1910 Buick Bug, Ultra Rare Race Car, to Feature on “Jay Leno’s Garage”
1910 Buick Bug
Jay Leno is inarguably best known as the long-reigning and outgoing host of The Tonight Show; he is also pretty well known for his considerable chin, that one time he stole The Tonight Show back from Conan O’Brien like a spurned lover, and his impressive car collection, the latter of which features in the funnyman’s web series. An upcoming episode of “Jay Leno’s Garage” will feature a 1910 Buick Bug, which was among the first vehicles ever raced (unless you count chariots and horse-drawn carriages, of course). UPDATE: We covered the appearance of Jay’s red bug when it appeared in January: Leno Drives the 1910 Buick Bug on Leno’s Garage
Jerry Dimick, Curator of Collections for Sloan*Longway, whose three facility setup in Flint, Michigan, includes the Buick Automotive Gallery, tells MLive that Leno’s people contacted them about featuring the Buick Bug on the web show, thanks to a hot tip from a museum patron.
The Bug, otherwise known as the 60 Special, was driven by “Wild” Bob Burman in Indianapolis in 1910. A year after Burman’s performance, that same race became what is now known as the Indianapolis 500. Only two Buick Bugs were ever built; the other was driven by one Louis Chevrolet who, as you might guess, later went on to create a motor company all his own.
Perhaps most unique for the time with the 1910 Buick Bug was its shape: resembling something like a pill-bug, the long nose cone made the Bug stand out just as much as is bright red color. It’s almost fitting, then, that Leno should feature the Bug on his show given that he is well known for the pointy protrusion that is his chin.
“Jay Leno’s Garage” has featured a number of astounding vehicles from Leno’s 190 car collection. He calls the Bug “the jewel of our collection,” and plans on driving it on the show. The 1910 Buick Bug was restored in 2012; according to its profile on the Sloan*Longway website, it features a four-cylinder, 622 cubic inch engine that generates a somewhat tame-by-modern-standards 57.6 horsepower. By contrast, a 2013 Buick Regal GS gets ne
arly five times that much power today.
RELATED: 2013 Buick Regal Specs
Filming will get underway once the 1910 Buick Bug arrives in California. Once the episode is made available, it will give auto enthusiasts one more reason to envy Leno’s collection and everyone else one more reason to forget that Collision Course was ever a film that someone decided to make.
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