The Wells Fargo Buick

I moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1972 to begin a new job at the Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula.  About a year later, I acquired my first house in College Park in Gautier, Mississippi.  On weekends I often scrounged through junkyards looking for interesting old cars and parts.  One weekend I was at a junkyard between Pascagoula and Mobile just north of highway 90.  I asked the proprietor, Mr. Lavett Branning, if he had any interesting junkers for sale.  He asked me if I was familiar with the TV show, "Tales of Wells Fargo" starring Dale Robertson.  I told him I had been a big fan of the show.  The show had been on from 1957 through 1962.  I recall that it was on Monday evening.  The junkyard man motioned for me to follow him.

We proceeded to the back of the property where there were a couple of decrepit steel shanties.  Under a roof extension on one of these buildings was a large car covered by a canvas tarp.  He pulled the tarp aside and revealed a 1958 Buick Limited convertible unlike anything I had seen before.  It was in extremely run-down condition with much of the floorboard rusted away.  The top was a tattered lacework.  At some point the rain had saturated the ornately tooled saddle leather upholstery and the resulting shrinkage had torn most of the seams.  The stuffing was oozing out of the cushions.

The hood had a strange ornament resembling a longhorn steer.  The doors had holsters on the insides and ornate rear view mirror/spotlights on the outsides.  The rear fenders were covered with a wood veneer and had the words "Wells Fargo" emblazoned in bold chrome block letters.  Then Mr. Branning told me the story.

It seems that Buick was the main sponsor of the Wells Fargo show in 1958.  Buick Motor Division decided to produce a one-off Buick to present to Dale Robertson and then use as a publicity car to be shown at major dealerships around the country.  When the publicity tour was completed, according to this gentleman, the car was given to Robertson.  He drove the car for a couple of years, after which he gave it to his sister who lived in southern Mississippi, not far from Pascagoula.  She briefly drove the car, but it was a financial burden so she parked it on her property in about 1963, whereupon the roof deteriorated, the interior got ruined, and the body rusted badly.  It had ended up in this junkyard and the owner wanted $1,000 for the car.

In 1973 I was earning about $14,000/year.  $1,000 seemed like a lot to pay for a car that was going to be a nightmare to restore and could well become a money pit.  I declined the opportunity to buy it.  The next time I heard of the car was in the late '70's or early 1980's.  I saw an ad in Old Cars Weekly magazine.  The "fabulous Dale Robertson Buick" was going to be offered in the Atlantic City Auction by one of the major classic car auction companies.  I don't recall if I ever learned what the car sold for in that auction.  I doubt if the buyer had any idea how far the car had deteriorated before it was restored.

A search of the internet turned up an interesting page that is part of David Webb's Website.  He is the proud owner of a 1958 Buick Limited.   It states in part:
"This car was custom built by the Buick factory for Dale Robertson, star of the Buick sponsored TV western Tales of Wells Fargo.  The picture above is a postcard of Dale and the car issued by Buick.  Interior custom features included: bucket seats of Danish calfskin with hand tooled western motif leather inserts; door panels of the same materials; a console between the seats - the "gun rack" - that held two chrome plated Winchesters with carved stocks; a hand tooled leather pistol holster attached to each door that held a matched set of pearl handled .38 caliber Colt revolvers (Is this car street legal??); natural calfskin carpeting; and flip up door handles.  Exterior custom features included: solid walnut panels replaced the three banks of louvers on both sides; the words "Wells Fargo" were placed on the panels in chrome letters; a longhorn steer's head was superimposed over the standard hood emblem; and flipper hubcaps were added to the wheels. Buick displayed this car at major car shows across the country before presenting it to Mr. Robertson.  I do not know the current whereabouts of the car.  The last information I have is that it sold at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg festival on Labor Day, 1996 for $61,000.00. This was reported on the Collectable (sic) Auto Discussion Forum by someone who attended the auction.  Prior to that it was in the collection of a Buick dealer and car collector in the Milwaukee area. 7/30/05 - I just found out the car sold again in 1998 for $30,975.00 at the Barrett-Jackson auction.  It is on their website, Lot #919 for 1998."

 The individual who published that article also had a picture of the broken hood ornament that had once graced the car:

I also ran across a picture of the car taken at the 1958 Chicago Auto Show.  Here it is shown on display:

The description follows: "Capitalizing on the popularity of the "Tales of Wells Fargo" television show, sponsor Buick exhibited the custom built 'Wells Fargo' convertible in Chicago. Based on the Roadmaster ragtop, the car was created for Dale Robertson, star of the TV series. Major exterior alteration was replacing the chrome trim on the rear fenders with walnut panels. Unique interior consisted of two-tone cowhide upholstery and floor covering. The doors were equipped with pistols in holsters, and in the back was a gun rack with rifles. Crowds were handed postcards featuring Robinson and his western themed Buick."

Update 8/17/2018:  Jacques Lennon has published the long-lost Joan Kemp video on YouTube.  Here it is: