I’ve driven Indiana’s historic Michigan Road a lot over the last 15 years, as a buddy and I built grassroots support to have it named a historic byway, and now work to drive tourism along this 1830s road that stretches from the Ohio River to Lake Michigan. I’ve encountered all manner of old cars on this road over the years, but none as improbable (and with such beautiful patina) as this 1949 Buick Super sedan.
I came upon this well-used Buick in tiny Kirklin, a town of about 800 people 45 minutes north of Indianapolis. This little town’s primary draw is its many antique stores, although a whiskey distillery opened here sometime in the last few years and may become an even bigger attraction. Kirklin was in rough shape when I first visited it many years ago, but townspeople have worked hard to renovate and restore its downtown, including putting in all new sidewalks in 2021. Kirklin has always been one of the pluckiest and quirkiest towns on all 270 miles of the Michigan Road. If a car like this were going to appear anywhere on this byway, it’s not in the least surprising that it is in Kirklin. (Yes, that’s an Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser in the background. I’ve photographed it a few times over the years, as it’s always parked right there, and keep meaning to write about it here.)
Buick’s Dynaflow automatic transmission went into the majority of Buicks in these years, yet this Super bears no Dynaflow badges. I didn’t photograph this Super’s interior to confirm. Here’s a photo our own Aaron65 made last year featuring the dashboard of a Dynaflow-equipped 1949 Super sedanette. Read all about it here.
Here’s a magazine ad that features both 1949 Super body styles. The sedan’s roofline is formal yet graceful, while the sedanette’s roofline is purposeful and strong. Both look terrific mated to the same body below the beltline. I think I slightly prefer the sedan’s looks, even though normally I’m a two-door fan all the way.
Buick’s 1948-1950 model lineup confuses me. I briefly wrote about this car on my blog last year, and our own J. P. Cavanaugh tried to untangle it all for me in the comments. He said that the 1949 Buick Super and Roadmaster were a one-year-only car, with the 1950 model being all new. Yet I since learned that Buick continued the old 1941 body in 1949 one last year on its Special model (above). Meanwhile, Olds and Cadillac switched to the new postwar body in 1948, while Buick and Chevrolet waited until 1949. JPC tried to sort it all out in his epic two-part article about the “missing” B body from 1949 and 1950 here and here.
What is clear is what every Buick Super was made of, as the 1949 Buick brochure spells it out. It also specs out the up-line Roadmaster, which sat on a longer wheelbase and had a more powerful straight eight underhood.
This Super bears some sort of insignia on its front doors. Was it perhaps an official car of some kind? And whoever owns this needed to come out and fully close that door, lest it rain later and water get in. Despite its very well used look, this car is complete down to the hood ornament.
As in several states, Indiana now allows antique cars to use year-of-issue license plates. I was glad for this one, as until I researched this car I wasn’t clear on Buick styling over the years. Knowing that this is a ’49 made my research a lot easier. Fore and aft license-plate binnacles are unusually wide for an American car, which makes me wonder if they were so designed for easy export to Europe.
Every 1949 Buick began with this aggressive, toothed grille. I’ll bet a little polishing compound and a buffing pad would shine that right up.
A word about these photographs, since I shot them on film and I know several CC readers are into film photography as well. I used this Pentax ME SE body paired with a 35-70mm f/4 SMC Pentax-A zoom lens that I had just bought and was trying out. I used Fujicolor 200 film, which is my everyday go-to film. The lens is chunky and heavy, and made the small and light ME SE front heavy. This lens is better mated to a full-size Pentax SLR of the era, such as the K1000. But as you can see, it’s sharp enough and avoids barrel distortion, and renders good color on this film.
That is about as perfect a car can get.
I hope it is never wrecked in a restoration.
I agree that this is a “work as you go, but don’t go too far” kind of car. It probably will never be restored because the value isn’t there (not that THAT kind of thing has never happened). If it were mine, I’d probably fix the rockers, scuff up the paint, and clearcoat it to preserve what’s left of the finish. That’s pretty popular these days, and few people would give you a hard time about that (and who cares if they did).
Regarding the chrome, I’m usually a 0000 steel wool kind of guy, but lately I’ve been using “Quick-Glo” chrome polish, and it works very well (but it won’t work miracles).
Great old car and great small town America. I also have a Pentax camera and they’re very good.
US license plate size was standardized to the current 6” x 12” in 1956. Before then, automakers had to design to accommodate the widest plates in use.
Good to know.
Ah! I did not know that.
Dynaflow equipped ‘49 Buicks did have a Dynaflow emblem on the rear fenders, as well as the steering wheel. Although the majority of’49’s were Dynaflow equipped, not all were. This could be a manual car, or, the emblem disappeared at some point over its long life.
