Got it! My 54 Special...

¡Hola señoras y señores!

My name is Jan and I am from Germany. I?d like to tell you a little story:

One night I went to bed very late and saw a car-show on TV. The car they were restoring was an ugly green old Opel. In fact that nothing came on TV that interested me, I watched it, when suddenly a black US classic car was on screen. It was driven by the body experts, who should help to restore the Opel. The car was amazing and absolutely beautiful! But I fell asleep and didn?t know what car that was. Some months later I had a couple of minutes leisure time and I was very curious what kind of car it might be what I saw a long time ago. I first started to look on the TV-channels? website, but didn?t find any information. With this disappointment I looked over Google and Ebay and found out that it must be a car of the 50s. I compared years and manufacturers and I think it must have been a 1955 or 1954 Buick. First I observed Ebay stuff about 54 and 55 Buicks, but the more I spent time with, I started to like the 54s more, although the 55s are very beautiful, too. Some 54 Buicks came up and I enjoyed looking at each photo there was. From that moment on I collected stuff about it, starting with old ads.

More 54 Buicks came up. Two of them seemed nice in their own special way. The first I was considering about was this customized 54 Buick Special. It was relatively cheap, looking damn sexy and was one of a kind. What I disliked was the interior; I knew that this would take a lot of money and time to put it to the same condition the exterior already was.

The second Buick I thought about was this nice black one. The seller seemed very nice and took more pictures, which I asked him for. Overall the car was in good condition, but nearly ALL(!) chrome parts had pitting on. I calculated how much it would cost to rechrome all parts or get new parts from the US and the result was that this would be too expensive. Maybe it would have been more fun to do so many things (the chrome-parts were not the only thing about it!), but I decided not to take it.

On the 9th of April 2006 another interesting 54 Buick came on Ebay. It was painted in baby blue and I first thought ?not my color?.

But while reading the description I started to smile. This car was in very good condition. Some things would have to be done, but that?s normal and of course, I didn?t want to have a complete car just for driving. I wanted to ?do? something with it, rebuild some things by myself. It had 70k miles on the odometer, had a repaint, a rebuilt Dynaflow trans, a rebuilt 264cui engine, new electric fuel pump, new seat belts, new carpets and the tires had only 4k miles on them. The car has ? as already mentioned ? an automatic Dynaflow transmission, a 150hp 264cui V8 Fireball engine, EZ eye glass, power steering, seat covers (in wonderful condition) and original 15? hubcaps. What I appreciated the most was the original condition of it. Some parts had been redone, but the car is mostly original. The interior is ALL original and in very good shape. So I decided to watch this auction and maybe bid. I wrote to the owner and we discussed some things. She also got close-up pictures. Here are some of them:

As usual I waited to the last seconds to make my bid. But I was very unhappy to see, that I got permission from the owner to bid on it, but not from Ebay. In the auction description stood ?Sells to: United States? and I was not able to make my bid. The auction ended and the reserve had not been met. I wrote an email and told the seller (a nice woman named Nancy) my problem. She answered and told me her price she wanted to have. We negotiated a bit and she put it on Ebay again with the ?Buy it now?-price on which we had an agreement. I bought it. This was the 20th of April 2006.

The adventure began. It took about two months to get the car to Germany. For all cars you need a (positive) report and the badge from the TUEV, it?s the organization which takes care of all cars in Germany. For all vehicles you want to register in Germany you have to take it to them and they will check it if its alright. They look if your car passes all safety checks and if not, your not allowed to drive that car in Germany. They hate rust, that?s why many US-cars couldn?t be registered here. If you have a tiny rust hole ? bad luck for you! The standards are very high. The guy I asked about importing my Buick had known a garage near to him which does classic cars. So I decided to give it to them and prepare for the TUEV. Many things had to be done. For example, the ?sealed beam? lamps are not allowed here. Many small things. The car was ready and I had all things for registration on the beginning of August. I went the 300 miles to the garage by railway to get the car to my home. This picture was taken at that garage:

