Listing snapshot
| Spotted | July 2023 |
| Asking price | $14,999 |
| Mileage | 51,000 (dealer-stated) |
| Location | Sanford, North Carolina |
| Listed on | Craigslist, dealer |
| Drivetrain | 320 cu in straight-eight, three-speed manual |
| Status | Ad expired. This page is our archive of the listing. |
We saw this 1946 Buick Roadmaster Series 71 in July 2023, listed by a dealer in Sanford, North Carolina, for $14,999. The ad is gone now. We keep the record because big postwar Buicks don’t change hands often, and a real asking price is handy when you are trying to value one.
What this car was
A black four-door fastback sedan, the body Buick called the Series 71. It wears the wide chrome grille and long, sweeping fenders of the first postwar Buicks. The listing described the paint as mostly original, with some older repainting on the passenger doors and around the window trim, and the photos show a car with patina rather than a fresh restoration.
Inside, the tan cloth bench seats look complete, and the banjo steering wheel and painted dash are intact. The dealer listed:
- 320 cu in straight-eight with a three-speed manual
- Engine recently rebuilt with upgraded bearings and valves
- Original door panels, carpets and headliner
- 51,000 miles, and a car that rides and drives well
Was $14,999 a fair ask?
It was a fair ask. The fresh engine work and the original interior count for a lot on a car this old. Four-door sedans sell for less than convertibles and two-door sedanets of the same era, which kept the price in check. The mixed original and repainted finish suits a buyer who wants to drive and enjoy it rather than show it.
A little Roadmaster history
The Roadmaster name arrived in 1936 and marked Buick’s top series for most of its life. Car production stopped during the war, so the 1946 models were essentially updated 1942 designs with a new grille. The Roadmaster used Buick’s largest straight-eight, the 320 cubic inch Fireball, and the Dynaflow automatic did not arrive until 1948, so a 1946 car had a manual gearbox.
More cars from the archive
- Every Buick Roadmaster Series 71 we’ve spotted, with asking prices
- 1986 Buick Century Gran Sport, another Buick
- 1987 Buick LeSabre T-Type, another Buick
- 1992 Buick Century, another Buick
- 1953 Plymouth Suburban, another American car
