As the collectible car hobby slowly shifts away from static displays of expertly restored vehicles and jewelery perfect hot rods towards actually using cars for cruise-ins and tours, finding the right vehicle for these new endeavors is a challenge. Cars that you wouldn’t think of as desirable now look a whole lot more attractive in this new world. A good example would be this 1951 Buick Roadmaster sedan for sale on craigslist in Ansonia, Conneticut. At a low price of $7,500, this reader T. J. suggested Buick has spent its last 43 years in a barn. Is this Roadmaster the perfect bargain barn find for our changing hobby?
With today’s new demands, what makes this Buick a great choice? It all comes down to what made Buicks a great choice back in 1951. In GM’s brand hierarchy, Buick was just one step below Cadillac. While Cadillacs were fast and flashy for the most part, Buick was the car for folks that wanted a smooth, understated ride. Owning a Buick proved to everyone that you had some folding money on a regular basis, you didn’t go out of your way to draw attention to yourself, and that you preferred a smooth riding vehicle.
That Buick smoothness was legendary. Poweered by the venerable 320 cubic inch inline eight cylinder engine and backed by a Dynaflow automatic transmission, Buicks of the era were fantastic road cars. Mile after mile could be passed in comfort from behind the wheel. These cars were also quite roomy and well upholstered.
The Roadmaster you see here is advertised as having been recently pulled out of a 43 year slumber in a barn. It must have been a really nice barn because the car is in remarkable condition all things considered. We are also told that it runs great. However, no pictures are provided of the engine. We assume that the fuel system has been cleaned out and everything works as it should given that the seller tells us that the car drives like a dream.
The pictures that have been provided of the interior are amazing given such a long period of storage in a barn. While not perfect, the cloth is in very good shape and has relatively few imperfections visible. Of course we have no idea of the car has that musty smell to it that so many stored cars build up. We also hope that moth balls were not involved.
A look at the rear seat shows us why this car is such a good candidate to drive and enjoy. They just don’t make back seats this roomy and comfortable anymore. If you have kids, or you want to travel with friends to the next out of town car show or tour, how could you not love sitting on this sofa like seat as the scenery slides by.
We need to remember that while sedans usually sell for much lower prices than fancier convertible or hard top models, they are essentially the same car. The same buttery smooth engine is tied to the same seamless automatic transmission, giving you the experience you desire without the dent in your bank account. At just $7,500 with a seller that is open to offers, how could you not see this car as the bargain you need to get off the couch and on the road?
Do you think the increasing popularity of cruise ins and tours will bring up the prices of sedans? Let us know in the comments.
I grew up in the 50s and 60s and yes I did build a Hot Rod and it was a “sleeper” being a Ford Custom 500, it would do some serious launches and speed. To get back on track I / we enjoyed the style and comfort of the bigger sedans and had we actually been able to see the future there were several we would have held on to. Had a 54 Packard a 55 Buick 54 Chrysler New Yorker. All nice cars we drove on a regular basis and got the usual ribbing but we enjoyed our cars so yes the awakening will be rewarding in a much different way.
O man, do I agree with you, if we had “pickled” just a few of these … There was nothing we wouldn’t buy, fix, use, sell, but my family was most fond of Olds, Buick, Cadillac and Ford. Though we did have a Packard. Dad was a trained Packard mechanic. If we knew then what we know now …
The car has 1952 rear fender chrome fins.
Interesting note when comparing Buick to Caddys of that era. Cadillac won the Mobil Economy Run(18-19MPG) just about every year for cars in that class, while the Buicks were the favorite of the Mobil station owners getting closer to 10 MPG with the straight 8.
