1955 Buick Special

U/K

4.3L 4327CC 264Cu. In. V8 GAS OHV Naturally Aspira

Automatic

4B5058262

Clear

GAS

For sale is a 1955 Buick Special 4 door sedan. Grey with grey interior, 264 nailhead, auto. This is an original survivor car and I was in the process of fixing it up and turning it into a daily driver. However, I ran out of time and I have 2 kids in college and need the money so it's time to sell. I purchased it a little over a year ago. Apparently one guy had owned it for 50 plus years and then he passed away and the guy I bought it from bought it from the estate. He had plans to restore it but never did and it sat in a garage for a number of years. The first thing I did was to have the gas tank professionally cleaned out, lined and a few pin holes fixed. I replaced the sending unit, all rubber fuel lines and blew out the metal fuel lines. I had the carb professionally rebuilt and it looked like a work of art when it came back. I took apart and cleaned the fuel pump, I did a full tune up and added an electronic ignition in place of the points. I removed the oil pan and cleaned out the sludge and added new oil and filter. After this the engine started right up and ran good. It still needs some fine tuning by a more knowledgeable engine person to set the carb, timing, advance, etc to get it running even better. I put new gaskets on the valve covers to stop them from leaking. I replaced the hoses and belt, although the heater hose that was sold to me is slightly too large and should be replaced as it drips in a few spots. I fixed the broken speedometer and put in a new speedo cable. The gas gauge still doesn't work even with the new sender, probably the gauge. I took the clock apart and the clock mechanism works when you wind it by hand and I checked the wiring to see if it burned out and it looked fine but I resoldered it anyway. However, the clock still doesn't work when hooked back up to the car, not sure why now. The other gauges seem to all work and the original radio still works. The interior is in original and good condition and the only thing that really needs to be replaced is the windlace around the inside of the doors and probably the carpet and the driver door card and handle are more worn than the rest. The headliner is in good condition and the seats need a good steam cleaning. Underneath the carpets the floors have surface rust but I haven't seen any areas that look like they need to be replaced. The vent windows and side windows are yellowing some but the rest of the glass is good. The wipers don't work and the wiper motor will need to be rebuilt or changed to electric. I replaced all the vacuum lines but the wipers still don't work, the washers seem to work though. The body of this car is in remarkably good condition. The only area of rust that I've seen that needs to be fixed is the bottom of the spare tire well. The car looks like it has the original paint and one old respray, the jams look like the original paint. There is one dent on the passenger side rear roof and rear quarter panel but pretty good otherwise. The chrome on the front and rear is pitted and in rough condition and someone spray painted them years ago. I removed about half of the spray paint with oven cleaner and steel wool but ran out of good weather since it is definitely an outdoor job. There's maybe 2 to 4 hours more work to get the rest off. The chrome/stainless on the sides wasn't painted and is in good condition except the door handles, they are pitted. The underside of the car has been sprayed over the years with multiple layers of a waxy/oily product all over everything. It's great because it saved it from rusting but a pain to scrape off when you need to work on something. I did a complete front brake conversion to disk brakes using the Scarebird kit. I also put new 2 inch lowering springs on the front with new shocks and new sway bar bushings. All of the nuts and bolts came right off during this work, none stuck or rusted. I had a new muffler installed. Things that still need to be done to be a reliable daily driver: tune the engine, fix gas gauge and wipers, redo the rear suspension and brakes, remove torque tube to replace gaskets to fix the leak that is common in this area. The tires are good and I have all 4 original hub caps. I have a full gasket set for the engine and trans and torque tube. I saved all the front brake parts removed during the conversion. There's also a box of some old spares that came with car, an old carb and some other stuff. I also have the full service manual for it. I have a clear VA title. It just needs a little more work to be a daily driver or would be a great candidate to restore. Let me know if you have any questions. The mileage is not the actual mileage. The speedometer and odometer were broken when we bought the car and stuck on 99,999. We fixed it and set it to 0 when we reinstalled it. 102 miles have been put on it in the last few months. I reserve the right to end the auction at any time if the car is sold locally. UPDATE: I have received a bunch of questions about how much rust the car has. It's an almost 60 year old car that has never been restored and only had one old respray that I can tell. Also, I don't believe anyone that has an old car like this and says it has no rust. However, the only spot that I have seen on the car that is rusted thru and needs repair is at the bottom of the spare tire. I have not taken the car apart or had it sand blasted or anyting like that to strip it back to bare metal. There is surface rust under the carpets on the floor pans in the front but I haven't seen any rust thru there. I haven't removed the seats and completely lifted the carpet to check out the entire floor pan from the top. I've looked at the fenders inside and out and don't see any rust there or on the rocker panels. I've had the car up on jack stands and looked around underneath and haven't seen anything. In areas where paint has been scratched or rubbed off over the years, there is surface rust. I bought this car without looking at it and I have been surprised at how good the body is considering the age. I'm guessing it was garage kept for most of it's life and along with the undercoating material has preserved it well. If anyone is close enough and wants to come check it out let me know. Also, I can attempt to take pics of specific areas if anyone would like to see them.