- Seller: Joseph R
- Location: Taunton, Massachusetts
- Mileage: 43139 Shown
- Chassis #: 4A7022054
- Title Status: Missing
- Engine: 264cui V8
- Transmission: 3-Speed Manual
You don’t need to be a ’50s Buick fanatic to appreciate this fantastic find! This 1954 Buick Special Model 48D has been parked since 1980 and has never been restored or modified. It wears its original paint, although with patina, and is said to be solid throughout. The seller has provided lots of great photos of it, so be sure to look at the gallery below. And if you’d love to have this Barn Find in your garage, cast your high bid!
The Special was Buick’s entry-level option but was well-optioned for the price point. The car was redesigned for model year 1954, with all-new styling and that beautiful waterfall grille. The base engine for ’54 was Buick’s 264 cui Fireball V8. According to the seller, the original owner lived just 49 miles from Buick’s Framingham, Massachusetts factory. After putting just 40k miles on the car, it was parked and stored until the seller recently purchased it from the original owner’s nephew. Its factory options included: Sonomatic Radio, Cavalier Blue paint code 8 with French white roof paint code B, Interior Trim Package #27 Cordaveen with Blue accent, and rubber covering with mohair padding. Between its age and the fact that these cars were popular to customize, finding a survivor is fairly uncommon.
The interior isn’t perfect, but it is surprisingly nice, given its age. It doesn’t appear to have suffered from rodent damage or severe wear. It will need a deep cleaning, and chances are some of the soft materials have deteriorated over time and will need to be replaced, but this looks like a great place to start. The vinyl flooring is significantly deteriorated on the driver’s side, but it gives us a better look at the floors. While there’s some surface rust, they do appear to be solid. Unfortunately, finding the original floor covering will be challenging, but replacement carpet is available and affordable. The seller notes that the trunk retains all of its original trim, padding, and mats with the original spare tire and jack.
The seller hasn’t tried to start the engine, but they have turned it over by hand, and it spins as it should. The Fireball, or Nailhead amongst enthusiasts, was a popular engine with the hot-rodding crowd. The Special was equipped with the smallest version of the Nailhead V8, displacing just 264 cui, and was rated at 146 horsepower when equipped with the 3-speed manual transmission, which is what this one was equipped with. Having an overhead valve V8 in 1954 was a high-tech feature for a budget car. Given the originality of this example, we would try to get the engine running. If it proves healthy, we would keep it serviced and enjoy it as is. Of course, you could always put this engine in storage and install a larger and more powerful Nailhead under the hood.
While we would be sad to see this car cut up to make a hot rod, there’s no denying it’s a tempting option. Given the patina, you could always go a more subtle route and limit modifications to things that can be reversed. It would make this a more usable and fun driver. At the end of the auction, it will be up to the next owner to decide what route they take it! Whatever route that is, we just hope they keep us posted so we can see the final product. If you have any questions for the seller, please leave them in the comment section!
Bid On This Auction
Krank E Oldman bid $4,000.00 2025-01-04 17:50:37
oldcarguy5085 bid $2,000.00 2025-01-03 17:10:03- Krank E Oldman bid $1,750.00 2025-01-03 16:23:34
Cory with a story bid $1,500.00 2025-01-03 10:44:11
phowe@sshydro.com bid $1,250.00 2025-01-03 09:52:52- Krank E Oldman bid $1,000.00 2025-01-02 19:24:16
If you buy this, you could be the president of the Broderick Crawford fan club, closing in on a Highway Patrol road block…dun, dun, dun, dun, da dun, dun, dun, dun; dun, dun, dun, dun, da dun; dun, dun; dun; dun, dun; dun, da dun, dun, dun, dun, da dun, dun, dun, dun da dun, da dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. Dunty Da Dun! Da Dun!
“21-50 to Headquarters”
“21-50- Bye”
I know, they didn’t use 54 Buicks…
Exactly my first thought…10-4, 10-4, 10-4….
Hopefully, the “thumbs up” button will be fixed by the end of 2025…
Wouldn’t take much to make a really cool mild custom out of this. Clean it up, change the stance and rolling stock and you’re most of the way there. Load it up with friends and go have fun at the show and shine.
Placed my initial bid, wish we knew the reserve. I am a sucker for original, unmolested, solid cars!
No inside trunk pictures so can we assume there are no keys?
Also is it possible to preview this before bidding and if so how do I contact the seller.
If you can send your contact info to is via email, we will pass it over to the seller to schedule a time to view it. Our email is mail@barnfinds.com
A decent `54, but I prefer the `55 models more. 1950-54 Buicks always looked frumpy to me in comparison to the other GM lines. Afterthought taillamps, a mere ‘bump’ for tailfins, and kind of plain styling. `55 brought a bit more chrome and 2-3 tone paint treatments. This `54 would make a neat mild custom if not restored. GLWTA!
to the Seller; is there any chance to get a title?
It certainly is hard to find an unmolested Buick of this year. That is definitely, a baby nailhead and probably wouldn’t take much to coax back to running again. I had a 58 with a larger version than this one. One thing that was funky was the small freeze plugs in its heads. Looks like this one has the same. Get her mechanicals as well as brakes rebuilt, clean her up and use some Poppys Patina on the exterior and enjoy as it is.
Nice find! My only comment is that I would like to see some really good photos of any car that show the entire car and from at least four angles. It really does give you an appreciation of what the ride really looks like. Partial shots can’t do that. Good luck with the auction, my mom had a 56 Buick Special, I loved that car.!
I remember those Buick heater and fan under the front seats. Wow, what a different design. At least this one is still solid under there.
I hope the passenger quarter panel chrome trim piece is in the trunk. That’s not going to be easy to locate.
What, no comments on the 3-speed column shift?
Will, with that baby, underpowered nailead it would be pretty sluggish with a Hydramatic automatic. Or whatever AT they offered in the day.
I like the fact that it’s a three speed two door and apparently mostly rust free. I’m curious why there isn’t any pictures of inside the trunk as other people have said. It would be nice if the air cleaner, missing hubcaps and the passenger side quarter panel trim were hanging out in the trunk. The interior looks pretty good and I could live with the paint for a while. Do what you gotta do to get it roadworthy and have fun. GLWTS.
I have said this once before but it is something that made me laugh a lot. A young girl had just started to work with us. I asked one of my colleagues how she went that day. He replied by saying “she had a simile on her face bigger than the grill of a 48 Buick”. I thought it so funny.
First car was 53 with sttrt 8. 4 saving bonds got it when I was 14. Got my $$ back renting it out wknd nights. Only ran up a few miles, but huge back seat needed a wipe down !!
If the auction ends without meeting reserve, does the high bidder then have the option to purchase at the reserve price?
I hope the seller will answer some of the questions here:
missing parts in the trunk?
get a Title?
Crickets, hearing nothing from the seller or BF about questions asked earlier?
Probably about 50 years ago I bought one of these in San Jose California just like this same color even drove it all the way down to Tijuana spent the winter scuba diving in San Diego drove home route 66 to Hamilton Ontario never had a problem a Happy Days car