Everything was fine. I drove on the highway (?Autobahn?) with about 65 mph, when suddenly the front of the car went down to the road on the left side! I was shocked!! It was very hard to get the car on the safety lane on the right (most highways in Germany has 2 or 3 lanes plus a safety lane on the right where you can stop if you have a problem) and to stop there! When it stopped I took a deep breathe of relief! I got out of the car and looked what has happened. The front wheel on the driver side got lost, but was caught in the wheel case that it couldn?t get on the others lanes. That was great luck! For me and for all others! We have no speed limits here and very much people drive 130mph and more. I myself always drive more than 100mph. I asked myself what might have happened, if this big heavy wheel has gotten on the left lane and someone drive into it with 150mph or more (German cars are limited to 250 km/h = 156.25, but some Porsches and BMWs are limited to 280km/h). Someone could have been killed in this accident. I was very very happy that this hasn?t happened. So, the only thing that happened was that I was driving on three wheels with 65mph and I was slipping on the left front brake drum to get to the right lane. I don?t know how I?ve done that (of course I hadn?t been in this situation before!) but after some seconds the car was standing on the right lane; no one was hurt. My heart was beating very fast! The car had no damages except for the brake drum. I had to call someone to pick me up with the car. I did that and while I was sitting on the guardrail I had thoughts like ?was it right to buy that old Buick??. I had much time to think about it. The guy arrived one hour(!) after my call, it was raining and I was getting something in between of disappointment and anger. The guy saw the wheel and asked me what I had done. I said ?nothing but driving?. All five wheel bolts were gone. He hadn?t had such wheel bolts so he picked me and the car up and brought me to his ?base? which was near to nowhere, a small town somewhere in Germany I never known before. It was nearly six o?clock and nearly all businesses in Germany close at six. The guy wanted to have his money, he didn?t accept payment by bill. On the other side of street of his base was a garage and I asked them if they could fix the wheel. They hadn?t such bolts and told me, that they car might be too heavy for those bolts (I didn?t believe that). They got one bolt from every wheel to put on the ?lost? wheel again. The car started, but didn?t move. I put in every gear but nothing happened. So I was in the middle of nowhere with no money, it rained, all businesses were closed and the car was not running. Great! But I had my EC-card (in Germany most people have that card, it?s a card from your bank, which you can pay with) and with that I went to my parents by railway (I saw lot of railstation, a lot of small towns,?) which live 150 miles away from there. If the car could be fixed to the next day that would be the best solution and I haven?t visited them for some time. They knew about my journey but they were very surprised to see me. I told them everything and took a bath to calm down. The next day I phoned a thousand people, the garage, my insurance company, the registration division of Wuerzburg, and so on. I was very upset, the garage must have forgotten to pull tight the bolts. I got more upset when I phoned my sister, she works as a lawyer in an automobile club and told me, that for wheels only the customer is responsible. The garage made a mistake and there were nothing I could do about it. German laws, I love them. In my understanding, when I tell someone to look after a car and prepare it for the street I expect that all wheels bolts are pulled tight. I spent the weekend at my parents and thought over, what to do with the car. I wrote an email to the Buick Club of Germany and asked them, if they knew a good garage to fix my Buick. I thought that it wasn?t the fault of the car that I had such big problems. A guy named Tom answered and informed me about a garage only 40 miles away which has done some of their Buicks and they can recommend this garage for my car. I decided to do that, made a phone marathon again and one week later, the car was there. The guy from the garage is very nice and knows a lot of these old Buicks. We phoned and mailed a lot. We ordered some parts from the US to fix the car. I asked him about weak points of the car and what has to be done in the next time. He started? the brake light was not working, the wipers are not working, the car has some rust holes (on the undercarriage), the break drum might brake, the transmission has a (minor) damage,? well, I decided to make a bigger repair. Its hard to get someone that is used to these old cars in Germany and I thought to let most important things do in this garage that I by myself cannot fix. He grumbled at the quality of those parts from the US. He said, that it MUST be fake, the Americans couldn?t have been on the moon, with this quality, it is a wonder that they even drive cars. BTW I just got two rubber parts for my quarter windows and? he is right! 89 USD and it doesn?t fit right as it was described. Back to the ?story?: The repair took a long time. The car had some surprises: The brake lights were not working, because there weren?t any cable! The former garage must have known this, too. Another point is that the guy found wirewhool (I haven?t found a correct translation for this, sorry), while he was redoing the undercarriage. Some rust holes has been filled up with it and just painted over. He told me that its hard to say when this had been done. Maybe a few months ago, but maybe 2 or 3 years ago, who knows... Time went on, the winter came and I didn?t want to get the car in the winter as I am not planning to get winter tires for it.

