Vehicle Description
1938 Buick Special Coupe
Back in the year when Errol Flynn immortalized Robin Hood, when
Walt Disney dazzled the world with Snow White, when Glenn Miller
music was coming into full swing, and Bingo was becoming the latest
rage, the 1938 Buick Century was just about the most exciting thing
this side of Lana Turner's sweater closet! ...Thx to Hemmings for
this intro!
For consignment, a classy Buick Special from 1938 turned into an
upscale hot rod. This car is now immersed in a sea of who's who of
high-end parts, has a snazzy paint scheme and a custom interior
with all the conveniences of a modern day cruiser. As the 1938 ad
stated "East-West, This Roams Best!" not to mention it looks cool
too.
Exterior
With its curved horizontal ribbed vertical styled "shaver" chromed
grille and the "bullet" encased now LED headlights hanging off of
either side, slowly the cars were becoming more homogenized. This
would be the last year for the running board, so until then we will
enjoy them attaching the rounded front and rear fenders that frame
polished American Racing wheels wrapped by Cooper Cobra series
P215/65-R15's in front and P255/60-R15's on back. This car is all
steel, all straight and has nicely minded gaps. It is bathed in PPG
2 stage white for the front to mid door lowers, and a purple hue
that has more red in it than blue, and is just gorgeous. The purple
takes over on the doors in a 3 lined waterfall graphic if you will
and encompasses the remainder of the car. It is also seen on the
hood portion of this beautiful Buick. The split rear glass is just
the start of a cascading rear trunk design that ends in a sharp
curve for the rear roll pan. The rear fenders come along for the
ride very shapely and back heavy in their design with more LED tail
lights with shiny chrome bezels. Dual exhausts sneak a look from
the bottom center of this curvaceous bumper less rear.
Interior
A swing of the doors and we see the wonderful texture of a gray
dyed burlap with some black padded burlap graphics for even more
texture. A shiny actuator and wing window crank are mounted here as
well as the power window toggles. Inside more of the textured
burlap in gray covers the low split back black burlap tuck and roll
inserts on the front bench to which seat belts have been added. In
back a high back gentle C curved rear bench stretching across the
entire back of the car also in the bray burlap with black tuck and
roll inserts. These buckets float on a sea of thick pile black
carpeting. For the dash customization liberties were taken and now
we see a purple steel background with white flat panel inserts for
the dash front. Within these panels are nicely arranged circular
Auto Meter platinum series gauges that line up to keep track of all
the vitals. Billet knobs and pulls abound as does Vintage Air, an
AM/FM/CD player, and a CB radio stack down below the dash. An
Ididit tilt column is topped by a LeCarra rally banjo style
steering wheel.
Drivetrain
Under the hood in the pristine engine bay now sits a 350ci V8 which
the consignor states is bored .010 over. It has a 4-barrel
Edelbrock carb on top and a Muncie M20 4-speed manual transmission
shifted with a Hurst shifter. This throws power to the rear Ford
9-inch 3.55 TracLok axle.
Undercarriage
A Fatman front end along with Mustang II suspension for the front,
and leaf springs for the rear are supported by a totally rust-free
frame, floor pans, rockers and body hangers. Power disc brakes have
been put on the front, and power drums for the rear. A shiny
Flowmaster exhaust exhales via all this black framing and
mechanicals engine at the back center.
Drive-Ability
A quick fire up and off to the test track I flew. In Buick form and
burlap luxury I took this car through its paces, and all performed
swimmingly. Good handling, bias free braking, and smooth shifting
as it accelerated nicely. The A/C was recently serviced but may
need a new dryer on it. All other functions were working well.
A very nice example of the 38 Special, (Formerly the 40), with its
late 30's design and lines. Great paint scheme which is somewhat
timeless in its execution of the color change. A nice interior with
lots of texture, and some added conveniences put us firmly in
luxury hot rod territory. Go go go!
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special
interest automobile showroom, featuring over 650 vehicles for sale
with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle
barn find collection is on display.
This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown,
Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia
on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is
www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914.
Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the
vehicle in person.