Your first Buick

[NC-car-guy]

So I was recently visiting family and saw this photo in my mother's house. This is Easter Sunday sophomore year of college. My mom was determined I couldn't drive an antique daily, so I spent $3500 and drove this all through college and all I ever did was put tires on it. The line in the middle is damage to the photo, not the car. What's your first buick story?

[MrEarl]

Great idea for a thread Matthew, now we know why you are looking for a 4 door. What color is that?    I need to try and find the 1-2 pics of my 2 door c-dan.....you know what year it was.....

 

[NC-car-guy]

That was a maaco or scheib special paint job (no pun intended) I seem to recall the paint inside the trunk was whatever the original blue was. I think it was lighter than the exterior.

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

Daddy bought the Roadmaster in 1970 for $300

He drove it everyday to work and back for two years.

Then we cleaned up the interior, had it painted and replated the bumpers. 

Dad and the Roadmaster at a car show in Columbus Georgia 1976

Dad in the straw hat. Proudly showing and telling about his Buick. 2010

In 2000 we did a second restoration, repaint , replaced about 40% of the interior . Replate of the bumpers 

Dad passed away October 2011. He left the car to me. 

It's the first Buick I've owned. It's the only Buick I've owned

Edited November 6, 2015 by JamesBulldogMiller55Buick (see edit history)

[Pete Phillips]

My first old car was a 1958 Buick Limited 4-dr. hardtop. My mother had forbidden me from owning an antique car until after I graduated from college, so that's what I did six months after graduation: Bought a 1958 Limited from an old man in southeastern Kansas for $995 and drove it home to Texas (and joined the BCA, 1977). The following year, I went back to college for a Master's degree and put everything I owned in the back of the '58 Limited and drove it to Georgia Tech. By the time I got my Master's degree three years later, I had already bought, driven daily, and sold half a dozen antique cars--mostly Buicks, one Studebaker, one Oldsmobile; a wonderful 1961 Skylark; a very rare 1963 stick shift LeSabre two-door sedan, etc., etc. ...and the disease continues to this day!

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Leonard, Texas

Edited November 6, 2015 by Pete Phillips (see edit history)

[JohnD1956]

It's so hard to figure which one was my first Buick. 

 

I like to think it was dad's 55 Special 3 speed, which I learned to drive on before I was eligible for a drivers license. But in actuality it as probably Dad's 65 Electra which he bought but I drove almost exclusively through High school and two years of college.  Then again there was the 57 Special I bought for $30.00 when in College but was forced to sell without ever putting on the road.   But in reality it was probably the 56 Roadmaster our neighbor gave to me after he decided there were no more panels he could crash without killing himself. That one I refurbished, licensed and drove for two happy years before transmission problems.  In between all these were a few other brands such that by the time I got the Roadmaster I had been through seven cars.

[Barney Eaton]

My first Buick was a 1955 Special 2 dr purchased from a family member as a second car.   That was roughly 1963, I don't think there is a single photo.   It was grey and had a dent in the drivers side fender ... a nice clean strike to probably a telephone pole.   The door opened fine.    It did run rough, a compression check reviled low compression on 3 cylinders on the same side, I pulled the head and 3 exhaust valves were so badly burnt, they were "D" shaped.   I lapped in three new valves and drove it for a couple of years.   We moved to St Louis and the license/taxes to register the car were going to be more than I paid for it, so I sold in in St Louis.     My next Buick was a 1982 Electra wagon (used)

[Machine Gun]

My first was a black 1950 Special that I bought for $85 in 1972. I drove it around for several months with no problems except for a leaky, squeaky water pump.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

  A 1940 Special four door.  Drove that car my 16th and 17th summer. Never won any drag races, but could and did out run my buddy's dad's '52 Chevy. More than once.  

 

  Ben

[The Old Guy]

My first Car was a 1931 Buick that I purchased when I was 14 ( I got my license then) I bought it from my Uncle and drove it for a year. I then got a 1937 Century and drove it until my Dad took it away from me ( I passed him doing over 100MPH )

             He then bought a 1939 Pontiac and that was the car I had in senior year. ( it was a six cylinder , and I don't think it woud go 80MPH over a cliff )

[NC-car-guy]

Wow!  I'm loving all the interesting stories!

[Fr. Buick]

I was hankering for anything mid-50s from GM when I was in high school.  I would find something for sale around town, fret over it, read up on it and beg Mom to let me buy it.  Olds, Chevy, Pontiac.  She always said no, and wisely so.  Easter Sunday of my senior year I spotted a 54 Special 2-door sedan (model 48D) for sale by an Anaheim cop.  New paint, nice chrome, unmolested and 64 thousand miles, and Mom said yes.

 

Drove that car through grad school, and I've been stuck ever since.