My Buick at the recommended garage:

Friday last week, the weather was fine, the car was ready, the guy from the garage had made a test run of 150 miles without any problems and I had all paperwork together to make a try to get it. I was a little nervous and asked two friends to join me (the radio isn?t working its hard having no entertainment). It took all day, finally we arrived at 10.p.m. here in Wuerzburg and it was very nice to drive the car.

Driving on the highway...

Driving through roadworks on the highway...

Standing on the other side of the street...

The brakes are not very effective and I had to drive a little slower downhill, but maybe its possible to improve that. Finally I am very happy to have the car here at my home. Its driving, its driving wonderful and now I have the chance to inspect it carefully. I don?t know in which direction I want to go. The car is in wonderful original condition, but almost everything needs to be redone (I am a perfectionist). The interior is nice, but its hard to open the windows, the glove compartment door doesn?t close exactly as it should, some of the weather strips are getting green, etc.; I am not sure? rebuild to original (show quality) or built in some modern things (disc brakes, air conditioning, modern suspension,?)? I don?t know right now.

I already ?ordered? new brake drums (we couldn?t found any used ones that time) and they should arrive in a few weeks. I also purchased a redone Selectronic radio which has been converted to FM (thanks to MrEarl, I very much appreciate your help!!). The car really needs a repaint. It had a lower repaint a few years ago, but both garages told me before and just said ?American paintjob?. The old paint has just been painted over; it wasn?t stripped down to metal and got a new paint. So I will do that in less than five years (planned?). The transmission is losing oil. It takes about two weeks and all the transmission oil is completely gone. My plan with the car is very much influenced by the laws in Germany. If you want to have a registration for antique vehicles, it must be in a condition that is ?worth to preservate?, that includes that over 95 percent of the vehicle must be original or the used parts has to be correct replica of original parts. This is very strict. Examples: It is not allowed to have disc brakes when the car originally came with brake drums. All the interior must be correct. Other instruments like odometer or something is not allowed. To take off something is not allowed. Some people in America ?shave? off the hood letters or the emblem on the trunk ? in Germany not allowed (if you want to have the registration for antique vehicles). A modern radio CAN BE (this is the exact formulation from the handout) allowed, it probably depends on how this takes effect on the appearance of the car. The reason why so many people and I are wanting to have this kind of registration is just money. For a normal registration you have to pay taxes depending on the amount of cui of your engine. For my 264 engine I would have to pay about 1,600 Euro (2,000 USD) in taxes ? per year! For ten years it would be 20,000 USD! That?s very expensive and I cannot afford that. For a normal registration I would have to put in an other engine (and trans,?) in it. The engine has been rebuilt 2,000 miles ago and runs very good. When you have that registration for antique vehicles you only pay 191 Euro in taxes (about 250 USD) per year. That?s a very big difference! But the car needs to be original ? and it is!

It would break my heart destroying this nice original. It has some weak points, but its over 50 years old. One point I really love about it is the history of the car. The car is named ?Gracie? after the first owner Grace I. Frey. She and her husband bought this car on 17th of August 1954 in Denver and sold it 1995 to the woman I bought it from. When I first saw the car and looked into the trunk I found a small box of memorabilia. In it were some old Buick brochures, a shop manual and about 30-40 old bills from Grace I. Frey and her husband Dale F. Frey. With these old bills I know for sure, that the actual mileage is original and the car was an old family member and had been driven by the old lady for many years. I even have the old policies from the original dealer and the first registration, all with matching numbers. An inspection sheet from 1974 shows a mileage of 60,062 and a bill from 1972 has a handwritten note (in an old handwriting!) ?59,182 miles?. The car has now about 71,000 miles on the odometer. The car hasn?t been driven very much; about 12,000 miles in the last 35 years. All bills up to 1976 are signed by Dale F. Frey, all bills from that time on are named to Grace I. Frey. I?m afraid her husband probably died that year. The last thing from ?the original owner? I have is an insurance card from 1986. Nancy told me that she had bought it from the younger brother of Grace. In my memory I think she told me that she said that this ?younger? brother was selling it for her. That was in 1995. Nancy took Gracie to some Cadillac meetings (she is a member of the Cadillac club), where she got many comments and compliments for her. One day a man came across her, saw her with Gracie and said that he knows Dale and Grace, he saw them washing and polishing the car every weekend.

