Fathful Pursuit '69 Electra GSX

[electragsx]

"Hey, I mill and sinter Zirconia (Yttrium stabilized ZrO2) fun stuff"

That is really cool, you work with some very special materials. I am glad that Swain Technologies, Rochester, NY, is pretty close to me.

Yeah, the colors are now what you would expect from a 1960's hot rod. Believe it or not, that was the original colors for that car.

Crystal Blue, I for get the code...oh, here it is in my Buick 1969 dealer book... Code D. The vinyl top is bright white.

I felt that, given what we were representing, a USAF Fighter Group; that flew Red Tailed P-47s and P-51s, we would keep the red, white, and blue theme going.

You could look at it a number of ways: FIRST:
You see, the Red is for Red Tails of our fighters and blood our guys shed fighting the Nazis. The almost black Twilight Blue, Code E; is for the Black guys who flew the Red Tail planes that defended the White guys in B-17 and B-24 Heavy bombers. The Blue is for the skies where our fighters found the enemy. The white is for the billowing clouds that made the sky even more beautiful.

SECOND:
We believe that peace is the way to go. So our car isn't an aggressive solid red or solid black thing, or even a wildly painted ram rod. Its cool blue, calm white, with a bright red splash to top it off.

And so it goes,

 

[Pronto]

Hey, I mill and sinter Zirconia (Yttrium stabilized ZrO2) fun stuff.

As do I but a competing brand.:wink: We are both dental technicians.

 

[electragsx]

Turbo2nr,

Nice second pass. Change your name to ASKIKR!

 

[electragsx]

Faithful Pursuit Video

All,

This is a FAITHFUL PURSUIT VIDEO that we showed at a benefit for Jeff Knowles. Jeff was moving some of his heavy equipment when his vehicle rolled; giving him a severe head injury. Part of his scull was removed so the swelling in his brain could go down. His mom, Pat, and my family went to church together and Deborah was in her book club. Jeff and I worked together in telecom before the bubble burst back in 2001.

Because he was air-lifted out of the woods by helicopter, Jeff was socked with an $8,000.00 "ambulance" bill that his company insurance would not cover. We set up the Union 1000 hall, raffled off a LCD TV, where the Faithful Pursuit video was looped. Local bands played and tons of Jeff's friends came out and had a nice dinner for a few bucks! The Faithful Pursuit sat outside, decked out with American flags under a tarp. It was cold and snowy and we had a heck of a time coupling her trailer.

Eventually, everything worked out well and we raised over $10,000.00!!! Jeff always was and still is a cool country boy. Up here in the sticks, people seem to support each other and its worked well so far. We may have to do the same for Machuga, Nancy will let me know! Enjoy!



God Speed,

 

[electragsx]

 

[charlief1]

I think you goofed?

 

[electragsx]

Photobucket

I'll have to figure this out, thanks.

Our sponsors, the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. were invited to the Inaugural last week, I tagged along to help out. Man, was it cold! Good times though!

 

[electragsx]

Photos

How do you post photos instead of just links to photo bucket?

 

[charlief1]

First click post reply. Once that loads completely scrool down to the bottom and you will se manage atachments. Click on it and you have a choice of loading from your puter or off the web.

 

[electragsx]

Harley Earl's Buick with General Ike

Here is a photo of Ike looking over the new, at that time, Buick concept car, the big daddy of all concept cars; The "Star Buster".

This is the car that represented the sum knowledge of GM engineering. The supercharged 1951 Buick concept car, otherwise known as the LeSabre. This car's symbol with it's upside down three-pointed-star, was a nod to the Allied Forces beating the Nazis and their Wunder Weapons. Yes, its the same symbol used by Buick to celebrate it's 100 year anniversary a few years ago.

The statement was that the mighty GM machine had busted the mighty Mercedes machine. Both built tanks, aircraft parts, and assorted metric giga-tons of war machines. Their stuff was pretty cool but in the end we had more stuff.

 

[electragsx]

The 38th Annual Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. Convention has just accepted our car to be the only one on display at their convention in Las Vegas.

We will be on display at the Valet area at the Palace Station Hotel and Casino valet parking area. August 6th 9th.

