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Our 59 Invicta Story


Guest Tom

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As you may have seen from my earlier post about our Buick family history, my favorite car was the '59 Invicta Convertible. A few years ago, I made the decision to actively pursue a car like the one we used to have. I placed a car wanted ad in Hemmings and joined the BCA once again and posted wanted ads on this website and others. I found a couple converts for sale, but their steep prices were beyond my budget, I also got a call from Ken McGee the literature dealer in Canada who was willing to sell his Electra 225 Convert, an original 56,000 mile car, but he wanted $36K for it. I decided I would have to broaden my horizons a little in order to better fit my budget so started to look at 2dr hardtops too. I came across an ad on the web advertising an Invicta 2dr hardtop in Texas for 10K. I called the person that placed the ad, and he said he knew the car was for sale and had originally planned on buying it and turning around and selling it for a profit. He had changed his mind and didn't own the car. Shortly thereafter, in the Nov 2000 issue of Hemmings, there was an ad for a car that sounded an awful lot like the one I had called on earlier. A 59 Invicta 2dr hardtop with 24,000 miles and factory air and a price of $7500 or best offer. I emailed the seller Lana Cunningham, who responded that the car may be already sold and the potential buyer was coming from Colorado in a few days to look it over. She told me she had inherited the car from an estate. Her husband wasn't interested in old cars and they needed to sell it to help settle some of the debts from the estate. She asked my opinion on the price and said she would let me know what happened.

Well, the guy from CO, bought the car, but the seller gave me his email address. I emailed him and he said he would be interested in selling it, he had paid $5500 for it and spent some time and money cleaning it up and getting it running since it had sat idle for 10 years or more. His asking price now was $9500 firm. He was a really nice guy and called me and spent the better part of an hour on the phone describing the car in detail to me. I originally intended to have a co-worker that lived in Denver look at the car, but I checked air fares and found I could fly round trip to Denver and back for $185. For that price, I was going to look at it myself.

I flew to Denver on a Saturday in early January 2001 and as soon as I saw the car, I knew I was going to buy it. I tried some negotiation, but he knew what he had. He was originally from Minnesota and his family still lived there. His sister lived not more than 5 miles from us. He has an enclosed car hauler and said he would trailer it back to MN for me for another $500. I left him a deposit and made arrangements to pay him in full when I was back in town on business a few weeks later. He would bring the car to us early in March.

Everything went off as planned and when the car arrived. I had it taken to a shop to go through the brakes, fuel system and a number of other things to get it safely driveable.

Inside the glove compartment was much of the original paperowrk including the original TX title, early registration slips, battery warranty and so on. Only thing missing is the purchase paperwork which I would love to have.

The car belonged to a Nelda Wilson who lived in Abilene Texas with her mother Lillian. She purchased the car from Lone Star Buick on December 26th 1958. Nelda never married and had no kids. She took care of her mother and worked as a bookkeeper. The car was not driven very much. The original seller had told us some of the history of the car, but we were very fortunate this last year to confirm much of what we had been told.

On our way to Plano in June for the Nationals, we made a side trip through Abilene. Since I had the old registration slips with her address on it, I went to Mapquest and printed out directions to the two homes she had lived in. When we got to the last place she had lived. We knocked on the door of her next door neighbor. She hadn't known Nelda much so she directed us across the street to another neighbor who had lived there for years. A nice gentlemen answered the door and greated us like we were long lost friends. He had lived across the street from Nelda and her mother since the mid 60's.

He confirmed much of what Lana Cunningham had told us. Nelda took care of her mother. While the title was in Nelda's name, the neighbor, Jim Clay, said the Buick was actually Lillians car. Nelda had her own car, a Ford Thunderbird. That is why the car wasn't driven much. He said Nelda was a slight woman, but smoked and cursed like a sailor. They stayed pretty much to themselves, but always attended the neighborhood Xmas party and spent a lot of time attending to their yard which was their pride. The house had been purchased for them by Nelda's boss. The story behind that is anyone's guess.

Since the Buick appears to have never been smoked in, it further leads me to believe that Nelda never drove the car much. Jim the neighbor said the car just sat in the garage, tires flat, accumulating dust and dirt. Jim said that frequently, people would stop buy, asking Nelda if they could buy the car. Nelda always turned them down.

