It's pretty common for us motorheads to reminisce about a particular vehicle we owned way back when. If only we'd had the means and opportunity back then, maybe that favorite boyhood hot rod would have been a real head turner-oh well, life goes on. And, although life really does go on, Gilbert, Arizona's Ed La Belle decided to take a walk down memory lane and build himself a car just like he had back when he was a 19-year-old gearhead; only this time he would do it the way he wished he could have back then.
Ed was living in Detroit around 1989. At the time, he had pretty much made up his mind to find a '56 Buick like he'd had as a kid. He mentioned his plan to his brother-in-law Smitty, who lived down in the Phoenix, Arizona, area and told him to keep his eyes open for a clean, solid candidate. Well, with pickings being what they are in the warm, dry Southwest, it was only a matter of a few months before Ed got a call from Smitty telling him he was the proud new owner of a nice '56 Buick.
Smitty must have been as excited about the find as Ed, because as soon as he let Ed know about the car-and Ed in return exposed his plan to him-Smitty arranged to give Ed a bit of a head start before shipping the Buick up to its new home in Detroit. Smitty contracted a friend of his, Rick Nantis, to shave the Buick's chrome and squirt it in two-tone blue and white primer sealer and also have the interior reupholstered in white 2-inch rolls 'n' pleats.
Once the freshly primed and upholstered '56 made it to its new home, Ed proceeded to pull the front sheetmetal and graft in a '74 Nova subframe. While he was at it, he stripped out the rear coil spring suspension and replaced it with an Eaton Detroit Spring Low Rider parallel leaf setup and a 10-bolt rearend. With the suspension mods under control, Ed then went looking for a drivetrain. He soon found a '73 Buick Electra 225 out of which he pirated its 455-cube V-8 and 400 trans for the '56. Soon after, Ed and his wife Joyce decided to move to a warmer clime and headed south to the Phoenix area themselves.
The move put the Buick on the back burner while the couple was busy resettling and getting things in order in their new surroundings. After languishing for nearly four years, Ed reacquainted himself with the Buick and began taking care of the numerous little chores that would actually make the car drivable. After a short while, the Buick joined Ed's other hot rod, a '47 Ford, as a local cruise night regular and began to get quite a bit of road time under its belt-both for pleasure and for a few more trips to Rick Nantis for more minor upgrades and to local shops for mods like shaved door handles, a tunneled antenna, a tube grille, and a boatload of hood louvers. The '56 also paid a visit to the Dream Field Toy Factory in East Mesa, Arizona, for a complete body restoration.
Then, in 2004, Ed finally decided it was time to replace that two-tone primer with actual paint and contracted the folks over at Gateway Auto Body in Chandler, Arizona, to give it the once-over. Gateway covered the '56 with a two-tone combination of Ford Probe Blue and Lincoln Navigator Pearl White urethane that mocked the primer combination it had worn for all those previous years. Ed then finished the job by outfitting the Buick with a quartet of Lancer hubcaps, whitewalls, a peep mirror, and a cool Gennie floor shifter.
As you can plainly see, Ed's journey down memory lane resulted in one heck of a cool Buick, and it's also proof of that old adage: What goes around comes around ... if ya want it to.
 Late-'50s GMs make for really...  Late-'50s GMs make for really cool cruisers. Ed's sports a perfect ground-scraping stance and just the right amount of attitude. |
 Ed found a 455-cube V-8 and...  Ed found a 455-cube V-8 and 400 trans out of a '73 Buick Electra 225 to power the '56. He did a fine job of sprucing it up as well. |
 White rolls 'n' pleats are...  White rolls 'n' pleats are period perfect and right at home in this '50s cruiser and the Gennie shifter adds a touch of hot rod pizzazz to an otherwise classy interior. |
 A tube grille, a hood full...  A tube grille, a hood full of louvers, a sunken antenna, and shaved body add all the right custom touches, converting what was originally a classy family car into a cool custom cruiser. |
 The Buick's two-tone paint...  The Buick's two-tone paint scheme and colors complement the body style while the slight hot rod rake gives the impression of forward motion, even when it's at rest. |