1952 Roadmaster Estate Wagon project.

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Hi Mike. Yes, I would say you do restore Buick Woodies! Wow. I am obviously a beginner here. The car looks much like the white (cream) car in your post. Grey and red interior and pretty much complete. But the wood is ...again much like yours and beyond the pillar behind the rear door ... most of the wood is missing. I have no idea how many pieces are supposed to be there though the metal braces and windows are all present. I am in Indiana so I wont be over to visit real soon. Ha. I would love to know if you provide pieces etc or a complete kit..or???? The only rust is on passenger's floor board front. I appreciate your quick response.

I don't make kits, since I find that after 60 or so years of bouncing on gravel roads, then sitting to rot outside somewhere makes each one pretty much off from when it was new. I find that it is about as much work to fit some pieces as it is to make them. I would be happy to help you in any way I can, though.
Email me at: mikesoldecars@yahoo.com
Let's see some pics!! Mike

[H2osprt]

Mike, Life comes at you fast. SO they say. There are so many unanswered questions ... where do I find the time? Where to start? It seems like you take the body off first.... and then work on the chassis. Then remove the remaining wood..... and then paint teh car.... and replace the wood while the interior is being put together. Sequence? How bout this question... what do the car numbers mean? The plate near the front window suggests my car is number 1850. Do you know where the numbers start??? Is htis an early 53 or a late 53? Well... hopefully teh owl has found a new home and is doing what ever it is that owls do. Maybe "woody the owl?"

[Restorer32]

I don't make kits, since I find that after 60 or so years of bouncing on gravel roads, then sitting to rot outside somewhere makes each one pretty much off from when it was new. I find that it is about as much work to fit some pieces as it is to make them. I would be happy to help you in any way I can, though.
Email me at: mikesoldecars@yahoo.com
Let's see some pics!! Mike

Same thing we're finding with the '46-'48 Buick Woodies. We have 3 complete sets of wood ready to sell but assembling it and making the doors and tailgates work as they should is almost more difficult than actually making the wood. We intended to sell kits but now realize that the only way to do it is to sell it assembled on a chassis ready for varnish. Forget selling individual pieces unless the customer also has you do the repairs.

[Buick Bruce]

Mike, Life comes at you fast. SO they say. There are so many unanswered questions ... where do I find the time? Where to start? It seems like you take the body off first.... and then work on the chassis. Then remove the remaining wood..... and then paint teh car.... and replace the wood while the interior is being put together. Sequence? How bout this question... what do the car numbers mean? The plate near the front window suggests my car is number 1850. Do you know where the numbers start??? Is htis an early 53 or a late 53? Well... hopefully teh owl has found a new home and is doing what ever it is that owls do. Maybe "woody the owl?"

There were 2,500 woodies built for 1953 - 1,830 Supers + 670 Roadmasters. Based on the 53 wagons I've looked at over the last 35 years, I believe the bodies were built with consecutive numbering without regard as to whether they were to become a Super or a Roadmaster. I've seen Supers with body numbers higher than 1830 and Roadmasters higher than 670. So your 53 with body number 1850 was built roughly 3/4 through the total production. But I don't know any actual dates of when that production started and ended.

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Same thing we're finding with the '46-'48 Buick Woodies. We have 3 complete sets of wood ready to sell but assembling it and making the doors and tailgates work as they should is almost more difficult than actually making the wood. We intended to sell kits but now realize that the only way to do it is to sell it assembled on a chassis ready for varnish. Forget selling individual pieces unless the customer also has you do the repairs.

My experience exactly!!
I had made a set of wood for one of my wagons, and a customer came in wanting all new wood, so I thought I could just use my set and get it done nice and quickly.
No way!!
I could not make it fit at all!!
Yet it fit my wagon very well.

I would think that the 46-48 Buicks are even harder in that respect, since the doors are so very wide, and heavy.
A few years ago, I spoke with a guy who had restored a few of that era, and he said that he had several original Woodies come by to see if he could fix their sagging doors...they had to be lifted up to close them. Mike

[MikesWoodieWorld]

There were 2,500 woodies built for 1953 - 1,830 Supers + 670 Roadmasters. Based on the 53 wagons I've looked at over the last 35 years, I believe the bodies were built with consecutive numbering without regard as to whether they were to become a Super or a Roadmaster. I've seen Supers with body numbers higher than 1830 and Roadmasters higher than 670. So your 53 with body number 1850 was built roughly 3/4 through the total production. But I don't know any actual dates of when that production started and ended.