[Gene Brink]

1950 2 door Super coupe. Bought before I had a drivers license (but drove it a bit anyway). Dark green and wish I still had it (and lots of other old Buicks I've has the pleasure of owning...).

[billbuickgs]

1947 Buick Super Conv in 1958 less then 50000 miles , Black ext with red leather and tan cloth int.

Never could figure why it had power windows in the doors and cranks in the quarters.

Bill

[RivNut]

During my freshman year in high school, I'd drive dad's '50 Special if/when I was allowed to drive.  When I turned 16 my sophomore year, we got rid of the '50 and got a '55 Century four door hardtop.  I drove it when I needed a car and when it was time for college, I bought a '55 Chevy from the kid down the street.  It only lasted until I could enough money to buy a '63 Dodge that was a KS Higway Patrol car.  That one lasted a couple of years until I needed a car that was more appealing to the opposite sex.  That's when I bought my first Buick; a 1964 Wildcat, two door hardtop.  Buckets, console, the whole enchilada.  Drove it for a long time.  Brought my first born home from the hospital in it.  Fond memories.

 

Ed

[Larry Schramm]

I had a 1963  Buick Special station wagon that was a former GM company car that had almost every option on it including air conditioning.  Great car with the aluminum V8 engine except for fuel economy during the "gas crisis" in the early 70's.

 

Last time I saw it , it was in a junk yard about a year after I sold it with the a/c unit completely removed.  I would guess it was put into another car.

Edited November 7, 2015 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[Guest Doug Burton]

Like some others in this thread, my love affair with Buick's started long before I was allowed to drive. From the time I can remember to the time I left the nest in 1972, my father always drove a Buick. So the first car I bought after I got married was a '63 LeSabre, which didn't look like much, but it ran fine and I later traded it in on the 2nd favorite Buick I ever owned, a 1965 Electra 225.

 

Although I had others over the year, I never got the chance to buy my favorite one until about 5 years ago and it's the one I now own. It will probably be with me until I leave this earth and I hope it goes to someone who loves it as much as I do.

[PONTIAC1953]

my first buick was a 1958 roadmaster 75 four door riviera hardtop, silver with a white roof, and a steel blue interior, driving that roadmaster with the dynaflow was like floating on a cloud that moved like a jet airplane.

[Thriller]

Ellie - 1966 Wildcat. The tale can be found in the link in my signature. Just realized it's been 22 years.

[g-g-g0]

It was actually my second car but between my junior and senior year (1957) the local Chevy dealer took in a '39 Buick Special business coupe on trade. I HAD to have it! Finally convinced my folks to let me buy it for a sum of $125.00. (That was 125 hours of work!!) What a ride. It was the fastest car around top end! All of the rich kids had new 58 Chevies, 57 Pontiacs and 57 T Birds and the old Buick would wax their butt's top end!! Took me three or four miles to get her wound up but then she would blow right by them. There was one other side benefit of the business coupe. My best friend and I ran around with a "gang" of 7 female classmates and we could all get in the old coupe! Lot's of fond memories with this car. Would like to own another one (a Century would be even better) but at my age doubt that it is in the cards.

Many more Buicks after this one and still have a couple and love them all!

Gary

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

  Gary, I think Barney Eaton's is for sale.

 

  Ben

[g-g-g0]

Ben

I know it is but not in the cards for me at this time. Would have to buy a lottery ticket and win to pull off that purchase!

Gary

[Buicknutty]

 My first car to drive on the road when I was 16, a 1959 Meteor a door sedan, with a 2 speed automatic, and 223 cu in six. Not fast car!

 My first Buick, a year or so later, was a 1956 Special 4 door sedan. It was quite rusty, and had terrible brakes, needed lots of work, which sadly, it didn't get. I was forced to scrap it the next year.

 Then I bought a 1953 Roadmaster, that of course, needed work, but that one I got on the road, and drove it for a couple of years.

 Keith

[parkertom]

Well, my first Buick didn't make the 50s, 60s, or 70s. It was an 86 LeSabre Coupe. I was 16 and it was a 10 year old hand me down from my grandparents. I have pretty much always owned at least one Buick ever since.

My first new car was a 2000 Century that I owned for one year before falling in love with an 01 Regal GS. Finally, last year I stopped only owning them for daily use and picked up my 60 LeSabre.

Buying a new Buick at 19, I think I skewed their demographics a bit.

[Paul from PA]

My first Buick was my first car. 1963 Riviera. I sold it to my uncle for $125.00 Still waiting for payment..... I have two 1963 Riviera's now

[avgwarhawk]

My first was a 1978 Buick Regal coupe.   3.8 litre V6 odd fire.  White with white landau top.  White interior. Red dash and carpet.  My mom sold it to me for $500.00.  Darn fine Buick.  

