Thought this was an interesting find

Moseman

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Found this on a back street in Buffalo, SD - Would make an interesting build. I am not a Buick guy, so I am posting. Anybody know the year?

20180927_130544(0).jpg
 
Looks like a 1955 Buick, 3 port, so it's probably a Special. The 4 port cars were Roadmaster and I think Century. My Dad owned a '56 Roadmaster, super great highway car.
 
They were nice cars. BUT to modernize them, it can take a "bit more" than other cars to make happen. TorqueTube drivetrain is one big deal which restricts a lot of common "street machine" things, unless you change the rear axle, rear springs, and trans. DynaFlow is "smooooth as goooo", but the few 3-speed manual trans cars performed much better. Brake master cyl is still under the floor, which limits upgrades, too.

Check out videos from "Reality Rides" where a shop rebuilt a '55 Special. Quite neat.

Given the above-mentioned "limitations", you can still make a neat car using production architectures. Back then, and probably up until the middle '70s, almost everybody either had "rich relatives", neighbors, friends, car pool mothers, or such that had a Buick. Even if their immediate family didn't own one.

Enjoy!
CBODY67
 
All '55 Buicks with three holes are "Specials" This one is missing the side chrome (stainless) which followed the paint line.

Dave
 
I think that Generation of Buicks was also known for pretty weak Brakes even by the Standards back then.
 
Most GM cars had "weak brakes" back then. Buick bragged "the biggest in the industry", I believe? If almost any GM car, up until about the later '60s, drove near a mud puddle, "no brakes" until they got dried out.

CBODY67
 
The Gas Monkey guys did a resto mod on an Olds about that same era.

All new GM drivetrain, modern brakes, air ride suspension.

They left the rusty paint but redid the interior. I am think it was a 10 or 15k bill when they were done. It wasnt worth restoring but they sold it for a small profit.
 
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