Lot details
Registration No: YB 6709
Chassis No: 103789
Mot Expiry: Aug 2011

An integral part of General Motors' burgeoning empire during the 1920s, Buick was widely famed for the advanced engineering and durability of its products. Boosted by a series of high-profile exploits (including the first automotive expedition to Afghanistan - 1923), victory in the 1925 Leningrad-to-Moscow endurance trials, a tug of war with an elephant and patronage from the Sultan of Johore, the marque celebrated its 2,000,000 sale in 1926. Priced at between $1,195 and $2,425, that year's six-cylinder model range boasted leaf-sprung suspension, four-wheel drum brakes, detachable cylinder-heads and three-speed centre-change manual transmission. Available with a choice of 16 different bodystyles, the Buick 'Standard' (3.4-litre) and longer wheelbase 'Master' (4.5-litre) Sixes were a cut above their Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge rivals and achieved a select following in Britain.

The 1926 26-24 Roadster offered was supplied new to Ralph Paganel Luttrell and seemingly stayed in his possession until 1948. 'YB 6709' then passed through the hands of Harold Courtney Burnell-Jones and Leslie Gordon Chapman before being acquired by Frank H. Maisey of Burnham-on-Sea during 1959. Part of the Maisey family for nearly four decades, the Roadster was in need of restoration by the time they finally parted company in 1996. Stripped to its bare chassis, the Buick was worked on by Smithy Engineering (£718.75), Catcott Garage (£2,185) and TT Workshops (£4,277.35) and returned to Thomas Hamlin & Co for some engine work (£1,488.99). However, much of the refurbishment was carried out by the owner and his son using parts ordered from Bob Cason of Holliston, Massachusetts. The vendor purchased the car at our Haynes Motor Museum sale of October 2008.

A rare survivor, this handsome McLaughlin-Buick is offered with continuation buff logbook, numerous restoration invoices, sundry old MOTs, assorted photographs and an MOT valid until September 2011.