[dei]

My first car / Buick is a 1958 Buick Limited 2 door which Dad handed down to me with about 80,000 miles on it. He did not want me driving some "hopped up Chevy" racing around the city (which two of my friends were doing) and figured the dynaflow trany might slow me down some! 

This was also a good reason do something with it as the universal joint had failed that winter and mom was getting tired of looking at it sitting on the front lawn.....

 

Drove it for many years and took some remarks about driving "an Old Car" but she never missed a beat.

 

I still have it but sadly it has been off the road for some time.

 

Not to fear though,

Awhile ago I found her identical twin sister in Cleveland, Ohio and between the two, someday will be "On the road again".

[MrEarl]

My first old car was a 1958 Buick Limited 4-dr. hardtop. My mother had forbidden me from owning an antique car until after I graduated from college, so that's what I did six months after graduation: Bought a 1958 Limited from an old man in southeastern Kansas for $995 and drove it home to Texas (and joined the BCA, 1977). The following year, I went back to college for a Master's degree and put everything I owned in the back of the '58 Limited and drove it to Georgia Tech. By the time I got my Master's degree three years later, I had already bought, driven daily, and sold half a dozen antique cars--mostly Buicks, one Studebaker, one Oldsmobile; a wonderful 1961 Skylark; a very rare 1963 stick shift LeSabre two-door sedan, etc., etc. ...and the disease continues to this day!Pete Phillips, BCA #7338Leonard, Texas

Surely you have a picture of that '58 at Tech

[60FlatTop]

My really first Buick was a 1919, at least that was the latest Pat. date on the generator and it is still around here somewhere. My Grandmother gave to to me when I was 12 or 13. They had left it on the farm when they moved into town in 1940. I got it some 20 years later.

It had been their buzz saw. The body, except front fenders and cowl, had been removed and the driveshaft connected to a large arbor with a 24" saw blade. It had been towed to a permanent location just behind the outhouse (big family, a four holer, like my Electra!). That put the woodpile right on the path where you felt the cold most.

 

My Mom had remembered it running around 1940. "Frenchie" LaJoy rented a small house across the road from my Grandparents and had a small junkyard there. In later years Frank D'Angelo lived there and ran the town dump. He brought a lot of metal, paper, and rags back. My cousins and I found our first nudist colony magazines there.

 

Anyway, Frenchie used to crank that Buick all day and once it started he'd say "Damn, that started right up good." Twenty years later I took my small tool kit down and started "restoring" it. I learned a lot about getting that really black caked on sludge off my hands and I remember thinking the black lines across the tips of my nails looked more normal or at least, more aesthetic, than the other kid's. (still show up for coffee like that some afternoons).

 

Well there never was a great concern about me getting caught in the whirling blade and I did get the covers all off and the rocker shafts and pushrods all cleaned. About a to years later I moved into a 1939 Special. my first one. I have had 3 1939's.

 

Bernie

[Airy Cat]

My grandfather gave me my first car on my 17th birthday in 1960. It was a 1941 Buick Super 4 door sedan. It had the compound carburetors and it would haul ass. It was bought brand new by my great aunt (his sister) and she gave it to him in 1954 when she bought a new Buick Special. When she got too old to drive she gave it to me in 1975 and I still have that car.

[TG57Roadmaster]

It's 1981 and I'm sitting in my new '67 Skylark Custom Sport Coupe, bought from the late Stan Farnham of Orlando. I was 24 and living in Ft. Lauderdale at the time. Stan and his partner York Monhollen were good friends with John and Janet Ricketts, who were big in the BCA; Janet would later become the AACA's first woman president. Both are now deceased, too, but their daughter Tracy Ricketts Lesher has many great stories of those heady times. I kept the Skylark for a couple of years, and, of course, regret getting rid of it.

 

 

One day the right '67 Skylark Custom Sport Coupe will come along,

preferably Aquamarine Poly with PW, P Seat, Tilt, AC, etc.,

but till then I'll have to make do with the '57.

I'm not complaining... 

 

TG

 

 

[Airy Cat]

My grandfather gave me his old 1941 Buick Super 51 on my 17th birthday.

[Terry Wiegand]

The first Buick I owned was a 1959 LeSabre 2-Door Hardtop.  It had an Arctic White top with the body being what was called Tawny Rose.  The car was bought new in Ogden, Utah and traded in at our local Chevrolet dealer on a new 1966 Chevelle Super Sport Coupe.  This car was somewhat unusual in the fact that it came from the factory with the 401 cubic inch engine in it.  It was special ordered that way and I was the second owner.  I spoke with the man who ordered it new and he told me about special ordering the car with the big engine because he really liked fast cars.  I was talking with a guy at the Rochester, Minnesota meet in 2006 about this car because he was there with a '59 LeSabre Sport Coupe.  His car had the 364 inch engine in it and he very politely told me that I was wrong, that my car had the 364 in it because it was a LeSabre.  I politely told him back, no, sir, YOU are wrong, I owned the car and I know what it had in it for an engine.  There was another fellow standing close by and he told the fellow that I was probably right and that a dealer could have ordered just about anything the way they wanted back in those days if they knew how to work the ordering codes.  It was the 401 inch engine in that car and I am here to tell people that that car was damn fast.  I buried that red line speedometer past 120 mph on numerous occasions and it was still climbing.  That car would run faster than I had guts to drive it.  I outrun the cop in my high school town of Nickerson, Kansas with it and the 1962 Ford they had then.  It was fast!

