Biquette's history with our family

bringing the total retail cost in 1965 dollars to about $3300.   That was about $1000 more than the average price of a car in 1965.  The car's retail price would be roughly $53,000 in today's car dollar sand is comparable to the current Buick Enclave with some of the additional luxury options.

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Fast forward 3 years, and this same seafoam green Buick wagon now finds itself on a used car lot.  Arriving on the scene is a husband and wife.  The husband is bent on a practical thrifty car like the AMC Rambler.  However, the wife falls in love with this Buick wagon and . . .   It did cost a little more but Mom really wanted the car - so . . . . 

The Early Years

The Buick wagon found a new home in a family of French-Americans.  She got the name "Biquette" which is a French-slang word roughly meaning billy-goat.  She was the only car at the house, but not alone in the garage for long.  Soon there was a 14 foot powerboat to keep her company and start her on her towing duties. Of course the boat had a name as well: "La Belle Poulette."

Early on, Dad concluded that the car's gas mileage wasn't what the car dealer promised.

Nonetheless, we dutifully kept track of the gas mileage:

The quest for better fuel economy continues to this very day! 

In those early days, the car had all the chores from grocery shopping to bringing Dad to and from from the Greyhound bus stop (this was before BART!)  The only way we could have a single car was Dad's use of mass-transit and us kids actually being able to walk to school. Thanks to that austerity, Biquette was spared long commutes which contributed to her long life.

Life wasn't without some adventures as Biquette got a new "consist" to tow in the form our 14' sailboat named "Vent Vert."

We started to sail this boat in the San Pablo Reservoir and eventually become so bold that my Dad and I sailed it a few times in the San Francisco Bay!!

In the meantime there was all the other duties of the family wagon:  From hauling the lumber and other "do-it-yourself" supplies for maintaining the house to serving as an impromptu "ambulance" when one of us got hurt.

In April of 1978, the family made an early season trip to Yosemite:

The trip suddenly stopped being so comfortable when the tailgate window got stuck in the open position.  It was a long cold trip home from Yosemite for us kids in the back seat!

Soon it was time for the first of multiple attempts at repairing the tailgate window.  Below is a later session:

In those early days, Dad (and eventually, Dad and I) would do a lot of maintenance on the car.  Dad installed rear seat belts (they weren't standard in 1965.)  Dad also installed an aftermarket emergency flasher - worked until the steering column was replaced.  We even rebuilt the carburetor (bold . . . weren't we!) 

During that weekend of rebuilding the carburetor - we had no car should something had gone wrong.

Throughout those years, the car was family transportation (already a little worn in spots:)

The First Rebuild and Hard Times

In the late 70s, Father and son were doing a lot of maintenance on the "ol'wagon."  Through an acquaintance met while Dad was "casual carpooling" to work, we had gotten a great deal on a second previously-owned Buick.  Our second car would ultimately play a critical role in saving our old wagon. During a tune up, we found what looked like coolant leaking onto the spark-plugs.   The first "do we get rid of Biquette?" crisis had arrived.

In what appeared to be good luck, Dad got in touch with the son of a co-worker who promised to rebuild the engine for a very reasonable price. Our second car provided transportation during the months it took to rebuild the engine.

Biquette had ridden out the OPEC oil embargo of 1973, so this rebuild would include changes to improve fuel economy and allow the car to continue operating into the future.  The original ST-300 2-speed transmission was replaced with a TH-350 3-speed.  The engine was modified to run on unleaded gas, and a more thrifty carburetor was fitted.   Eventually, we got back our trusty Biquette and hoped she would have a second lease on life.

Alas, there was a price to pay for all these changes.  The conversion to run on unleaded gas reduced engine horsepower by nearly 20%.  The attempts at economizing had very little effect on gas mileage - barely squeezing out another mile per gallon.

Worse still, the mechanic was no Buick expert.  The car never ran properly after the rebuild.  Eventually, it was clear that the valve job had been botched.  Still our trooper Biquette limped along.  But Mom started to lose confidence in the car, and Biquette quickly found herself mostly relegated to jobs only a station wagon could do.

