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My Beautiful 57 Buick...


Guest Real Steel Sharon

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Hi everyone,

I am guilty of being a "lurker" over the past year or so, and have found this site to be an amazing font of knowledge with some very talented and knowledgeable Buick lovers. I would like to say thanks!:) After all that lurking, I finally have something to post, and thought it was time to introduce myself.

My name is Sharon, and after many hours internet surfing, information hunting, general browsing and checking out several possibilities here in Western Australia I purchased a beautiful 1957 Buick Super 4 door Riviera a few months ago from Riverside California. It arrived in Oz just before Christmas, and it has been a thrill to get familiar with my new car and although I haven't had much chance to drive her yet, I am thrilled to bits with her. We are hoping to get her licensed soon, and there isn't much we need to do to her - its just been a bit challenging this time of year with so much else going on!

The photos below are from the big day she arrived at her new home. I am thrilled to bits with her. She is very (VERY!!!) original, never been messed with and in great condition with no rust. We changed the battery and put some fuel in her and she started straight away. Smooth as silk and drives beautifully. Great fun too!

P1040034.jpgP1040016.jpg

Bit of history....

The car is a 40th birthday present from my husband, Ian. He is a streetrodder and very talented metalworker who built his own 1929 Nash Tudor by hand from scratch about 12 years ago.

I have loved Buicks for many years, and as we have two little children and go to car shows all the time the hotrod was getting a bit cramped for space. We bought a project 1955 Buick Super 4door sedan about 3 years ago, all complete except for the drivetrain. The previous owner had started "ratrodding" it matt black etc, but other than putting in a new motor (type yet to be decided) I wanted to put it back to its classy style with two-tone paint and all the trim.

Only problem with this plan was my husband is so talented working on everyone else's projects he never gets time to do anything for himself/me, so on to Plan B - buy something more complete and running. Lots of options available and all had their plus and minus points:

* looked at a 55 Roadmaster which had also been rodded and would have to be painted straight away - yucky matt black and bad flames. Passed on this one when the owner wanted a deposit sight unseen. Nope.

* a 57 Special 4door which was tired and needed a new interior. Good thing about this one was the owner had done all the mechanical work and it just needed finishing off inside to be a really great car - deal fell through because he was getting the dynaflow rebuilt and it just took wayyyyyyy too long!

* a 57 Special 2door, another ratrod but had a 350 Chev in it, airbags and a new interior. What is it with matt black and flames? It just doesn't suit a Buick! Another paint job needed but at least this one was licensed!

Anyway, long story short was we were considering various options when we spotted this 57 Super on the net for sale. The colour scheme put me off a bit at first (colour is called shell beige - but its definitely pink!!!), but the more I looked at this car the better it sounded and the colour is factory original and I grew to like it more and more. Even my husband has gotten used to it and likes it now. Bit of a cliche having a pink car owned by a female, but it is original after all!!! Very 50s and very classy. I have history going back 20 years or so, and its been cared for and looked after.

There are a few little things I would like to do to her, and apologies to the Buick lovers who like everything strictly original, but with a young family and plenty of driving in her future we need something reliable and practical. Nothing major, just simple comfort or handling updates. I love the styling too much to change anything visually!

She needs new weather stripping throughout sometime soon, new seatbelts, Ian installed an electric wiper motor yesterday as the car is so original it still had all the original vacuum hoses, which were leaking like a sieve! Our carshow season is also primarily in our very hot summers, so my talented husband is going to install an aftermarket aircon unit for me.

We had an appointment to get her inspected yesterday for licensing, but on the way out of the driveway all the indicators stopped working. A hurried troubleshooting session followed, and Ian discovered the turn signal cancelling plate inside the steering column assembly had snapped in half. He made up a replacement piece which means the indicators are functional, but now we are searching for a replacement plate. Any suggestions gratefully received.....

We never made the appointment in time and had to put in our apologies, and as Ian has a training course for three weeks, the licensing is now on hold until he is finished. The intention was/is to get her licensed asap and drive and use her, and do little upgrades and maintenance along the way. The paint will need doing sometime (not anytime soon though!) as its an old respray job from 20+ years ago and is a bit rough in spots. The tyres are new whitewalls, but we will probably eventually put radials on for better handling.

