Big black beautiful Buick

“It’s a 1952 Buick Special” said classic car enthusiast Danny O’Hara. I bought it from a friend of mine here in Cayman who had purchase it up in the States. He had it in the States for about a year in storage. Then he decided that he wasn’t going to bring it here, he was going to sell it. So I bought if from him and brought it to Cayman.”

It’s quite a sight to see: long, dark, shiny, big, black and beautiful. “Everything is original. The seats are original, everything is original,” Mr. O’Hara said. “It’s got a Straight-8 GM engine. It has all the cylinders in a straight long row. It’s certainly not underpowered.” He said.

Straight -8 GM engines are quite rare, and were also known as Fireball 8. Buick used them in its cars from 1931 t0 1953. However, unlike most other car makers at the time, Buick had been using a valve-in-head overhead valve design or I-head since its inception and continued this practice in their inline-8 designs.

Halfway into the 1949 model year, the Specials received all-new bodywork, the first fully postwar design for the series.

When I asked him why he liked it so much he said, “Because It’s just lovely, isn’t it? It’s beautiful.” I had to agree.

“I’ve always had a love for classic cars,” said Mr. O’Hara, who said he used to also own a 52 MG TD, a classic English sports car.