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Car Of The Day: September 15, 2010; Johnny Lightning '53 Buick Super Convertible
Topic Started: Sep 15 2010, 12:38 AM (811 Views)
NoirGuru
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The All Original Gentleman
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Today's car of the day is Johnny Lightning's 1953 Buick Super Convertible.

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Wikipedia
 
The Buick Super was a full-sized automobile produced from 1940–1942, and from 1946–1958; it was on Buick's longer wheelbase shared with the Roadmaster. It and the Roadmaster were replaced by the new Electra in 1959. The 1950 Super came with a single two-barrel carburetor on a 263 cid I8. This setup produced an HP rating of 112. The car was able to achieve speeds over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) with its Dynaflow automatic transmission which, rather than changing through gears, used the torque converter to couple the motor to a single gear ratio. The car had 2 splits in the back glass although the windshield was a curved one-piece glass. Models also came with an AM radio and an antenna that could be adjusted via a knob in the front center above the windshield. The Super was superseded by the Roadmaster, a more luxurious version of the car. The Super is still an excellent example of the ushering in of the '50s. Restored models can command high prices on the auction block. The Super name has been resurrected on the new special-edition Lacrosse and Lucerne models.


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For more information and pictures of the real car please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_Super or http://auto.howstuffworks.com/1953-buick-super.htm.

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Found in the remnants of the Canadian Wal-Mart Johnny Lightning clearout. Odd proportions for the inside, though another classic 50s car with good weight to it.

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HowStuffWorks.Com
 
The 1953 Buick Super was part of a celebration of an important year in Detroit -- looking to the past as well as the future. Buick was one of two great American automakers celebrating their 50th birthday that year. Ford indulged in a splashy year-long party; Buick simply issued a more changed group of cars, with the 1953 Buick Super as an important member of the lineup.

Long a prewar symbol of upper-middle-class affluence, Buick ran its traditional fourth in postwar industry production by continuing to offer attractive styling, smooth performance, and near-Cadillac luxury at competitive prices. The 1946-1948 models, continuations of the smart all-new 1942 design, were followed by all-new postwar 1949s.

Just a year later, the top-line Roadmaster and mid-range Super acquired a bulkier, reskinned General Motors C-body, shared with Cadillac and the senior Oldsmobiles. The low-priced Special got a new B-body for 1950 -- and quickly displaced the Super from its late-Forties status as Buick's best-seller.

As ever, early postwar Buicks were big, solid, and comfortable, powered by the division's reliable "valve-in-head" straight eight that by 1952 reached 320.2 cubic inches/170 horsepower for Roadmaster and 263.3 cid/124-128 bhp for Super. Division chief designer Ned Nickles had enhanced the traditional Buick look by giving the 1949s front-fender "Ventiports" and rakish "sweepspear" bodyside moldings. Both were perfect complements to the make's usual toothy grille, and would be much in evidence through 1958.

Two popular postwar innovations contributed to Buick's success in this period. One was the pillarless "hardtop convertible," which Buick pioneered in mass production (along with Oldsmobile and Cadillac) with its 1949 Roadmaster Riviera. A Super version arrived for 1950 and sold better than 56,000 copies. Abetted by Special models from 1951, Buick would sell vast numbers of hardtops through decade's end.

...

The 1953 Buick Super was part of a lineup marking Buick's 50th year of production. However, at first glance, the Golden Anniversary 1953s didn't seem all that, er, special, retaining the basic 1950-1952 bodies for one final year. Yet these were arguably the most changed Buicks since 1949.

Aside from the glamorous limited-edition Skylark convertible and improved Twin-Turbine Dynaflow (with dual power turbines), the big attraction was Buick's first-ever V-8: a modern short-stroke, high-compression design aptly dubbed "Fireball."

Sized at 322 cubic inches, it boosted the Super to 164/170 standard horsepower with manual/ Dynaflow; higher compression (8.5 versus 8.0:1) gave Roadmaster 188 bhp. Accompanying it was a new 12-volt electrical system. This year's Special retained the 263.3-cid straight eight but would get the V-8 for 1954.


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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

This version dates back to 2008 and the casting dates to 2000. Pretty nice looking model from JL.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
This is a casting from JL's golden era. Before the buyout, when JL was still making dozens of series a year and could be counted on to make at least 20 new castings a year. Metal bases, $3 price point. Life was good.
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accobra64
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Minivan
Swifty
Sep 15 2010, 10:23 AM
This is a casting from JL's golden era. Before the buyout, when JL was still making dozens of series a year and could be counted on to make at least 20 new castings a year. Metal bases, $3 price point. Life was good.
The very good days of Playing Mantis when Tom Lowe owned the company.
How quickly time passes from the golden era.
Excellent and valid comments, Swifty.

NoirGuru, thanks for all the work that you have put into making this topic available for our viewing pleasure.

Cheers. Cobra
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
Swifty
Sep 15 2010, 10:23 AM
This is a casting from JL's golden era. Before the buyout, when JL was still making dozens of series a year and could be counted on to make at least 20 new castings a year. Metal bases, $3 price point. Life was good.
"Price point" is a recent, trendy yuppie term for simply "price," or Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. Please, Swifty, don't encourage some New York marketing group's fad term we never needed throughout the history of retail marketing. Especially on the consumer level. :duh:

Ivan's Pet Peeve Department is now closed for the night. :P
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
But but but.... "price point" is so much shorter than "manufacturer's suggested retail price", albeit it is longer than "MSRP"...
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ivantt
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New casting? Quick! Take it apart!
Swifty, ye be a good mate...ye learn fast how to be a good shipmate...
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
I guess I'll just walk the plank now and save the time and energy! ;)
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AQUA XK8
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Fullsize
It may not be perfect and to scale, but I love this JL car. I have many of these Buicks in different colors. I do wish that JL would make more 50's cars. M2 has been filling the void in the meantime.
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WoloMan
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Midsize
ivantt
Sep 15 2010, 09:57 PM
"Price point" is a recent, trendy yuppie term for simply "price," or Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price. Please, Swifty, don't encourage some New York marketing group's fad term we never needed throughout the history of retail marketing. Especially on the consumer level.
As someone who has worked with marketers in NYC, and works constantly with retail sales data, price point is NOT always the same as price. It's more akin to a goal of a price, but can include a range of prices. So, HW mainlines have a $1 price point, but you usually find them for 97 or 99 cents or sometimes more than $1, but they all have the same $1 price point.

I agree with Swifty's use of the term as some stores may have charged $2.79 or $2.99 or $3.29 for this JL or similar items, but the price point was still $3.

BTW, this "fad term" has continued for more than 100 years.

:02:


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Sak
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Ezekiel 25:17
I have this Buick in red. I've had the opportunity to drive an early Dynaflow or two. Zero to sixty in three weeks. They tried fixing this, but it never worked out well. The Hydramatic was a much better transmission...but then, it was far more complicated, with fluid couplings, as opposed to Dynaflow's two planetary gears and a torque converter.

During the Korean war, there was a fire at the GM factory where they made Hydramatic. For a few weeks, they were putting Dynaflow units in Caddies, Pontiacs, and Oldsmobiles. I'll bet their prospective owners were happy.
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