Eventually we had a Buick dealership perform a second valve job that got the car to run more reliably, but confidence in Biquette was at a low ebb.  The car was closing in on 20 years old and showed it.

Biquette is Stolen but Manages to Come Home

One Saturday at the end of June 1986, Dad took Biquette into San Francisco to put in an extra work day.  When he left work to drive back home,  Biquette was gone. . . . .stolen! . . .  

Weeks and weeks went by, and eventually, we resigned ourselves to the fact that our wagon was gone for good.   So we bought another second-hand wagon and got on with our lives.

Then late on the night of Friday the 13^th of September, the San Francisco Police called: "Do you want your car back?"  Biquette had been captured as part of a drug bust.

That weekend, the family was able to bring our family heirloom wagon home.  She was definitely abused, but she was still amazingly intact for her ordeal:

Biquette's ordeal had restored the family's commitment to her.  She was welcomed home with new affection and soon she would reclaim her stall in the garage:

A new patron and new adventures

Biquette's return did not change her perceived poor reliability.  Even if she was kept indoors, she got the most difficult and dirty assignments.   However, I took a newfound interest in the car and soon made her my own.

For over a decade, I had been enthusiastically taking Astronomical photographs like this:

However, "light pollution" from all the Bay Area night-life was interfering my astro-photography.    The only choice was to camp in the wilderness.  I had a friend who was taking his 1967 Ford wagon camping. 

. . . . . .   If a 67 Ford could do it - why not a 65 Buick?

Soon Biquette was camping in places like this:

So that I could capture photos like this:

Things were going along swell . . . until I rediscovered my passion for the "inner universe" and learned to scuba dive.  With a long interest in photography, I wasn't going to let this new realm escape photographic emulsion and soon I had photos like this as well:

Biquette went from lugging telescopes and sleeping bags to coping with wet-suits and scuba tanks.  Sometimes I was really a glutton for punishment and did both on the same trip:

Biquette is Immortalized as the "Divemobile"

Life wasn't all fun and games.  In fact, my life had run into a serious catastrophe when my "fool-proof" Ph.D. project software turned out to be the fool.  I had been led astray by professors who tried to make too much of the analogy between computers and human minds.  My software performed as intended, but human beings simply didn't learn as "mechanistically" as computers. .  So when I thought I had my Ph.D. all wrapped up - suddenly I found myself with nothing.

Struggling to make a new start, my philosophical side was attracted to a new way to understand learning: "Communities of Practice."  I started to explore the realm of software engineering teams as possible communities of practice.

In the Summer of 1990, I got an internship to work in France's INRIA research center in Sophia Antipolis (near Nice.)  I couldn't resist doing some scuba in the Mediterranean 

While in France, I realized that scuba diving was a perfect place to study communities of learning.  So my PhD went in whole new direction:

And on page 86 one finds . . . .

So the simple wagon became enshrined in a Cal Ph.D.!

Wanderings and Renewal

After completing my Ph.D. I tried my hand at the academic life.  That took me to U.C. San Diego for a few years.  Dutifully, Biquette became my moving van:

Once I arrived, Biquette became basic transportation while there.  

There were a few adventures, especially when I first arrived.  It was a new world, and I still had the youthful energy to explore.   I had never lived so close to the ocean before:

Certainly new realms to explore with Scuba:

Also there were the deserts and chances to indulge in another one of my passions - railroading:

However, conditions were harsh for the car and owner.

No more garage, and even a carport would not arrive until 2000.  Since I was commuting by bike, the car spent most of the time under a car cover, but this protection was truly minimalist for a 35 year old car.

I gave it my best shot, but ultimately Southern California wasn't the place for me.  After my Father died in 2000, it was time to come home.

Nonetheless, Biquette would embark one more grand adventure in the great Pacific Northwest.

