I’m not 100% sure which particular model Todd Holdren’s 1953 Buick is (attribute that to my illiteracy of vehicles pre-1955) but what can be said without any questioning is that the absolute last place any ’53 Buick should be expected to be is the autocross at a GoodGuys event. But here we are, with at least two tons (probably more) of no-joke Detroit steel whipping around a course. And we aren’t talking a jokey, “for a big car” kind of whipping it around, either. We’re talking coming in hot…and sideways. Holdren’s Buick isn’t all 1953…underneath is an Art Morrison chassis with RideTech bits, and a 6.2L V8 and 6L80E overdrive auto provide the grunt. Sorry if you were expecting a straight-eight.

A toothy Buick isn’t autocross fodder. That’s the kind of machine you expect to be parked at an evening get-together at a burger joint that is blasting out doo-wop music while a hula-hoop model is working her way up and down the rows of cars. It’s a cruiser first and any and every other detail plays second fiddle, right? I dig this thing simply because I don’t see enough of it. I can find built-up muscle-era cars all day long, but this thing makes me smile all day long.