 

[electragsx]

America's Only Tuskegee Airmen Show Car

Last Saturday, I went to Kennedy Airport to meet with the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. Most people are aware of the Black fighter pilots that fought in the segregated Air Force during WWII. They were people that did their part to defend us from Nazi tyranny and received little in terms of thanks from the general public. Today, they were invited to Barack Obama's Inaugural. They hold honorary Doctorates and real Doctorates. They have earned the Congressional Gold Medal, our nations highest award for national service. They helped to change a nation. If the Tuskegee Airmen did not fight and die in the 40's we would have been segregated until the 80s!

I drove my 7.3 liter Turbo-Diesel Ford Excursion to Kennedy. I tow our 24' race trailer with it but this time just drove the family from Corning, NY to NYC for a family visit.

I arrived late to the meeting because I had to drive my mom somewhere and as you know, family comes first. Mom's cousin, the late Judge George M. Fleary, was a Tuskegee Airman. George swore me into their non-profit organization in 1987. I had been working with the WWII vets and others in the group for more than 21 years.

When I arrived, everyone was already there. There were about 30 people, probably 10 of them were WWII Tuskegee Airmen. Many of the old crew that had been there when I was a new member plus many others.

Clayton Lawrence, B-25 pilot, yep they flew medium bombers too. Alton Burton, also a pilot and retired Pratt Institute professor. There was Bill Wheeler, who was just awarded his honorary doctorate by Lehman College, 332 Fighter Group combat pilot. J.T. Freeman, Medical Corps, who is a proud owner of a Masarati. Wilfred DeFore, who just turned 90 and still drives his Ford land yact in NYC traffic. There were a few more Tuskegee Airmen who were mechanics, pilots, or did other jobs during WWII and settled into ordinary life after the war. Most are retired and some are still very active.

I presented the Faithful Pursuit as I had before. I had come before the body to give updates, most years since they originally actepted the idea in 2003. I gave the background for those new members who were not around for unveiling in 2004.

I mentioned that it was a 1969 Buick Electra and someone yelled out "Baby!" everyone else chuckled. You see, the big Buick was the car to own back in the 60's and 70's. If you had a Deuce and a Quarter you had a stylish car that was all the rage "back in the day". The Electra was introduced to the public as a high performance luxury sedan in 1959. She did endurance demonstrations, driving for hours at 120 mph. By 1969 the Buick Electra could achieve 14 second quarter miles and top speeds exceeding 135 mph. 20+ mpg could also be obtained due to the advanced combustion chamber design, lean jetting, and reduced weight of the new design over the 1968.

"Our modified 1969 Buick Electra GSX, dubbed Faithful Pursuit was unveiled by two-star general Michael Hall, USAF, retired", I said. Many chapter members were there and 200 other guests were present for the dinner fund raiser at the Wings of Eagles air museum on that warm April evening in 2004.

Now the Faithful Pursuit is a different car than it was in 2004. Every bart of her has been tested on the track and many things were rebuilt. "I've broken everything on that car at one time or another." I was telling a friend.

F/Pursuit now has two Turbonetics Turbos , P-72s, above the rear axle and intercoolers where the rear seats were. The driveline was strengthened to handle 1000 lb-ft of torque. The ceramic Smilidon 430 took three years to design and build. It's not just a Chevy from a crate. The INCONEL valved, billet rodded, girdled, roller rocker motor is the work of master engine builder Scotty Guadagno. Scotty's been building Buick Motors for decades and was part of the Electra legend that began in NYC.

'69 Buick Electras have been credited with winning street races against everything from tunnel ram 427 Corvettes to Ferraris. They have been seen racing on the Conduit expressway in NYC to the Autobahn in Germany. "I've seen car s come and I've seen cars go..." someone would start "but there was this 440 GTX that was winning all night until this '69 Deuce rolled up to the line..." Its a very common story. Some of its true, I was there. Not far from where the meeting was held, the Electra legend was born. Right on the Conduit Expressway, where they raced after mid-night.

The Airmen voted to once again accept the big blue Faithful Pursuit as their own and support her mission. She is much like the big P-47 Thunderbolt that the men flew in combat in the Spring of '44. Big, fast, and loud. That is how it was in their day and that is how it is now.

The Tuskegee Airmen's Fight Song:
"Contact, joystick back, sailing through the blue, gallant sons of the 99th, Brown men tried and true. We are the heroes of the night, to hell with the axis might, Fight! Fight! Fight! Fighting 99th...

 

[electragsx]

194.9 mph, here we come.

YouTube - Faithful Pursuit, 1969 Buick Electra GSX