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LOGAN — Save the Whales was founded in 1977, the year after one of Gabe Kuszmaul's whales hit the road.
The nonprofit organization is dedicated to preserving sea mammals and their habitat. Similarly, Kuszmaul is dedicated to preserving 1970s cars that weigh somewhere between a beluga and an orca, and he's probably not going to make any profit, either. His great land whales of the 1970s are a 1974 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, 1976 Buick Estate Wagon and a 1973 Pontiac Catalina Safari Wagon.
The call of the whales was heard in Kuszmaul's ears when, as a child, his father Scott took him in his old 1974 Chevy Caprice to the woods near their Ohio home, allowing a very young Gabe to steer on the dirt roads.
Before he was even born, Kuszmaul's father was taking steel whales to death fights, which some call demolition derby. Big wagons are preferred gladiators with their massive size and inexpensive cost. The Kuszmauls made multiple trips to New Mexico and other southern states to bring big American wagons home to derby to the death. Kuszmaul estimates his father mashed 15 to 20 Chevy wagons in dirt-floored coliseum death-matches.
He joined in the derby fun since he was a baby, but things changed when he got his driver's license.
Now living in Paradise, in southern Cache County, Gabe started buying cars from his dad — saving them from destruction and putting them on Utah roads.
We'll start with the smallest of his endeavors:
His 1974 Cadillac Coupe DeVille came from Texas, for $2,200 in 2019. The original 472 cubic-inch motor had a lifter tick, so they swapped out the same from a derby car. Kuszmaul gave it new gaskets, and says it gets 14-15 miles per gallon. It is not polite to talk religion or politics in conversation — or ask someone trying to save a whale about gas mileage. But hey, journalism.
Next in the tank, is Kuszmaul's 1973 Pontiac Catalina Safari, coming in at 19 feet, 8 inches long, with a curb weight of 5,035 pounds, the Kuszmauls got it for $1,000 in 2013. Gabe took out the Pontiac 455 engine, mounting a 350 Chevrolet up to the existing transmission with a couple bolt modifications up top and a spacer they made.
The Blue Whale of the school is a red 1976 Buick Estate Wagon, coming in at 19 feet and almost 4 inches, weighing 5,115 pounds. It is the biggest Buick on record. Picked up for $1,000 in 2011, it had a Buick 455 under the hood. Kuszmaul sold the big engine in 2015 and the Buick sat until 2020, when he put another 350 in it. He claims 13-14 mpg, saying the mileage is decent because his cars have Quadrajet 4bbl. carburetors.
Kuszmaul drove his old cars to Mountain Crest High School when he was a student, where they were rare. Now, he says he sees more kids driving the big, old cars their parents and grandparents had as children.
He said he drives a 1972 Oldsmobile 98 four-door during the winter. It's the same length as the wagons. None of these cars are in show condition, but are in good enough shape to drive to Ohio, triggering memories in the people he runs into. People from ages mid-40s and up remember riding in them as children, and Kuszmaul said kids who don't even know what they are think they're cool. He has taken them to the Cache Valley Cruise-In and a few other northern Utah shows.
Demolition derby losses made them rare, but now may be helping the whales. When a derby car gets prepped for battle, it gets stripped of all noncritical parts, and those parts can help keep a survivor on the road.
After calling these 1970s family-haulers "whales," we close with a comparison: A 2023 family-hauler, the Chevrolet Suburban, is 6 inches shorter than the big Buick but weighs 700 pounds more.
