Back in 1989, the original owner, a dentist, in Beaumont, California, sold this gorgeous 1949 Buick Dynaflow Roadmaster to Robert. Boasting a 150 HP straight 8 motor, this model is the original Buick “Riviera.” It was originally grey with a grey interior. Under the hood is a two barrel carburetor, 2-stage air filter, and an oil bath sound reduction chamber. And, speaking of the hood, it opens from both sides; meaning you open it on one side and then flip it to the other side as needed. The rebuilt Dynaflow transmission is a two-speed tranny consisting of forward and reverse. Buick was the automobile that established General Motors.
The Dynaflow was introduced on March 5, 1948 by Buick’s Charles A. Chayne and was a very welcome improvement over the manual transmission. The theory being that it allowed the driver freedom to concentrate solely with steering, braking, and controlling the car, as opposed to having to do all that and shift, as well. The Buick Dynaflow was equipped with a steering column-mounted selector lever, which also operated the parking brake mechanism that was inside the transmission, much like a tree-mounted manual transmission selector.
Robert installed the aftermarket air conditioning himself. The condensor is in front of the radiator. Fortunately, the car has plenty of empty space between the radiator and the front of the engine bay. Once he got the car home, Robert did a complete frame off restoration in his two-car garage! He built a rotisserie to accommodate the frame and then hired a portable sandblaster to come and sandblast the frame and body. The car still has the original suspension and springs (rebuilt). And here’s my favorite part – Robert’s wife redid all the beautiful interior herself, except for the seats. She hand stitched the door panels and carpets, and she and Robert did the headliner together! As you can see in the photos, they did a fabulous job – it looks professionally done.
The complete restore took five years to complete, just in time to claim the Best of Class Award in the 1999 Autorama. Robert has also shown the Roadmaster at the Buick National Awards, in Washington, Texas, Colorado, and Oregon. This featured car is just one of three that Robert has restored and shown at the Buick Nationals. He also has a 1948 convertible super modified Buick with modern running gear. Oh, and by the way, Robert drives his Buicks to all the shows; he does not trailer them! These days, Robert makes miniature model engines and is very active in the Bay Area Engine Modelers Club (BEAM). He is also helping one of his club members with that member’s 1909 Runabout, which is all ready to go save for a few cosmetic items. Once completed, we can look forward to seeing the Runabout at our World Famous Cars and Coffee Folsom.
Well done, Robert. This car caught my eye the second I drove into the parking lot at 12 Bridges.
Photos and story by Carol Marcopulos
