MyStarCollectorCar was intrigued when we learned the owner of a stock 1955 Buick 4-door sedan used to own a brute force 1100 horsepower Camaro with a permanently bad attitude.
It was difficult for us to connect the dots on this one, so we asked the Buick’s owner to do it for us.
Jim Sutherland
Phil Weeks is the ’55 Buick’s owner and he explained why he chose to sell his heavily modified Camaro and buy the Buick Special: his family. For the record, a stock 1955 Buick Special is worlds away from an 1100 horsepower Camaro in overall car guy philosophy, but Phil changed his priorities in the car hobby and wanted a car that he could share with his young family.
In 1955, a new Buick Special 4-door sedan was typically sold to owners who also wanted to serve the needs of their young families, so history repeated itself when Phil bought a vintage car built long before he was even born so he could also use it as a family hauler.
Phil is a licensed mechanic who know his way around a vehicle, but he did not want to change his ’55 Buick in any earth-shaking way because he wanted his family to enjoy the retro experience found in a 69-year-old car.
Phil told MyStarCollectorCar he upgraded the Buick to a more efficient 12-volt electrical system and went through the car’s transmission to improve its reliability.
Buick still used its famous Dynaflow transmission in 1955, a finicky semi-automatic transmission that required drivers to shift it from a lower gear to a higher gear when the car was in motion. The result was a very complicated transmission (with a complex torque converter) that had a vague shift response under load.
The fact the Buick’s Dynaflow transmission performs very well 69 years after it was installed at the factory is a testimony to Phil’s mechanical skills. He wanted to make the ’55 Buick as safe and reliable as possible because Phil’s main goal was to use a family hauler in the finest tradition of yesteryear’s baby boomer family sedans.
As a result, Phil installed radial tires for their stability and included Portawall inserts to give the Buick a period-correct wide whitewall look, along with LED headlights to improve night driving.
His 1955 Buick Special 4-door sedan was built to accommodate the basic needs of a family, so it was a practical car with a short list of whistles and buzzers, consequently Phil gets a workout because his car does not have power steering or brakes.
Phil’s ’55 Buick does have a two-tone paint scheme because multi-colored cars were a big part of the automotive universe during the back nine of the 1950s. The vintage Buick also has a generous amount of chrome because the 1950s was also an era with plenty of automotive bling.
We are confident Phil and his family will thoroughly enjoy their time with the Buick because his wife found the car and was totally onside with its purchase.
Throw in the fact their kids love the ’55 Buick and you have a winning formula for a car guy’s vintage vehicle choice.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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