1950 Buick Special Custom, click picture to enlarge.Hey people, I want to tell you something about this picture that comes from knowing more about this car than the publisher of the picture did. The publisher called this a Buick Roadmaster but I know that it is a Buick Special. Now how do I know more about it than the publisher does? that's simple to answer. First of all I was there when these cars were made and I know the difference between them. You see, the Buick Special had the three port holes in the hood but the Buick Roadmaster had four port holes in the hood. There were many other differences between the Special and the Roadmaster too. My sister learned to drive on a 1949 Buick Special. The Special was much smaller than the Roadmaster and handled much better in cornering, turning and braking. The Roadmaster was more costly and more luxuriously equipped. In those days, 1940's and 50's, moonshining was very common and the big Roadmaster was a favorite with the moonshiners because you could take the back seat out and carry about thirty five five gallon jugs of moonshine in the trunk and back seat area.
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It is also interesting to see the way the top was done on this 50 Special. It appears they did not really chop the top. They cut off the whole original top and threw it away. By the flat creased style of the roof I am guessing that is from a 67 Impala or some other car of about that vintage. They probably used all the glass from the domar car too. So this could have started as a sedanette or a hardtop (then called a Riviera even though no where on the car did it say that and it was still a Special).
Hello Henry, thanks for your comment about the 1950 Buick on my old car blog. I am glad to know that more people are looking at my blog and enjoying it as much as I do. Your observation about the roof of the car completely escaped me at first until you pointed it out to me. I did not even notice it myself but you did. Thanks for pointing that out to me. Now something else that is on my mind. Is this your real name or is it a pen name? The reason I ask is that there was a car named the Henry J and it was made by the Kaiser Company that also made the car called a Kaiser. When I got out of the army after the Korean war I used part of my severance pay and bought a 1947 Kaiser that had a continental aircraft aluminum block engine and it would flat out run like a scalded dog. That car would outrun the word of God, no irreverence intended there. I could talk about that car for a while but I was just curious about the coincidence of your name and those old cars that I used to know about.
Hope you have a great day,
Maynard Wright, the Georgiaboy
http://georgiaboysoldcarmuseum.blogspot.com
mrw-ss@juno.com
Maynard It is a pen name or screen name I have used for years to cmt on various on-line car mags that I follow incl BringATrailer.com, Hemmings, and AutoWeek. I did take the name from the Henry J auto as produced by Kaiser Motor Company then headed by Henry J. Kaiser. I still recall the first Henry J I was aware of as it had been sitting behind a Mahnomen Minnesota gas station for years. Since then I have seen a number of Henry J's at car shows and every one was very customized usually as a drag racer. My first car was a 1952 Buick Special 4 door sedan so I have followed the early 50s Buicks ever since. My wife soon became sick of hearing it about 25 years ago when I would say things like "Is that worth more than a 52 Buick?" Of course it is ignoring inflation but I only paid $60 for a good running fully usable 1952 Buick about 1972. Once before I saw pictures and an explanation that a custom early 50s Buick had a top transplant. In that case a 65 or 66 Chevy Impala had donated it's roof. Thanks for an interesting blog and it was nice chatting with you so to speak.
Maynard: Compare the roof of the custom Buick to a stock 1968 Impala 2 door hardtop as shown at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/68_Impala.jpg
Hi Henry, thanks for your new comment on the 1950 Buick. I went back and looked at the Buick picture again and visualized it with the Chevrolet that you sent to me and it does look like the same roof line but to be honest about it I can't see well enough to say for certain that it is. I will tell you about another car that was a friend of mine's when we were teens that was a 1932 Ford model B with a 1937 Lincoln Continental transmission, a 1948 Mercury carbureter and a 1928 Model A rear end. All of the different parts bolted up right and there was no cutting or welding needed. This just goes to show that a couple of teenagers can do some strange things when they set their mind to it. To replace the original top on that Buick with a Chevrolet roof would have required some major cutting and re-welding but it could be done if someone wanted to do it bad enough.
Best wishes for your good health and happiness,
Maynard Wright, georgiaboy
mrw-ssw@juno.com
http://georgiaboysoldcarmuseum.blogspot.com
Hi my name is David I live in Portland Maine I know where the car was built I know exactly what it is and who built it is a 1950 Buick special it actually has a 1968 Buick Riviera top and trunk lid that you can't see on the back it's a very nice car I have other pictures of it myself
It was built in Portland Maine at a small custom car shop on Warren Avenue
The pictures are nice but you can't really tell how beautiful it actually is you got to see this car up close it's amazing
If you look at the hood it was sectioned it slopes down from front to back which is not the way the original would look
Also the wipers are set down in behind the hood so you can't see them
They also used the engine out of the Riviera which is a 455
As a very nice custom exhaust that comes out The back
David That is interesting. You reminded me of my cmt from almost 5 years ago. Did they useall the Riv chassis, suspension, and running gear? The whole Riv interior might adapt to the Special Hot Rod.
Yes all riviera chassis drivetrain suspension lots of modifications custom interior
I have many pics of it that I took twenty years ago I'll have to get them to you somehow
If you have an email
joel_heath@bellsouth.net I just studied the pics again. I wonder if the car is really about 95% 68 Buick Riv with the body panels for the fenders and hood grafted on from a 50 Buick.
The riviera roof and trunk lid was fitted to the fifty body also the top of the hood was sectioned a couple of inches
If you notice it actually slants forward compared to an original hood
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