With handsome Titian Red paint, a comfortable interior, and a venerable 264 Nailhead V8 under the hood, this 1955 Buick Special Tourback sedan is, well, pretty darned special. There's not a bad line anywhere on the car's design, and thanks to great preservation, it has a crisp, bright look that's matched by great road manners that are as impressive today as they were sixty-five years ago. Sure, 1955 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 Titian Red and black shown here. It was restored a few years ago, so it's not perfect, but you have to get up relatively 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 there at a cost equal to some countries' GDP. From the ornate grille to the sweep spear running along the sides to the wonderfully finned 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 red and gray upholstery combines a '50s sensibility with bold colors that make it look expensive, which was surely the point. Based on the mileage, it could all possibly be original, and shows only minor signs of use and excellent quality throughout, with straight seams and correct materials. The big steering wheel is thin and almost delicate, especially on such a big brute, but the two-tone color scheme and chrome on the dash is pure genius, with the fine grille for the radio speaker mirroring the grille up front. Unbelievably, the original AM radio is still in place and working and hidden in the glove compartment are the controls for the modern R134a A/C system, which we applaud the former owners for improving the atmosphere of the cabin immensely by doing so. And as a Buick, it's got a massive trunk that's fully upholstered in tan mats, and it also houses what is likely its original bias-ply spare. Under the hood is the uber-dependable Buick Nailhead, 264 cubic inches of what is believed to be the original motor for this car. The name of the game was torque, and the undisputed champion in '55 was the Nailhead, so this car moves like it's got Corvette DNA in its veins. Everything looks stock inside the engine bay, 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 big gas tank, and that smooth Buick ride that has to be experienced to understand. Factory steel wheels with flashy chrome hubcaps were popular with Buicks of all shapes and sizes, and these wear proper 7.6-15 whitewall bias-ply tires at each corner. A gorgeous, 81k actual mileage car that has the looks to embarrass some pretty serious hardware, this Buick delivers on its venerable reputation in every possible way. Call now!
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