"This is a very special show car," said Michael E. Doble, Buick's special vehicles manager: "it has classic styling combined with contemporary proportions.  If you're talking about customized cars, the Blackhawk is the ultimate expression of Buick.

The Blackhawk is basically a 2-plus-2 convertible with a retractable top, and a body that looks like it came out of the late 1930s or '40s - because it did. Its face is a classic 1939 Buick grille, which has a pattern of fine vertical bars, and its major sheet metal combines the sleek bodies of 1941 and 1948 Buick Roadmasters.

All of this except the grille has been modified, and the final appearance - featuring black cherry paint, doors without handles and hidden headlamps - is of a streamlined yet retro head-turner that looks like it was created specifically for the Woodward Dream Cruise.

"This is the ultimate Buick Custom Car"

Pasteiner's enthusiasm for the Blackhawk matches Doble's. "This is the ultimate Buick custom car," Pasteiner said. "We used the 1939 grille because it is one of the most significant in Buick history. Those vertical bars are hints of the grilles that became Buick icons in the '40s and early -50s. The grille sets the tone for the Blackhawk. But we also liked the 'torpedo' body from the top-of-the-line Buicks of the 1940s."

Said Doble: "We wanted the best from Buick history, but also we wanted to create a contemporary design. For example, the Blackhawk has a split windshield, which is right for that era - yet the windshield glass is curved, a more modern feature. Even the side glass is curved."