1958 Buick Special

„Many Significant Changes are found throughout the new B-58 Buick, since a great many projects long under development suddenly came to full flower this year, in this car: the Dynastar Grille, the clean, fresh styling, the ‚velvet wall‘ sound silencing, the new Quadrajet Carburetor, the Air-Cooled Aluminum Brakes,* and many others. Best thing any knowing car buyer can do is drop in on his Buick dealer at the first opportunity to take a good look at these B-58’s, then drive one and let it speak for itself.“

The "Airborn '58 Buick" is waiting for its driver in the early morning sun. It's quite a rare sight to see a vintage American car registered to a state owned enterprise. This car belongs to the "Empresa La Vega" in Sancti Spiritus, and while the typical socialist company cars are Ladas or other models of Russian origin, the honored driver of this vintage Buick can do his business in style.

The Cuban government uses to seize the cars (and all other properties) of cuban citizens that leave the country, and put it in the hands of the "pueblo" Well, hardly ever the "pueblo" receives the donations... We guess in this was way the Buick Special found its new, public owner.

1958 was a difficult year for Buick: launched amidst the first post-war recession, the new lineup was miles away from the customer's expectations, as „compact cars“ became all the rage. The Buick's dimensions and design, instead, were a typical excess at the climax of the "chrome-and-tailfins" era, and while the catalog promised: "the first big car that is light on it's feet", in reality these cars were heavy-handed and drove accordingly. Less than 250,000 Buicks found new owners in 1958, down from 405,000 cars in 1957, and a massive drop from the 740,000 cars that were sold in the record-breaking year of 1955.