It was the golden era of the American automotive industry! Looking at this masterpiece, you experience the same feeling as looking at a beautiful woman.
I agree! Most cars today all look like the basic platform was made by one company and just different "badges" applied to denote if it was a Buick or a Chevrolet.
actually this model, the limited, had less chrome than the lesser buicks of the same year. the other models had solid chrome on the side where this has more taseful hash bars.
I had a 58 Super 2dr Riviera. The chrome you’re referring to on the rear side (fender) panels is mostly polished aluminum. But for the sake of this conversation, chrome. Which ever the case, there was a lot of chrome on that 58. I got a real work out keeping it polished 😅
Agreed, the most outstanding '58 LTD I've seen in captivity. Many styling queues from the '58 Eldo Brougham. This one ranks right up there among the most beautiful post war Buicks with the '53 ragtops and '63-'65 Rivieras. Oh, for the days of that great Rhodesian chrome, eh?
Craftsmanship at its best. look no nav, no Bluetooth, no collision avoidance . But sooooooo much nicer . I could see how my father appreciated driving in the 50.s.
Absolutely incredible restoration. I'm always amazed how either a. The chrome and stainless and anodized trim (which are bound to deteriorate over time) was already perfectly preserved, b. original NOS parts were miraculously sourced, b. there are companies out there that are able to completely restore the original trim to better than new? Outstanding resto. Truly a fantastic car!
@@tedwalker1370 Best comment 👍👍👍 We were just talking a few weeks ago about the paint finishes on today's restos'... ...These old rides from the mid 1960s on-back NEVER HAD this much luster of shine back then which is how car wax became the best thing since bubble gum but you had to be in shape physically to make it happen ! Only the showroom models were buff waxed upon arrival from the factory but with today's options for paint finishes, It kinda gives a diminished apperarance pertaining to "originality" ! Neighbor of mine did a "Frame-off" 2 years ago on a 1964 Pontiac Catalina which turned out superb but the paint was an "imron" finish which is a beauty however had so much gloss til it actually looked like it hadn't dried!
I’m simply amazed at the care that was taken to restore this piece of motoring history to concourse condition. It also emphasised how modern cars are now simply a mass mode of transport and they all look about the same. Each of these vintage cars had a distinctive character of it’s own and varied greatly from manufacturer to each model back in the day.
Can you imagine looking at a highway in those days like, right now? Every car that passed, we'd all go "Oh wow! Omg!" From Muscle cars, to Cadillacs, Buicks, Nash, Cord, ENZ.
Excellent video. Captures the essence of the ultimate, all-time chrome boat. When I was your age, my parents had a country store and filling station, and I remember pumping gas into a '58 Limited. I was totally blown away by it just, just like you are now. It's great to hear this one still has air ride. The owner told me at the time that problems had been encountered with it and that his now had coils. He did say, however, that the compressor was left in with the hose attached so that it could be used to inflate the tires.
I still have the little booklet my father Walter Virgil Mitchell (1898-1958) gave me in October, '57 after a district wide meeting of Buick dealers at the local country club to learn about the '58. Called Your B-58 Flight Plan, it had pages outlining the various features--Flight-Pitch Dynaflow and Vairable Pitch Dynaflow, the new air-level suspension, a less expensive dealer installed under the dash AC instead of the integrated factory unit, "Air-Foil" fenders, with lines on the right side for him to take notes. Sadly he never got to sell them. He was operated on 1/1/58 at Baylor Hospital in Dallas and found to have inoperable lung cancer, we lost him 2-1/2 months later on March 17. From then on, after I had a wreck in our '53 Roadmaster coupe in '61, my mother bought Fords from his older brother who sold them from 1925 to 1970.
I learned to drive in one of these, and they were a lot to think about and keep track of when hurtling down the road. These were well built cars, and yet had significant shortcomings when compared to modern cars. Incredible to experience, the air ride was problematic, troublesome, expensive to repair, and within a few years of ownership was swapped out for regular shocks and springs. The refrigeration system required many pounds of refrigerant, always seemed to need more R 12, and the compressor drew a significant amount of horsepower. It was possible to break the compressor drive belt by just revving the engine with the A/C on. We learned to turn it off before shutting the engine off. and to leave it off when starting the car. That large a/c compressor is still being manufactured today and is used on large tractors. Tires were 2 ply and short lived. Flats were a common event, and jacking one of these tanks up to change the tire could be precarious. Just a suspicion, but I don't think girls would go out with a man that couldn't change a tire. Fuel mileage? Gasoline was .12 Cents a gallon, but no one paid any attention to that, or filling the 25 gallon fuel tank. If you drove it, you filled it up before returning it because people were always running out of fuel with these gas guzzlers. You kept a spare 2 gallon can of gas in the trunk and a jug of water. Always! If you ran it dry it took at least one gallon just to get fuel through the lines, the fuel bowl filter, and the other gallon to get you to a gas station. No electric fans on the radiator. Consequently the car was prone to overheating and boiling off the coolant. Never experienced vapor lock but knew of some owners who had and kept clothes pins on the fuel lines to keep them from boiling. You never wanted to be forced to push one of these, never! One always kept a set of jumper cables onboard. Panic braking with multiple stops could be hit or miss with drum brakes. Buick offered aluminum drums later that close to disk brakes in performance.
