1953 Buick Super Eight - Super 8 - 2-Door Coupe - Riviera (?) - Fixer-Upper

This is a fixer-upper/project car and is not in condition to be safely/reliably driven in its "as is" condition. Needs TLC. Sales price is meant to reflect its condition and needs. I encourage you to feel free to make an offer and/or e-mail me to discuss if interested.

Please bear with me. I've never sold a car on-line before and it's so hard to describe everything. I'm not at all experienced with cars. This was a "midlife-crisis" car which I bought 16+ years ago. It was big & heavy & bright red and it called out plaintively to me. I fell for it.

Pictures show the car in my garage. It's been stored in there for 9 or 10 years now and is sort ofboxed in. It's available for inspection where it is at this point. If things progress great – it can always be brought out.

History:Car came from Little Rock Arkansas. A southern car. It was bought and brought to Maryland by someone to give to a Make-A-Wish child as a fixer-upper. Sadly the child didn’t get a chance to work on it. I bought it from the Make-A-Wish sponsor.

Here are some things to mention:

I've been told that this '53 Buick Super 8 is also called a "Riviera" but I do not know whether this is accurate or whether the Riviera was a different model. EBay made me choose a model or the car would show up as a "1953 Buick Super Eight Other". And so I chose "Riviera" because a couple of people had told me that it's accurate. (UPDATE: Someone who saw this listing very kindly e-mailed me and offered the following: "Your Buick is indeed a Riviera. So you know Buick used that designation in the 50's to mean a 2 door hardtop or hardtop convertible. What it meant was there is no post -- when the windows are down it appears as a covertible with the top up. Later in the 50's and early sixties they also made a 4 door Riviera. Then in the mid 60's came out with a separate Riviera model which stood on its own. Hope that helps.".Great information to have. I assume that it's accurate and would encourage you to do your own research.

When it went to live in the garage it was running but the engine was rough. I put perhaps several hundred miles on the car. Drove locally and as far as perhaps 50 miles away on day trips. The car needs new tires and that's why I stopped driving it. Here's the scoop: It had old tires and needed new ones. I went to a large National tire chain (NTB) and the fellow there -- who claimed to have experience with old cars -- sold me wide-white-sidewall tubeless tires. It was after I bought and installed them that I realized that the car’s wheels are made for tires with inner tubes. Tubeless tires don’t seat correctly and tend to come off of the rim.That happened to me a couple of times. Since I was driving the car only very occasionally I didn't want to go to the bother and expense of getting a whole new set of tires. Ipso facto the car went to live in the garage.

Mileage: Odometer reads "52498". BUT... When I bought the car the odometer was broken and had that same reading on it. And so I don't know the car's mileage -- other than that it apparently has at least 52498 miles on it.

Body is fine. No evidence of accidents or damage. No dents. Tiny bits of rust along trim and at a few joints but nothing major that I can see.

Chrome bumpers and trim are intact but bumpers need re-chroming. Corrosion and pitting. See pictures please.

Needs a new battery. Car was running when I parked it in the garage but hasn’t been turned over for at least 7 or 8 years now. If someone wants to try to start it up they'll need to bring along a battery.

Needs gauges repaired: e.g. fuel odometer speedometer. Dash clock is non-working. Needs wipers.

The little hood ornament is as you'll see broken. I believe that I have the other piece of it in the trunk.

Glass -- including front windshield and rear window -- is intact except for driver’s side window which is cracked. Also a small crack near the bottom of the passenger-side vent window. (The little triangular window in front of the main passenger-side window.) I had all new gaskets put on doors and windows when I bought the car.

V-8 engine – very powerful and original. I don't know the particulars of the motor. It's a big engine is all I can tell you. I've included pictures of it and perhaps you'll recognize what it is. It runs but is "rough". Automatic transmission worked fine for me.

Brakes... I'd probably want to address them were I the buyer. This is an extraordinarily heavy car. I always parked it on level surfaces for fear of drift. Without good strong brakes I believe that parking this behemoth on a slope would be courting disaster.

Car is solid and frame is straight. Shortly after I got it I took it to a frame shop. They put it on a lift tweaked it and said that the frame was good straight and solid.

Upholstery is musty and although it's serviceable it should be replaced.

Rust seems not to be a problem. A tiny bit of rust in a few small places as aforesaid but no body problems that I can see. Again the car spent the lion's share of its life in Arkansas and has been garage-kept for many years here in Maryland. I never drove it in ice and/or snow.

Trunk contains various bits/parts/pieces which I picked up years ago and they come with the car. I no longer recall what everything is.

So it's a 62-year-old car. The frame and body are solid but it needs lots of TLC/attention. I don't consider it a safe driver in its current condition. I think you could perhaps put a few thousand and a lot of elbow grease into it and have a very nice car but that's your call to make. Or maybe it's a "parts car": My research suggests that many parts on this may be interchangeable with other '53 Buick models and may even work with other years' models. It’s just time for me to move on.

If you’re serious and if you want to poke around the venerable beast as it lurks in my garage please let me know. I would urge you to see this car in person. It's being sold strictly "as is" with no warranties. I'm in Maryland just outside of Baltimore.

Although a deposit can be made via PayPal please note that I will not accept full payment for the car through PayPal. Please read the listing to see acceptable payment method(s). The eBay listing process for this car was very very confusing to me. Although something in the listing process clearly stated that only a deposit could be paid via PayPal another line contradicted that and offered PayPal as a payment option for the purchase price. It is not.

Having never sold a car on eBay before I've been very confused by how to structure the listing to allow for inspections etc. So here's what I agree to: If you truly are interested in the car e-mail me. If you'd like to inspect it I'll do my utmost to accommodate your needs. The bottom line I guess is that I don't want to be charged eBay sales fees if the car hasn't really been sold. I hope that you can understand. If you are experienced and can help me to understand the process better... Terrific !

Buyer will need to arrange their own inspections transport insurance warranties etc. Again I'm not experienced with any of these things.

Foreign Buyers and Foreign Shipments: I am unable to handle either. Sorry.

Please please ask any questions you wish. And if you'd like other pictures let me know and I'll do my best. I'm an experienced eBay seller in general but this is the first time I've ever worked with selling a car. It's all alien to me.

Thanks

Please view all pictures carefully in orderto judge condition for yourself.

PayPal not accepted. Bank wire transfer preferred though I'll consider other forms of payment upon request. Until payment is received and cleared car will remain available for sale. If you anticipate that you’ll be unable to handle this time-frame please discuss with me before committing to buy. I’ll do my utmost to work with you and to accommodate your needs.

No international shipments.

Thank you for your understanding and for your business.