It’s not easy to make the determination that a car is too far gone to save: Sometimes it’s too rusty, sometimes the parts and labor required are worth ten times more than the finished product, sometimes it’s a lack of interest in the model itself. Or perhaps we simply can’t see the gem beneath the layer of dust. The seller of this ’49 Super says that it is “worth a restoration,” but maybe there’s another option. Parts car? Cheap and fun “get it running” beater? Let’s take a look.
One of the first questions a potential buyer asks is “Will it run?” In this case, it currently does not, but the engine is free. The engine itself should be a 248 cubic-inch straight eight, the “small-block” of inline Buicks. These are reliable engines with decent parts availability, and their burbling idle is one of life’s great melodies. If the ad is correct, it’s backed by Buick’s famous/infamous Dynaflow, one of the smoothest transmissions to emerge from the mid 20th century, simply because it doesn’t shift. That big, long six-volt battery will have to be replaced, but they are still available and fairly reasonably priced (as far as batteries go these days).
The seller labels this car as a Special, but it’s actually a Super. The 1949 Special was based on the older prewar bodystyle, and our feature car’s trim tag labels it as a “Model 51,” which is a Super Sedan. The one-year-only 1949 body was especially attractive, and it was the first year for Buick’s famous portholes (three per side in the case of the Super).
According to the ad, this Super is straight and has a “rust-free frame.” Unfortunately, the interior is shot and there are no pictures to prove it; I can smell the rodent damage from here, and that may be the most insurmountable barrier to a restoration. Interior parts are not readily available for ’40s and ’50s Buicks (I know – I’m having my ’53 Buick’s seats redone as I write this), so the depth of decay matters at this point. Could you get by with a cheap seat cover or are the seats reduced to bare springs?
Owning a beautiful old Buick is fun, and we all love a barn find, but you’ll need to approach this one with care. It will need brakes, tires, a battery, and probably a fuel system. And then it needs interior work. It’s currently on Craigslist in Minnesota for $2,900, but it’s been posted for 24 days, so that number is most likely a starting point. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Zappenduster for finding this one for us.
Got one in dark green & 3 speed for $75.00 in 1954. Drove the wheels off and then resold it a couple years later for $75.00. Those were the good times.
Interesting because a friend bought a1950 like this for 75 bucks in 1977 and still has it
Wasn’t trying to outdo you, just the 75 dollar price caught my attention
Well, I bet it would a lot different cleaned up, hanging on to the metaphor “barn find”, and the ’49-’50 Packard with it. For the record, while the grille is always the elephant in the room, it was not a “toothy” grin, but called a “waterfall grille”, and Harley Earl, like the portholes, was mighty proud of it. Cars back then were identified by certain features, and Buick had the grille and portholes. It was said, Earl had lights installed on his Buick portholes wired to the distributor, but never made it to production. Sorry folks, I hope the hobby isn’t as dismal as I make it out to be. I think what WILL Happen, is stuff like this will once again be cheap again. Like above said, these cars were not very collectible, a gift from Auntie when Uncle Gus died, or merely $75 dollar beaters for the winter, some beyond. The straight 8 was the pinnacle of in-line motors, not Olds V8 stuff, just a cruiser for the open road, even the lowly “Super” was a nice car. I believe the Super was 2nd up from the Special, the cheapest, and I read, Buick sold a whopping 325,000 Buicks in 1949. At just under $1500 bucks new, I think the Super was the most popular one.
What will happen to all these cars?
I think there is still a market for these old cruisers. For instance, a young friend of mine bought one when he was a teenager because he had never seen anything like it. He lavished it with new chrome (a small fortune) and of course restored all the running gear. He wanted to move on from it in his twenties and sold it, at a significant loss, to another teenager. He said he did that because he remembered how he felt when he first saw it and wanted the kid to have it. I think many of these cars will live on due to this type of youthful enthusiasm. I think many of them don’t care about being “underwater” as the jaded members of our hobby put it. I certainly don’t.
Maybe, in the very near future, the average guy can convert them to (gasp) Electric!
Good memory on the portholes, Howard! My sources say it wasn’t Earl’s personal car with the portholes but a ’48 Buick belonging to one of his designers, Ned Nickles (the same guy who drew the ’63 Riviera, my personal favorite car). Nickles’s car was set up so the portholes flashed every time a cylinder would fire so they would look like a fighter plane’s exhausts, but as you said, that part didn’t make it to production. Too bad – that would have been awesome.