Overall, we are thrilled with our new Buick, and look forward to learning her quirks and many hours of driving enjoyment. I purchased a chassis/body manual immediately, which has already proved very useful!

Thank you to all the members of your forum, as I have found them very helpful and inspiring - special mention to Smartin with his 1958!!!! I have been following his posts for sometime and really enjoy hearing of his progress.

It has also been very interesting to see some other Buick owners from Oz posting occasionally, as there are not very many Buicks in Oz - especially in Western Australia as most of them seem to be appearing in the Eastern States. Their popularity is definitely growing here though, which is great to see.

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What a first post! Thanks for sharing this Sharon. It looks and sounds like a great car. While the paint may be tired, often some elbow grease and cleaning / polishing / waxing compounds can make a big improvement...it may be worth a shot.

I wish I'd gotten something like this for a 40th birthday, but I really can't complain.

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Welcome Sharon, and thanks for finally joining in on the fun. That's some birthday present!

Those turn signal switches are a weak link on '57's, but the good news is that the same switch

was used from '57 to '60. I bought one out of a junkyard that was just as bad as my bad one

(unknown till it was installed), and finally found an NOS switch in the box.

Your family will surely grow into the Super nicely, and it looks like you got a good one!

Keep us "posted,"

TG

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Sharon, glad you finally came out of the darkness to the light! Welcome to the forum. What a great story and a beautiful car. She sure is a looker. I know you will enjoy the Buick with all it's tempermental items. I know that your children will truly love the car...it will become part of the family to them as they grow up. That one is from personal experience and my kids love "Old Bessie"..

As for your switch, TG hit the nail on the head. Hopefully it should not be a troublesome part to find. Let me know if you can't locate one. I might have one in a box of parts somewhere.

Good luck and happy motoring with your new family member.

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Sharon,

Congratulations on the 'New" Buick. Not only was it a birthday present but it arrived for the new year. It is a great looking car and you will enjoy driving and showing it as you work on it this year. Right now you are at the start of Summer, so, ENJOY!

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Thank you everyone for the welcome.

I think I have found an indicator plate (isn't the internet a wonderful thing...), so hopefully will be able to get it fixed soon! Fingers crossed.

Sorry buick5563 (Mike) it wasn't us at Colorado Springs Nationals. Wish it was! We are in Western Australia. My husband Ian travelled to the US in 2009 to go to Bonneville Salt Lake Racing with an Aussie race team, but I have never been to the US before. One day!!!

Did you see a similar car? I would love to see some photos of other pink Buicks.

Does anyone know if the shell beige was a popular colour? I understand that on ordering a new Buick the proud owner was able to choose the colour scheme of their liking (those were the days!) I have seen a lot of red/white, black/white, blue/white cars, or various green and blue two tones, but this was the first time I had seen pink (sorry, shell beige!) It wasn't until I checked the ID plate that I found it was a factory colour.

My car has a dealer plate on the bootlid, which I found on Google has some interesting history!

Apparently Smith-Chadderton owned a Buick dealership named Buick Inc in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I am assuming this particular car was sold at that dealership in 1957. According to some court documents which came up in a Google search, Mr Chadderton sued Mr Smith for monies owing in the partnership and then he died. The business then went bankrupt in 1959.

I now know that the car was built in Kansas City (according to the car serial number), sold in Wyoming, and somehow ended up in California! All this information certainly adds to the story of the car. I found it all really fascinating.P1040025.jpg

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Welcome to the Buick Forum Sharon.

Western Australia eh, well you need this informatiom

http://www.westernbuicks.org/

Always keen to have new Buicks ( and their owners ) join the local club.

Have a few events coming up including an invitation to put our club cars on display at the Australia Day Skyshow on January 26, we've been promised the best seats in the house!

There is at least one other pink/white car in the Club - a 1958 Century Coupe.

Look forward to seeing your car.

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Guest my3buicks

Shell Beige was not an uncommon color on 57 Buick's - but certainly not the most common either. It was usually 2 toned with the Dover White as yours is, but I would say probably more common with the Shell Beige as the top color in your particular 2 toning scheme. Dawn Gray was also a color seen with the Shell beige and was very striking. There were a couple different 2 toning combinations offered in 57 and by that I do not mean color.

If your car has been repainted it appears that the Shell Beige is actually a little pinker than it would have been originally. I have attached a picture of another 2 toning option and the car also pictures the true Shell Beige better.