I had gotten a 6-month contract to work at Amazon.com, and so the family and I caravaned to Seattle to get me settled in.  Biquette was now 39 years old and had over 200,000 miles on her, but dutiful as always, she got me up Seattle and handled all the duties there with nothing more serious than a dead-battery.

However, she was showing her age, and it was becoming difficult to cold start the car.  While in Seattle my passion for biking allowed me to do much of my exploring of the area on 2-wheel.  I began to make rides of as much as 50 miles.  Going as far as Redmond and riding completely around Lake Washington several times.  That reduced the workload on Biquette.   The car at least was in underground parking garage so it was protected from the extremes of Seattle weather. 

Aside from quick excursions around Seattle:

Biquette mostly sat-out my 6 months assignment.  In the end I was glad to leave the "frigid North" (in more ways than one) and come home

From this point on, the car's condition continued to decline as I failed to realize that Biquette's needs were beyond the skillset of the average mechanic.  The time had come to see a "specialist."

Finally in the Winter of 2010, I rediscovered Orinda Motors, and the restoration work began. 

After a lot of mechanical and safety repairs and an interior restoration by Armand's Auto Upholstery, she was ready for her first Orinda Classic Car show in September of that year:

Alas, the ordeals were far from over.  The day before Thanksgiving 2010, Biquette was whacked by a German sports sedan and seriously damaged.  It would take nearly 9 months of work from Professional Automotive (and me searching for parts) to put Biquette back together:

Yet, there would be another profound twist in the plot.  Unfortunately, the engine was failing once more.  This after a second rebuild in 2001.  After two mediocre engine rebuilds, the time had come to become better educated about classic and performance Buick engines.

At this point, I made a fateful mistake.  I decided to explore the world of Internet car forums.  It turned out that the universe of the American muscle car was infinitely larger than I had imagined.  Well beyond a myriad of engine performance parts, there was cornucopia of possible upgrades from air conditioners to Bluetooth enabled stereos.

Unfortunately, there was a horrible culture clash between Biquette and these forums which were performance and racing oriented.  For the typical participant a classic car was simply a possession and perhaps nothing more than a canvas upon which to express their mechanical creativity. None of these guys could understand my feelings for a car I had literally grew up with.  Their main obsession was speed, whereas my main goal was to give back to Biquette her family role as our premiere tow vehicle.  This would all eventually come back to haunt me and Biquette.

It was clear that many of the dreams Dad and I had in the 1970s and 80s could actually come true now.  One positive outcome of these forum discussions was deciding upon the type of replacement engine.  Biquette, after all, was a Buick, she needed a Buick engine of the period.  As a result of the forum advice, I decided upon a Buick big-block engine of 1968.  That would give her plenty of pulling power.   I also decided to try to use the performance technology normally devoted to racing to get a more modern engine.  Modern cars benefit for racing technology.  I was hoping to get a 1968 Buick engine with as many modern advantages as the available speed parts made possible.

There was one additional modern convenience I dearly wanted: air conditioning.  Aftermarket systems existed for more popular cars, but not for a 1965 Buick Special.  In the end, Biquette would get a beautifully integrated system, but not until after her dash was completely taken apart and modified!

The forums recommended a respected Buick engine builder.  Alas, unknown to most people, this engine builder was financially strapped as a result of an ill-timed business relocation.  As a result, the engine wasn’t delivered for 18 months – not until September 2012.  There were additional delays resulting from the now ambitious air conditioning upgrade.  What started out as a simple “under-dash scheme” had escalated into a custom in-dash plan using both 1965 Buick and custom vents.  During the winter of 2013, Biquette’s dash was dismantled so it could be painted:

Note the welding on the passenger side A/C vent in the previous photo.   I managed to cut the hole for the driver’s side vent on the mark, but the passenger side hole ended up being a little too low!

For the center air conditioning vents, I decided to come up with my own custom arrangement.  Mid-sized Buicks in 1965 had this sort of center vent:

Today’s aftermarket vents are smaller and cast with higher precision.  As a result, I decided to try to pack 2 vents in the decorative panel above the radio on cars without A/C.  Of course, cutting 50 year old plastic was a challenge:

However I was able to fit the modern round vents to match the 1965 round outer vents.  To me this is “mor’ bett’r” than what Buick installed back-in-the-day. 

