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The Emerald Green Buick Coupe

by D. S. - The Catalina Dreamer

It was 1967, and the lease on my 1965 Oldsmobile Cutlass was about to expire. Once again, the pressure was on. What car to buy or lease? I looked at the new 1967 Olds Cutlass and decided that the Boffins in Detroit had lost their way. It was ugly.

Surely there were better choices.

I began wandering around the local dealerships and shortly came across a low-mileage, slightly used, emerald green full-size Buick Coupe with white interior, a big V8 engine, and a gorgeous profile. Whoa!

I drove around a little more but decided to go back to the dealer for a second look. I met a sales person who was a bit strange but not pushy or otherwise obnoxious and took it for a ride.

Whoa! Love at first sight, as it is said.

I had to have this car.

So I arranged to turn in the old Cutlass and bought the Buick.

Driving it home, I felt like I was a master of the car universe. I could keep this forever.

Well, less than a month later, I noticed, as I was washing my pride and joy, that there was some of the gorgeous emerald-green paint peeling from the edges of the hood. Hmm, I thought. That’s not right.

I hopped into the car and started back to the dealership, but along the way, something went snap under the hood, and the car expired on the street. I found a phone booth, called AAA for a tow, and called the dealership to talk to my friend the salesman.

Well, the salesman was no longer at the dealership. By the time I got the general manager on the line, I was pretty hot. I demanded my money back, threatened to sue for selling me the car under false pretenses, and was generally ready to burn down the whole place.

The general manager decided that discretion was the better part of valor and gave me my money back.

I immediately marched down to the Oldsmobile dealership, which was not far away, and bought the ugly Cutlass!

After all, it was new and reliable and a lot less ugly than it was the first time I saw it.