Recent article on Barnfinds dot com: Slammed Fin Coupe! 1959 Buick LeSabre Preparing to put the ’50s in the rearview mirror, Buick left the past behind with its new-for-’59 lineup featuring new names, bodies, and chassis designs. This 1959 Buick LeSabre in Fresno, California exaggerates the lower, wider styling with its aftermarket air suspension. Pile in the family and explore America in your Buick on the world-class Eisenhower Interstate Highways. This impossible-to-miss classic can be yours with here on eBay where it awaits an $18,000 opening bid. The cursory description says this Buick “runs and drives,” and we might assume from the clutch pedal that the floor shifter stirs a manual gearbox of unknown specification. The air ride system (also not detailed) presumably uses the cable controller shown to adjust ride height with settings like Asphalt Scraper and Gopher Smoker. Got fins? How about fins that start at the A pillar and don’t stop until Kingdom Come? The high rear glass and dart styling suggest Space Age transportation. Surely flying cars are just a few years away! Before slamming the slammed stance of this classic, note that Buick offered air ride as a factory option in 1959, albeit only on the rear after complaints on the four-wheel system from ’58. If original, this should be the 401 cid (6.6L) “Fireball” V8, though motorheads call this vertical valve mill the “Nailhead.” I brought one of these back from the dead in my late father’s ’53 Roadmaster Riviera, and after some preparation and lubrication, the long-parked Nailhead sprang to life and almost immediately settled to a vibration-free idle. We can probably blame lawyers and Marketing nerds for eliminating colorful names of fireballs and explosions from automotive nomenclature. “Do you have to call it fireball? How about Earth Friendly Cloud Ball?” You’ve got two hours to install this air ride system; go! Leftover plywood gets the job done here, and the as-is presentation suits the 35 word description. Credit the seller for getting the entire car in most of the pictures though, a simple IQ test too-often failed. All that aside, I’d like to own one of these absurd late ’50s or early ’60s highway cruisers, and this LeSabre’s design suits the air ride and oversized wheels and tires. What’s your high bid on this late ’50s turf-scraper?
