1955 Buick Roadmaster - Who's a Good Boy?

This four-door, 1955 Buick Roadmaster is not my cup of antifreeze, but it's been popping up on Marketplace on me like a puppy trying to get my attention at the animal shelter. Softie that I am, I felt obliged to give it a snackie and rub its patina rich belly. Who's a good boy? 

This is for sale in the town just west of us and the shape it's in goes to show you how the heating and cooling extremes up here on The Lake wreak havoc on cars, homes too. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, it's "shoot me" hot and muggy, the winters are long and brutal, it rains here more than it does in famously rainy Seattle, Washington too. Upside is, September and October are divine; the calm before the White Death. 

Sadly, our Good Boy here is a non-running basket case that doesn't have keys or a title and has an asking price of $2,500. The keys we can work around but the missing title? If there's no documentation as to who's the owner, this might as well get pushed onto a frozen Lake Erie and wait for spring. Be sure to drain the tank and fluids! 

The "Roadmaster", which was as hyperbolic a name for a car as there's ever been, was Buick's top-of-the-line model from 1936 through 1958 and then again, from 1991-1996. I thought it odd that Buick, who's forever struggled with an "old" image, resurrected the Roadmaster nameplate in the '90's and festooned it to such an "old" car. When I think "Roadmaster" one of these geezers is what I think of. Cobwebs and all. 

Like a puppy or cat you fall in love with at the shelter that you can't take home, you hope for the best for them. I doubt anyone would buy this and restore it even if they're able to figure out the title issue. NADA generously values '55 Roadmasters in "good condition" at $27,500 - no doubt that's for coupes too. I don't mind the time and elbow grease that would have to go into this, it's the amount of money it would take to get it up to snuff. It would take a lot more than $27,500. 

Last time I checked, they had dropped the price $500.