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A Simple Plan
Jim Elwood Set Out To Build A "Special" Buick--And Succeeded

With that said, one sure path to creating a successful mild custom is following Jim Elwood's lead and starting with a car that has a pleasing design to begin with. "I always liked the lines of the '55 Buick Special," Jim says, "particularly the sculptured rear quarters and molding lines. Plus, there's not a finer-looking motor than a nailhead!"

The Maple Grove, Minnesota, resident got his chance to finesse those beloved lines when a fellow custom enthusiast lost interest in the Buick. "A friend with plans to build a custom found the car in South Dakota," Jim explains. "Then he decided to sell and we [Jim and his wife, Mary Lou] made an offer. The car was in pretty good condition. All the parts were there except the front fenders, as someone had filled the three portholes and warped the fenders. What's a Buick without portholes?"

As you can see, Jim didn't want to erase the Buick's identity, just refine it. "My personal preference in custom cars is the smooth look--clean lines, nothing extra," he says. Hence, the design modifications all work in harmony with the car's original styling. Shaved emblems and handles allow the lines and curves to shine through uninterrupted, while molded '54 Ford headlight buckets integrate the peepers into the fenders. Below those you'll find '56 T-bird parking lights accented with Buick porthole trim.

"Probably the most challenging part in building the car was what to do with the taillights," Jim says, "and '56 Packard seemed to be the answer." Though they're often forced into places they don't belong, the shark-fin lenses look right at home in the Buick quarters. Tom Tachney gets credit for blending them in so well. He's also the person responsible for smoothing out the body and spraying the PPG Guards Red paint. Finishing off the back is a '56 Buick bumper, which Jim feels is a little cleaner than its '55 counterpart.

Those sleek body lines are further enhanced by the car's stance, which is low without being ridiculous (notice how the Coker wide white radials rest perfectly in the arch of the rear wheel opening). Fatman dropped spindles and modified rear coils provide the altitude drop, with genuine Olds Fiesta caps adding the appropriate period appearance. A gloss black frame and detailed undercarriage are nice finishing touches, even though they're out of sight.

That tri-carb 264ci nailhead that Jim likes so well was almost more trouble than it was worth. The engine was professionally rebuilt, but wouldn't fire initially. Jim soon discovered that there was no compression in two cylinders--it seems the engine builder had the timing 180 degrees off, resulting in bent pushrods and valves. So out it came for repairs. After a second install it ran fine for about an hour before a wayward washer (which Jim thinks fell into the intake while he was bolting it on) took out a piston! The third time was a charm, and the nailhead and Dynaflo trans have been racking up the miles ever since.

Speaking of road miles, Jim and Mary Lou soak them up in cushy comfort sitting on a stock bench seat stitched in gray vinyl tuck 'n' roll by Bob Holland. The remainder of the cabin retains its '50s charm, with minor updates in the form of Rodtronics wiring and a Panasonic stereo. Jim says he hopes to add air conditioning soon.

All too often it seems like people build complicated customs by adding every extra imaginable, from spotlights and lakes pipes to continental kits and crazy paint. Jim did just the opposite, simplifying the Buick's lines with carefully selected modifications. The result is a car with such cohesive styling that it could probably pass as a really clean restoration to the uninitiated onlooker. And in some respects that would be the biggest compliment of all.