Buford the Buick

Hey Mark!

Those are pretty much dead-on observations on these cars. As you know, they were basically unit-bodies with a sheet metal "frame" underneath. Even the glass is thin. This example has aluminum bumper beams. Some even had aluminum rad supports. I had an El Camino ('78, which I bought new) that had an aluminum hood. It was because of that flexi-flier syndrome that I spent the time bracing everything. The bars that tie the forward trailing arm mounts together are a pain to install (and you can pre-load them..which is the case here), but they certainly work. Before I started (when the car was more or less stock), I could jack the car up and watch the door gaps change! Today, nothing moves or droops. I like going to car shows and taking a close look at Grand Nationals. You can easily spot the ones with extra heat under the hood and little or no chassis bracing (tweaked quarters, cracked windshields, cracked t-tops, "B" posts that are cracking, etc.)<g>. Of course, light also equates to quick for most cars!

And speaking of that, do you have any pix of your '79? I'd like to see some. Sounds like a real bad boy! I like the part about getting kicked off the drag strip I can relate...



Take care man...
Wayne Scraba