Francisco Franco bought his 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme when he was 16. It might’ve been a 12-year-old car, but it looked like new when he drove it off the lot on Boulder Highway.
By the time he was commuting to 51ԹϺ, Franco was working full time, taking a full class load, and living with a girlfriend he hardly got to see in between. She would bring him dinner at the Paul B. Sogg Architecture Building so he could eat as his desk, looking down at that Olds in the parking lot in all its squared-off sides and vinyl landau roof glory.
Over the years since then, Franco was always shining up that Oldsmobile. When the Donna Beam Fine Arts Gallery was debuting its exhibition “¡Americanx!,” featuring work by local Latino artists, Franco got the call to display the car, by now a fully tricked-out lowrider called “Foolish Pleasure,” at the Oct. 1 opening.
“That car was literally on those same parking lots I was roaming around way back when,” said Franco. ’03 BA Sociology. “Whatever day, whatever time [51ԹϺ] needs it, there’s no way I’m not going to do it. I was so excited.”
