From the Classifieds: 1948 Buick Super Eight manual convertible

It’s hard not to fall in love with circa-1950s American cars.

Emerging in the late 1940s, the big, bulky and brazen automobiles represented an era of determined post-war optimism.

In fact, some would say US automobiles of the time were not just the biggest, most powerful and most luxurious, but possibly the best family cars on the planet.

Of course, this was in pre-Ralph Nader/oil-crisis times, when vehicle safety and environmental awareness were in their infancy.

The blatant excesses of the US auto industry were, in some ways, a sort of escape from the privations inflicted by six years of war.

These were the times when US car design was at its peak and the styling work of influencers such as GM’s Harley Earl and Chrysler’s Virgil Exner reflected the aspirations of millions.

Among GM prestige brands, Buick sat a tad below Cadillac in the company hierarchy.

Buicks tended towards a more muscular image than their more flamboyant cousins, a stance best expressed from the 1930s onwards by the inline eight-cylinder engines that – until 1954 when V8s were adopted – were a strong part of an individualistic corporate identity.

Buicks weren’t just Buicks. As part of the brand’s USP (unique selling proposition) they were, as proclaimed on the badges and the hugely-toothy grilles, Buick Eights.

Take a look at this 1948 Buick Super Eight convertible (advertised as a 1946 model but identified as otherwise on the original body-by-Fisher build plate) offered for sale through carsales for $65,000.

Images of warm-night cruising along some shoreside boulevard with the top down become almost irresistible.

In a two-tonne car measuring more than two metres wide and 5.3 metres long, the 82kW 4.1-litre straight-eight didn’t quite deliver on performance expectations (a larger-capacity 4.3-litre engine existed elsewhere in the Buick range), but the experience was wonderfully smooth and quiet.

And there was room – thanks to a power-adjusted front bench seat and three-speed column-shift transmission – for six occupants who, along with other luxuries such as power windows and a power-folding convertible roof, had shoulder-room and legroom to spare.

This lovely left-hand drive 1940s convertible, in light-blue with cream roof and upholstery, presently lives in the Victorian country town of Kyabram, about 200km from Melbourne.

It is described as being in “fantastic overall condition” for its age and is only wheeled out for the odd Sunday drive. It will be sold with a roadworthy certificate.

The original, non-tampered-with state of the Buick Super Eight convertible is perhaps best reflected by its being on display for 17 years as a show car in Michigan, USA, before it was shipped to Australia.

If mid-20th-centry American automotive style is your bag, this is not a bad place to start.