This is the original service policy of the car.

The original first registration.

This service sheet shows a mileage of 60,062 miles in 1974.

The last registration from the original owner.

Now this nice car is standing in my garage and is putting all its oil to my floor, I often just sit in it with a smile in my face. I don?t know if Grace F. Frey is still alive, might be interesting! But as you can see, this car really has a story to tell!

I took some close-up images in my garage:

BTW: I have a website, www.1954 buick.de, where more pictures are online. I?ve already started redoing this site, but I am a little busy and it might take some time until its finished. For completing it I am looking for 1954 Buick magazines. I have some of it, but I am still looking for the magazines of June, August, October and December! Or if you have any other literature about 54 Buicks and want to share or sell it, let me know! Thanks. Sorry to MrEarl that I am bidding on the items you?d like to have, too!

I hope my English was good enough!

Jan

Jan,

Great photos and a very interesting story. Thanks for telling us about Gracie.

Jan, thanks for sharing "the rest of the story". Sounds like love at first sight. I remember when this car came up on ebay and it didn't meet reserve. Was glad when we communicated later and I learned you had bought it. Although there may be a few things not exactly correct, it is still a very nice Special and one to be proud to have acquired. It has certainly appreciated even since you purchased it. Sorry to hear of your misfortune on the drive home. I know you had to be distraught and wondering "What have I bought here", but I think it was just an isolated stroke of bad luck. The fun part is just beginning. Getting to know the car "intimately". Working on it, cleaning and polishing it and best of all driving it. The lil Specials handle better than the Roadmasters, I know you'll enjoy driving it through the country side.

And yea, I'll be glad when you have bought all the Buickabilia you need so I can again bid and win something. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Hope too that the radio arrives soon. Oh by the way the radio repair guy said to tell you that it will only pick up American Rock and Roll Stations. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

again Thanks for sharing the great story and uh, G'night Gracie............

Just finished reading your great story again. That $2,000 tax is quite an incentive for folks to keep cars original there in Germany. Maybe that would help save a few classics from being hot rodded here in the USA too. (Not that there's not a place for hot rods, I love them too) I wouldn't have to worry about paying anything...yet...

I really hope you will keed it as original as possible.

Not sure what the "wire wool" your mechanic is speaking of. Surely he wasn't speaking of "steel wool" which is a fine steel entwined into a ball used for cleaning metal surfaces. Perhaps he was speaking of "fiberglass"?

The car is beautiful. I really love the Malibu Blue. I miss my Century and my first Buick, the little 2 door Special Sedan. I'd so love to have one as a daily driver, they're so much more compact and nimble if that's the word for it. By the way your English is great.

Thanks again for sharing and hope to see and hear more soon.

Buickly,

I think its "steel wool"...

But nearly the complete underbody has been fixed til now.

Now it looks better:

Jan,

congratulations from a neighbour (The Netherlands). Thanks for sharing your story and photos.

Hope to see the Century (and you) somewhere on a German meeting this season.

The summer is up and I took some videos of Gracie. :-)

Video on Youtube

Dear El Diablo:

I looked at your photos quite carefully. The serial number 4A1 148853 indicates a 1954 Special built at Flint, probably in early August 1954. The Engine number of V 635798 4 is an engine for a 1954 Special, built very late in July, so I am sure that we can conclude that the car has its original engine.

Since I spent a good part of 2 years in the early 1980's working with International Harvester's plant in Nuess, I'm familiar with TUV. It was always a source of amusement to watch our German associates look at some of the "rustbuckets" we had around Chicago.

I also looked up Dale F and Grace R Frey in our Social Security death index. Dale was born 23 December 1930 and died 28 June 1996. Grace was slightly older and was born 28 May 1926. She passed away 9 December 2002.

I hope this is informative.

Regards, Dave Corbin

Thank you very much, Dave!!

I always wanted to have this info about the original owners, but didn't know how to get it. Indeed, the numbers seem to match perfectly. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />