Show Car Sunday returns in a Brown way

CHOCOLATE THUNDER

 The other day I was walking to work from the train when this vision presented itself to me. Wow!

A 4-door hardtop 1973 Buick LeSabre in original Burnt Coral paint with a creamy white vinyl top. Talk about stage presence! This thing is immaculate, a mile long, and looks like molten chocolate being poured in a commercial.

This is the era of oversized bumpers being tacked onto cars due to new safety standards, but with this much Buick it's hard to notice. Just look how much hood there is on this thing!

The rear bumper is even more mammoth than the front, housing 2 taillights that are each over a foot wide as well, but it still looks proportionate to the overall scale.

I love the "glass house" back window that shows just how far forward the inner trunk space actually goes. When you lift that lid the space inside goes all the way up to the edge of the back seat, probably a foot and a half in from the back of the back window 

 The standard engine for this monster was the 350 V8, though a somewhat emissions-choked 455 could be ordered too. Either way it would need to haul almost 5,000 lbs around so performance wasn't exactly sprightly. There is something to the floating, overly cushy ride of these ocean liners though; seeing a speed bump or pothole coming up and having it barely register as it disappears beneath your bumper is almost like driving in the 3rd person. To top it off the power steering and brakes are so sensitive in these beasts that you can drive with one thumb and the gentlest pressing of your slipper.

 Here's one last shot from a quarter mile away so I could fit it all in the frame. That style line running from the hood down along the body to the rear bumper helps a great deal as far as design. The classic Buick portholes are still there, though they're squared-off and running along that line basically on top of the front fender. With the 4 windows down you can see how much space you'd have to hang your elbows out while cruising around, which is what this thing was meant to do.