It's a bit ironic that many low-priced cars from the '50s and '60s now demand more money than their higher-class counterparts. Current prices on early '60s Chevys, for example, are typically higher-often much higher-than those of more upscale Buicks, or even Cadillacs, of the same era.
Here's another irony: While Chevys are arguably more popular (judging by the numbers of them out there), they often draw less attention at car shows than similar Buicks, Oldsmobilies, Pontiacs, and Cadillacs. These "other" GM marques seem fresher and more unusual when lined up alongside more common Bow Ties.
Jack Moody knows all this. After owning several popular cars, including a prewar Ford and '68 Camaro, it was a funky old Buick that stopped him in his tracks a few years ago. "At the Goodguys event in Charlotte in 1998, I saw a '61 Buick LeSabre that Don Figliozzi was driving, and I just had to have one," Jack says. "The lines were so clean and styling so sleek; the factory had really done all the hard work and it just needed a slight facelift, a shave, and a stance adjustment."
Jack was hooked, plain and simple. "I began researching the '61 and found that the Invicta model would be more to my liking than the LeSabre because it was the performance version of Buick's midsize car. The Invicta was the size of the LeSabre, but had the drivetrain and trim from the top-of-the-line Electra. There were only 6,382 Invicta sport coupes built in '61, compared to more than 175,000 Chevrolet sport coupes."
It took Jack more than a year to turn up a suitable candidate. It was someone else's unfinished project, and it was in pieces, but it was complete and straight. Jack hauled it home to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and started making plans.
"My vision for the car was a reliable, comfortable, and fast pro-touring ride that I could drive anywhere," Jack says, and he assigned the task to Clayton Custom Cars, in Benson, North Carolina. The shop crew began by having the car media blasted and assembling the frame with all-new components. This included a Fab9 rearend with Moser axles, plus front and rear air springs with QA1 adjustable shocks, and a Firestone Intelliride leveling system. A hydroboost-assisted Wilwood master cylinder was added to control 13- and 12-inch Baer discs, which in turn were bolted to Budnik 18x7- and 20x8-inch wheels wrapped in 225/40ZR18 and 255/35ZR20 Nitto rubber.
The Invicta had a 455 Buick mill when Jack got it, but he had another GM big-block in mind for what he calls the "entertainment section." Clayton Custom Cars used a COMP roller camshaft and Street & Performance fuel injection to coax 575 hp from the 502ci Chevy, and plugged in a 250hp nitrous system (activated at wide-open throttle, or by pressing the horn ring) for good measure. A custom air intake with K&N filter was crafted to feed the healthy Rat, while Tim Bradham built an exhaust linking Flowmaster mufflers to the Doc Bilbrey-built, equal-length headers. The beast was backed by a TCI Automotive-controlled 4L80E overdrive automatic.
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