Reader Art P recently spotted an interesting find parked along the side of the road near Thatcher Park in New York. He decided he had to stop and get some photos of it to share with the BF community! Clearly, this Buick Dynaflow has been left out for a number of years, but it doesn’t look too bad all things considered. Be sure to take a look at Art’s other photos of it and let us know what year you think it is.
From Art – I was on my way to go kayaking at a small lake up in the Helderberg‘s which is near Thatcher Park. The lake was Thompsons Lake a small lake that you could kayak three or four times because it’s just a big circle. The car was just sitting on the side of the road down from an abandoned house. To me, it was a work of art. I always love to see these cars only because they are so beautiful in whatever state they are in.
It really would be interesting to know what the story is behind this car. It’s been parked here for a while, but not long enough to have completely rusted away.
Given its condition and that it’s likely been abandoned, there probably isn’t much hope for this one. It might still have some good parts left, but you’d have to find out who owns it and if they are interested in selling it. So, do you think it’s worth going to the trouble of tracking the owner down to find out if they’d sell it? And, have you been able to identify what year this Dynaflow it?
Have a cool roadside sighting? We’d love to see it! Send your photos and story to mail@barnfinds.com.
1949 Roadmaster
1951 > https://www.hometownbuick.com/portfolio/1951-buick-roadmaster-sedan-model-72r/?portfolioCats=1687
Yep, ‘51 Roadmaster. Good eye.
Judging by the paint this car was likely in pretty decent shape in the 80’s at least possibly the late 90’s even. I wonder why it was let go being that it was an antique collectible back then. It was probably even restored at one point. Sad
Indeed; it’s a `51 4-holer Roadmaster. Thought I caught a glimpse of an accessory rear fender skirt too. Buick did not have those in 1951-52; any model.
I stopped and checked this car out and talked to the guy that (lived in said abandoned home at the time) once and got the phone number for this.
It is a 1951 buick roadmaster if i remeber correctly and was sitting in the spot its in for at least two yrs before that…. it has a straight eight that seem to be locked up but no way to tell…….. was about 4 yrs ago. So rough time frame has been idle for at least 7 years…. total time Wonder if i still have the number somewhere? I have often thought about this car is funny it popped up on here.
Hey Adam…Thanks for following up on this beauty…You never know up in those parts if house is occupied or abandoned..and take the chance knocking on the door…Would love to hear more history of the car…Art
The 51′ and 52’s are very close and a give-away to determine the difference is the chrome tailfins sitting on top of the rear fenders on 52’s only but since we aren’t given that viewpoint in these pictures, the next best way is the number of grill teeth. A 51 has 25 and the better looking (unbiased opinion of a 52 Roadmaster Estate Wagon owner) has only 19.
My 1951 Super grille.
I had a weird Aunt & Uncle (weird as far as I was concerned) who were black-shirt mennonites.
They had a ’51 Buick Roadmaster hardtop, where all the chrome was painted black, inside and outside. A nice car, but quite expensive I would think when they purchased it. They had every option except a radio, but it did have a black aerial sitting in the middle of the windshield-roof line.
That lack of radio was probably a religious choice as they never did have a TV, record-player, radio or musical instrument in their house. Like I stated weird.
Yeah but just think how much closer to god they were because of the lack of a radio!
Yup just up (well maybe) there Shouten’ ‘n Preysin’ the lord g_d !
Singin’ their hearts out, Preysin their own piousness.
Casting dispersions on them folkses not so pious.
By the way their next car was a ’59 Cadillac with blackened out chrome inside and out and again no radio.
If they had a radio they could listen to this though………one of my fave road trip tunes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plOR12bfmM8
Great tune Capriest, hard not to like anything Joe plays.
If they purchased a new car in the 1980’s you suppose they would have tried to order a radio delete grand national?
The 1951 Buick also had slightly different side trim compared to the 1952. The 1951 trim swept down the side of the car to the stone shield ahead of the wheel opening and then straight to the rear quarter panel. The lower edge of the side trim swept down to the sill ahead of the stone guard.
The 1952 took the side trim along as in 1951 and then down toward the sill only to return to the front fender along the sill.
Also, the trunk lid for 1952 was raised and squared off.
And for 1952 :
I had one years ago …. you’d better have very deep pockets to restore it
A simple question. The photo of the abandoned car shows 4 fake exhaust ports (or whatever they are!) on the front fender, but all the car photos added by commenters all have 3… are there differing models and/or trim levels here?
Roadmaster models had four portholes while Special and Super had three. The Century was added for 1954 with 3 holes and in 1955 Century and Super went to 4 holes.
The 1955 Roadmaster, Super, and Century all shared the same engine (236 bhp), and thus they are had 4 holes. The Special used a less powerful engine (188 bhp), and three holes.