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1954 Century 2 DR HT (66R) 3-speed, ‘54 Muscle


MrEarl

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"Primitive" Now that's funny. Wow, Lamar, looks like a really clean car. I see Swiss Dot fabric on that seat. Amazing, and with three pedals! Good thing you have trans parts to keep that thing running, nice job!

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Willie, you are so funny!!! The rest of that car looks awesome. I guess the moderator is going to tease us with one pic at a time. I am pretty sure he's used up at least one digital camera on that baby so far.

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Guest my3buicks

I had figured that's what you picked up on your field trip. I can see it's won't be long until it needs a new clutch.

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I am so sorry for not posting more sooner but it seems that ever since retirement I have been busier than ever.

I have been looking for a ’54 Century 2 DR HT with 3 speed for years. I found and bought one from the Chicago area about 6 years ago but it being from the salt belt, was too much for my body work skills. Considering the fact that there were less than 500 Century’s, 2 door and 4 doors, built in ’54, I figured I would never find another one. So I had decided to use the one from Chicago and a solid little 2 door Special Pete Phillips had graciously sold me to create an early ‘60’s period correct “old school” hot rod. I have been collecting parts for that for the last 4 years.

Imagine my surprise when about a month ago while doing my daily Craigs List cruise for mid 50’s Buicks and parts I came upon this ad.

1954 Buick Century - $ (Parish,N.Y.)

For Sale...... 1954 Buick Century 2-door Hardtop........Very rare car and has had only four owners since new in 1954 in Oswego,N.Y. I have the original bill of sale and every receipt for all work done on this car.,The car is nearly restored and licenced and inspected,runs and drives great.this is a very complete car missing nothing.every thing works ,even factory radio plays great, The Century was Buicks hottest model in 1954 with the 322 Roadmaster V-8....Also makeing this Buick very rare is the factory 3-speed manual shift on the colume, (Not a dynaflow automactic transmission). the car was repainted the original medium blue and light blue top and has tutone blue interior.almost all chrome has been done and also has factory Buick wire wheels,the interior needs a little work on the bottom dirver side seat only,the rest of the interior is original and very good, This is a very complete car missing nothing and also has a very solid body and frame,the trunk is solid and needs a new trunk mat only. This is a very rare Buick with all history from day one..........If interested call Jim at xxxxx cell...............or Charlie xxxxx....May take partial trade?.....Pictures may be added soon.

I had always heard that there was a ’54 Century 2 DR HT with original 3 speed up in New York somewhere. My countless hours of searching Craigs List and every other collectible auto venue had paid off. This was it. Needless to say, with shaking hands I dialed up the seller and found that it was still available. Jim the guy I spoke with had owned the car over 20 years ago and he was helping his friend Charlie, the owner of the car now to sell it. Lucky for me he had not been able to post pictures due to not being able to post on CL. After talking to him and then Charlie about the car, I started looking for someone in that area to go look at it for me. I emailed JohnD and Stevo and they both returned my emails with contact info of a CNY Chapter member in Syracuse that might be able to look at the car for me. When I contacted him I found out that he actually knew of the car from years back. About 3 days later he and 3 others made a trip over to give the car a good once over. (all the while I’m frantically thinking “dang those nawtherners sure do move slow up there”).

About this time I received pictures in the mail from Jim and upon seeing them literally got weak at the knees. She was beautiful. I had not been sure what the color of blue the car was until I saw the pictures. It was my favorite of all ’54 Buick colors and color schemes…Malibu Blue over Cavalier Blue. A couple of days later, I got a full and positive report and pictures from the CNY members. I made an offer to the seller, we went back and forth on the price a couple of times and he finally accepted. I over-nighted a deposit that day. I originally had contracted with a hauler to bring the car down but two days after the day he was suppose to have picked it up and didn’t I cancelled the contract and left Athens GA for Central Square NY to pick up my dream come true. While there picking it up Stevo was able to come over and visit for a few minutes. I tried to hook up with a couple of other New Yorkers while there but rain and weddings got in the way.

The car is basically a very, very nice driver with one repaint and original interior. There are receipts from 1991-94 for every thing including a complete engine and front-end suspension rebuild as well as the re-plating of bumpers and frame on paint and body work. There were repairs made to the normal rust areas of cars from that area. The speedometer was replaced at that time and currently shows about 12,700 miles. The clutch was just recently replaced. The glass is almost perfect and the EZEye tint ties the two blue body colors in perfectly. I have the name of the couple from Syracuse who restored it and plan to contact them soon and thank them for saving the car.

While there are a few things it needs such as rear sprngs and shocks, my only plan for it right now is to drive the wheels off her.

While I will likely refer to her mostly as ’54 Muscle, her official Buick Gardens name is “Morning Glory”

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Here are the pictures the seller sent in the mail.

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And a couple the gentlemen from NY that went and looked at it for me sent.

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And here is me and Stevo. I was so glad to finally meet this guy in person.

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Stevo got a shot of me between the dagmars. Almost heaven….

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happy day...

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Edited by MrEarl (see edit history)
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