Images submitted by Andrew Tewes.
How about this golden beauty found by the curbside? A 1937 Buick, in a lustrous finish from the Classic Era, found in Ipswich, Queensland. And if you wonder why this Buick is sporting an RHD setup, the car was originally assembled in Australia, as told by its owner.
The car is a nice resto’d example, with some slight modifications; the roof has been lowered by 3 inches, as well as the suspension. Meanwhile, the original straight 8 is gone, replaced by a more modern V8 (no information on which).
That said, many of the exterior details, badging, and trim are mostly original or from factory. Though a few, like the bumpers, are nonstock.
The interior keeps the car’s golden theme going, along with some concessions to modern comfort. Mods done with the idea of making this a reliable modern cruiser.
So, how does it ride? Apparently quite well. The Buick has recently done a 2,000 KM roundtrip to Mackay, without trouble and in comfort.
And I do have some fun imagining this silhouette traveling those roads down under. After all, this glistening golden classic must be quite a sight to see in motion.
Nice modernizing, without losing the old flavor. Didn’t need 5MPH bumpers, because ’30s cars already had spring-mounted bumpers!
Seat and shoulder belts added too.
its a registered car belts are compulsory, nice ol Buick, I found one of those in a derect service station near my home town in NZ, mentioned the car to my dad he remembered it from new it was sold new from where he worked it was the higest grade GM car available new over here new.
Solid Gold Buick doesn’t have quite the ring of the Cadillac, but I like the color.
In ’37, my grandfather traded his top of the line ’30 Buick for a new Plymouth. Grandma and 9 y.o. Dad didn’t like being seen in it, so it was back to Buicks in ’42, ’48, and ’56, then Dad’s in ’68, ’77, ’87, & ’00. I thought Dad would like the PT Cruiser’s 1930s look, but he loathed it. I blame the ’37 Plymouth.
Very subtly done, I didn’t notice the top chop at first. I like that the owner has still kept the period look in the wheels and bumpers. Best of both worlds – though I love the sound of a Buick straight eight!
I didn’t notice the chop either, but at first glance at these pics I did think “Oh, wow, I didn’t realize a ’37 Buick was so damn good-looking”. Turns out it there’s a reason for that, and an extremely well-executed one it is. And once it looks as classy as this, why not make it gold?
Quite beautiful, and my (old-fart) ideal of how far hot-rodding should ever go.
Btw, I’d wager that the starting point here was a locally-designed Holden body (though I lack the knowledge to say for certain). GM had bought the body-making outfit in ’31.
I agree that the modifications are not killing the original look, which is important. Imagine taking Baroque furniture and adding tapered screw-on legs to the chair! Same problem. Thanks for the article.
The defroster outlets are a modification, too. Buick and LaSalle were unusual by 1937 in not having built-in factory defroster outlets. Of course, the actual heater/defroster would have been optional on all makes at the time, but even the cheaper makes had the outlets.