54 ❘ August22, 2019 http://www.oldcarsweekly.com
“The idea was to restore it enough
to take it to car shows. We already had
mine (Chevy II) and then we would
have one Tiffany could drive,” he says.
“It was December when we got it, so it
went into the garage. It turned over, but
it wouldn’t ¿ re. I think it was 12 years at
least, since it ran. I think the guy said he
drove it around the block once.
“Then that spring I started going at
it. I took the brakes apart and ¿ xed the
carburetor and a bunch of other stuff,
then slowly got it running. It took a
lot of research and internet searching.
It was a couple years. I got it running
and did a lot of mechanical stuff, then I
drove it to work sometimes in the sum-
mer, a couple days here, couple of days
there.”
The Special Rides Again
The return of the Special name was
big news at Buick for 1961. It was also
the ¿ rst time, since 1907, that Buicks
did not have torque tube drive and the
¿ rst time since 1934 that the accelerator
was not mounted on the starter. The all-
new “compact” line of Buicks was built
on the new unibody GM Y platform and
given the holdover 215-cid V-8 that pro-
duced 155 hp.
Calendar year production was
291,895 units for a 5.28 market share.
Model year production was 277,422
units for a 5.1 percent share of industry
output. Buick held the eighth place in
popularity.
Buicks new quality car in a small
package immediately found an enthu-
siastic following. Styling was related
to the larger 1961 Buicks. Specials had
three ventiport appliques on each front
fender. Trim was minimal on the Spe-
cial. Standard features of the Special
included dual sun visors, dual armrests,
cigar lighter and electric windshield
wipers. The base Special was trimmed
in cloth and vinyl. Deluxe models had
richer Custom interiors of cloth and
vinyl (all-vinyl in the station wagon),
plush carpeting, rear armrests, rear ash-
trays and a Deluxe steering wheel. They
were distinguished by Custom exterior
moldings, which included a highlight
bright strip on the upper body. A mid-
year Skylark sport coupe was added that
featured unique emblems.
The Standard series included a four-
door sedan, two-door sport coupe, and
six- and eight-passenger wagons. The
big eight-passenger wagon was not of-
fered as a Deluxe model.
The new downsized lineup of Buick
Specials lasted three years, from 1961-
’63, and was warmly received by both
buyers and scribes of the day. One big
reason was the arrival of the new V-6
engine in 1962, which helped the Spe-
cial earn “Car of the Year” honors from
Motor Trend. A year later, in 1963, the
Special bodies were redesigned again,
although that change lasted only one
year before an entirely new lineup was
unveiled for 1964.
A four-door sedan like the Lehman’s
car — one of 18,339 such examples built
for the model year — would have car-
ried a base price of $2,384 and weighed
in 2,610 lbs. The two-speed automatic
gearbox Buick called Turbine Drive
was optional and added about $189 to
the price. Other options included a heat-
er-defroster and windshield washer
“It’s got the power steering, which is
factory correct. It’s an option, but it did
not come on the car originally. I added
it,” Nick says. “It’s nice to have at car
shows ... The windshield washer pump
is on it — that was an option. The clock
on the dash is an option. The radio —
technically that’s an option. I added the
FM converter added underneath. That
was 70s era, but it was the only way
you could get FM .. The heater was an
option. It’s got the automatic transmis-
sion... And the hubcaps are also techni-
cally an option, I think.”Turquois Jewel
The Lehmans made their restoration
a whole lot easier early in the process
when they located another ’61 Buick
Special in Minnesota. It was in rough
shape, but had plenty of usable parts. “It
was only a 30,000-mile car, but it had
been sitting for a long time and under-
neath it was all rusted out,” Nick noted.
“But the doors were better than the one
I had, and the interior and hood were all
good. That one I found on Craigslist,
and that turned out to be big, because a
lot of the parts were better than the ones
I already had.”
When Nick had rounded up enough
parts and gotten all of his ducks in a
row, he took the Buick back off the road
and decided the time had come to go
all in on a full restoration. After disas-sembling the car down the nothing but a
shell, he enlisted the help of a local body
shop, FX Auto in New London, Wis., to
handle the paint and body work. Nick
handled almost everything else himself.
“We stripped her down and then
kind of ¿ gured out between the two cars
which parts were the best,” he recalled.
“I sent a lot of parts off to be re-chromed.
When I got it down to just the shell, I
took it in to get the paint and bodywork
done. I got it in to him in the summer
and he had it until December. When I
took it back home, it was just a shell
that was pained. I did all the little parts,
cleaning and painting. Then I basically
assembled everything. I did everything
underneath, cleaning and painting, and
then bolted it all back together.
“The door panels were perfect, so I
was able to re-use them. The steering
wheel was in the right color and it was
in good shape. I got the clock and some
of the other things like door handles and
arm rests – we were able to get a lot of
things to re-use out of that one car. The
only thing that is technically not stock
is it has a dual master cylinder. That is
an upgrade that I’ve seen from a lot of
people with these cars. There are groups
and forums for people that have these
compacts, and you can see what other
people have done. And the other thing
is the rear seat belts aren’t factory. I
wound up having to put Pertronix in it. I
had points in it originally, but that only
lasted about a year and then I started
burning up points on it. So I put the Per-
tronix on and it’s been good since then.”
One sticking point where Nick de-
ferred to his wife was on the paint
scheme. The couple was settled on the
Dublin Green — i.e. turquoise — to
match the interior. Tiffany, however,
wanted the white top, which was op-
tional originally. “We knew we wanted
to do it stock. The idea of the white top
was de¿ nitely her idea,” Nick admits.
“That was a factory combination, but
I wanted to go with just one color. She
said she wanted the white top. We had
seen that in pictures and she liked it.
Once it was done, then I was sold.”
Lehman was also able to add a fac-
tory power-steering unit to his resur-
rected ’61 sedan, making it easier to
handle around town and in car show
¿ elds. Nick is busy swapping a new
engine into his Chevy II these days, so