1940 Buick Super Estate Wagon
A chance comment at a Hollywood party sparked the creation of this extraordinarily rare wagon, with only 501 examples ever produced.
When socialite Evelyn “Bunny” McLeod told Harley Earl and Harlow Curtice that she didn’t own a Buick because they didn’t make station wagons, the two men sketched out the design on their train ride back to Michigan.
The elegant body featured a northern ash frame with African mahogany panels, crafted by Biehl Auto Body Company in West Reading, Pennsylvania.
Polished stainless steel hardware complemented the wood construction, while the design successfully blended utility with luxury styling on the 121-inch wheelbase Super chassis.
Power came from Buick’s 248 cubic inch “Dynaflash” overhead-valve straight-eight engine producing 107 horsepower, paired with a three-speed manual transmission. The model proved successful enough that demand exceeded the limited production run.
Today, the Buick Club of America estimates that only about 12 examples of the 1940 Super Estate Wagon survive, making this the rarest year of Buick’s wood-bodied wagon production.
Source
