Consumer Culture Shock – Electra Encounter

frankiess_buick_3
 
[Ed’s Note: The following rant is courtesy of an old friend, Frankiess. He’s a blogger, video artist, used car salesman, student of life; there are a number of things in the modern world that really grind his gears. He drives a 2004 RX-8  -Antti]
 
I took the RX-8 for a bit of an afternoon wash. And being the woodhead that I am, I forgot my chammy at home. And drying up the car after a wash in these temperatures is essential, so I made a pitstop at a nearby parking garage. It’s gonna be frozen stiff in the morning, I just know it..
 
..anyway. I wasn’t the only one looking to benefit from a well-ventilated underground warm garage.
 
 
frankiess_buick_1
 
A Buick whatever landbarge [Ed’s note: Someone will probably know the exact year] rolled up, and the most comically stereotypical elder-greaser got out for a smoke. The sight was impressive amongst all the middle class moms rolling into their Toyotas with shopping bags full of mundanity. I just had to say hi. And being a proud owner, he was glad to give me a quick tour.
 
The Buick wasn’t too old, he said, only some 40 years of age. I neglected to mention that it had less rust than my 2004 Mazda. He said it feels like new, with only 60k miles on the odo. I had my doubts, but the interior actually did look like it had rolled out of the shop yesterday. And I’m not talking about some plastic factory in the Philippines. This had a definite sense of “premium” all over it.
 
He showed me the original receipt for the car. A price of 5300 dollars, which included the fm-radio unit, a rare option at the time! What really surprised me though, was the clearly driver oriented cabin, with all the controls arranged around the driver’s seat. It immediately gave the car, that only 5 minutes ago was just a ton of metal to me, some character. Yeah, i could imagine someone having a leisurely cruise in this thing.
 
frankiess_buick
 
“I coulda registered it as a museum car, but hell, then i could only drive it for 30 days in a year. And I wanna drive this baby daily!” the man explained. “You drive this every day? Impressive!” I asked, while trying to figure out the friction coefficient of a Buick riding on summer tyres in icy weather. “Of course! It’s insane to own a car you like and not USE it!” he exclaimed, and sidenotingly added “Which means weekly washes and rust protection treatments in the summer.” I also neglected to point out that this land barge gets the same MPG as my Mazda.
 
I listened to his rant about modern society with its consumer culture and disposable products: appliances, tools, furniture and cars most of all being impossible to maintain and even cheaper to just swap for a new one. Followed by the resulting generation of practically inept people, with skills enough to create facebook pages or maybe a youtube video, but no clue as to how a carburettor works.
 
I’m always up for a discussion about the degradation of modern society, but I never thought I’d find myself in one while listening to an aged gearhead in the parking garage of the local supermarket. The whole American car-scene in Finland, which up ’til now I’d considered a strange cult-like phenomenon consisting of greaseheaded, leathercoated yokels in oversized industrial aged landyachts, started to make sense to me.
 
I mean, maybe we all really should find our inner roots, give up this life of spending and return to the wild. … in a 1970s Buick Electra.
 
[Photos & Text: Janne Pitkänen]
 

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22 responses to “Consumer Culture Shock – Electra Encounter”

  1. Jim Vogel Avatar
    Jim Vogel

    Looks like a '71 to me. I had one in college. We took it to concerts and stuff like that with 7 or 8 people stuffed in it. Mine was a 4 door, which had no B-pillar, and was really cool when all the windows were down. We called it the Buhog. Man, I loved that car.

  2. mdharrell Avatar

    1972. It's hard to make out the front, but the rear is enough to go on.

    1. Impalamino Avatar
      Impalamino

      Agreed. Definitely a '72.

      1. Jim Vogel Avatar
        Jim Vogel

        Right you are, and mine was a '72, not a '71! Had a senior moment there for a minute.

        1. dukeisduke Avatar
          dukeisduke

          Yep, it's a '72. There was one featured on HMN as the feature of the day last week, a loaded Custom Limited with 15,700 miles:
          http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2013/03/04/hem
          I want to see a closeup of the dealer emblem on back, to see where it's from.

