It's not unusual here to see wonderful old cars driving by and occasionally parked on the main street. Inevitably I get annoyed with myself for not carrying a camera but the truth is, the Nikon DSLR is too large to drop into a pocket or sling over a shoulder on my lengthy power walks. One of these days I'll get around to checking out the mini-camera VW gave us during a media gig in San Diego. Let's see... that was two years ago? When I spotted this Buick yesterday I figured that with luck I could get home, retrieve the camera and race back in my vintage 2003 Hyundai Accent GSL before the owner departed. I was, indeed, lucky.

Unfortunately the owner was nowhere to be seen so I couldn't get any data about age, model type, or other background. After checking through the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 I concluded that this beauty was a 1931 Buick Sport Roadster, though I couldn't determine the model number. I'm guessing that it's a Series 60, which had a 118" wheelbase and a 272 c.i. engine producing 90 hp. Like all Buicks of that year it was a straight eight. The artillery spoke wheels are unusual and the grille on this car did not correspond with anything in the photos. A special order, perhaps.