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Junkyard Gem: 1956 Buick Special 4-Door Sedan

Buick was flying high in the middle 1950s, with an all-time sales record of nearly 800,000 cars sold for the 1955 model year alone. Buick stood proud in third place for new-car sales in the United States for 1955 and 1956, behind only Chevrolet and Ford. At this time, both Oldsmobile and Buick built cars on the GM B Platform, with the Buick being the swankier and more prestigious of the two. Here's one of those Buicks, found in a Denver self-service boneyard recently. The list price of this car was $2,416, or about $27,505 in 2023 dollars. Located one step down on the GM Ladder of Success, the 1956 Olds 88 sedan started at $2,226 ($25,342 now). The Oldsmobile had a 324-cubic-inch (5.3-liter) Rocket V8 rated at 230 horsepower, which was serious stuff for 1956. This 322-cubic-inch Buick Nailhead V8 made ten fewer horses for 1956, but it would be bored and stroked out to 364 cubes for 1957 (and was all about land-yacht torque, in any case). A three-on-the-tree manual transmission was standard equipment on the 1956 Buick Special, but this one has the $204 Dynaflow automatic transmission ($2,332 in today's money). The Dynaflow usually gets called a two-speed, but it drove like more of a very inefficient (yet smooth) CVT that had two manually-selected ranges. This car spent too many decades outdoors to have any chance of a restoration. As often happens with cars stored in fields in rural Colorado, someone used this Buick for target practice. The bullet holes look like little VentiPorts. Does the '56 Buick go? Va-va-va-voom!

We really want to use an eCrate to restomod an old GM car. Here's what we'd build

You hopefully saw the news today of GM's introduction of its Connect and Cruise eCrate motor and battery package, which effectively makes the Bolt's electric motor, battery pack and myriad other elements available to, ah, bolt into a different vehicle. It's the same concept as installing a gasoline-powered crate motor into a classic car, but with electricity and stuff.  This, of course, got us thinking about what we'd stuff the eCrate into. Before we got too ahead of ourselves, however, we discovered that the eCrate battery pack is literally the Bolt EV pack in not only capacity but size and shape. In other words, you need to have enough space in the vehicle to place and/or stuff roughly 60% of a Chevy Bolt's length. It's not a big car, but that's still an awful lot of real estate. There's a reason GM chose to simply plop the pack into the bed and cargo area of old full-size SUVs. Well that, and having a rear suspension beefy enough to handle about 1,000 pounds of batteries.  So after that buzz kill, we still wanted to peruse the GM back catalog for classics we'd love to see transformed into an electric restomod that might be able to swallow all that battery ... maybe ... possibly ... whatever, saws and blow torches exist for a reason.  1971 Buick Riviera Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski: If you’re going to build an electric conversion, why not do it with style? ThatÂ’s why IÂ’m choosing a 1971-1973 Buick Riviera. You know, the one with the big glass boat-tail rear end that ends in a pointy V. Being a rather large vehicle with a big sloping fastback shape, IÂ’m hoping thereÂ’s enough room in the trunk and back seat to pack in the requisite battery pack. That would likely require cutting away some of the metal bulkhead that supports the rear seatback, but not so much that a wee bit of structural bracing couldnÂ’t shore things up. The big 455-cubic-inch Buick V8 up front will obviously have to go. Remember, this was the 1970s, so despite all that displacement, the Riviera only had around 250 horsepower (depending on the year and the trim level). So the electric motorÂ’s 200 horsepower and 266 pound-feet of torque ought to work as an acceptable replacement.   1982 Chevrolet S10 Associate Editor Byron Hurd: OK, so the name "E-10" is already taken by a completely different truck, but let's not let labels get in the way of a fun idea.

2013 Buick Enclave

GM's Flagship Lambda Is (Still) A Smooth Operator
Consumers shopping for a domestic full-size crossover have heard all about GM's triplets. The Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave are a very appealing and talented group of siblings. Entering their fifth year of production, albeit middle-age in the automotive industry, each is attractive, well-rounded and very capable on the paved dance floor. While all share nearly identical base DNA and the same basic running gear, subtle physical differences and unique personalities emerge between the trio when one digs a bit deeper.
The most polished of the threesome, without question, is the Enclave from Buick. Fresh off a mid-cycle update (as are its siblings), the flagship of the platform boasts a facelift, innovative new features and an upgraded demeanor for the new model year.