Car of the Week: 1958 Buick Caballero

Story by Al Rogers and Joe Tonietto; Photos by Al Rogers

For more than a decade I served on the Eyes on Design car show vehicle selection committee alongside Joe Tonietto, among others. During one of our monthly meetings, Joe pulled me aside to share pictures of his current restoration project, a rough 1958 Buick Century Caballero station wagon that he’d rescued. The previous owner wanted to get it into hands that would restore the car rather than scrap it.

Joe said his plan was to restore the Buick to best-in-class level, then campaign it in every major Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) event. To say he reached his goal for the classic ’58 Buick wagon is an understatement. He earned AACA First Junior and First Senior awards in 2019 and the following year, he was awarded the club’s top honor with the prestigious AACA Zenith Award, which the club presents to the finest restored vehicle shown at an AACA Nationals event the previous year.

Starting in 2016, the AACA began awarding its coveted Zenith Award. The winner is chosen each year from the more than 2,800 cars, trucks and motorcycles shown at AACA Nationals events across the United States. Two Zenith Award contenders are nominated from each AACA Nationals show by the AACA National Awards judging team. From this small pool, the car with the “restoration of the year” is selected as the AACA Zenith Award winner.

“Despite tough competition from each of the vehicles nominated, the Buick Caballero station wagon exemplified the Zenith Award as the finest restoration of the year and will wear that title well,” stated Tom Cox, AACA Board VP and the originator of the Zenith Award program upon Joe’s win with his 1958 Buick Century Caballero. “That determination was borne out by competing car owners as well. The competing cars and owners were first-class—a real testament to the fine spirit of the hobby.”

The new 1958 Buicks

Advertised as “The Air-Born B-58 Buick,” the 1958 Buick models were adorned with more chrome and stainless-steel trim than any other production car—ever! From the 160 chrome squares in the “Fashion-Aire Dynastar Grille” to the heating and ventilation controls and simulated jet exhaust outlets in the rear bumper, Jet Age influence was everywhere in the design. The Century Caballero was the latest and greatest Buick station wagon, being poised at the top of its three-tiered station wagon offerings that year, which included the entry-level Special Model 49 pillared-window Estate Wagon, the Special Riviera (hardtop) Model 49D Estate Wagon and the top-line Century Caballero station wagon. The B-58 Buick station wagons were the latest in a long line of Buick station wagons that went back to 1940, the first year that the automaker offered a wagon. In 1940, the Buick Estate Wagon was only offered in the Super line and had a wood body supplied by Hercules or the Ionia Manufacturing Co. Buick station wagons would continue to have at least partially wooded bodies until 1954, when Buick station wagon bodies became entirely constructed of steel. In stride with the baby boom, Buick station wagon production continued to rise through the mid 1950s as families grew and the prices dropped when Buick wagons went from partial wood construction to all steel.

When Buicks received all-new bodies for 1957, a station wagon returned and now offered the option of hardtop styling. By now, all of these Buick station wagon bodies were built by the Ionia Manufacturing Co., which modified Buick four-door bodies into station wagons and placed them on the 122-inch-wheelbase sedan chassis. Buick named its top station wagon, which was part of its mid-level Century series, “Caballero,” the Spanish word for gentleman. As the most expensive station wagon in the General Motors line, and coming from Buick—GM’s second-highest-priced division—the well-appointed Caballero earned its name.

For 1958, all Buick bodies received noticeable updates such as quad headlamps, die-cast chrome squares instead of vertical bars in a new grille and a revised lower front bumper. The tailfin treatment was also updated with new and bigger chromed end caps on the quarter panels and a bulkier rear bumper treatment. A wide, new missile-shaped swatch of bright stainless trim dressed the rear fenders (and rear doors on four-doors), and this trim was in addition to a traditional Buick full-length trim sweep. The end result was a bold and bulky-looking Buick bedecked in brightwork—perfectly in tune with the last General Motors vehicles built under GM’s Vice-President of Styling, Harley Earl. Of the massive-looking GM cars of 1958, Buick was most bedazzled with chrome and stainless trim, earning it the title of “The Chrome King.”

