1953 Buick Roadmaster

322 cu. in. V-8

automatic Dynaflow

Clear

Gasoline

I bought this car in 1983 because it was just like the one my grandparents taught me to drive in. I drove it for a couple of years, and decided that it was such a good solid car, that it deserved a better paint job than someone previously had done with Imron.I had a friend who owned a body shop and he let me bring it down and I spent a couple of weeks removing all the trim and stripping that paint off. Ever try to strip Imron? Not fun. We then sprayed it with the epoxy primer you see here. Once I saw just how good the body was, I decided to try and find a replacement left rear fender for the one that had been previously repaired with bondo. There were also some previous repairs done on the rear doors, so I bought two rear doors from the same junkyard in Montana that I got the replacement fender from. Although I removed the original fender, I have that one as well as the one I bought for it. My goal was to have all the sheetmetal on the car to have no repairs at all. I also had the original bumpers rechromed. In the pictures, there is one of the original fender, the very nice replacement fender, and the two rear doors from Montana that I never uncrated, and the rechromed bumpers hanging in my garage. The project expanded, and the time I had to devote to it....contracted. So here it is...some 30 years later. Last summer, I got it out of cold storage and redid the brakes, including having the rather exotic power brake booster rebuilt. I had the original carb professionally rebuilt, put in a new battery, and a few other things, and got it running again. So it currently is a running, driving car.This car has the paint code 88, as seen on the body tag pictured. This combo was introduced late in the '53 model year, and therefore is somewhat rare. Code 88 indicates a two tone, with the roof being "Jordan Gray" and the body "Glacier Blue".The last picture I posted here is of the 1953 Buick Roadmaster that Howard Hughes had...for reference. His Buick was also this identical color combo.My car is a twin to that one....exact same two tone color scheme, so if the car is restored as it was built, that's what it would look like. With the current ratrod craze, I thought about just putting enough of it back together to be roadworthy, and driving it, but I realized that I just don't have the time or motivation that I used to...plus, I'm thinking about moving and can't take everything...and it certainly won't fit in the coffin with me.I have all the parts that came off this car, plus the extras that I bought for it...so it could be a relatively easy restoration....or, leave it as a ratrod. In any case, it will be a smooth, classy ride. Nothin' like a Roadmaster!