problem is, there doesn't seem to be many in the Massachusetts/southern New Hampshire area for the kid to look at. So when he told me about a four-door Electra 225 Riviera (please, all you would-be car experts can save the e-mails telling me there was no such thing as a Riviera until '63; I know. Buick called all of their hardtops "Riviera," much like Oldsmobile would follow suit by calling all of their hardtop models "Holiday;" the Riviera name existed as a body style designation from 1949 until 1963 when Buick gave the name to its personal luxury coupe.) with a vista roof for sale at the one and only Goldenrod Garage in Freeport, Maine, of course I said I'd go along to take a look at the thing, especially since it had been about eight years since I'd been up there when my father was still in search of a Packard to restore.

The rain was coming down hard all morning with no end in sight, and we had a 262-mile round trip ahead of us. This factor alone would dictate to any normal human being that a vehicle equipped with modern amenities such as anti-lock brakes and traction control could be the only rational choice for such an excursion, and was taken into serious consideration when choosing the car that would take us to our destination and safely home again. Ten minutes later we were gassing up the '77 Cutlass and went hydroplaning on up to Maine.

We made it in once piece, lackluster seventies defrosters and all. Not that if the windows were clear I could have seen much anyways; the high setting on old windshield wipers is today's low. Couple that with sideways rain all the way up the Maine Turnpike and driving becomes a blurry, soggy adventure! But the old girl performed flawlessly, got us there in comfort and style, and the rest she got in the space of honor right in front of the office door was well-earned.

If you've never been to a place like Goldenrod Garage, you're really missing out. There's all sorts of wonderful vehicles around for everybody's taste and budget. Concours-quality restorations such as the stunning 1958 Cadillac Coupe DeVille that can be found in the barn on the other side of this row all the way to beyond gone parts cars like the 1974 Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna out back in the field that could quite literally break in half if you were to look at it the wrong way can be found here, and everything in between. The row above represents a few rough project cars. That red straight six-powered '64 Pontiac LeMans convertible in the middle really caught my eye; I could see her shiny and new again with a built 389 or 400 or 455 between the rails in a year or two. The two Studebakers closest to the end and the '56 Chevy towards the other end didn't look too bad either.

Wow. This building is the length of a football field probably and has two floors of the best cars in inventory here. There were two 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix convertibles, a one year-only body style, almost as soon as you walked in the door. Those two '58 Cadillacs on the top level that you can see in the picture (the green Fleetwood Sixty Special in the front left and the red DeVille convertible behind the 1949 Ford Custom Deluxe Sedan you can see in the front right) were so impressive in person. The '58 Impala behind the green Caddy was stunning as well, as was most everything else in this barn. Everything from an all-original running 1924 Ford Model TT depot hack to three early 90's 9C1 police package Chevrolet Caprices could be found in this building, with a 30's, 40's, or 50's bicycle hung here and there from a crossbeam to mix it up a little. Now imagine two more buildings of a similar size filled with driveable, presentable originals down to very rough project cars that were still too good to be kept outside. The last of these buildings is where the '59 Buick awaited us.

What a machine! I've always loved the one year-only angry headlights and delta wing styling of the 1959 Buick. This was definitely a diamond in the rough. Solid as a rock, save for a few small holes in the floor on the drivers side, she was all there. The interior was in amazingly good shape; new carpets, headliner, two front armrest caps, and a little pad on half the dashboard and you're off and running. Literally. This baby runs and yard drives! Something was up about the vacuum booster for the brakes, though; I think the gentleman that owns the place said it can lock up at times. But that's a small price to pay and a minor thing to fix to be behind the wheel of such a big bold automobile such as this; I wish I could have taken it home myself. Seventies cars are all well and good for where I'm at, but there really is nothing like a car built before the days of widespread emissions and safety legislation that brought about the demise of the vehicles that were truly great. This Buick is one of those vehicles. After spending a good three hours at the place, and talking about prices and such, Silvester and I were on our way; he with a figure in mind that he'd like to pay for the car if it is in fact the one he'd like to buy. But before coming home, even though we knew they'd be closed, we proceeded to take a slight detour to Classic Convertibles, also in Freeport, to see what sort of neat stuff they had sitting around. Mostly 60's muscle, mostly Chevelles and 442's, some cloned and some real, but all in tip-top shape. Oh, and this old piece of junk we parked next to.

Don't worry, it's a clone. Nobody would leave a real 1969 Yenko Camaro unattended overnight in an open lot out in the rain.

Still doesn't make it any less funny to see, though!