Aaron , I’m wondering if a DIY installation could have been made with 8 separate neon timing lights which had two leads: one end was inserted into the plug wire and the other end was a small alligator clip which gripped the spark plug terminal . Be the only Buick owner on your block to have one !
Peter, I think this would be the car to try it on! I never heard how Nickles wired his up, but someone somewhere MUST have done it.
Coming from a region such as this car and (no offense intended) the judgement of sellers interpretation of rust free is subjective. A person from the west coast would consider very a light rust rash alot. Some one from the salt States would look at a vehicle with no metal present as no rust. Oxymoron? You have to go see and judge for your self.
I’m not sure that there are that many under thirty folks that have any interest in these old cars. They just don’t relate like we do because we remember these cars from our youth. I do know that the young people today favor performance. This Buick is the antithesis of spirited acceleration, tight handling and plenty of whoa when you need it. I’m afraid that these old “gramps” cars are heading mostly for irrelevance once we boomers can’t drive them anymore.
At Lion’s drag strip in Long Beach, CA they had a group called “ Buicks Unlimited”. All they raced were 50’s straight eights. Quite a sight!
I don’t know about “Boomers” — I belong to the “Silent” (1924-1946) Generation. But the 1949, as with the 1939, was an especially beautiful Buick. Loved that “gun-sight” hood-ornament (where is the hood, here??). The correct name for those “holes” is “Cruiseline Ventaports” — four on the Roadmaster, three on the Century and Super. I would love to own and drive a 1949 Buick. The Borg clock was an especially fine and reliable item. But Buick radios in these years tended to fail when these cars reached about 12-years-old, for some reason. They would receive only very strong local stations, then they would receive nothing at all. Packard radios, by contrast, seemed to last forever. Dynaflow was really smooooth, but it claimed a bit of gas-mileage. Raise the left tail-lamp, and fill-up the gas-tank. I love ’49 Buicks! But I would need to find a nice well-preserved survivor, having a clean original interior, not one in this sort of decayed condition, thank you. Might make a good PARTS car.
Harrison I like your style. I own a 1949 Super Sedanette. Black with Grey pinstripe interior. My gas door ison thedriver rear fender. Wide white walls and also has the dynaflow transmission. I just spent thousands of dollars in chrome and all new factory material. There is or was no rust in this car. The downside is it draws alot of attention. But it is very show quality. I had it ceramic coated. I’m not a member but I’ll have to see what I can do. I also have a 1940 Packard Senior Super 8 black that’s very nice as well as some later model stuff.
Hello, Frog: Good Stuff!!! Not sure why drawing a lot of attention is a downside, but I’ll take your word for it. I also stand corrected: I had thought that ALL 1949 Buicks had the gas-fill under the left (driver’s side) tail-lamp, not on the fender (maybe the sedanette didn’t allow room for that?). I never was crazy about the sedanette style — but many prefer it — I’m a boring four-door sedan man, myself. But,, back when these cars were new, and into the 1950s, the sedanette seemed to be the most prevalent style for the 1950 Buick, for some reason. That body type seemed to wane rather quickly after that. The sedanette version of 1949 and 1950 Chevrolet also were numerous, as were the Pontiacs and Cadillacs of 1948-1949. Is that how you remember it? — or, weren’t you around back then? (smile). I loved the ’42s when they came out, also. I’m OLD.
Harrison, The reason I brought up about the car catching everyone’s attention is they want to the cars history and mine with the car and my history and a family member or neighbor etc had one similar and on and on…. Sometimes I just don’t have the time to chitchat for literally hours if you know what I mean.
Cadillac were noted for having the gas cap under the driver taillight lense. There was a non GM car I recalled having that setup also. I believe it was discontinued due to fire hazard. Gas fumes and sparks never got along. I am a baby boomer mid 50s product. So these era cars adorned the streets. I looked forward to watching Flash Gordon and Commando Cody and other B&W television programs and the ads for car dealers with spartan options like radio heater and white wall tires offered on cars for less than $1000.
Looks like a great deal. Easy to work on, not a rust bucket. Probably best that it is far from me, at this point. Would make a great project for somebody getting into the hobby.