Ryan Johnston’s 1950 Buick Fastback

by Chadly Johnson

 I had been seeing Ryan Johnston of Aurora, IL around the mid-west show scene for a couple of years before we were finally able to get together for a photo shoot.  The wait was well worth it though as his killer, bare metal, 1950 Buick has improved at every show I’ve seen it at.  I put on a ton of miles to hit events, often in a modern car, which is a true testament to the kind of mileage Ryan puts on his Buick as he seems to be everywhere. 

Once at an event I rarely see anyone having more fun than Ryan in his Buick.  With his gorgeous girl Angi by his side I’ve seen him push his 50 to the limits sideways around corners on the dirt track at Vintage Torque Fest, smoking his tires until his car disappears while doing burnouts, and throwing massive burst of flames that would make Godzilla jealous.  Yeah Ryan knows how to have a good time, it’s a good thing he built his Buick to withstand the abuse and beg for more.

The story of “The 50″ begins a few years ago when Ryan was doing a general search for his next project.  A particular car was not set in stone until a friend began working on a fastback Fleetline that Ryan could tell was going to turn out killer.  This narrowed his search down to a 50s era fastback, and once he spotted the snaggle  tooth grille of a 50 Buick, he knew what car he had to build.  So began the long search for a good fastback, which proved to be a very hard find.  While attending the Hunnert Car Pile-Up Ryan was discussing his search with a gentleman attending the show in a 50 Buick Riviera.  The guy smiled and said he had one sitting in his garage that he’d owned for several years.  Now Ryan is aware that calling on a car once a week is not how you get a car for cheap, but he didn’t care, he wanted the Buick bad.  Persistence paid off in the end and after a trip to Toledo, OH to retrieve it,”The 50” was all his !