CAR OF THE YEAR KICKS OFF!
The first heat of the Kingstown Shipping Car of the Year contest was held at this year’s inaugural show, Wheels Day, which was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid. And boy, was it back with a bang! Sunny, hot weather and a field full of cars – and even more public – made for a busy event. Likewise, after an absence of two years because of ‘you know what’, Car of the Year is back for 2022, bigger and brighter than ever thanks to sponsorship from Kingstown Shipping. With such a packed field of cars, it was going to be tough to pick one car as the first candidate in this year’s series; however, we found an absolute cracker in the form of this magnificent 1972 Buick Riviera, belonging to Adam Pearce.
If you’re thinking this car and owner look familiar, that’s because it appeared in Classic American in February last year (issue #358) and was in fact the cover car. Owner Adam Pearce cut his American carowning teeth with this bodacious Buick and hasn’t looked back since. “I just love driving it!” he enthuses. As befits Buick’s top-of-the-tree model, it’s dripping with all the bells and whistles Flint could shoehorn into their flagship.
Power comes from a four-barrel 455cu in V8 and of course there’s power steering and power brakes, as well as air con. That dazzling Burnished Bronze paint sure will look a treat on the Classic American stand at the NEC in November, so make sure you go along to check it out and meet Adam!