If you follow the collector car hobby, you know that vintage wagons continue to be very popular. Not only do they command high prices in restored condition, but they are also popular for resto-mods and rat rod builds. These four cars were collected with the intention to build the two wagons, but they are now being offered for sale. You can find them here on eBay with a current bid just over $5,000, but the reserve hasn’t been met yet. Located in Grand Junction, Colorado, if you are interested in this collection, you better make plans for transport before the snow flies!
Along with the cars, there is a pretty good collection of parts included in the sale. The seller says there are original OEM and NOS parts along with some new parts. If you want to restore the two wagons, it seems like you’ve got a great head start. There are dozens of photos in the ad showing the cars, parts, and engine bays, which is a great start in assessing the value and seeing what kind of projects you are getting.
The engines are said to be 364 cubic inch V8s, but the seller doesn’t say if they are in running condition. If I was thinking about bidding on these cars, I would plan on the engines needing complete rebuilds (at the very least). What would you use to power these cars? I’m thinking LS swaps would be a good/modern choice, but nothing quite beats the sound and performance of a big V8!
Overall, the cars look like decent projects. The seller has the titles for the two wagons and I’m sure between the four cars, someone could make two great rides. What do you think of this collection? Maybe you could restore one as a factory-correct restoration and one as a wild custom? Let us know what direction you would go.
1 restored to original and 1 Rat wagon with a 455 GS engine. The rat wagon would be faster because of 1,000 pounds less chrome!
Hello U Ship….. how much to transport three Buick station wagons that do not run ?
Hardtop wagons. A rare beast indeed.
Caballero?
Never ceases to amaze me what some people collect. This guy is into ’58 Buicks, and for good reason. They were the ultimate in chrome and glitz, the likes we never saw again. Typical Colorado, no structural rust, but fried in the dry sun. Every piece of rubber and fabric are gone. Lot of work here, probably enough to make one good car, rechroming will cost you a fortune, if anybody still does that, interior and mechanical, another fortune, and since nobody paints cars anymore, you’ll save money there. Hemmings has several ’58 Buicks, all around $25g’s. You wonder if it would be better to go that route, for about the same as you’d have into these, and be driving one tomorrow. I think the day of these “mega restorations” is coming to an end.
Chrome looks pretty dang good to me. Certainly with this many source vehicles you could go for a few more decades without rechroming a thing.
Golly, your so negative !
I see a lot of potential here if you have the time and resources you’d need to do
the whole job. All of these cars could be
be put back on the road with the wagons
being restored and the sedans being resto modded. Oh sure, it would require
a great deal of cash and commitment on
the buyer’s part to make this happen.
Then sedans would be done first so their
364 V-8 engines could be used to restore
the wagons. A good pair of 454 crate
motors would do nicely here. These could be backed by a 700R4 transmission
each. Of course you’ll need custom made drive shafts for each car. The wagons speak for themselves. They will
take the most amount of time to do right.
The engine’s and transmissions from the
sedans would be used here after a complete rebuild of course. Some of the
interior goodies for the wagons could be
sourced from the internet or if you’re
lucky, your local junkyards. In short, an
ambitious hobbyist could walk away with
four really nice cars for the money. To
get your wife or girlfriend on board, build
one for her.
Seems to be a unique occation for someone to start a 58 longroof project. That’s not me as I find both the 58 Buicks and Olds’s to be way too garish – their 57s are way nicer.
GM made 4dht wagons for ’57 and ’58 only, and they were also limited to Olds and Buick. They were never big sellers probably due to their massive sticker price (and probably parents preferred their offspring keep their limbs INSIDE the family hauler instead of enjoying the convertible feeling?).
For some reason ’58 Buicks are extremely popular among Swedish vintage car people. There are also many highly skilled amateur restorers there and they don’t mind 4doors either. It wouldn’t surprise me if this lot was shipped off to Sweden ALL FOUR of these Buicks would surface in restored condition in a couple of years!
All the talk of 454 and restomods. First off to put a Chevy motor in these car would take a ton of modifications. The torq tube rear end would have to be replaced. And the only thing to do this is a 4 link set up. So alot more to do a motor swap. Probably easier to keep original and enjoy driving .
I would rather they go to Sweden and get righteously (frame off) restored, or at least a semi-righteous driver (frame on) restoration, within two years, rather than they stay here, but get unrighteously abominated into ratrods, or worse, allowed to rust away in the weeds for another 40 years. I only ask that the Swedes post YouTube videos to show the progress in restoring these vintage classic ancientmobiles.
Hey, it looks like the tires are new!
Dream find !!! Now too old and hobby interest slipping away.
What a great project for someone else
Enjoy you lucky new owner
I think all 4 are in restorable condition, it would be a shame to not try to at least attempt to restore one of the hard top sedans as well as both wagons. The pink sedan looks like the best of the lot. I think the seller should least have the option to buy one car open to the potential buyers. If I could afford it and had space I’d take the pink sedan. As for the chrome the fact is most of it is stainless steel and would not need Re chroming. I for one am plenty tired of seeing rust bucket rat rods. I live in a place where they salt the roads and there are plenty of rust buckets to look at every day. A lot of them are less than 5 years old.
Remove the orange strap and sell posters.
It was in the early 1960s when my parents decided to buy a second car. Until then the family car was a 52 Buick standard with a straight 8. They bought a used 58 Special that became “Mom’s car”. It had an overspeed buzzer that went off over 60 mph. I remember that you had to wash and dry every one of the chrome plated squares in the lower grille and there had to be a hundred of them.
A few years later Dad bought a used 59 Edsel Villager wagon and Mom got a new maroon 65 Olds Vista Cruiser.
is the black and white 1959 for sale ?
The Tin Toy Car version of these (made in Japan) sell for over $3000 in reasonably good condition … considered one of the rarest toy collectible.
I sold one a few years ago, shipped it half way around the world to Australia!!
You must hold tin toys in high regard MotorWinder, you capitalized “The Tin Toy Car.” My favorite Japanese tin friction is the 58 Ford retractable toy with working top. Over the years I’ve had a number of big Cadillac sedans, an Australian 55 Ford “Ute” and even a Renault 4CV with working headlights.
Lots of work for a drivetrain swap. Remember, these have a torque-tube driveline. An LS with a 4L80E are a nice idea but you’d better plan for installation of a 4 link and a 9 inch if you decide to go that way.
Canadainmarkseh has the right idea. These cars seem so solid seems like you could bring em all back, plus the parts you would have, seems like a tractor trailer load of parts. Put you in the Buick parts business!. IMHO, any engine that you could have lying around would be cool. Does this have coil springs in the rear? Convert to an open drive line and go for it!!
Cheers
GPC
Wasn’t the hardtop (pillar-less) wagon called Caballero?
Great looking cars!!! Buffing chrome till your arms fall off!! Would be a great project with all those parts!! Might not have to buy to much!! The body’s look straight too!!
One of the ugliest cars ever built–and it was considered ugly in ’58. However, after 61 years, they have become the icon of GM’s wretched excesses of the era—-and I kind of like them.