Here’s a real story, mentioned before I worked at a service station after highschool for almost 18 months. Yes we did more than pump gas, oil change, brakes, tires and tune ups. Anyway this was a college town and this student had a 50,51 Buick as his daily driver. This was in 1971, as you all should know a tune up was a yearly thing for the most part. Plugs, points condenser, set the timing and adjust the carburator. Tom the head wrench called us over to see this Buick straight eight idling at 200 rpm. Yeah that’s right! Crazy you could almost count the blades on the fan, it was amazing and beautiful at the same time. Every now and then I try and drop a six or V8 that low and they never get close. That’s how smooth and well engineered that car was. If you younger folks don’t know that hood lifts from the side, either side depends on which release you use. Story time over.
Years ago I was at a car show where a Buick of that vintage was parked
with the hood open; as a father and son were looking at the car the
young man asked his father why the hood opened that way. His father
replied that it was a custom and didn’t leave the factory that way. My
father and I walked away shaking our heads.
Personally, I have always thought these were a beautiful brand, huge chrome grills, port holed sides, and powerful smooth engines that exuded quality and a step up for most owners. I read a story many years ago about 2 brothers whose father had given them one to fix up. Now, both brother’s were too young to drive, so they had plenty of time and not much money to play with. They performed all the basic cheap stuff, and they realized that if they lightened the car, it would be much faster. They stripped that car of everything they thought would turn into a hot rod. The day finally came that they could legally put it on the road. Well, you can guess what happened, they almost killed themselves. The car was all over the road, it was impossible to control, and they realized that the car was engineered to be built that way. My memory can’t remember what they did, but a picture of the look on their faces when upon acceleration would be priceless.
Read the same story, Vance, I believe in an old issue of “Road and Track” magazine. I believe it was entitled “They Race Buicks, Don’t They?”
V-8 ? 1951 Buick Roadmaster 0r inline 8 — probably inline !
Actually Capt RD it could be a V8. Buick went to the nailhead in 53 so this could be either. No way to know without seeing what is under the hood. Leftover inline 8’s were sold that year as well.
The artical says its a 320 inline 8, Nice looking old well made Buick.
Straight Eight in 1951. In 1953, the Special still had a straight eight, while the Super and Roadmaster received the new 322 nailhead V8.
The year in the article is wrong, it’s a model year 1952 Roadmaster.
Is that the turbo on the front seat?
Oil bath air cleaner
Neighbor had one.. You turned the key, then pushed the accelerator to the floor which did two things: it set the “automatic choke” and pushed down on the starter button. To make the Dynaflow go, you floored it when accelerating, but there was some sort of interlock so if the engine was runnning the starter would not engage. The Dynaflow was a real power sucker, it felt like a modern CVT without the fake shift points, engine would rev up, car would catch up. Did not like it and do not like today’s CVT’s with the fake shift points either. But it was a smooth ride.
Actually by pressing down on the accelerator it actuated a connection via a ball which was mounted as part of the carburettor. The ball rotated which connected two wires together and the starter engaged. Very difficult to remember after many years so would like to hear from anybody more eloquent than I.
No, the proper way to set the choke on a cold early ’50s Buick was to leave the key in the “OFF” position and push the accelerator pedal to the floor. Turn the key to “ON” and just barely push the accelerator pedal to engage the starter. If the engine was hot, turn the key to “ON” and push the accelerator pedal to the floor.
This procedure is straight out of the manual.
The switch was on the side of the carburetor, on both the Stromberg and Carter carbs. The accelerator linkage actuated the switch. There is no starter switch under the gas. You will often find starter buttons installed in the dash when folks wanted to by-pass the carburetor switch.
I worked in service stations while in high school, graduated 1958. I can’t remember any domestic car having anything except an oil bath air cleaner and they did a great job as you could tell by all the dirt you had to clean out. Not all cars at that time had an oil filter. Most had 1,000 mile oil change intervals so service stations were almost on all corners. Oil consumption was very common, not like 10,000 interval today.
Does anyone here rember the ‘clunk’ that these era Buicks had when they went over a set of RR tracks? You always could tell that famous noise if you had been around them for any length of time. .
