Hold the phone! This car is advertised as a 1950 Buick Roadmaster Jetback Special on Craigslist in southwest Houston. It was “running when stored.” But that was back in 1984! Actually, this is a Jetback (also called a Sedanet) but I believe it’s a Special, not a Roadmaster. The owner wants $8,000, which seems reasonable enough. But it won’t be a case of filling the gas tank and connecting a battery to get it back on the road.
The car still has its original “Fireball” straight eight and Dynaflow transmission, which is all to the good. The interior is still in place and looks original. The photography on this ad suffers from the “don’t want to move it out of the garage” syndrome, so it’s dim and shot from weird, tight angles. Pushing it out into the sunlight would have made a big difference.
The car comes “With many parts available for restoration.” It’s an estate sale, and no title is available—that matters more in some states than in others.
I hadn’t heard the phrase “Jetback” before. I thought they were all Sedanets. And I thought the last Buick Sedanet was 1949, so live and learn. But these were great cars.
The Roadmaster Jetback Sedanet was produced in a run of 2,968 cars. It had a 320-cubic-inch Fireball straight eight, producing 152 horsepower. It was a big car, weighing 4,025 pounds.
The car is filthy and crammed into that garage. But it doesn’t look rusty, and restoring it should be straightforward. The ad indicates 50,000 miles, but judging by the wear on the door trim, they may have been hard miles. There is no guarantee the engine won’t need a rebuild—they were often good for only 60k in those days.
Anyone buying this car will have a lot of work ahead, but the results could be very rewarding.
Overpriced by a factor of at least 2
The last Buick Sedanet was 1951.
Special, Super and Roadmaster were the three models. It’s tagged Special, so not a Roadmaster, which had four portholes in the hood. Special and Super only had three portholes, as seen here. Specisls also came with the smaller 248 straight eight.
Car was running when stored? And yet CAR IN TOW, marked on the trunk…interesting!!
I could have been running, but not stopping. Maybe the guy didn’t have a buddy with him to drive it home, so he towed it. Lots of other reasons, overheating, fuel delivery issues,steering so wobbly that it was scary to drive. Who knows? Sellers, especially online sellers, always tell the truth, right?
Tony
You beat me to it that was EXACTLY my thought why does it have car in tow if it ran when parked
I know where there are 3 of these off of hwy 5 in sc buried in kudzu and left way off the road when they widened and straightened it. I tried to find who owned them but couldn’t track it down. I think this model would make a great pro street
I often see cars of this vintage, and older, going to car shows in the heat of the summer and they’re often driven by a really old guy, meaning older than me. All I can think of is no AC, no thanks. Crank windows too. But I do like this body style. I would restomod it if I were to buy it but that would be sacrilege to some around here
blasphemer!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣
No AC!!!! 🤣🤣🤣. Crank windows. 🤣🤣🤣.
“Fastback”
Clearly a Special the one on the bottom of the line. Still worth making a driver out of it. . Not a Roadmaster.
If it’s a Special, it should have a 248 cube straight 8 under that hood. You
might get lucky and get it running off
s Jerry can, but I can almost guarantee you that Dynaflush drive is
gonna leak like a seive. Did a couple of these while in highschool and I can
tell you first hand that’s what’s gonna
happen. My ’49 was like that and I had to take mine to Twin City Hydramatic and have the tranny redone. The other car I did for a disabled friend of mine who was born
with no hands. His car had a 320 with a Dynaflush tranny. And because
he had hooks for hands, I mounted a
spinner on the steering wheel so that
he could grip it easier. Like mine, his
car started up and ran great off a Jerry can and the tranny leaked like
Niagara Falls. Would love to have this
car as my uncle Don owned one of
these when I was very small. Even so,
I still recall sitting on Mom’s lap watching him row through the gears.
Note to seller: your presentation of
this car really sucks! At least air up
the tires and push it outside, give it a
bath, and then take some decent pictures of it so you can sell it the right way. Based on your pictures, I
wouldn’t give you anymore than $2K
for it.
$8K??? Way overpriced; a $1K car at the most. Why do people think just because they have an old car that has been stored it is worth a lot of money???
Overpriced like the ’77 Granola at $20K, yesterday.
I’m DRUNK
I will buy it 😂
Never fails to amaze me how out of touch some readers here are. Is $8K too high for this car? Probably. But guys, the days of buying a vintage car for $1,000-2,500 are LONG gone!!! Even though the pictures are terrible, this looks like a solid old Buick. Worth every bit of $4-5K.
OK. So it’s a Roadmaster Special Sedanette Jetback Fastback with a 248/320 straight 8, which drove into position while being towed. Got it.
$8k? If you’re gonna dream, you might as well dream big.
Cool car. I had a ‘46 Sedanette years back with 60k on the meter. Selling price didn’t have that many digits in it.
I get it. You can lower the price if it doesn’t sell, you can’t raise it if it does. GLWTS
Since it has side trim, it is a Special Deluxe Sedant, Model 46-D. In 1950, Buick did refer to the fastback models as Jetbacks in 1950.
This info is taken from Seventy Years of Buick by George H Dammann
I like this body style and the 50 Buick grill is beautiful. If the body and frame are not rusted this is worth the $8000. I’d find a donor full size newer Buick for the drivetrain and hotrod this thing. It would make a great cruiser.
Some actual pictures of the whole car from end-to-end would be nice. Outside. Maybe hose it off a little. These were great old cars.
Agreed. Have any of these people who say the prices are too high been to a car corral in the last 20 years?
As an estate sale it does not even appear that it is his to legally sell. It sounds like it is an illegal conversion of property to me.