The 55er

According to the Hollander Interchange the only radiator that fits your car is a 1948 Buick with Dynaflow.

That one didn't last long, the ad's already been deleted from craigslist. I hope the new owner realizes the world emblem on the front of the hood is upside down & turns it around so it's right side up.

My initial reaction was yes that's a nice looking wagon, however if it had perfect all one color paint, nice rugs or floormat and in fact it is driveable and mostly show-worthy, the seller would be asking a lot more (like maybe 20K) for it like most sellers do today. I've had some personal experiences with about five 53-54 Plymouths and here in the salt belt they DO GET RUSTY. I think anyone interested should check it out but don't be surprised if the seller's not telling the whole story in the ad.

At a glance this looks like a fairly nice car BUT.....Seller calls his car a diamond in the rough and says No Rust! but paint is mismatched in spots and there are splotchy touch-ups along the bottom of the driver's side. Nowhere does it say the car runs & drives. No engine pics either. Steering wheel & horn ring is from a later (1955-1956) Plymouth. Then there is that ugly front floor. The external pictures are taken from up high (maybe on a ladder) looking down, can't really see the bottom of the car. Poor ad, needs more information. For the lofty firm 10 grand price of this entry-level wagon the car should approach perfection in my book. Then again, maybe I'm too critical....

Just happened to find this 1948 Roadmaster on Seattle Facebook Marketplace. It was inherited from their grandparents and the current owners would like to sell as it's just collecting dust. Start that price high, you can always come down. BTW the car with the flat tire in A Christmas Story wasn't a Dodge but a 1937 Oldsmobile Six.

The skirts fit 1966 Pontiac Bonnevilles.

Those are 1953 Cadillac rears.

Might be some kind of an estate liquidation or something and the car has to be sold. May have been Grandpa's car, or maybe came with the property and the people just don't want the car. There is a young lady in the one picture who may be representing the car and she just isn't familiar enough with what she's trying to sell. Possibly a potential buyer or a knowledgeable person will stop by, explain the differences to her and the ad will be corrected.

Henry Js and Allstates had the same bodies and both came in 4 & 6 cylinder models. The Allstate car was sold by Sears and was basically a Henry J with a few minor differences.

Yes you have to remove it from the car to bench bleed it. That way you get all the air out of the master cylinder before installation and you know the master cylinder piston is only pushing brake fluid out instead of air.

You should bench bleed the master cylinder first before installing it on the car. They want you to use short strokes when you bench bleed it instead of pushing the piston all the way in. That tag gives general instructions for ALL master cylinders they sell and are not specific to 1962 Buick models..

How about 1939 Mercury, the small taillight lenses that face outward and not toward the rear?

Don't think they're 1939 Chevy or that era GM as those were larger than 1 1/2" and not perfectly round as there was a notch in them for the screw to mount the bezel on top.

Seller says she is sweet but I'm a little soured on a few things. Price seems optimistic with that awful seat and crusty engine compartment. Looks like it's time for a repaint too. Wrong rocker mouldings (1949), hubcaps (1951-1952) and the Deluxe name badges are missing on front fenders in front of the doors. Firewall looks like it's black, not blue so the car was already repainted, can it still be called a survivor car? Might be easy fixes for the right buyer but I don't know about $12,500.

Oldsmobiles are my favorite cars and I don't think a 1956 with a manual shift detracts from the value at all. It would be a big plus for me as I myself like cars that are a little different from the mainsteam stuff you see everyday. Stick shift Oldsmobiles from the 50s are fairly rare but there are some around. Just some personal observations: 1953 & older manual shifts are unusual but not super rare. I've seen quite a few stick 1953s in my time. I personally owned two 1954 Super 88s that were stick, a 2-dr HT & a 4-dr sedan that I drove for a long time. Great cars. I know of one other stick 1954 currently in my area. A (somewhat) educated guess is that from 1954-1957 maybe 10% of all Oldsmobiles were stick. By 1958 and later the cars grew bigger and the stick production got to be less & less. (5-7%?) I have personally seen at least one if not more manual shift Oldsmobile examples from 1955-1960 but they're definitely in the minority. Current Ebay listings show one 1955 Super88 convert & one 1956 Oldsmobile 88 2 dr post for sale that are 3-on-the tree so they're still out there but are definitely unusual. Now that I'm older and have stiffer shoulders & knees surely an automatic is a better choice but a stick shift 1956 Olds would still get my attention. If the car checks out, has no rust issues, you like it and is reasonably priced it should give it some serious consideration. Good Luck.