Vehicle Description
With handsome Titian Red paint, a comfortable interior, and a
venerable 264 Nailhead V8 under the hood, this 1955 Buick Special
Tourback sedan is, well, pretty darned special. There's not a bad
line anywhere on the car's design, and thanks to great
preservation, it has a crisp, bright look that's matched by great
road manners that are as impressive today as they were sixty-five
years ago.
Sure, 1955 Chevys are nice and Cadillacs are flashy, but nobody
could compare with Buick's brand of style. The design choices on
this car have aged extremely well, and the dramatic look only gets
better with bold colors like the Titian Red and black shown here.
It was restored a few years ago, so it's not perfect, but you have
to get up relatively close to find the imperfections and with all
that chrome and trim, nobody's going to be looking at the little
stuff anyway. One look at the car and you know that panel fit is
critical, so they focused a bit of extra attention on it, and the
doors have that solid feel that only stuff from the 1950s seems to
have. And yes, we really need to talk about the chrome, because
there's enough here to outfit a fleet of lesser cars, and it's all
there at a cost equal to some countries' GDP. From the ornate
grille to the sweep spear running along the sides to the
wonderfully finned taillight housings that put a bright bit of
punctuation on the car, it glitters in a spectacular way.
The interior is a little more subtle, but only a little. Two-tone
red and gray upholstery combines a '50s sensibility with bold
colors that make it look expensive, which was surely the point.
Based on the mileage, it could all possibly be original, and shows
only minor signs of use and excellent quality throughout, with
straight seams and correct materials. The big steering wheel is
thin and almost delicate, especially on such a big brute, but the
two-tone color scheme and chrome on the dash is pure genius, with
the fine grille for the radio speaker mirroring the grille up
front. Unbelievably, the original AM radio is still in place and
working and hidden in the glove compartment are the controls for
the modern R134a A/C system, which we applaud the former owners for
improving the atmosphere of the cabin immensely by doing so. And as
a Buick, it's got a massive trunk that's fully upholstered in tan
mats, and it also houses what is likely its original bias-ply
spare.
Under the hood is the uber-dependable Buick Nailhead, 264 cubic
inches of what is believed to be the original motor for this car.
The name of the game was torque, and the undisputed champion in '55
was the Nailhead, so this car moves like it's got Corvette DNA in
its veins. Aside from the modern A/C compressor, everything looks
stock inside the engine bay, and they didn't take many liberties
with the hardware, which still uses the original heavy-duty air
cleaner and cast-iron exhaust manifolds. New service items include
fresh brakes, water pump, carb and rebuilt starter. There's a
reliable and incomparably smooth Dynaflow automatic transmission
behind it with a new seal kit, and it does take some getting used
to but it's pure Buick at its best. The underside isn't detailed
for show, but does have a great set of pipes, a big gas tank, and
that smooth Buick ride that has to be experienced to understand.
Factory steel wheels with flashy chrome hubcaps were popular with
Buicks of all shapes and sizes, and these wear proper 7.6-15
whitewall bias-ply tires at each corner.
A gorgeous, 83k actual mileage car that has the looks to embarrass
some pretty serious hardware, this Buick delivers on its venerable
reputation in every possible way. Call now!
