1956 Buick Special

Description

With tri-tone paint, flashy Skylark wire wheels, and the industry's hottest V8 under the hood, this 1956 Buick Special hardtop is, well, pretty darned special. There's not a bad line anywhere on the car, and thanks to a well-executed restoration, it has a crisp, bright look that's matched by great road manners that are as impressive today as they were sixty years ago.

Sure, 1956 Chevys are nice and Cadillacs are flashy, but nobody could compare with Buick's brand of style. The design choices on this car have aged extremely well, and the dramatic look only gets better with bold colors like the black, white, and red combination shown here. It was restored a few years ago, so it's not perfect, but you have to get up close to find the imperfections and with all that chrome and trim, nobody's going to be looking at the little stuff anyway. One look at the car and you know that panel fit is critical, so they focused a bit of extra attention on it, and the doors have that solid feel that only stuff from the 1950s seems to have. And yes, we really need to talk about the chrome, because there's enough here to outfit a fleet of lesser cars, and it's all been restored at a cost equal to some countries' GDP. From the fine-toothed grille to the sweep spear running along the sides to the wonderfully ornate taillight housings that put a bright bit of punctuation on the car, it glitters in a spectacular way.

The interior is a little more subtle, but only a little. Two-tone black and red upholstery combines a '50s sensibility with bold colors that make it look expensive, which was surely the point. It has all been restored, of course, and shows almost no signs of use and excellent quality throughout, with straight seams and correct materials. The steering wheel is thin and almost delicate, especially on such a big brute, but the stripe of chrome through the center of the dash is pure genius, with the fine grille for the radio speaker mirroring the grille up front. Of course, the radio is now a modern AM/FM/CD stereo unit, but it's great to have it because this is a car that demands to be driven, not simply admired as art. And as a Buick, it's got a massive trunk that's fully upholstered in matching black carpet with a full-sized spare.

No longer did the Special get a smaller version of the Buick Nailhead, but rather a big 322 cubic inch version that was shared with the rest of the Buick line. The name of the game was torque, and the undisputed champion in '56 was the Nailhead, so this car moves like it's got Corvette DNA in its veins. There's a lot of chrome that isn't exactly stock but sure makes the engine bay glitter, and they didn't take many liberties with the hardware, which still uses the original heavy-duty air cleaner and cast iron exhaust manifolds. There's a reliable and incomparably smooth Dynaflow automatic transmission behind it, and it does take some getting used to but it's pure Buick at its best. The underside isn't detailed for show, but does have a great set of pipes, a recent gas tank, and that smooth Buick ride that has to be experienced to understand. Flashy chrome wire wheels were popular with Buicks of all shapes and sizes, and these wear fresh 225/75/15 whitewall radials.

A gorgeous car that has the power to embarrass some pretty serious hardware, this Buick delivers on its spectacular look in every possible way. Call now!