But the one thing he mentioned was the front mounted winch. While I have no proof this is the car my customer mentioned 40+ years ago, I seriously doubt there were 2 similar vehicles created by Buick for wealthy Texans. Until I read this posting, I had long forgotten about that visit to see the Toronado and being told about the custom Buick.
He wanted a big Buick 4 door open car with folding windshield, front PTO driven winch, sidemount tires, and high ground clearance. My take on that is the “pull” this Texan had was political power and plenty of money, and as I remember the owner of the King Ranch back then had both. Apparently this guy had a lot of pull with GM. Anyway, he said one of his first jobs was at the Buick design center, where he was told to work on a special car for a member of Congress and a rancher in Texas. I can remember where his unusual home is located, but not his name.
[I’ve wracked my brain to remember the Ferrari owner’s name, but I simply can’t do so. How does all the above relate to this Buick:
When pressed on how he got the car, he said he had been a designer at GM and was instrumental in the overall Toronado design. It was a pre-production example of an Olds Toronado, with a serial number containing only multiple letters “X”. During the time his car spent in the shop, I got to know the owner of the Ferrari, and he invited me to visit his home to see another car. About 1979 a customer drove into my shop with a Ferrari 275 long nose, and he asked me if we could repair the badly corroded doors on the car.
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