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

[60FlatTop]

I think this is the actual first car I ever had licensed when I was 16 in 1965:  http://syracuse.craigslist.org/cto/5338501338.html .

 

The car is located about 80 miles from me and I have talked to the owner. It may still have the four 7.60 X 15 Firestone recaps I put on. The owner claims it was fixed up in Syracuse during the 1970's and then left sitting. The story all fits and the car is not real common. If I take a ride up to Fulton there are a couple of things that would confirm it was mine.

 

I don't have a great desire to buy it. I have no sentimental attachment or fledgling sexual experiences to remember, like a couple of others. But it was neat to see it pop up.

Bernie

[parkertom]

I think this is the actual first car I ever had licensed when I was 16 in 1965: http://syracuse.craigslist.org/cto/5338501338.html .

The car is located about 80 miles from me and I have talked to the owner. It may still have the four 7.60 X 15 Firestone recaps I put on. The owner claims it was fixed up in Syracuse during the 1970's and then left sitting. The story all fits and the car is not real common. If I take a ride up to Fulton there are a couple of things that would confirm it was mine.

I don't have a great desire to buy it. I have no sentimental attachment or fledgling sexual experiences to remember, like a couple of others. But it was neat to see it pop up.

Bernie

Certainly a unique opportunity to run across it and have the chance to acquire it.

Edited December 21, 2015 by parkertom (see edit history)

[MrEarl]

 

I don't have a great desire to buy it. I have no sentimental attachment or fledgling sexual experiences to remember, like a couple of others. But it was neat to see it pop up.

Bernie

It's never too late!!! Go buy it!!!

oh wait... or is it??

[chuckfmtexas]

I was late to the Buick game as our family had Chevrolets when I was growing up. As a family we have had a mixture of Volvo plus other GM makes and models but never Buick until we decided in 2005 to buy the 1932 Buick 67S and restore it. As we got to know BCA and AACA folks we realized what we had been missing. The 32 was finished in 2009 and ready for AACA Regional at Charlotte, then BCA Colorado Springs, then Hershey and the rest is history and fun with all the BCA Nationals and AACA judging meets.

Beginning in 2009 I bought my first Enclave and now have a 2012 we love. Also have a 1989 Reatta (now for sale), had 1965 Riviera GS, two 1973 Rivieras, and now have 1967 GS 400 and 1967 Sportwagon. Hooked on Buicks for the duration of my time here on earth and look forward to attending many more Buick functions and making new and seeing old friends.

Hope to acquire a new and restyled 2017 Enclave depending on features, and price. See you in Allentown in 2016.

Chuck Nixon

[HuntzNSam]

I learned to drive in my Dad's black 1970 Estate Wagon.  Whoda thunk a big Buick with a 455 and 16 year old driver would shatter the spider gears?  "Why no, Dad, I wasn't driving hard - it just happened!"  Learned a lot in auto shop class with this car.

Huntz

[bhclark]

Inherited my grandfather's '65 Wildcat, may it RIP.

 

 

[SpecialEducation]

Well, my first Buick didn't make the 50s, 60s, or 70s. It was an 86 LeSabre Coupe. I was 16 and it was a 10 year old hand me down from my grandparents. I have pretty much always owned at least one Buick ever since.

 

 

You're not alone.  My first Buick was a hand-me-down '82 LeSabre that happened to be my dad's first Buick.  Being from Lansing, we usually had Oldsmobiles, but the LeSabre had a Rocket under the hood so that made it OK.  After blowing up a couple 200R4's behind that 4 bbl 5.0, I put a THM 350 in it.  It was slower and thirstier, but more reliable.  My dad bought the '56 in 1995 and I sold the LeSabre in '98.  I picked up an '82 Skyhawk convertible in 2000.  A neighbor who neglected to scrape their windshield one morning wadded up the 'Hawk while it was parked on the street.  I've been Buick-less for about 5 years now (although I do my share of wrenching on dad's '56), but I should have another 'Hawk in my driveway by the end of the month.   

My wife's Olds Custom Cruiser could have easily been a Roadmaster Wagon, but I felt a need to return to my Olds roots with that project...