We had a similar monorail in our Midtown Plaza Mall. Building began on the mall in 1959 in Rochester, NY and when it opened in 1962, Midtown was listed as the first urban shopping mall in the country. Christmas time at Midtown was a major Family experience. Decorated with Magic Mountain, the Monorail and the famous Clock of Nations, it was a great place to go for holiday shopping and to visit Santa. By 1998 the mall experience became more popular in the suburbs and many retail and other tenants had left Midtown. By 2008 it was demolished, and the downtown area began rebuilding various parcels for other uses.
Custom Early Buick Wildcat Hello, We have lived and grown up with all things Buick, thanks to our dad’s intense desire to own and drive a Buick Sedan. If there was a sporty car from Buick, like the Corvette, he would have one of those, too. His two sons would have enjoyed his cars more than we already did. Ha! As close to a sporty car episodes were for our family, our mom liked the sporty looking Buick Skylark convertible. My brother and I also like the wire wheels, too. But, our dad was a no-convertible kin dof guy as he had his values and issues. The name Wildcat has its history well back into Buick history. One of the most unusual ones was the 1954 two seater, convertible sporty version for show displays only. They would have made a killing, had they made them for public consumption. We could see our dad driving off to Los Angeles in this version of a Wildcat in 1954, instead of the two toned 4 door sedan that he actually bought for his daily driver in 1953. Yikes… The "flying wing" front fenders and biplane bumpers had the look of a 1930s speedster. Freestanding headlights and chrome spoke wheels provided nostalgia as well. But, for 1950s family daily driver transportation? The 1954 Buick Wildcat II concept car For the Buick Wildcat concept car adding smooth headers, lower stance, smaller tires the front end/grille/lights were nothing to write home about, but it gave the old individual fender/grille similarities of the hot rod coupes and sedans. It was actually shorter than the 54 Corvette!!! So, a sporty Buick would have ties to the long lasting Corvette… just a thought. Just in case his mild blue color as his favorite Buick color turned to red… Jnaki Our dad liked driving a two door sedan since his 1957 Roadmaster. But, he decided to get a Buick Wildcat two door sedan in 1963. It had bucket seats a center console mounted tachometer and a floor shifter between the seats. As sporty as a big car could get. The influence came from my brother wanting our dad to get a non 4 door sedan for his future cars. So, he selected a two door Buick Wildcat Sedan. Sitting next to the black 58 Impala in the garage was cool. He enjoyed driving the Wildcat. He enjoyed it for several months until he got word of a luxury new build from Buick, a new Riviera sedan with just about everything anyone would want in a great design and car from the USA. Now, he had a sporty two door sedan and for him, rivaled the 58 Impala. But, the idea of luxury was necessary for his long drives, daily. So, it was one of his fastest buy and sell cars he has/had ever owned. His usual buy and keep for 4 year plan was thrown out of the window. The quick “catch and release” program choice, the 63 Wildcat turned into a great looking dark green 1963 Buick Riviera sitting in our driveway. Yes! Note: On our “borrow dad’s car” episodes, it did not matter that we got the teenage banter flying from all sides as we drove the Buick Riviera into the teenage drive-in restaurant hang out. “Here comes daddy’s car, etc…” At least, we were in the cool A/C in the middle of the hot summer night’s cruising. Ha! But, that little sporty Buick two seater would have been nice, but in the long run, “a little over the top!”
The Jalopy Journal
