When this 1952 Buick rolled off the production line, its proud new owner flew from her home in Olympia, Washington, to Flint, Michigan, to collect her new purchase from the factory. She then drove her pride and joy from Flint all the way back to her home. Over the subsequent years, she clocked up some 156,000 miles before the car went into her garage to undergo a restoration, which never eventuated. The current owner purchased the car 20 years ago with the intention of completing the restoration, but once again the project stalled, so now he has decided to sell it. You will find it listed for sale here on eBay. Located in Roy, Washington, it is offered with a clear title. The seller has set an opening bid of $5,000 in this No Reserve auction.
Sadly the exterior photos of the car are not of great quality, so determining rust is a bit difficult. It appears that there may be some rust present in the rockers under the trim, and possibly some in the lower corner of the passenger door, but otherwise it looks pretty promising. The rust in the floor shown in this shot would appear to be the worst of it, and a photo of the trunk indicates that the trunk floor is solid.
The condition of the interior is quite ugly. The dash itself is largely complete, right down to the factory radio. The one item that is missing is the speedometer, which is more of an irritation rather than an insurmountable problem. The rest of the interior trim is so badly deteriorated that it is going to be a case of starting the restoration virtually from scratch. There is some positive news though, as the seller has a full set of new blue carpet which will go with the car.
Under the hood is the mighty 320ci Fireball straight-eight engine, which is backed by the Dynaflow automatic transmission. The car doesn’t run, and the seller indicates that he hasn’t played about with it. He doesn’t indicate whether the engine turns freely. What he does tell us is the fact that he has a substantial amount of documentation that goes with the car. This includes the original purchase order, confirmation letters from Buick, service policies, and even a series of photos of the car taken by the original owner on her trip from Flint back to Olympia. To me that makes up both some nice documentation as well as a personal history for this car.
There is certainly some work to do on this Buick, but the work is definitely viable. When new, this would have been an extremely nice car, and there is no real reason why it can’t be again in the future. To me, one of the great attraction of this car is that you not only get a car with a lot of potential, but you get a personal and documented insight into the car and its early life through the eyes of its original owner. That isn’t an opportunity that comes along every day for a car of this age.
How does the inside get so trashed while the exterior remains somewhat nice by comparison?
Maybe the owner used some of that Flint tap water to clean the interior?
The car hasn’t been in Flint for 66 years.
They forgot to remove the bodies out of the front seat.
Grant, thanks for the keen observation! If was quicker on the draw I might say I was making a joke! But I doubt you’d buy into that line of hogwash.
Four letters: MICE….
Sometimes a car comes along, and it’s love at first sight. What a fabulous automobile! I’m a massive fan of Muscle Cars, but this 52 is beautiful. I’d love to make this a “money no object” restoration, and drive off into the sunset. 1950’s Americana at its finest.
Great car. 1948-1952 Buicks are my favorite cars, although I have a soft spot in my heart for a certain 1962 Electra 225 I had in the Eighties. Far and away the best car I’ve ever owned. I’d love to have another old Buick.
I had a 51 Roadmaster Riviera ( 4 holer ) … great car BUT you have to have bottomless pockets to restore them .
The Super has a 263, not a 320 straight eight. Only the Roadmasters in 1952 came with the 320. That engine will not fit into the engine compartment of this Super.
In high school my buddy had a ’52 Roadmaster. It was a super clean grandpa car that drank gas like it was free and slower than a school bus…After 2 years the kid practically destroyed it.
Pricey for the condition
As a kid we had a 1953 and later a 1954 Buick road master
I was too young to know much about the car.
I do know it had a great ride. A huge backseat and it did suck gas.
But “this 52 body style” is simply gorgeous to me.
And I agree with the other comment how does the outside look acceptable and the inside is trashed?
I had my hopes up on the first picture, but after further pictures, those hopes were dashed.
Very sad, looks more like they rolled up the windows and made a fish tank inside.
:(
This is going to be more expensive than then outside of the car first implied.
This is how my 52′ rusted as well. It was apparently caused by rubber front floor mats that trapped the moisture underneath. Like this one the rest of mine was relatively rust free. My interior is actually worse than this one…
Pretty……
Never, ever try to hotrod a Dynaflow. You’ll learn, pretty fast, how to overhaul them if you do.
The Dynaflow has more clutch plates in it than my kitchen has eating plates. I restored a 55′ and darn pressure plate got turned over and all fell out on the floor. I was lucky when all fell in order. Just picked up the bunch of plates and all worked just fine. Never again! Have a 1950 Super 4 dr. just sitting in my garage unrestored but looks just fine inside. Getting the front grill teeth stopped me. It did ran just fine when parked. Just make sure you use a stick to hold up half the hood or you will be in 2 parts.