Bruce, I saw a picture a few years ago, showing the finished bodies loaded on a big rig, leaving the Ionia plant, headed back to Buick.
They didn't have any frames under them, and no rear fenders on them, they were firewall to tailgate.
Since that part is the same on Supers & Roadmasters, they would be separated into one or the other at the Buick factory.
So it follows that Ionia numbered them as they were made, regardless of finished series. Mike

[Rob McDonald]

Man, I'm lovin' this exchange. Keep it up, guys, for all of us armchair woodie enthusiasts.

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Great, Rob, just sit back then...and enjoy!! LOL

Well, the 51 I have been anxiously awaiting is finally here.
I say anxiously since my painter wasn't too pleased with the color, but one must do what the customer wants, right?
Perhaps with wood & chrome it will be toned down a bit.
I will let you pick it out of the pictures!!
Hint: it still has boxes of parts inside.

I added some pictures of most of the wagons here, and added some roof shots from one of my lofts.
The one in primer is the title to this thread, the 52 Roadmaster, tucked under the lift.
The last two are the 47 Roadmaster, and a 48 Pontiac, full wood bodied wagons.

As always, if you right-click on any picture, and open it in a new window, it will enlarge to better see details. Mike

[Rob McDonald]

O. M. G. Maybe you should move your paint booth exhaust away from your A/C air intake. Your judgment appears to have been somewhat clouded. Please tell us you Photoshopped this first, to see how it would end up. If I may suggest, an all-blonde wood treatment might work with this, um, unique colour - panels and framing in the same honey-colour.

Thanks anyway for this extended tour of your shop/paradise. Lovin' those rooftops, especially the cedar-strip canoe Pontiac.




Surprisingly, I did find another Apple Green woodie. Notice they went for the blonde look, too.

[MikesWoodieWorld]

OH-OH, Rob, sounds like this actually got you out of your chair!!

Sorry about that!! LOL

Keep in mind, this IS NOT my wagon!!

By the way, I have neither a paint booth, or an air conditioner...it is just how we are in sunny California!!
We don't need any help in that area!! Mike

[MikesWoodieWorld]

This one is more like avocado green...I am afraid to get to close in case it rubs off!!

[H2osprt]

Catalog this under "Don't try this at home" 1953 Buick Woody. Dateline Labor day 2012.. Well..... hopefully you can relate: I wanted to flush the radiator and the engine of 25 years of gunk. So I drained the crank case.... put some radiator flush and crankcase cleaner in the crank and two quarts of Mystery Oil.... brought in a battery and figured.... hmmmmm. I wonder if I can start it given that all this stuff wants the engine to run for 10 minutes. I found an old volvo fuel pump.... hooked it all up to a 5 gallon can of gas.... let it run for about 30 seconds... and low and behold... stepped on the gas pedal and the thing started. I put it in gear... drove out to the end of the drive way and the car died. Ok. SO far so good. I hooked up the fuel pump for five seconds and got back in the car. Stepped on the gas.... couldnt start.... tried again and the engine "coughed". Like a small back fire. Five seconds later... the car was engulfed in a fire ball of flame. Seems the wire for the fuel pump touched the car body in a point of contact and kept running. So... there is nothing worse than sitting in a burning car ... a wood bodied car .... no less and seeing it all go up in one horrendous fireball. SO I managed to get myself out... run up the drive way.... turn on the hose..... (( dont put water on a gas fire right?) and within about 30 seconds... put the damn fire out. Including the driveway itself. Much to my surprise... there was no damage and the engine is now much much cleaner. Huh. And it starts really easy now. Who would have guessed? SO.... I unhooked everything once I drained everything out.... and drove it back into the garage. And decided to go take a nap. Fortunately my wife was out of town.... so I wasnt scolded and there was no one to see me look like a complete idiot and fool. I seem to have gotten away with it all. I dont suppose that is what the manufacturers directions meant by ... "let the engine warm up for 10 minutes and then drain fluids." Do you?

