Pick Of The Day: 1940 Buick Roadmaster Four-door Touring Sedan

A car’s stopping power depends on what exactly it’s stopping. It uses brakes to bring itself to a standstill, but its styling is what stops a car enthusiast in his/her tracks. Trust me, I know — that’s why you’re seeing this Pick of the Day, which has plenty of that kind of stopping power. You can find this 1940 Buick Roadmaster Four-Door Touring Sedan listed for sale on ClassicCars.com by a dealership in Beverly Hills.

If I had scrolled by a 1939 Buick, you wouldn’t be reading about it right now. Models from that year shared the same basic lines as the ’40, but the front end was significantly different. The 1940 restyle gracefully integrated the sealed-beam headlights into the front fenders and brought a larger, more assertive, horizontally ribbed grille. Together, those changes gave the Buick more presence.

Those lines, coupled with this Roadmaster’s Sequoia Green and Chenille White two-tone finish, were impossible for me to pass up, so here we are. What a great combo! Then there are the little details that I can’t help but nerd out over, such as the ribbed door handles that extend out of the belt line trim and the “Roadmaster” panel in the fender trim that acts as a hood panel release.

Flipping both of those halves up reveals the Roadmaster’s 141-horsepower, single-barrel, 320ci Dynaflash straight-eight. According to Buick, the engine was electrically balanced after it was assembled “to smooth its velocity to velvet.”

The cabin is almost as striking as the outside of the car. Yes, light brown fabric upholstery doesn’t get the heart racing, but it pairs well with the exterior colors. What really turned my head were the other colors and materials: the ivory color of the steering wheel rim and the shift knob for the three-on-the-tree manual transmission, the brown dashboard with engine-turned metallic trim — even the metallic brown gauge dials with white letters and numbers. The dual benches mean this prewar style can be shared with five lucky passengers.

If this 1940 Buick Roadmaster Four-Door Touring Sedan‘s design and colors stopped you the way they stopped me, you can buy it for $19,950 once you emerge from your trance. Then you can go anywhere you want to in it.

Click here to view this Pick of the Day on ClassicCars.com