One of my earliest memories of a specific car other than our own, is of a Buick like this which belonged to family friends. They separated and the husband left his wife with the Buick, but she didn’t know how to drive, and my Mom used it to teach her, rather than our own manual transmission Volvo 544. I remember riding alone in the huge back seat, with fuzzy but somehow unpleasant smelling mohair upholstery, and most memorable of all (inside), the robe cord across the back of the front seat. And most memorable external feature was the portholes. Even at only perhaps 12 years old, the Buick was similarly patina-ed to this one; faded and oxidized cars were everywhere in those days. Thanks for catching this Buick and bringing back some good old memories. PS: within a year or two the woman replaced the “old” Buick with a new wood-grain-sided ‘63 Ford wagon. But not before her boys, slightly older than me, helped me build my first AMT 3-1 plastic model, also a Buick but a ‘62.
I’m a sucker for these big old Buicks, and this one is…super.
Interesting observation on the license. Hadn’t thought about that feature as part of localization.
Most cars didn’t have a binnacle, but did have plenty of space between the front bumper guards. Rear licenses were generally on the trunk and unenclosed, so not an issue. Chrysler’s 1949 “shadowbox” was narrow, so it would have been a problem for exports.
Details of old cars is easy here its all typed on the rego label, Nice ol Buick you’d never find one like that here now they all seem to have been restored to better than new condition.
How perspective changes. 50+ years ago no one would describe this beater as having “elegant” or “beautiful” patina. It would be considered an “eyesore”. “Just junk it!”
Photo below: A Buick I found in the woods; two years newer. Do-gooder boy scouts, doing (“aHEM!”) good deeds, removed it several years ago.
Lovely Pentax ME SE. When I shoot film, a Pentax M body with that Pentax 35-70 fixed aperture f/4 lens is a walkabout favorite. Which M body?…I have MEs (but no ME SE with its brown leather), ME Supers, MV, MV-1 and the Pentax MX in both chrome and black. The later 35-70 f/3.5-4.5 is heavier and offers no performance advantage.The variable aperture of the 3.5-4.5 is a disadvantage when using the manual-exposure MX.
I find that lens to be heavy and clunky on the smaller M-class bodies. I shot it on my larger Pentax KM in October and it was a much more natural fit.
I love this! It looks like someone tried to paint it at some point, but the lighter green paint underneath was evidently made of sterner stuff than whatever the top coat was.
That is a really good looking car.
My father had a white ’49 Super Sedanette. I’ve only seen black and white photos of the car, so I don’t know if it had those red wheels pictured here. Both his ’53 Special sedan and ’58 Estate Wagon came with those same red wheels. Not coordinating with the body color was perhaps a Buick thing or a Harley Earl thing. The red wheels were gone on his ’62 wagon, evidently not a Bill Mitchell thing.
Great find and pictures! I’d love to know this car’s history – for some reason I suspect those door and trunklid insignia might be pretty interesting.
It looks like this car is parked in front of a business called “Village Upholstery” – so (assuming the sign is current) there’s a good chance it might be there for some refurbishment.
Kirklin sounds like an interesting place (and I like the “Mobilubrication” sign across the street).
The Mobilubrication building was actually never a gas station, I’m told by locals. It’s just a building painted to look like one!
Wow – that fooled me!
Quite a find in this complete, but run down condition. I agree that this car should be preserved as-is. Fix the necessary mechanical systems. Maybe a coat of matte finish clear to stabilize the paint. I saw a similar vintage “pregnant elephant” Packard for sale on the AACA forum. It was really intact and I commented that it should just be preserved as-is. Most members on that forum will lament that a particular example isn’t a good candidate for a complete restoration, and they would just call it a parts car. Preservation would be better, and a cheaper option. It’s not like you’d fix it up and start commuting in it.
That brown leatherette on it is hawt. I never got round to buying some from cameraleather.com for one or more of my screwmount Pentaxes, but I sure thought about it—a lot!
I have 1949 Roadmaster for sale, green like model in article. I don’t have time drive or to take better care of looking for right person who would enjoy. Cool car, drives like a boat.
Believe it or not, my stepfather bought a used 49 Buick Roadmaster hearse in about 1965. It had a leather front seat with a divider behind it.in back where is four kids rode on the floor, was cavernous. It had the big 320 straight 8 and dynaflow trans. It was fun to see the way people stared at us driving by in that car. It was pretty clean body wise. I still have fond memories of that car. I still like those old fourties and fifties Buicks.
Dear Jim, I like your camera. I am an old photography buff who longs to return to the habit. As far as the Buick Super, I would rather see it restored and relieved of its patina. Indeed, it is a graceful design. Dynaflow equipped automobiles had a unique sound to the transmission as they accelerated. Great find. Note the wraparound or encompassing dashboard and door panel design, which on production cars was a GM “first” for their upscale models. That always impressed me as a child. Well, still am a child between the ears!