The only radio available in 1965 was AM only.  By 1995 I was desperate for more variety and bought an aftermarket stereo that fit into the original dash.  That stereo did fit without modifications, but hardly looked original.  Along with all the other upgrades, the time had come for a new stereo.  I decided make the new stereo look much more like the original AM radio – right down to the B-U-I-C-K lettering on the buttons.

There were a number of other changes to the dash.  Biquette got an aftermarket interval windshield wiper system to replace her 1-speed wipers, and a new steering column that could display all 4 speeds of her new TH200-4R overdrive transmission.  Her old dash has only two positions since her ST300-2 transmission only had 2 speeds!

By the summer of 2013, it was time to “mate” the drivetrain to the new interior.  This was much more work than swapping an engine because all the air conditioning components needed to be fitted. The kit was for a 1964-67 GTO because that was the closest match, but Pontiacs and Buicks were still very different. Orinda Motors had to do the "heavy lifting" for all this customization. Eventually, the engine bay ended up looking like this:

At the same time, Orinda Motors had to start fitting the air conditioning and other components into the dash:

Finally, the preparations were complete and the engine could be installed. As I had hoped, it was a beautiful engine:

Alas, the engine didn’t run as well as it looked.  Instead of a passenger car engine improved by racing technology, it was a watered-down race engine.  It ran poorly, and the rear crankshaft bearing failed after only three months.

At this point, I shunned the dubious advice that got me into this mess and turned to the one person I should have selected in the first place: Mike Tomaszewski and TA-Performance.  Mike kindly took on the project. Mike fixed the bearing and also came up with a milder cam at my request and changed some of the engine parameters like compression ratio to turn it back into a passenger car engine.  Beyond that, Mike simply put the engine back together taking great care to the avoid problems that hobbled the engine before.  The engine was returned in September 2015:

One very nice improvement was the new paint scheme.  Now the aluminum heads, timing cover, water pump, and intake manifold were bare aluminum.  The valve covers where now 1965 Buick engine green with the Buick and TA-Performance logos in bare aluminum:

This had special meaning for me because my Dad had been very sorry when Biquette lost her “nailhead” green engine color as a result of the first engine rebuild in 1979.  She was now proudly displaying her 1965 engine color after 36 years!

So Orinda Motors had to put the engine back into Biquette:

So now everything would be clear sailing – right?  Well, after a transmission with a cracked case, a broken distributor, and the other typical snafus . . . .   Hurray!!  

Finally, the engine was running great!  In fact, it was running almost too well!  It was so powerful and responsive that backing into the garage was much more of a challenge! 

Before long, the electronic fuel injection system was upgraded to a model that could be tuned manually using a laptop computer.  The upgrade made the engine substantially quieter and easier to control.

All the other pieces were falling into place.  The overdrive transmission made driving Biquette on the freeway so much more pleasant.  The custom stereo worked great, especially with a smart phone.  The modern air condition and heater was effective and intelligent enough to set the temperature on its own.  Even the interval wipers worked great!  Biquette had been catapulted into the modern auto world and felt 40 years and 200,000 miles younger!

There was one last set of upgrades that were required. Over the summer and fall of 2018, the team at Orinda Motors (now Orinda Classic Car Center ) upgraded Biquette's steering, brakes, and suspension to components comparable to modern cars. The last upgrade was a new axle that was beefy enough to take the torque of her big-block engine.  With the changes to the drivetrain complete, she could finally be put on her 15” Buick rally wheels and Diamond-back white-wall tires.  Not only were the new tires providing much more grip on the road, but they looked absolutely fabulous!

For Biquette, nothing has ever come easy.  Still at last, she had returned home after “a terrific struggle” and was back to being the family wagon she has always been.  Now with her health restored, who knows what rascally adventures she’ll get into now . . ???

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