Photos by Darin Schnabel, courtesy RM Auctions.
Any resemblance to the Y-Job is purely intentional. Yet while the original Buick dream car will likely remain in GM’s possession as long as there’s a GM to possess it, the 2003 Buick Blackhawk show car that took general inspiration, if not specific styling cues, from the Y-Job will come up for auction later this year.
Conceived to celebrate Buick’s centennial, the Blackhawk showcases an amalgam of parts from throughout Buick’s history, all blended together in a 2+2 convertible body. Michael E. Doble, then Buick’s special vehicles manager, came up with the idea of a centennial car, but he didn’t have it done in house. Instead, he turned to Steven Pasteiner, a consulting designer with Advanced Automotive Technologies in Rochester Hills, Michigan, as well as a former Buick designer. According to Gizmag, Pasteiner’s association with Buick stretched back to the 1960s and included designs for the production GS as well as for several concept cars.
While Pasteiner started with a 1996 Buick Riviera powered by a 240hp L67 supercharged 3800 V-6, he left little of the original front-wheel-drive luxury car other than the VIN to build around. Instead, it uses a scratchbuilt front-engine and rear-wheel-drive 129-inch-wheelbase chassis, Corvette-sourced independent front and rear suspension, a circa 1970 Buick 455 fitted with electronic fuel injection and good for 463 horsepower and 510 pound-feet of torque, and a 4L80E four-speed automatic transmission. Pasteiner added a 1939 Buick grille, sheetmetal from 1941 and 1948 Buick Roadmasters, hidden headlamps that directly evoke the Y-Job, a carbon fiber hardtop, and retained the 1996 Riviera’s interior.
Reportedly good for a sub-5-second 0-60 time, the Blackhawk bypassed the traditional car show circuit and instead made its way to Buick enthusiast events and even onto film as Will Smith’s ride in Bad Boys II . “The folks who attend those shows are very excited and knowledgeable about cars,” Doble told Gizmag. “We felt we needed a custom Buick for that audience, but not a hot rod. 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 you’re redesigning a car.”
After its initial tour, the Blackhawk made its way back to Detroit and eventually took up residence in the GM Heritage Center. But then in 2009, in the midst of the recession, GM put several dozen of its Heritage Center vehicles up for sale, including the Blackhawk. It sold at that year’s Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction for $475,000 ($522,500 with commission) to Paul and Chris Andrews of Fort Worth, who have consigned 75 vehicles from their collection with RM Auctions.
RM’s pre-auction estimate for the Blackhawk ranges from $300,000 to $450,000. Though less than the purchase price from six years ago, another Pasteiner/AAT-built car similar to the Blackhawk, the 1939 Cadillac La Salle C-Hawk hardtop convertible, sold for $269,500 at Barrett-Jackson’s 2013 Scottsdale auction and then for $410,000 at this year’s Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction. The Blackhawk will sell with no reserve.
The RM Andrews collection auction will take place May 2 in Fort Worth. For more information, visit RMAuctions.com.
More gadget review in www.mamaktalk.com
