This site contains detailed step-by-step photos of a concours quality restoration of a 1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible. The below pics show the car before starting. Although complete, the pictures hide the fact that the paint is in in very poor condition, much of the stainless steel moldings and chrome are damaged or pitted, and the original leather interior has been replaced with incorrect vinyl.
Buick introduced all new model names for 1959 including LeSabre, Invicta, Electra and Electra 225. The flagship Electra 225 nameplate came on three models, 4 door hardtop, 4 door Riviera hardtop and 2 door convertible. Although the “225” was meant to represent the length of the car in inches, only the 4 door cars were a true 225 inches long. The Electra 225 Convertible was based on the regular Electra 2 door hardtop and shares its body dimensions which stretched only to 220.6 inches. Unique to the Electra 225 Convertible were standard leather bench seats and optional leather 1st year bucket seats (neither leather nor bucket seats were offered on any other 1959 Buick model).
Of the 285,089 Buicks produced in 1959, only 5,493 were Electra 225 Convertibles (less than 2%). Estimates suggest that less than 200 of these cars survive, and of these, no more than a handful that were factory equipped with optional bucket seats and air conditioning.
Options on this particular car include the ultra rare bucket seats, air conditioning, automatic heat, Wonder Bar radio with foot switch, rear speaker, power antenna, and full EZEye (tinted) glass.
I plan to drive the car regularly after the restoration so I opted for an extensive frame-on restoration. The shop doing the work is located in PA and a friend who also owns a 59 Electra 225 Convertible had a restoration ongoing at this same shop.
Below is a page from the actual 1959 Buick Facts Book that was distributed to Dealers describing the Electra 225 Convertible. (Click on Picture to Enlarge)
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~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible
Fabulous photos…this website will be like gold to anyone restoring a 59 Buick!
Thanks for taking the time to put this up.
Jimmy
I can’t tell you how much i enjoyed following your restore. Having begged my father when i was 12 to buy a 59′ and now i have a 4737, brings back wonderful memories of loving these cars.
thanks so much,
robert Jenson
Robert,
Thank you for the nice words and happy to hear you have a 59 Buick of your own. Please visit http://www.buick-59.com and introduce yourself, everyone on the website is an owner of 59 Buick and would love to meet you.
~ Tom
Hi to all, my dad and I are going to start restoring are Electra 225 convertible. We had started years ago and had to put it on hold to move to a new location. We had taken the seats in to get redone and in the process the shop we had doing the seats burnt down. We have a nice 2 door we could get the front seat out of but the back seat is different. We are hoping some one knows where one is and could help us out.
Thanks Jeff
Jeffcasey@me.com
I had a ’59 Electra 225 Riviera Optioned Out 445 Wildcat Triple Turbine when I enlisted in the Air Force in 71. It had thrown a rod through the crankcase and oil pan and I just left it in the desert. Who knew? Other than the lower end, the car was otherwise in almost pristine original condition. Everything worked. In retrospect what a wonderful machine. Your car is simply beautiful and your presentation is the best I’ve ever seen.
meyersdl52@gmail.com