I have a dream car. It’s a 1970 Buick Skylark, just like the one my dad had when I was a kid. It’s gone to classic car heaven, but that doesm’t mean that I’ve given up on the idea that I will own one.

Anyhoo, you can imagine my excitement when a  happy hour  invite to the DC debut of the 2010 Buick LaCrosse popped up in my inbox. Of course I had to say yes because with  distant memories  of my dream car and both the LaCrosse’s Designer Richard Duff and Illusionist Painter Kurt Wenner being there, it was a melding together of  two  of my favorite worlds, art and design.

{top sketches via id sketching; the buick lacrosse inspired by the youthful buick skylark and  features the same “sweepspear” as my beloved dream drive.}

{kurt wenner’s classical inspired vision of the lacrosse. his work alone, needs a separate post.}

Now I don’t profess to know a ton about  transportation design, but in  my inspired  talk with Richard Duff, it was exciting to hear the creative similarities in the design process. One must collect information, sketch, model, sketch some more, review before the team and review before the engineer, then repeat.

And  when Duff  mentioned that it took almost 4 years for the car to go from concept to reality, immediately, I thought of some buildings that I know of from work that have not been built yet four years later. Yes sometimes good design takes its time, but it is so worth it.

And like architecture and interior design no detail can go over looked:

{interior view}

{the taillights have this beautiful square detailing}

Yes, I even looked under the hood. Although the car is an elegant combination of design and engineering, under the hood is actually where you see the beauty of the technical engineering.

And as someone who spend a LOT of time in a car, when I sat inside, it was like being in another world. It was so quiet, I forgot that here I was in the city, sitting  outside of Union Station (definitely not the quietest place in the city}.  And it was oh so roomy and comfy… I could go on but I’m sure you get the picture, it was fabulous to experience.

My Buick Skylark dream has been reincarneted for 2010.