1949 Buick Series 70 Roadmaster Convertible Coupe

A Honeymoon Buick with 'Riviera' Sweepspears
Harley Earl was responsible for the design of the 1949 Buick at GM, while stylist Ned Nickles came up with the front fender portholes known as 'Ventiports.' The 1949 Series 70 Roadmaster line was made up of Buick's largest and most prestigious models. All Roadmasters were powered by a 320 cubic-inch displacement version of Buick's famous overhead-valve, inline eight-cylinder engine that produced 150 horsepower. The Buick Dynaflow automatic transmission, which had been introduced the year before, was standard.

In mid-1949, the new Buick Roadmaster Riviera 2-door hardtop became available. The Riviera had a fixed hardtop roof, but featured convertible-type side windows. A 'sweepspear' chrome body side molding option was offered, which proved very popular. 'Riviera' trim became available on the Roadmaster Convertible very late in the model year, as well, and this car is so equipped.

The present owner of this Roadmaster obtained it from the couple who bought it new. The car was used for their honeymoon and subsequent travels all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico - travel decals from those trips are still affixed to the Buick's rear window. The original owner, a retired CIA employee, passed away in 2004 and the present owner obtained the Buick from his widow in 2005, this 58-year-old Buick is a two-owner car! It was fully restored from the ground up by the present owner.