This 1953 Buick Super Estate Wagon is believed to be one of only 1,830 Super Estate Wagons built for the year, which coincided with the marque’s Golden Anniversary. The highly attractive bodies for the wagons were handcrafted by Ionia Body Company of Michigan, which had been performing its craft on Buick automobiles since 1949. A limited-production offering, it carried a staggering $3,430 price tag when new, making it the most expensive variant of the Buick Super line.

Also for 1953, the redesigned Buick Supers were offered with an all-new 322-cubic-inch, valve-in-head V-8 engine developed and engineered by Buick Division. The new V-8 was rated to produce up to 170 horsepower for Supers equipped with the Dynaflow automatic transmission, such as the example offered here. Officially designated the “Fireball,” this engine soon came to be known as the “Nailhead” by enthusiasts due to its unique configuration of relatively small, upright valves.

The redesigned bodywork with the new V-8 engine proved spectacularly popular, with sales increases for the Super line of over 40 percent seen year-over-year. The combination was short lived, however, and 1953 proved to be the last year of wood-structured station wagons. Buick was ultimately the last to change to all steel wagon bodies in 1954, making this exceptional wagon a stunning end of an era.

Finished in its factory-correct Terrace Green Metallic paint over a two-tone interior, this Super Estate Wagon was until 2003 part of the noted Michigan-based Carail Museum of Richard and Linda Kughn. It subsequently joined the Jim Miller collection of Ontario, Canada. Previously restored to a high standard, it achieved its Antique Automobile Club of America National First Prize in 2017. This restoration still presents well today, and it is further burnished by wonderful period details including a Pres-A-Lite cigarette dispenser, under-dash tissue dispenser, spotlight, compass, and traffic light finder, in addition to standard items such as an in-dash clock and radio. Wide whitewalls wrapped around wire wheels give the wagon an attractive and sporting stance, while commemorative badging celebrating Buick’s Golden Anniversary year is found inside and out. At time of cataloguing, the wagon displayed a modest 29,699 miles, noted by its title as actual.

A cherished example of a model that marked the end of an era for Buick in terms of “woodie” styling—while also representing a new age of V-8 power and performance—this stunning Super Estate Wagon awaits its next dedicated caretaker.