To answer your question about prices going up?…I wonder if rising interest rates (making loans more costly) will do like it’s doing to the real estate market & money markets? Up to now, inflation has been high and so it made sense to invest in hard assets to keep up with inflation….will investors keep driving (pun intended) the car market prices in the next year as borrowing money becomes more expensive?
Bill, this is probably the wrong place for this, but your question relates to all collector cars. I cannot explain the price of gold, silver, even platinum being down and sinking. But then we have never shut down our economy for two years for no reason. I am think all my previous experience is useless, it really is like we are playing with Monopoly Money, spend $6 Trillion and the Fed raises interest rates a couple of points amidst 8 – 9% inflation. I was selling real estate during the 18% mortgage rates of the 80’s. Then precious metals kept track. I’m stumped!
My grandmother had a light green ‘52 Super Rivera. She said it drove like a rocket and stopped like it was never gunna. She sold it in ‘54 because standing on the brake peddle gave her muscle cramps.
I would have enjoyed meeting your Grandmother, we would have argued the value of power brakes. She would have won, and I hope she lived to see ABS, I was slow to accept both. We are lesser for not having ladies like her, they ruled in the actual meaning of the word.
It’s a bit upsetting to see an oil bath air cleaner and other engine parts sitting on a cloth seat! C’mon, was it just too difficult to put them in the trunk or on the floor?!
If I had the cash, this one would be in my yard next week. My 1st car was a ’52 Super. It was in my family from 1954 to 2000. Sure wish I had it back.
Nobody picked up it’s probably a 1952. As 52’s had the chrome rear fender spears. Also, why would the seller throw the dirty greasy air cleaner parts on the front seat?
Yes a 52 with fins, owned one.
Mom bought a new ’49 Buick Super straight drive (didn’t want the sluggish Dynaflow she said, but in 1949 you took whatever was available). I was only 6 at the time but I remember her mashing the accelerator all the way to the floor to start the car. It was a great ride but the gears were sometimes hard for her to shift.
My first car was a1953 Super Straight 8 in 1963 for $350.00 of hard earned money worker as a swamper in construction days after my 16th birthday. I would like to say I loved the car and was proud of it, but I hated it, I wanted a 55 – 57 post Chevy 265. But it was solid and repair free ride until I could I afford a ’58 Olds J-2 (3 duces).
A long way of saying if I could afford it, I would buy it in a heartbeat and confidently take it coast to coast, they were/are bullet proof and smooth. I was too young and dumb (a redundancy) to appreciate how nice a car it really was. I highly recommend this car as a weekend cruiser.
Similar story, 16 yrs old had 52 Buick but wanted 56 Chevy, this was in 1963. Bought one with 3 speed on floor. Wish I had never sold it, lead sled but very special.
I never got my tri 5, but did manage 3 Vettes. At first I was going to comment on how rare it is that we had such similar experience, then realized almost every budding car guy wanted a mid+50’s Chevy. Hurst built its business on moving the shifter from tree to the flour.
Solo is right about switch on carb, attached to throttle linkage, contacts closed when pushing pedal and starter engaged, Packard and others used it, this Buick with couple grand , could be a decent driver, a situation becoming more rare , as most of these ran when parked , aren’t worth the time and money.
Lovely looking car. I hope whoever buys it gets it running and driving and enjoys it. This is my idea of what a car should be, stylish, yet not too flashy. There’s just enough bling to say “I’m here!” without drawing too much attention to one’s self.
Reply to John Barnes. Many years ago I had a young lady working for me whose husband (opposite sex) was a CPA and didn’t know how to change the license plate and paid a service station to do it.
My wife, whom I did not know at the time, never checked the oil and guess what, no one ever told her it had to be checked.
People have to be taught or learn the hard way.
My friend had one in high school. When he got it it was mint but when he finally junked it (2 years) there wasn’t a straight piece of metal on the car. It was ugly, slower than a cement truck and burned gas like it was free.But as teenagers we had a lot of fun in that car. Beer parties, girls, and loud music. Miss those days but no that car.