These are photos of my 1958 Buick Special. This is a unique car for Buick during this period. For many years before and after 1958 Buicks always had "port holes which are usually round pieces of chrome on the front fenders that simulate the exhaust pipes of very early cars. The '58 doesn't have port holes. It has more chrome than most any other car but no port holes. The Special is the bottom of the line. This car is loaded however, with power steering, dynaflow transmission, air conditioning, power brakes, radio and lots of other goodies. It doesn't have the high level interior trim that the Century had or the Roadmaster but it is still nice. Cloth and vinyl upholstery and nylon rug.

Dynaflow was and unusual transmission. It is shiftless....that is to say it doesn't use conventional gears. The Dynaflow torque converter is connected to the engine flywheel and serves as a hydraulic coupling through which engine torque is transmitted to drive the car. The torque converter steps up or multiplies the engine output torque whenever car operating conditions demand greater torque than the engine can supply. In this respect it serves the same purpose as the selective reduction gears used in other types of automotive transmissions. Torque multiplication is always required when a car is started and accelerated at low speeds. Torque multiplication may be required when a car is ascending steep grades, moving in deep sand, snow, etc. Torque requirements decrease as the car gains momentum and when a point is reached where engine torque is adequate, no torque multiplication is required. The transmission does have a "low" gear and reverse gear which operate as planetary gear drive exactly like most modern automatic transmissions. However, this planetary gear is not used in ordinary drive.

There were 48,238 Buick Special 4 door sedans built in 1958. The total production of all models of Buick cars in 1958 was 238,659 units. My car has a 364 cubic inch overhead valve V-8 engine. It has a bore of 4.13 inches and a stroke of 3.40 inches. It was rated at 250 brake horsepower. It is interesting to note that all Buick cars had overhead valve engines because Mr. Buick invented the overhead valve engine. This car is fun to drive. It has a very long hood. Not to be outdone with chrome in 1958 this car has no fewer than three hood ornaments. On top of each front fender is the famous "bomb site" type and then a very conservative chrome point in the center. The grill is made of 165 individual little squares about one half inch on each side. It is tedious to polish this beast as a result of that feature let alone the other tons of chrome.