Buick Bliss - Reader Resto

By: Ian Clarkson with Guy Allen, Photography by: Guy Allen

Date: 15.12.2023

Former service station owner and speedway racer, Ian Clarkson, reckons he got into Buicks by accident. Now he's built two.

ORIGINAL CARS: 1959 Buick Electra coupe, 1959 Buick Invicta convertible

OWNER: Ian Clarkson

LENGTH OF RESTORATION: 4 & 2 years

I had a ’34 Buick as a paddock bomb when I was a kid. But I really wasn’t looking for a Buick – they found me. The funny thing is I always wanted a ’59 Chev. When my mate Steve got the yellow car, the Electra, I liked the dashboard and instrument cluster on it. 

It came from a clearing sale in Mount Evelyn, in the late 1980s. There was an importer who got rid of everything except for this car. Nobody wanted it. No bids, nothing. 

My mate Steve ended up swapping it for a two-post hoist. He dragged it home, put it in his shed, near his several Cadillacs in varying states of disrepair. The Buick sat there for probably four years. I tried to buy it a couple of times.

Renovators delight.

He and I went to the States and when we came home, he was short a few bucks and asked if I wanted to buy the Electra. We negotiated over what he owed me and what I owed him and what we did or didn’t want.

I dragged it home and the missus said, "you’re dreaming" and I said, "yeah, maybe." Like all good restorations, I pulled it apart in about a week, in to a million pieces, and then it sort of got stalled until my 50th birthday.

It was all packed up in the shed and all my mates were heaping it on me, saying this thing would never get going again. That was on a Saturday night.

The following Monday morning, the chassis was down at the sandblaster. I had already done some work, such as putting the steering wheel on the other side. 

It took me about another three or four years, but I got there.

Commencing the enormous job ahead.

That white convertible took three-and-a-half years to restore. It was a basket case, like this. I bought it off Bob Bond, out of a chook shed. (Ed’s note: Bob’s cars have also appeared in Unique Cars magazine.)

We negotiated I reckon for about 10 years over that! I dragged it home and same deal: I pulled it apart. 

It was one of things where I had to do it, otherwise I’d die of old age and it would never be finished. It took under two years, but it was a lot of work.

Inner and outer sills, front and rear floors, boot floor – you name it. It was pretty bad. But because of what it was, it was definitely worth saving.

They come from an era when Buick went in to compete with what Chrysler was doing, with lower-profile cars and big wings.

You can't miss the Electra.

It was a very different time, when GM had five car brands and they all had to have their own engines. And they were making big changes from year to year.

That said, there was some commonality of parts. For example, the door skin fits Buick, Chev, Pontiac, Cadillac and Oldsmobile for that year. The appearance was changed by altering the bolt-on mouldings.

The coupe was structurally very good. Chassis and floors were okay – better than you might expect. These have a perimeter chassis – different to the equivalent Chev, which had the X-shaped unit. 

The steering box in that one is a Saginaw unit, out of an Australian Galaxie circa 1967. It’s the same as the Buick box but the sector shaft is on the other side of the worm. 

Making a mirror-reverse of the dash is a nightmare. You drink 30 beers and then you give up! So you go and see your mate and say, "Bob, can you do a dash for a 59 Buick?" And he says you should just put a Chev dash in it. No.

They sure have a presence.

So I took it to him and he did the work on it – it’s all steel. We’re not talking 3D printing, you’re doing it the old-fashioned way.

You develop some creative ways of getting parts. Such as when you spot another Buick for sale, and you ring your Missus and say, "Go down to Frankston, quick, and buy this car – it’s only $500!"

It was absolutely stuffed, but it had gear that I could use to help with the coupe. We also used some of the parts in the convertible.

I bought another Buick just to get the hubcaps and a Trailmaster mirror!

That car was eventually sold on and has since been restored by another owner.

The convertible has a 364ci V8 in it, but should have a 401. However, that’s the engine it was imported with.

The king of bling.

It’s running a two-speed Dynaflow transmission. What happens with a Dynaflow, is you put it in drive and it takes off in what feels like top gear – you don’t feel any ‘change’.

If you want to drag-race someone, you put it in low, which gives much shorter ratios in the torque converter and you then manually change it into drive.

The only time I use low is if I want a break in the traffic, away from the lights. Normally they’re okay, if a little sluggish. You’re dragging along a couple of tonne.

The Electra is running the same transmission, with a 401 Nailhead engine. It’s a real old hotrod style of engine and they have a big fan base. You can buy Edelbrock stuff for them, run two four-barrel carburetors.

I did all the sheet metal and then got someone else to paint them.

Red and white trim is glorious.

One of the attractions of Buick is it’s a top-of-the-range car. Though it depends on who you talk to. If you talk to a Cadillac guy, he’ll swear his brand is up there.

The 401 I gave to a friend to do as a job, and the transmission was farmed out. I did the convertible driveline myself.

Trim gets sent out to a mob called Design Auto Interiors in Bayswater – they’re good.

There’s nothing particularly hard about restoring a Buick of this era. There is a lot of stainless that needs to be taped up and polished and everything is heavy.

What’s my top tip for restoring a car? People need to know how much time they have left when they take on a project.

I show them on a foot ruler how much of their life they’ve spent and how much they have left, and it shows them they need to get on with it!

VITAL STATS

1959 BUICK ELECTRA

Body: Two-door coupe

Engine: 401ci V8

Power: 239kW Torque: 603Nm

Gearbox: 3-speed automatic

Suspension: Ball joint/coil springs(f); coil springs (r)

Brakes: Drum (f); drum (r)

Wheels: 15-inch

From Unique Cars #485, Nov 2023

Unique Cars magazine Value Guides

Sell your car for free right here