Unbelievable! Probably over 50,000 in chrome alone. Never been a fan of 58’s but this one is spectacular in every respect. Appears to still have the troublesome air suspension. Most of those were converted to conventional coil suspension within the first two years. I would imagine this car would be sealed in a bottle and never driven. None nicer I couldn’t imagine.
Great video! Next time, turn the steering wheel so it is straight. Some designer spent 7 weeks designing that wheel and it's disrespectful to film the car with the wheel all crooked like that.
Don't think you are disloyal as a Chevy guy for liking this (or any other Buick!). Before "badge engineering" became a "thing" at General Motors, Of ALL of the GM cars, It was Buick, and not Cadillac that was the "fancy" Chevrolet. While Cadillac (and Pontiac) were still running flathead engines, Chevy and Buick had OHV engines. Of all of the GM cars only Chevy and Buick used enclosed driveshafts (torque tube) rather than open drive shafts. And Chevrolet's first automatic transmission, (Powerglide) was basically a "poor mans" Dynaflow. (Both were unrelated to the original Hydramatic as they had torque converters the original did not.) Chevy and Buick shared more tech concepts with each other than they did with the rest of the GM lineup. This makes sense in a historic progression: Before Louis Chevrolet built the first Chevrolet car, We has a race car driver for.....Buick! It's natural for a Chevy guy to like a Buick. They were the closest "brothers" of GMs family!
Thank you for another beautiful, beautifully restored, car. You obviously appreciate the design details, as evidenced by the way you feature them in the videography. Please keep the jewels coming. I hope you don't run out.
Background music didn't bother me a lick. I muted it. Besides, if he used real doo wop he would have gotten a copyright strike from you tube. Not good if you're trying to grow your channel. Mute works Best 😉
58 was the year with the most chrome ever, they were more expensive to buy new than a base 58 Cadillac. The grill was a work of art alone with 160 chrome squares.
Another beauty! Buick didn't build them as well as the restorer did, especially the paint. The old acrylic lacquer faded in a few years, then the primer started to show through; just around the time when people traded 'em in! Absolutely magnificent, and some great video work. Thanks!
I was living in the East Village in NYC 1967 or so. My VW Squareback was the only car parked on the street except a forlorn 1958 Buick with the wheels off on cinder blocks.
The 50s cars were really something very special but the Buick's really had a lot of bling and a lot of class to the lot of chrome lot of style is 57 is awesome love the color turquoise
BEAUTIFUL restoration of a rather complex body and Interior ! I took a low mileage example for a test drive in the early 60s ...still recall the Air Suspension allowing it to seemingly float over rough surfaces....
What a gorgeous car! Perfect color combination & for its time, loaded, especially the factory air in the dash. Any idea the cost of restoration & the value of the car now?
In 1960, we had a yellow and black 57 Pontiac. We got hit by a 58 Buick like this one. Both cars had a lot of damage but both cars were able to drive home.
In the early 70s my cousin bought a 57 or 58 fully loaded DeSoto, power everything, green tinted glass and a record player in the dashboard. I don’t know what happened to it, but I always remember the record player, never saw one before or after in a car
Just to get it in early, Buick in 1958 twinned its advertising with the Convair B-58, a very advanced Mach 2 bomber. The ads touted the "new B-58 Buick!"
Awesome car! Why cant instead of the music, we be presented with the story of said car? Is it original? Restored? Not dissing the car. It would just be nice to know the back story.
I'm jealous ! This car is bigger than my apartment. And back in 1958 it would have cost less to. Dam it , I'm getting ripped off . This would be like having a car and an apartment all in one.
I remember the day my dad bought this one for Mom's 33rd birthday. It was a used one about two years old that looked like new. Funny though it was battleship grey with matching grey interior. Then, the following year my brother took it without permission and totaled it.
Beatifull car ! Luxury car ! I'm fan Buick and Cadillasc's 😳 Thank's a Lot for show us 🙏 I was born in the same '58 😉 Regards from Quéretaro México ! Robert 😁 💯👍
Notice the sides of the front fenders. In past years, there were always three chrome emblems on Buick fenders which were a Buick Signature Trademark, called "Cruiserline Venti-ports". They were originally holes which had large curved shiny exhaust pipes feeding down to the mufflers, similar to those on a 1930's Chord. or Auburn. Later, they replaced the holes with three plugs, and then three plastic emblems. Buick brought them back in 1960 due to customer outrage that GM would get rid of this proud emblem tradition. From then on, Buick always incorporated some type of 3 symbols on their fenders which represented "Cruiserline Venti-ports", dating back to those original big flashy engine pipes.
