1956 Buick Roadmaster

[jackie]

My husband and I are thinking about buying a 1956 Buick Roadmaster. It has 20k original miles and looks to be in pristine condition. Can anyone recommend what we should be considering when making this purchase? The price is $25k. It's gorgeous, but I want to make sure we know what we're getting into. Any help is much appreciated!

[Bhigdog]

Body style has an awful lot to do with value. Can you tell us? The average price of a convertable is about 5 times the price of a 4 door sedan..........Bob

[JohnD1956]

Before we can answer, we need to know what experience you have in this "Old Car Market"?

[Gary_N]

Not to beat a dead horse here but a '55 Roadmaster Two Door Riviera Hardtop sold (model 76R) for $135,000 in January at the Barrett Jackson auction. I think the car had 35,000 miles. It was perfect although the wheels/caps were incorrect (not a big deal) and the colors were not the most appealing. So, condition and body style equates to value. Like Bob said, convertibles are choice number one by far. I would say number two is a 76R. Look at it this way, a great paint job alone (unless you can do this yourself) will cost between $5,000 and $10,000 depending on the amount of prep work. New wiring for a Buick runs about $1,500 if you put it in yourself. Re-Chroming = many $1,000's. So in the scheme of things, $25,000 for a really nice desirable car is not a lot of money. And it will hold it's value (or should).

According to "Collector Car Price Guide (2008)", and I think these books are always way low, a '55 Roadmaster in No 2 condition, which means its an excellent car, has the following values:

'55 Roadmaster Convertible - $36,400

'55 Roadmaster 76R - $24,500

'55 Roadmaster 4 door Sedan - $15,400

A number 1 76R shows a value of $35,000. The Barrett Jackson car was a number 1 76R.

Of course, you'd be hard pressed to find one of these cars on this Forum in number 1 condition at these prices.

Gary

[JohnD1956]

In my opinion, Barret Jackson auctions are very unreliable in terms of determining the value of a car. Also just because someone got such a price for their car does not mean all other similar cars are of equal value.

The pictures of the BJ car showed the 55 was superbly done. But I don't know 55's that well and can't vouch for authencity of it's condition. The car looked right to me, and this 56 may look right to others but is it? For one thing the 55 in question was a Super ( model 56 R according to the description) not a Roadmaster, but it looked like Roadmaster seats in there. And for another it looked ( on my PC) like the car had a metallic paint finish. Is that right for a 55?.

And while I thoroughly agree with your cost estimate of the various portions of the restoration process, without seeing such a vehicle first hand it would be dangerous for anyone to vouch for the quality of the work performed and certify the value of any car.

For example I saw a 65 Electra on E bay which was advertised as an original survivor. I am 99% sure that 65 Electra's did not come with leather interiors. The seats were a heavy duty vinyl. But the ad said the seats were in original condition with good leather. What wasn't said was that the seating area of the front seats had been replaced with a velor material, and a quick look at the pictures showed this clearly. So much for an original survivor.

So the value of this Roadmaster in question could be either a bargain or a disaster, and who really knows except the seller?

[R Walling]

1956 Buick Roadmaster; 4 dr

Low Retail Average Retail Value High Retail

Base Price $3,500 $6,750 $11,000

1956 Buick Roadmaster Convertible;

Low Retail Average Retail Value High Retail

Base Price $21,700 $49,500 $81,600

1956 Roadmaster Riveria 2 dr HT;

Low Retail Average Retail Value High Retail

Base Price $11,850 $23,100 $36,900

Source NADA (High retail is not show room condition)

These price guides are only that, a guide that may very either way, many thousand dollars depending on how bad you want it.