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Well, "Don't try this at home", you may have got away with this with respect to your wife, but confessing it here may still get you scolded!!
Glad it all worked out for you!!
Don't even try it, if away from home, either!! Mike

[H2osprt]

So the obvious next question is... where do I order a new fuel pump and how do I get the old one off? And I dont mean a volvo pump.... I've got more than one of those!

[Buicknutty]

Mike;
Not so sure about the green one, though hopefully it will look nice when done, but I really like the look of the white(?) one, with the dark wood. I'm not usually a fan of white, but on that one it really looks great.
Keith

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Keith, the green one will look better with all the Buick chrome, and my wood to tone it down!!
The White(?) one is actually "old ivory"...read that cream, and its color was picked because of two reasons:
First, it is my favorite color...
Second, it goes well with the darker old wood...only refer to the first for the real reason!!
This cream color would look great with older, darker wood, but also newer lighter wood, it just looks good, to me anyway!!
I plan to make the wood-grain be outstanding on the green one, it will need it, perhaps!! Mike

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Joel, of curious exploits while his wife and close neighbors were away, I cannot help much with mechanical engine components, perhaps some mechanics can offer some suggestions to your fuel pump questions.
I do not like to hear about fires on Woodies!! LOL
Hey, they happen anywhere, and usually when you least expect them!!
Quick thinking, Joel, even if you did a no-no, squirting water on a gasoline fire...it worked for you, thank the lord!! Mike

[52Roadsmasher]

Mike;
Thanks for taking the time to share the details of your projects. I can easily follow along with what you've described since I've been steadily crawling along (12 years and counting) through a ground-up restoration of a 52 Roadmaster Estate Wagon. I have added a few pics of my project in my profile but I will add more soon.

[tboldstuff]

Hey Mike, Tom here - you might not remember me, still haven't started my 49 road master wagon yet, but stored inside dry spot covered up. My nephews were picking at the old wood, so needed to get it in a safer spot. I will for sure contact you when I start! Just wanted to let you know, I seen a 51 wagon at a estate auction - it turned out to be a road master - very tough shape - but went to save it from the scrappers. The bidding started and one guy was bidding high enough the scrap guys dropped out. Then I knew it was going to be saved. I took pictures, a tree grew up beside it and pushed the front fender in - what a shame this sat outside. Any way long story short, I talked with the guy and told him to check your post out. I also gave him JB Donaldson's phone number. I used to have you e-mail , but misplaced. Any way your pictures motivated me and my wife is on board, have to finish two projects in front of this - 52 Desoto fire dome wagon, and a 54 sport coupe chev - both easy compared to the woody! Thanks for your willingness to help. Tom

[MikesWoodieWorld]

Hang in there, Tom!!!
Thanks for saving them...any help I can possibly do is guaranteed!!
Cheers, Mike

[MikesWoodieWorld]

By the way, Tom, my email is: mikesoldecars@yahoo.com
I am so very glad I helped in your motivation, and possibly I helped get your wife involved...I really hope so!!
Keep in touch, Mike

[Rob McDonald]

Hey Mike, we're all way overdue for some recent photos of Woodie Heaven. Even if it's just shots of your shop broom and garbage bin - or maybe your latest Pontiac truck - we really do need pictures!

[60FlatTop]

If you have a lot of projects and time is not a concern, you can sprinkle a few seeds around and grow some new wood:
Bernie OOps! I got this thread mixed up with the woody for sale.

[MikesWoodieWorld]

OK, OK!!
I will do what I can...there are some good changes...I'm just too tired to oblige right now!!
Hey, I ain't a youngster!!
Hah! Are any of us???
Fine, but old age brings surprise surgery, which I just endured, so give me a lil' time to recuperate, OK?
Will be back, soon, with more interesting pics...trust me!!
Buicks forever!! Cheers, Mike
PS: Just got another 1947 Buick Woodie...stay tuned...LOL

[MikesWoodieWorld]

OK, here are some pics of my latest Buick...(you picture nuts!!)
It is a 1947 Super Woodie that was converted to a pickup in the 1970's, or so.
And, tastefully done, I might add!!
It is in transit, soon, and I cannot wait to see it and enjoy it!!
Cheers, Mike