You will love your 57 and it will sure be a stand out as you enjoy it at shows and cruises.

post-30591-143138398125_thumb.jpg

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s-sears-SOW.jpg

From Charles Phoenix's website, this Model 73 looks to be painted in Dover White over Shell Beige.

The image is small, but as Keith mentioned, the color is more beige than pink.

I just found these in the November, 1956 Buick Magazine '57 Announcement Number.

57_announce1x.jpg

Larger, note the chromed cowl intake vent that didn't make it into production.

57_announce3x.jpg

Larger, a Dawn Gray and Shell Beige Super Model 53.

57_announce4x.jpg

Larger, dawn of a Shell Beige and Dover White Century Model 63.

57_announce5x.jpg

Larger, I love to "step out with a Buick." Particularly a '57!

TG

Edited by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)
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Guest Rob McDonald

SHARON, lovely car there. The only Shell Beige '57 Buick that I can recall seeing (it wasn't two-toned) was a 4-door Super in Bozeman, Montana, a mere 25 years ago. It was sitting among a bunch of '50s cars in a field near where my cousin had a farm at the time. The engine was half taken apart but the body was very straight, with no visible rust. I pondered hauling it home, 500 miles north to Edmonton, Alberta, but good sense prevailed and I left it there.

Just watch - someone on this forum will tell us that they know the current whereabouts of this particular car and will upload pictures to prove it. This is that kind of a crowd, which is almost spooky.

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Guest Real Steel Sharon
Welcome to the Buick Forum Sharon.

Western Australia eh, well you need this informatiom

http://www.westernbuicks.org/

Always keen to have new Buicks ( and their owners ) join the local club.

Have a few events coming up including an invitation to put our club cars on display at the Australia Day Skyshow on January 26, we've been promised the best seats in the house!

There is at least one other pink/white car in the Club - a 1958 Century Coupe.

Look forward to seeing your car.

Thanks for the invite - unfortunately the car is not licensed yet, and probably won't be for a few weeks now as Ian is away on a course.

Hoping to get the car ready for Big Al's Poker Run in Perth on 12th February - fingers crossed!

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Thank you everyone for your pics and comments on shell beige cars.

I agree with you, it looks like my car has had a dose of extra pink added during the respray! Would be interesting to see the real "shell beige" up close and real sometime to compare. I still like my colour on the car though, and it definitely stands out and fits in with the 50s era.

I guess we will have a think about the colour when it comes time to do a paint tidy-up, not sure if we will go back to proper shell beige, or just colour match what we already have. Decisions, decisions....

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Guest Real Steel Sharon
The only reason I asked about the Nationals is that I hung out with an Australian couple and some of their friends. I figured since they had flown all that way, I'd buy the drinks...

57's do look a lot better when not dressed in suede ;)

Bet the Aussies loved you!!! Sure they returned the favour though....

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Speaking of shell beige 57s, this came up on ebay.....

Its enough to make you cry!

CCejcBWkKGrHqUOKm4Ez7W1e0MtBNLPikuH8Q_3.jpg

Buick - eBay (item 110635159011 end time Jan-18-11 17:33:41 PST)

These wagons are what first got me interested in Buicks! Absolutely gorgeous, but so out of my price range....... This one is so sad - how does anyone let a car as good looking as that get that bad?

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Welcome Buick Girl!

You have found a home. This is the place to come to for anything great or small. I have owned 3 - 1957 Buicks at one time or another. A 4-door hardtop special, a Caballero Century Stationwagon, and currently a Roadmaster Coupe. I have read a lot of posts where new owner's are concerned about old car steering, brakes, tires etc. With the 1957 Buick you already have good brakes and steering. If you decide to go to radials, that is ok as well. As you drive the car you will become accustomed to it's weight ratio and the brakes. You will soon find that braking is not an issue. Just remember that you can't tailgate with these heavy cars, so leave 10 feet for every 10 miles / hour and you will be just fine. When I owned my Caballero I was once driving at highway speed down a decline in the road an old oiled 2-lane highway road (1973) returning from a wedding with 2-people laying down in the back of the wagon, when suddenly I had the front right passenger tire blow out all at once with a bang! I was riding on bias tires and they were well used. Well just to let everyone know what to expect in a 1957 Buick under these conditions, I will say that the car held the road magnificently and did very little in jerking and adequately let me slowly steer to the shoulder of the road. That was a true test of this car's stability. I have had other back in the day, lighter & much newer cars have blow outs and they have always tended to give you an arm wrestle and jerk section when blow outs occur. Not so with the 1957 Buick! So this should instill some confidence in you when driving your new find.

