I'm out driving around this evening and found what I think is a pretty good deal on a very original, very straight '41 Buick Super 2-door coupe. Needs chrome, etc. but it's bone stock, garaged for at least the last 20 years, factory dual intake on the fireball 8...this thing is slick. THanks for the input...and sorry for the stupid "what's this worth" question, but time's an issue on this one! Curt
Not a lot to go on by your description, rust is always a problem on those where the rear fender bolts to the body and the rearmost trunk section. Inner rockers can be gone and someone could have put rocker caps on in the past. Chrome is expensive to redo correctly (read: not just shiney) becasue most of it is potmetal. Overall a nice running driving 41 super coupe is good for 8,000-15,000. nonrunners or barely running "originals" that are weathered and crusty are about $1000-4000 dependant on rust and completeness. Does it have fenderskirts? let me know, and I hope I have helped some. Good luck if you buy it!!!
I just bought a 39 Buick coupe no eng/trans partially in primer looked like a real solid car for $3500.All the chrome was off the car but in nice shape.I got it home and started grinding on the bottom and all 4 corners were metal patched,and not the good way.So I paid too much,don't know if this helps you at all with estimating the value of what you are looking at,hope it helps a little.
I just got back from the guy's house. I looked over as much as I could and it actually looks pretty solid. It runs great and shifts nice, but 1st is pretty noise (manual trans). I had a '56 with a manual and I had to go through that twice, so it wouldn't surprise me if that needed attention. No skirts unfortunately. Price seems right based on what you said. I'm going to go back and really eyeball it in the morning light (and check the spots Nick pointed out were notorious - thanks). I'll keep you posted on how it turns out. Thanks for the input! Curt
It's worth what you are willing to pay. If it's a car you want to keep and love, paying "too much" will not happen if it's less than what you are willing to pay.. As far as what you should offer, that depends if it's as nice as you seem to think it is. What to offer is entirely subjective to your budget. I always offer 75% of what I am willing to pay and go from there. There is no blue book on what cars are worth when you are buying a car you want to keep.
couple more points, most will have rot on the front floors (at least most of the ones I have gotten) and your typical lower extremities. Check to see if it has a latemodel 47 and newer, engine 248 or 263, easy to tell because it will have one huge square casting/mounting boss on each side of the block. (stock 41 and down has a front motor plate of sorts) It's incorrect if you ever restore to orig. Post pictures!!
I bought the Buick. I went back and drove the thing late Saturday night and it ran like a top. I went back as soon as the sun was up Easter morning and climbed over every inch of the thing and there isn't a bit of rot anywhere....floors, trunk floor, rockers...all totally solid and straight. I've always said that I would love to build a custom from a stocker in good condition, and I've never seen a better candidate then this one. The car is down on the Eastern shore it's stashed at my father-in-law's house for a week or so while I get tags/***le/insurance worked out and I can bring it home. I'll get him to snap some pictures and I'll post them as soon as I can. Thanks again for the input on this one. I know 50's Buicks well, but not earlier stuff. I obviously know all the "it's worth what you want to pay for it" ****, but I just wanted to get an idea of what would be "fair" before I made a snap decision to bring something else home. It turned out to be a hell of a deal and the snap decision was a good one, so I'm totally stoked. Curt
Pictures please. These are very cool cars, fast in their day. Gas milage is poor but they are beautifully designed and well built. What are you going to do with it? There was a local guy who had a 41 4 door phaeton in blue metallic. That car was nice.
Very cool car, can't wait to see the pics.... and yes the trannies are pretty noisy, especially compared to newer cars....
I had a '40 Super, the transmission was noisy. I wish I could get that car back! I think transmission howl is normal for those cars, as long as it works don't fix it.
Drive the piss out of it, for now! With the exception of my '65 F-100 (which I sold in January), I haven't had anything old on the road for about 5 years, so I'm going to drive this one while I work on it. I'm going to go mild custom...I'll get the al***ude adjusted right away. When I have time over this summer, I'm going to get rid of a lot of the extra trim and other doodads, figure out some cooler taillights, french the headlights, round the door corners, fill the fender seams, etc. The thing is straight enough to hold a gloss black paint job when I'm done, so that's where it will be ultimately. At this point (a couple of days into it) I'm not planning on chopping the top. I love the lines on the car, so basically I just want to get rid of anything that interrupts them rather then doing anything to change them drastically. I'll post pics as soon as I get them in the next day or so. Curt
Last fall here a guy had a '40 Super that ran and went, an older partial restoration that was not that well done - you could see edges of window screen in a few spots and the paint was cracking - but the interior was nice and you could enjoy it as-is. Asking on that one was either $5000 or $8000 I forget which. My '40 Roadmaster coupe is fairly solid but the motor is set up and I don't think I'd part with it for less than $2500. But that's mostly because I like it.
Yeah, I figured if I wanted to post anything on here I'd put it in the cl***ified, and I haven't bothered to come up with a witty quote to replace the old link with.
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