1947 Buick

Im not getting over it. Or under it. Or in it.

 

Considering:
- the $9K price tag,
- the quote of $52 thousand for all new wood (for a similar wagon discussed on an AACA thread in 2010),
- and the fact that similar ones that haven't been chopped are selling in the $65K range...

I don't think there's enough 'meat left on the bone' to make rebuilding a good financial decision. I wanted to arrive at a different conclusion, but I don't see how you could justify it, really.

Perhaps an expert boatbuilder - with borrowed patterns - could faithfully replicate what's missing, but I think ultimately the value would break even at best, against a similar era model in fair shape.

If it landed on my lawn... I'd probably take a deep gulp, remove most of the modifications, and take another stab at it -- a more stylistically sympathetic version of what's here. Perhaps I could round out the back of the cab with big tongue-and-groove wood, replace that ridiculous casement window with a small rounded one, and rebuild the bed in original, beefy ash and mahogany: ya know, so it doesn't look like it was made from leftover barn siding.

Finally, by replacing those missing lower panels to restore the sinuous fenders... we might have something that partially rights all these wrongs, and maybe could even pass as a factory concept.

In the meantime... I attempted to undo the awful, 1970's decisions, if only digitally.

 

Back in the 70s, this was just an old woody wagon that nobody wanted. At least it survived. It CAN be fixed. After all, it is mainly the wood pieces that are needing work, and they really do grow on (or in) trees. I remember trying to get Ma to allow me to buy a car at age 14, in 1975. Trouble is that the car I wanted was 33 years old, and not worth the $500 it would have cost. What was not worth $500 then? A 1942 Ford Super Delux V-8 convertible, one owner and safety certified!

 

Welll,, Mike,,
thats cuz it was a FORD....
We all KNOW Fords are worthless...

 

it could be made right again, just need a few pictures of a 47 wagon to make up some plans, a trip or two to the lumber yard and some time in the wood shop and some metal fabrication then you could end up with this

 

sneakiness

You could tell people,"Before there was El Camino, before there was Ranchero, there was the Buick --- whatever--- Caballero." It might work...

 

I'd still give $2000 and spend a few dollars at Home Depot!
Git over it!

 

Must still be smokin' the same stuff that he was in the '70's when he "customized" it!


JUST SAY NO