On a side note, I noticed on your first photo post of the interior dash, that your dash has a chrome knob located on the far left lower portion of the dash near and above the area were the emergency brake release handle is. Could I ask what that knob is used for in your car? Some of us have a on-going post trying to resolve this issue.

Again ... welcome.

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Guest Rob McDonald

SHARON, The first hardtop station wagon that I ever noticed, of any make, was sadly similar to the one in your photo. It was also a '57 Special Estate Wagon, although all white, with a blue interior. It had been abandoned on a vacant property near where I lived as a teenager. When the car first appeared, it was quite nice and certainly restorable. However, as that summer wore on, vandals had their way with it. By the time the Buick was hauled away, the crusher was the best place for it.

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There sure has been a lot of 57's coming onboard this past year. Welcome Sharon, you are in good company. And sweet car choice too.

I once owned a 57 Special convertible. Yellow with black interior. A 55K car which needed a top, and interior and exhaust. I bought that car for $30.00 in 1972 or so, and kept it for one year. Sadly, my father made me sell it and I gave it away for $100.00. And I thought then I had gotten a good deal too.

Oh well, I hope you have a lot of good times with your family and your car.

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Hi guys,

The chrome knob on the far left hand side is the control for the speaker on the rear parcel shelf (which we only discovered after playing with it to see what it did!) Unfortunately, the speaker cover on the parcel shelf is still there, but the guts of the speaker is not. Something to add to the list for "one day I will fix that!" It all looks completely original from factory. Hopefully this answers the question?

Have to say, my husband and I are very impressed at the "options" and "accessories" and level of comfort and attention to detail in 1957 - they sure knew how to build cars then! Bet modern cars wouldn't last this long in working condition!!!!!

One spin out for us Aussies is the pedal start (which Ian loves to demonstrate to his mates). We have never come across this before here in Oz, and only knew how to start this car at all because a friend bought a 1955 Buick Special 2 door a couple of years ago and spent ages trying to figure out how to get it started!!!

I have a question for you too. There is another knob marked "Accessory" on the left hand side, but we don't know what it does. Any ideas?

As I mentioned before, I have purchased a body and chassis manual, but don't have an owners guide as yet. It is great fun working out what all the knobs and buttons do, but an owners guide would certainly make it less of a guessing game!

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Guest ozzytom

Hi Sharon,

Congratulations on the new member in your family.

Great car.

I too was looking for a 57 Buick back in 2009.

I had my heart set on a 2 door Special pillarless coupe - the 2 door Riviera.

Not many cars available in Oz at all.

Looked at a two local cars here in Adelaide, and enquired about two others in Queensland.

All of them required extensive work, and the money they were asking was high.

I eventually found one on eBay.... in Minnesota.

I too had mine land just before Christmas.

I've just got it registered and it really is amazing how well these ol' girls drive.

Enjoy.

(Ozzy) Tom,

Adelaide

South Australia

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Guest Real Steel Sharon
SHARON, an good explanation for that Accessory knob (Safety Minder) can be found at http://forums.aaca.org/f162/1957-buicks-postcards-period-pics-media-294463.html, post #14. Pick on the Popular Mechanics link, then scroll down to the road test report by Floyd Clymer. Only on this forum...

Thanks for that Rob, will have to have a play and see if I can get it to work. Awesome feature, even just as a conversation piece!!! Don't think I will be speeding anytime soon, as I need to get a bit more confident yet. Will also have to get familiar with the miles -v- kilometres conversion!!!

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1.609 is the factor. In Canada we converted in the 70s, so two of my cars have a sticker that was presumably put out by the government on the dash. The Wildcat also has small round numbers on the plate of the speedometer.

31 mph = 50 km/h

50 mph = 80 km/h

62 mph = 100 km/h

From that, I would add whatever speeds are common to your part of the world. If you don't feel like doing the math, a site like Online Conversion will do it for you.

