PHOTO BY SIMON GONZALEZ
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Armistead can relate. He
became an accidental antique
auto owner simply because he
held on to his first car, a ’72
Buick LeSabre.
“That’s the car that started
it for me,” he says. “It was
my grandparents’ car. They
passed and I kind of inherited
it as my first car. I’m going,
“Oh my goodness. Look at
this thing. It’s a land yacht.’
But it was free. And it ended
up being a great car. I could
fit five or six friends in it in
high school. I still have it, still
drive it occasionally, and it’s
now becoming a classic so to
speak, or at least an antique.
It’s funny, as time passes, what
people have a little nostalgia
for.”
But he always keeps an
eye out for other Buicks. He
added a ’68 Skylark and a ’37
Roadmaster, which looks like
something out of a gangster
movie with its black paint,
big fenders and running
boards.
“I’ve always liked the ’30s
cars, that era, because of the
form of the fenders and the
design,” he says. “They were
as much art as anything back
then. I’ve always had an affin-ity
for the ’37, ’38 Buicks, the
style, the shape. They were
just big and, in my mind,
beautiful cars. I’d been look-ing
for one for a few years.”
Lisa Schnitzler has more than 35 years of
memories invested in her ’68 Buick Skylark.
“It reminds me of a pair of well-worn blue jeans.
You know they fit you the way you like and you
are totally comfortable in them. I feel that way
every time I get behind the wheel!” she says.
PHOTO BY SIMON GONZALEZ
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