There is an oft-told tale of Earl’s approval of the 1958 Buick exterior ornamentation scheme. Initially presented with three different trim options from which he was to select one production scheme, Earl asked to see all three trim packages together on a Century Caballero station wagon. When he saw all three proposals combined on the Caballero, Earl dictated that the ’58 Buicks would incorporate all three of the exterior styling packages! Whether the story is fact or fiction remains unclear more than 65 years later.

Powering 1958 Buicks was a one-year-old 364-cid V-8 that Buick named the B-12000 for the 12,000 pounds of thrust “behind every piston as it is fired,” Buick said. This vertical-valve V-8 engine had a 10:1 compression ratio and 300 hp with four-barrel carburetion in the Buick Limited, Roadmaster 75, Super and Century series, and a 9.5:1 compression ratio and 250 hp with two-barrel carburetion in the Special models. B-12000 engines backed by an automatic transmission received Buick’s new Flight Pitch Dynaflow transmission touted by Buick as giving smooth and exact response in an instant, as well as Buick’s Rotoflow Torque-Tube Drive that “transmits drive thrust directly from rear wheels in a solid power lockup.”

As a part of the Century series, the top-line Caballero station wagon had the 300-hp V-8 and a more luxurious and well-appointed interior than the Special Estate Wagons. As such, the Caballero boasted premium floor and rear compartment carpets, molded door armrests and a padded upper dash. Interior upholstery was usually Buick’s Cordaveen material offered in six two-tone combinations.

In its second and final year of production, 4,456 copies of the four-door hardtop Century Caballero station wagons were sold, making it the best-selling Buick station wagon that year despite being the most expensive station wagon at a $ 3,831 base price. Buick sold 3,420 Special Riviera Estate Wagons (49D) that year at $ 3,261 and 3,663 Special Estate Wagons (Model 49) at $ 3,145. These production figures were down significantly from 1957, owing to the recession that struck the U.S. economy in 1958. When a Buick station wagon returned for 1959 on a new body, all were of a pillared side window design.

Saving a chrome king

“‘Suggestions? – a free ’58 Buick Caballero’ was the title of the station wagon forum thread that started our journey with this 1958 Caballero,” recalled Joe. The question had been posted to an online forum by a member who hoped to keep the rare Caballero from being scrapped. The thread solicited ideas and interest in the project from multiple members, but Joe was the first to indicate he was interested in the car.

Joe’s Caballero had last been registered in 1972, but little else is known about its history. It sat outside and uncovered near Santa Fe, N.M., from 1990 until Joe acquired it in 2014. It had obviously been used as a desert off-road adventurer, as evidenced by significant rock damage on all of its lower body panels and fuel tank, Joe says. He recalls the interior was in typical, southwest desert dried-out “potato chip” condition; the paint was almost completely sun-scorched; and the transmission was missing. Only one piece of glass—the unavailable curved liftgate glass—was present.

“If only this car could talk…” Joe ponders. “The 4-1/2-year restoration effort included body removal followed by replacement or repair of all damaged metal. The engine and [a different] transmission were rebuilt, and the electrical, suspension, steering and interior systems were completely renewed.”

The car sports its original color scheme inside and out and retains its original engine. Major metal repairs, paint, plating, engine machining/assembly and driveline refurbishment were completed by a team of highly skilled professionals, Joe says. The balance of the restoration, including interior fabrication and installation, fabrication of replacements for “unavailable” components and all assembly was completed by Joe and a few of his trusted friends.

In addition to its accolades on the AACA show circuit, the car has won multiple class awards at concours d’elegance events and achieved Senior Gold status at the Buick Club of America’s 2019 national meet. 

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