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Sharon,

A word on the Safety-Minder speed monitor. More than a few times after getting my car up to highway speeds,

that alarm has sounded and scared the heck out of me. I keep it set above 90, because its sound is

an annoying mechanical buzz that makes one feel as if something has broken in the drivetrain.

(My speedo is off by @ 15 MPH, so 90 is more like like 75, and she rarely gets above 70).

Give it a test run at low speeds and you'll see what I mean, rather than having it go off unexpectedly.

It really is alarming ;) !

TG

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Guest my3buicks
Sharon,

A word on the Safety-Minder speed monitor. More than a few times after getting my car up to highway speeds,

that alarm has sounded and scared the heck out of me. I keep it set above 90, because its sound is

an annoying mechanical buzz that makes one feel as if something has broken in the drivetrain.

(My speedo is off by @ 15 MPH, so 90 is more like like 75, and she rarely gets above 70).

Give it a test run at low speeds and you'll see what I mean, rather than having it go off unexpectedly.

It really is alarming ;) !

TG

OH SO TRUE!!!!!

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Thanks for the tip with the speed minder - sounds like good advice to me!

My daily driver is a Holden Commodore Wagon, which has a similar function, but a much more polite and subtle beep instead of an "alarm". I do use it, but I keep it set at 115km (speed limit here is 110km) so it doesn't keep going off and drive me nuts. Same motto might have to apply to the Buick (although might take me awhile to get the nerve up to drive at 110km or mile equivalent!) I do feel the Buick is going to be a cruiser, not a zoomer!!!

On another note, the km -v- mile conversion. Ian has a magnet that has the conversion printed on it, which he puts in an unobstrusive position on the dash of the hotrod, and can be removed if needed. Much nicer than a sticker, which looks a bit tacky and can't easily be hidden or moved. Might have to get a magnet printed up for the Buick, methinks!

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The magnet idea is magnificent. I wonder why I've not seen that nor heard of that. As easy as it is to get stuff like that made up now, methinks I'll have to get a few. I think I have a couple cars with plastic dashes and speedos in mph, but that's not the end of the world.

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Guest ozzytom

There sure has been a lot of 57's coming onboard this past year.

Hello John... Any idea how many 57 Buicks are still on the road? A rough estimate?

There certainly are NOT many in Australia, and there's not that many which come up for sale (by comparison to say, 57 Chevs.)

I once owned a 57 Special convertible. Yellow with black interior. A 55K car which needed a top, and interior and exhaust. I bought that car for $30.00 in 1972 or so, and kept it for one year. Sadly, my father made me sell it and I gave it away for $100.00. And I thought then I had gotten a good deal too.

If only we could turn back the hands of time......

I think we all have stories of items we sold too soon.

Here in Oz the real boom has been in the Australian performance cars from the late 60's and early 70's. Cars such as the Holden Monaro (powered by Chev 350) and the Falcon GTHO (Ford 351 Cleveland) went skyrocketing in price for good original / restored cars. I had one of each, back in the 70's.

Sold them when I became a responsible parent :rolleyes:

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Guest Real Steel Sharon

Here is another question for you guys - the tissue box holder under the dash. We saw it in the photos when we bought the car, but it wasn't until we got it home that we found out what it was. What a great idea! Are these an optional accessory, and were they a common item?

Only hassle I have is the tissue boxes in Australia don't fit.....

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Here is another question for you guys - the tissue box holder under the dash. We saw it in the photos when we bought the car, but it wasn't until we got it home that we found out what it was. What a great idea! Are these an optional accessory, and were they a common item?

Only hassle I have is the tissue boxes in Australia don't fit.....

Sharon,

Tissue dispensers were Buick Engineer Approved Accessories.

For my 1950 it is listed as Group No. 8.891 Part No. 985858 with a list price of $2.50. Nice examples seem to bring over $100 on ebay.

It is a pain that our local tissues boxes are the wrong size to fit, let me know if you come up with anything close that may fit.

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Guest Rob McDonald

I think most of those chromed tissue holders gathered dust on dealers' shelves. I don't recall ever seeing one installed in a "real" car from the '50s. They used to show up at swap meets all the time, always in their original pale blue-green box.

"Back in the day", boxes of tissue (always Kleenex brand) slid back and forth across the rear package shelf of every car my dad owned.

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