The Buick Blackhawk show car is designed to emphasize Buick's heritage of design and power for the specialized audiences that attend custom/hot rod shows. According to Michael E. Doble, Buick's Special Vehicles Manager, it has classic styling combined with contemporary proportions. The rear-wheel-drive Blackhawk is a 2-plus-2 convertible with a retractable top, and a body with late '30s and '40s influences. At the front is a classic 1939 Buick grille with fine vertical bars, and its overall sheet metal combines the styles of 1941 and 1948 Buick Roadmasters.
Doble has been in charge of creating Buick show and concept cars as well as some specialty production models for the last 15 years. His concepts have been built mostly to headline major auto shows, but the Blackhawk was created to fill a different need-one he perceived when he attended custom and hot rod shows and experienced the enthusiasm of their crowds. "We felt we needed a custom Buick for that audience, but not a hot rod," he said. "Hot rods tend to have simple bodies, exposed engines, large rear wheels, and lots of chrome. But when you build a custom, it's like redesigning a car."
While Doble had the idea of creating a Buick custom car with heritage overtones, he did not create the Blackhawk. He took his ideas to five companies and they came back with a number of creative concepts. He chose one of four concepts submitted by Steven D. Pasteiner, a former Buick designer and current owner of a design-and-prototype company called Advanced Automobile Technologies.
"We used the 1939 grille because it is one of the most significant in Buick history," said Pasteiner. "Those vertical bars are hints of the grilles that became Buick icons in the '40s and early '50s. The grille sets the tone for the Blackhawk. But we also liked the 'torpedo' body from the top-of-the-line Buicks of the 1940s."
The Blackhawk's performance goal is 0-97 km/h (0-60 mph) in under 5 s from its 1970-vintage 7.5-L (455-in3) Buick GS Stage III V8 engine and electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission. The naturally aspirated, overhead valve, fuel-injected engine generates 345 kW (463 hp) at 4600 rpm and 691 Nom (510 lboft) of torque at 4200 rpm.
The car's estimated curb weight is 1630 kg (3600 lb), and it measures 5180 mm (204 in) long, 1990 mm (78.2 in) wide, and 1390 mm (54.9 in) high, on a 3280-mm (129-in) wheelbase. Many of its major components are hand made, such as the frame, the carbon-fiber top, and the retractable system that lowers the top into the trunk. The car has a fully independent suspension and dual exhaust with 76-mm (3-in) pipes. The Blackhawk's 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels (similar to those on uplevel Rivieras, Wildcats, and Skylarks of 1965) are fitted with Z-rated 295/35R-18 front and P295/45R-18 rear tires. Brakes are Alcan-Baer high-performance four-wheel discs.
A lighted logo in the middle of the trunk exterior incorporates turn signals to commemorate the 1939 Buick, which featured the industry's first production turn signal. A nod to contemporary technology is the car's Global Positioning System navigation system, tied to an interior liquid crystal display screen, and a remote keyless entry system-to open the doors, which do not have exterior handles.
The Blackhawk will serve as a showpiece for many events leading up to Buick's centennial in 2003.
Kevin Jost
AEI September 2000
