I do my best to keep my New Year's Resolutions. Mine this year is to blog more about cars before 1960, or, generally speaking, cars I have little or less interest in. Today, let's take a look at this 1955 Buick Special I found and on Marketplace for sale outside Kansas City, Missouri. Asking price is $14,000. If this car had seat belts I'd say, "buckle up, let's go". So just hang on.
From 1936 through 1958, the Buick "Special" was Buick's least expensive model and rode on General Motor's "B-body" platform all Chevrolet's, Pontiac's and Oldsmobile's 80 series did. Buick's "Century" model did too, the difference between a Century and a Special was the Century had the bigger engine from the Buick Roadmaster; the Buick Roadmaster and Super, Oldsmobile 90 series and Cadillac's were built on GM's larger and heavier "C-body" chassis. When GM updated the B-body for 1955, the Buick Special was as well. The C-body was redone in 1954.
For clarity's sake, a Buick "Super" was a Roadmaster with the smaller engine from the Special. Buick covering all their bases back then in ways only General Motors could. You wanted a Special with more scoot, you got a Century. You wanted to look like you were money but do so on a budget, you got a Super.
On the Special for 1955, Buick continued the sweep spear styling motif they introduced in 1949 on the Roadmaster and Super Riviera's, more than you bargained for on Riviera's in a minute, which had trickled down to the Special and Century in 1951. It's a look you either love or hate or at least find somewhat interesting like I do. If anything, it's distinctive. I think it works better on the leaner flanks of these cars versus the pudgier, doughier somewhat pre-war like lines on the 1951 to 1954 Special's and Century's. What's a car blog without opinion anyway?
Buick kept the sweep spear theme on all their cars through 1958, they kept a vestige of it on some models well into the 1990's. Along with all new and debatably insane designs for 1959, Buick rebooted their model nomenclature replacing the Roadmaster with the Electra, the Special with the LeSabre and the Century with the Invicta. The Special would return in 1961 on Buick's first ever compact, "Super" would return only as a trim option on 2008 to 2011 LaCrosse and Lucerne's. Hats off to the old-school GM marketing executive for digging it up back then.
I hate to be "that guy", but the poster for the Facebook Marketplace ad for this 1955 Buick Special misidentifies it as a Buick Riviera Special. It's not. It's a Buick Special Riviera. Can't blame them for mislabeling this, though. Buick's use of the Riviera moniker prior to their introduction of the series of personal luxury cars they named as such from 1963 to 1993 is inconsistent if not confusing. For certain, from 1949 to 1962, any Buick designated as a "Riviera" was not a stand-alone model. In the case of this '55, "Riviera" denoted a Buick hardtop.
To keep this soliloquy all about this Buick Special, I put everything I know about Buick's use of "Riviera" prior to 1963 below,
Under the hood, we have Buick's 264-cubic inch, overhead-valve "Nailhead" V-8 they introduced in 1953. Making 188-gross horsepower, figure 110 or so net, the emphasis was on smoothness of operation rather than stoplight to stoplight acceleration. You wanted a Special with more scoot, buyers got a Century with the 236-gross horsepower, 322-cubic inch V-8 from the Roadmaster. figure 140-net horsepower. Still no powerhouse but more is more. Officially, Buick marketed their new V-8's as "Fireball", car wonks nicknamed the engines "Nailhead" due to their narrow intake and exhaust valves that resembled nails.
With some exceptions, I'm not the biggest fan of cars made before 1960. 1954-1957 Buicks grab my attention because they're an interesting blend of pre- and post-War General Motors design. They're longer, lower and wider than GM's first models after the War but are restrained in ways their late '50's most certainly were not.
For, your ahem, green, you get a 1955 Buick two-door hard top with flawed, mismatched paint that in no way can be original. You also get sagging shocks, dry-rotting tires and a cracked windshield. You do get a new battery and fuel pump. Poster of the ad claims the car is priced accordingly. Well, if they say so; the top-notch paint job this car deserves will run more than the asking price for it. If you have a jones for a one of these, I'd rather you drop $25,000 on a more complete car. The era incorrect paint would have me passing on this ten-fold.
In 1949 and 1950, Buick's denoted as a "Riviera" were two-door hardtops, or cars with no center post emulating the look of a convertible with its top up. Actually, they were convertibles with steel roofs welded on them. From 1951 to 1953, Buick used "Riviera" as a top-of-the-line trim option on their four-door Roadmaster and Super.
Throwing the Twin-Turbine Super Dynaflow into reverse at 40-miles-an-hour, from 1954 through 1958, "Riviera" became a body style designation once more denoting hardtops; in 1955, a four-door hardtop joined the fray.
But wait, there's more. 1959 through 1962, "Riviera" was only used on top-of-the-line Buick Electra's regardless of their body type. Blurring the definition of a "Buick Riviera" even further, in 1963, Buick sold a four-door "Electra Riviera" alongside their new for '63, two-door Riviera personal luxury car. To lessen the "two-Riviera" confusion, there was no Riviera badging on the Electra.
Read the entire ad. Yes it’s available. Clean title in hand. NO TRADES. Just out of long term ownership. New battery and fuel pump. I would call it good driver condition. Paint has flaws and some mismatch. Windshield is cracked. All the gauges and lights work. Runs and drives great. Rear shocks are getting weak. Older tires. I have priced it accordingly. When your ready to come see/purchase just call me. Too many time wasters on here I’m not messaging back and forth. I’m offering it this final time then I will take it to another level and raise the price. Location is Harrisonville MO 64701. Figure out your shipping cost before you call me. Thanks for looking. AJ 816//604//8094
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