This thing has done at least 5 cycles on evilbay. Doesn't get a bid; it's probably worth it, but who has this kind of dough for a full-size Buick; -I'm assuming most serious car collectors with deep pockets already acquired one when they were cheaper and the demand just isn't there. It's another indication that the market is saturated and that supply is starting to outstrip demand. Anyone who wanted one already has one for a lot less, except me, I missed that boat.
It is overpriced, if it was a show quality national award level car, then the price could actually be obtainable. There are some obvious body fit issues, especially the drivers door, engine compartment should be pristine, door panels, and those awful non-Buick wheels to name a few things. If you look around the trunk opening it doesn't look like the trunk is done like the rest of the car. Factory air is a REALLY nice feature on this one. Would love one of these, but not in RED on RED
Agreed with the wheels, but body fitment is typical for these. These cars were thrown together fairly quickly, the design went from paper to showroom too fast and the bugs were never properly ironed out in the stamping process. Resale red on red; - yeah, that's a bit much, but it beats the champagne or copper that usually graced most of these. And yes, factory air as I understand it was exclusive to Texas and California, so fairly rare. The underside looks fairly blemish free, which is very rare as these things rusted like shipwrecks.
I agree about body fitment on these, but that drivers door is major issue body fitment not from the factory, there was a major issue in that area before or during restoration
I saw no fitment issues on my '59 Invicta (which I tore down to body-off-frame), and given the sheer quantity of front clip pieces, that's commendable in my book. In fact, the sheer number of front clip pieces pretty much precludes these cars being 'thrown together'- for example: the ridiculous 'cushioning' center link must've had it's own engineering mini-team (like 2 years later- it was a solid bar). That defense rested... this car is not a nut & bolt restoration worth of a post $50K price. It's 'parking lot pretty' but how could anyone even entertain this asking price with those wrinkled door panels. The wires don't bother me in the least; they look nice and bolt on & off. This is better off priced close to $30K, IMO.
Ok, I took a look at it again; I must be blind because I'm not seeing a wrinkly door. It looks like the hinges could need to be realigned a bit but nothing really else out of the ordinary. There's a lot of pavement reflection going on, but it doesn't appear to me that it's wrinkled. That there could have been issues, who knows? The thing is 59 years old. The interior gave me more issues, the vinyl doesn't seem "right", but a person can't be too sure unless you see it. Agreed that $30K would be more of a ballpark figure, - depending how it ran and dynaflowed. As for the build quality, from what I read they were a quick overhaul of the 58 design, but it came up from scratch when the 57-58 series started to tank. Chrysler had its "cab-forward" designs out in 57 and GM was still reworking Earl's older designs. The 59 was yanked off a concept shelf and rushed into production, so there are aspects to that are both over and under engineered. One thing they missed was the rust-proofing, but then again everyone else was terrible too. How may 59 model anythings are left? A scarcer car is a 59 Mercury, when was the last time you saw one of those? Personally, I love the 59 and have always wanted one since I first laid eyes on one in 1967 when I was 3 1/2. I've never found a good one (up here in Canada) that wasn't ridiculously overpriced or had any original sheet metal left. Most of the ones I've seen here were bastardized with Chevy motors and had more mudwork than an adobe mansion. So I've pretty much given up on ever having one, and looking at these overpriced lipstick-jobs just drives the knife deeper.
• 'Door panel' = interior; the Mylar. • '59 Mercs are uncommon (I saw a '57 for sale last year locally), but they were never acclaimed and production was about half of B-59s (285K vs. 149K). • The initial design 'quick overhaul of '58' has no bearing on the production '59s, since B-58 & B-59 share about zero parts other than the 364 / DynaFlow. Buick/GM had switched design approach by March of '57 (17 months before production) - not too 'quick' IMO. I have a pic of a clay '61 Pontiac with a wild double-bubble roof and it's dated June '59. In front of it is the XP-92 fiberglass Pontiac Phantom, so PMD was still cementing design 14 months before production • The one factor that does come to mind is the sheetmetal, in that there was an uncommon bit of sharing: namely the 2-dr door skins; the Divisions didn't get to strike their own skins until '60, so you see the 'bolted on' sheetmetal spear/trim at the top of the B-59 doors to give it it's own look. Other than the greenhouses (SOP @ GM), everything else was unique body-wise. I do think as a Buick it should have been more ornate out back (look at Pontiac). • I would imagine 50-yr + Canadian cars in general rust out readily. Was looking at a '55 Chevy this week, and it had the typical 'headlight hood repair kits' sloppily welded in. Common on mid-'50s cars, these patches weren't necc. by '59. • My 103K mile car came out of Pennsylvania. Had rusted rocker panels, and some in the front fender lower corners/ bottom edges of the rear quarters. There were also 2 strange rot holes in the front vertical wall of the trunk- never did figure out how that came to be. Floors and the trunk bottom were in VG shape. Nothing different that the half dozen plus mid '60s GMs I've owned. No one was doing much in the way of rust-proofing in the 1960s and earlier- no need to single out the B-59.
It looks to me as more of a bodywork issue more so than a fitment issue. It seems like the edges of both the drivers door and the quarter are kind of rolled inward. They're not flat like on the right side of the car. That's lookin' at it from here though. That said, I still think it's very sharp car that I would love to own but, not at that price. Love the red on red!
Exactly Nick!! I probably misused the word fitment . If I owned the car it is something that would bug the heck out of me, actually if I was dealing on it, it would be a deal breaker.
That's not really atypical of these bodies during the 40's - 50's... They are very bubbly from panel to panel.
OK V8 Buick people: Put this heap on the money and it will be sold in the time it takes to sell it. Usually a week listing. All the drama? A smokescreen for another obscenely high price. What the hell's so unusual about that?? Mitch
Those panel alignment issues are bad enough that they would throw Shadows if the sun was at the right angle
Which for the money being asked, would p--s me off to no end. And yes, I did notice the interior panels, and they look sloppy. In true dollars this thing would be a $22-25,000 car; but it's a 59 and rare, and desirable, and, and , and...but bottom line, so not worth it. It's still a beautiful car and I'm sure they'll find the right person who'll happily shell out the cash.
I just wonder how long cars of this era stay collectible, 57 chevys have come way down. As the people who loved them age, is the demand replaced by younger generations? Just curious on people’s thoughts
I agree wholeheartedly, that is exactly what happens. Right now cars from the late 60s are the hottest they're going to get; the only way from here is down as we all age and sell off. Right now the very top of the market has just cooled off; - the sales numbers are down and the demand has dropped but the supply is increasing. The money's been made by the speculators and the big super collections are full or beginning to sell off. So that only means that this oversupply will start to trickle down and pretty soon there will be a lot of very nice cars out there going fairly cheap or not selling because the current generation can't relate to them and isn't interested. The worst of it is I'll still be a dollar short and a day late because I'll have held on to my cars too long and they'll be worthless too.