Jim told us the story about the time the car was damaged when a kid lost control of his car, spun out and hit the garage where the Buick was kept, doing some minor damage to the back end. At that time, Nelda's house was on a dead end. During rain storms, the street would flood and kids would use the opportunity to do donuts. Unfortunately, one kid had a minor problem and hit the garage. The kids father made him pay for the damage, and at that time, Nelda took the opportunity to have the car repainted. After it was done, it went back in the garage and was never driven again.

Lillian was stricken with cancer and while in a hospice is where she met Lana Cunningham, the woman that inherited the car. Lillian passed away in the house in '95 and from that point in time, Jim said Nelda lost her enthusiasm for life. The yard was left unattended and the house was left to deteriorate. Jim asked Nelda what she was going to do with the old Buick and was told that she had plans to give it to some one.

Nelda apparently knew herself that she had cancer too, but not many other people knew about it. She continued to work up until the day she died in June of 2000 and as with her mother, passed away in the house. It was several days before she was found and the house was a mess. It hadn't been cleaned and she had a dog that was left to do it's business as he pleased. The house had to be condemend, but the city came in and pretty much gutted it and cleaned it up. Nelda apparently was quite a bit in debt and the house was sold to help pay some of the debts off as was much of her other property.

A pretty sad ending, but the old Buick lives on as you can see in the pictures below.

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The trip to Texas and the Nationals was a great success. In addition to being able to find out a little more history about the car, the car won an Archival Award. Nelda would be proud.

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Tom, another great story -- and a '59 that is truly as beautiful as it looks in the photos!

One of my great memories from the Buick Centennial is meeting up with Tom, his wife Sally, and their great '59 Buick in Ashland, Wisconsin. We caravanned together all the way to Flint, and I followed Tom's '59 right into the grounds of the Flint Cultural Center. I was able to park alongside Tom's '59 for the entire meet. I was impressed not only by Tom's Buick; Tom and Sally are two of the nicest Buick enthusiasts you will ever meet.

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Guest invicta592

Tom, I was just wondering if you have any other pictures of the interior of your Invicta. Mine was re-upholstered years ago, and I believe its follows the original style, but only loosely. I'd be interested to see the door panels and front and rear seats, so I can start planning a refit that looks as close as possible to original smile.gif

I also seem to be missing an interior light. Just curious but does your Invicta have a dome lamp in the roof, or between the rear seats? or both even?? confused.gif

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Brian,

Thanks for the kind words and for putting that whole Flint trip together. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. I hope you are planning on attending the 2006 National in Rochester MN. We would love to be able to extend to you and LynnD the same great hospitality you showed us during the Flint trip.

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Invicta592

I have a few more pictures of the interior which I could scan and email to you. None are very good of the seats however, but there are some very clear ones of the dash and the door trim panel. The car is stored now and I could get some more in the spring once I get it out of storage and email them to you at a later date.

As far as the interior light is concerned, there is one, about 4" in diameter in the center of the roof. The only other one that I can think of is the one on the dash above the radio that is a combination interior/map light.

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Invicta 592. I had to get into the Invicta today to get some stuff out of it, so while I had access to it, I took some digital photos of the interior for you. I also made a scan from the Invicta interior pages of the factory color and trim manual so you can see the different colors that were available and the option codes. You can compare the codes in the scan against the code on the cowl tag of your car to see which was the correct trim for it. If you give me your email address, I'll send you the pictures and the scan. There are a dozen or more, so it will take some time to download.

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Guest invicta592

Got 'em Tom, thanks very much. That interior is beautiful. Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead to get somewhere even close to that!

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Guest invicta592

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You're welcome. If there is anything else I can do to help, let me know. </div></div>

You could let me have your car wink.gifgrin.gifgrin.gif

I am intrigued by your mention of a colour and trim manual. I'm obviously missing a vital piece of documentation here. Is that the actual title on the manual? I got to get me one of those!

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Dave, the actual title on it is "1959 Buick Color Trim Features Manual"

This is the book the dealer had with the actual samples of the interior trim fabrics, large paint samples and description of available options. It's not something that was given out to prospective buyers like a color catalog. It was what was used to help them chose the color/trim/accessories if they were ordering a car. You don't see them for sale very often. I have only seen 2 on Ebay in about the last 4 years. I just happened to be at an old fashioned drive-in burger joint with our car not too long after we bought it. I'm sitting there and a guy backs in next to us in a Chevy Blazer, holds the book out the window to me and asks me if I'm interested in it. Turns out he was a member of one of our local BCA chapters. Don't know how he got it, but he didn't have a '59 Buick, so he sold it to me.

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