          1. dukeisduke Avatar
            dukeisduke

            Ho.ly.Crap. It was bought in Babylon, Long Island, New York? It was either garaged winters, or moved far away from NY early in its life, because if it stayed up there very long it would have rusted away. Wow.
            And thanks, Antti!

          2. mr. mzs zsm msz esq Avatar
            mr. mzs zsm msz esq

            Hey you found Jim's new car, and he even has $22k handy!
            <img src="https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/182758_624745452970_470887_n.jpg&quot; width="650"> Brings back memories, guys was dad's a '72 too? This was his first car in America. What a car! I remember he measured it once and it was in fact LONGER than 225" and then said something like, "Only in America, and 2x4s aren't the right size either!" My dad explained once to me how carb works by showing me the inside of the pump style bug sprayer. Dang does this photo get to me. I look just like my dad did, only like 13 years ago. And me, it;s like I'm staring at my youngest boy from three years back. Man I feel old now, those were good times, crazy but good, back then.

  3. clunkerlove Avatar
    clunkerlove

    It wasn't until the end that I realized – it's a parking garage with an enormous Buick Electra … in FINLAND. Makes the sentiments he expressed all the more significant.

  4. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Nice writeup of an interesting meet. I have been looking into used Mazda's lately, and I am a bit scared. Six year old cars, still shiny everywhere except for occasional serious rust. Holy macaroni! I would also be interested in driving an aircraft carrier like the Buick, but the social stigma here in Norway would be too much for my wife and some of our friends – seriously sad thing.

    1. mdharrell Avatar

      Social stigma? My mother's side of the family is from Norway; we've always been under the impression that big ol' American cars are met with enthusiastic support there. Maybe that's just my relatives….

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        It depends a lot on who you ask. =8^) Compared to strict technofetish Germany, where I originate, it's absolutely ok to drive a Chevrolet in Norway. But it's still not something you want to be seen in…Robert Emslie is probably the Hooniverse's guy for social reflections regarding cars, and I guess he could put a finger on it, too, if he spend some time driving a barge around the polar bears.

    2. frankiess Avatar
      frankiess

      Mazdas are fun little things. Great value for money. Too bad the cheap materials and lightweight sheet metals used aren't exactly made to last. Especially the earlier Mazda6s suffered from this, rusting from inside out. Almost like a modern Mercedes. =P

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        Indeed. I have never understood why they even try to do things so badly – somebody must have understood the consequences? And it almost sank the battleship that Mercedes once was.

  5. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    How rich do you have to be, to afford to fill it up? I DD's a '68 Bonneville for a couple of years, 30 years ago, it got 9-10mpg, and had a 26.5gal fuel tank.

    1. FrankTheCat Avatar
      FrankTheCat

      You have to live very very close to everywhere you daily drive to.

    2. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
      C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

      I DD'd a '73 Coupe deVille in the early 90's, 28.5 gallon tank and 8 MPG.
      When I was pulling the two personal watercraft I had to the lake, between the car, the skis, and the extra fuel for the skis, even at $1.259/gallon, I didn't get much change back from a $100.
      I still miss that car, though.

      1. Snuckster Avatar
        Snuckster

        My current DD is a 1968 Electra. 25 gallon tank at around 10 mpg 100 bucks fills up the tank here in Sacramento. http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff518/Teo_Ben
        http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff518/Teo_Ben
        http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff518/Teo_Ben

        1. C³-Cool Cadillac Cat Avatar
          C³-Cool Cadillac Cat

          That's a shame that yours has the slightly pushed in nose all seem to suffer from.
          That dash, though… That dash.
          I love how the wheel rides on those seemingly spindly spokes.

    3. Manic_King Avatar
      Manic_King

      Currently it takes a bit over $200 to fill tank of that Buick in Northern Finland.

  6. dukeisduke Avatar
    dukeisduke

    Definitely want to see a closeup of the dealer emblem. I'm guessing it's from the south, or maybe the desert southwest. Or SoCal.

  7. frankiess Avatar
    frankiess

    Sorry about the pics being so crap, I was too busy chatting with the man. I've always been a bit shy with the camera anyway. =)
    This indeed doesn't happen too often in Finland, and was a very refreshing random encounter!