Denise Mele-Gironda admits she was a long-time car enthusiast long before she came upon her current 1956 Buick Special 2-door sedan. Before owning her ’56 Buick, she helped her husband, Nick, with his cars. If not hands-on with the cars, she was often searching for car parts for his projects.

One time, while looking for some parts for one of Nick’s cars, she came across a 1956 Buick Special and was very intrigued. So, Denise and Nick went to look at the car in Seneca, Illinois. The owner, who was going to make a ‘Restomod’ out of it, for some unknown reason, decided to sell the Buick to Denise and Nick.

According to Denise, very little of the Buick had been disassembled; it was mostly relegated to chrome and interior parts that were removed. Denise took it for a test drive and loved it. The couple made an offer and they brought the ’56 Buick home. That was 15 years ago.

The white paint on the Buick is the original lacquer that was put on at the factory. The red top and bottom have been repainted in enamel. The car is still in its original condition, engine, transmission, and differential. There are only about 87,000 miles on it.

Some of the parts missing were the body chrome, and the dashboard was gone. Denise was able to track down the missing parts. No aftermarket parts were used to get it back in shape; all parts are 1956 Buick parts, used or NOS.

Sanding the dashboard down to bare metal and painting it to the factory color, Denise and Nick had the interior reupholstered, which was done to factory specs using period-style materials. While they had the interior out of the car, the carpets were removed, and the “rust-free” floorboards were painted with POR15, a rust inhibitor.

Denise says the drivetrain is the original that came with the car. The engine, which is referred to as The Nailhead, is a 322-cubic-inch engine, and Buick’s first-generation V8. The ‘Nailhead’ term refers to the small-diameter valve that resembles nail heads. The carburetor is a 2-barrel unit, backed up with a Dynaflow automatic transmission, and a factory “Torque tube rear axle assembly,” with a 3.22:1 differential gear.

The Buick’s rebuild took about one year. The car has no options other than the automatic transmission, a clock, and a tissue dispenser that has the Buick emblem embossed into it. That means, no power steering, no power brakes, or A/C. The wiring was redone by Nick with the help of the factory schematic. While doing the rewiring, he upgraded the charging system to an alternator, instead of the original generator. Everything else is an original 1956 Buick.

Denise and her husband enjoy taking their cars to cruise nights and some local car shows, especially if they are non-profit benefit shows. They are not looking for trophies, just having fun! Denise said that in the near future, she wants to do a ground-up restoration on her 1956 Buick beauty.

If you have a car you would like to see featured in Classic Wheels, contact Rudy Host, Jr. at Classic.Wheels.Rudy@gmail.com.