The Rain Man Buick Roadmaster that Dustin Hoffman took home was a 1949 convertible, one of two the production used. Hoffman bought it when filming wrapped, had it restored and then kept it for 34 years. In January 2022 he finally sent it to auction, where it sold for $335,000. That is a long time to hold on to a prop. But this car was never just a prop. In the 1988 film, Charlie Babbitt, played by Tom Cruise, inherits his late father’s Buick, while the family fortune goes to the brother he never knew he had. Raymond, played by Hoffman, refuses to fly. So the brothers cross the country in the old convertible instead. Director Barry Levinson later said the car “became a character.” Hoffman seems to have agreed, because he kept his for more than three decades. Yet the car audiences remember was really two cars, and they lived very different lives. Two 1949 Roadmasters, two different jobs The film used two 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertibles, and each one had its own work to do. According to Hagerty’s report ahead of the 2022 sale, the car owned by Levinson appeared in the driving scenes. Hoffman’s car, chassis number 15235854, served in the green-screen scenes, shot on a stage with the background added later. The driving car needed extra muscle out back. As Old Cars Weekly reported in 2015, its rear suspension was modified to carry camera gear and a cameraman who filmed from the trunk. That car wore Sequoia Cream paint with a red leather interior. Later, Wayne Carini, host of the TV series Chasing Classic Cars, restored it for Levinson. It then made its first international concours appearance at Amelia Island in 2016. Hoffman’s car, by contrast, stayed out of sight for most of its life. It did its work in front of a screen rather than on the open road. Even so, it was the one the star took home. What Buick built in 1949 The 1949 Roadmaster earned its place on screen with its looks. Bill Warner, founder of the Amelia Island Concours, called the ’49 “a Buick styling landmark” in the Old Cars Weekly piece. Hoffman’s car, for example, wears the chrome grille “teeth” and four portholes in each front fender, Motorious noted. Under the long hood sits a 320-cubic-inch overhead-valve straight-eight. Hagerty lists it at 150 horsepower, and CarPro’s preview of the sale gives the same figure at 3,600 rpm, fed by a single carburetor. A two-speed Dynaflow automatic sends the power to a live rear axle. The car also has independent front suspension and hydraulic drum brakes at all four wheels. Raymond, of course, would have a number ready. According to Motorious, production of the convertible came to 8,095 units, a figure Hoffman’s character recites in the film. It is exactly the kind of detail Raymond would know, so the number fits the character as neatly as the car does. Thirty-four years in Hoffman’s garage Hoffman acquired his Buick after filming wrapped and had it restored. According to CarPro’s preview of the auction, Larry Payne of Glendora, California, did the work. The car then appeared at a Buick Club event in 1989. After that, it went into Hoffman’s collection and was rarely seen in public for 34 years. Meanwhile, the film itself became one of the biggest of its era. Hagerty notes that Rain Man opened in the U.S. on December 16, 1988, and won four Academy Awards. Those included Best Picture and Best Actor for Hoffman. It also took the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. By 2022, Hoffman decided the Buick deserved better than a storage bay. “The Buick’s been in storage too long,” he said, according to CarPro. He added that the car “should be driven, enjoyed, and cherished.” Levinson, for his part, told Hagerty that the car “had a very strong visual presence in the film and was featured throughout.” The $335,000 sale at Bonhams Bonhams offered the car at its Scottsdale auction in Arizona on January 27, 2022. The auction house set a presale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000, Hagerty and CarPro reported. Bidding blew past that range, and the hammer fell at $335,000, according to Motorious. That price makes more sense next to a normal ’49 Roadmaster. In its recap of the Arizona sales, Hagerty put a concours-ready 1949 Roadmaster at about $135,000. A scruffy driver, it added, brings about a third of that. In other words, the movie history more than doubled the value of a top-condition example. Motorious described the car on sale day as well kept but not flawless up close. The paint, soft top and trim looked good, which is expected for a restoration done more than three decades earlier. Its two-tone interior and original instruments also matched what audiences saw on screen. Where each Rain Man Buick Roadmaster ended up Both Rain Man Buick Roadmaster convertibles survive. Levinson’s driving car, restored by Carini, has already made the concours rounds. Hoffman’s green-screen car, on the other hand, left the actor’s hands for the first time in 34 years when it crossed the block in Scottsdale. That makes the pair unusual. Instead of going back to a studio lot, both Buicks went to the people who made the picture. One belonged to the director, and the other to the Oscar-winning star. The record of the 2022 sale closes the story for now. Bonhams sold Dustin Hoffman’s 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible, chassis 15235854, for $335,000 in Scottsdale on January 27, 2022, after 34 years in his collection.
Liked by Aiden Hall, Alexander Walker
Liked by Aiden Hall, Alexander Walker
Liked by Aiden Hall, Alexander Walker
