[d2_willys]

Originally Posted By: morje58

Hi d2_willys

Nice car you got there.

I also have 1958 Buick

A two door and a 4 door Super.

Do you know if it was black on the Rear fender molding orig. Just like the rear bumper molding is to be. I am thinking on painting my super black on the rear fender molding like your´s Roadmaster is.


Thank you

Morten
DENMARK

Dunno about the black on the rear fender molding, I think it is, but the rear bumper needs to be brought back to original. (It needs to be rechromed, so I thought I would get some pics of the Roadie back view and restore it to original.

[d2_willys]

Originally Posted By: JohnD1956

Cool purchase. Love the Buick and the Olds looks like a solid car.

My pop always had Buicks till one day he bought a new 60 Olds Flatop 4 dr Ninety Eight. Man that 394 had some power. Dad would load all six kids and mom on a Saturday night and take us to the ice cream stand. On one deserted stretch of road he's always light the rear tires. My brothers went crazy for this and thought the 60 Olds was king of the hill, especially over the 55 Special 4 dr. with the stick shift that Dad had just given to my Aunt. Wasn't too long before I couldn't tell if the smoke back there was from the tires or the exhaust pipes as it became a real oil burner within a few short years. But it always could rip those tires up no matter how much it smoked.

Later my brother tried to kill the Buick so he could drive the 98. But the damned thing would not die. Luckilly for me though, as that's what I used to learn how to drive a stick shift.

Nice cars!

My 59 Olds has 371 engine, but still can light 'em up anytime. The Buick is no slouch either, can haul when you floor it, even at light throttle, plenty of power.

Nailheads are hard to kill (Like Seagal)! LOL

[dei]

Regarding the trany's: Both the Ltd`s and Roadmaster had the VP Dynaflows when I bought them. The curious thing about the Ltd`s is they both have the complete factory system for the air ride system EXCEPT for the bags. The (now) parts car levelers were in disrepairable shape when Dad got the car and other than the compressor power steering unit and height control there is nothing left. However, that car he was able to put on the highway for two years going to work 55 miles each way until the universal went out. That`s when I wanted to get my license and with his help together learned about enclosed drive shaft systems. Ahhhh the good old days, bought a used complete rear end for 25.00 only to find it came out of a Special (too narrow) but the universal was the same so..... a few skinned knuckles later on the road I was. That car had about 85,000 miles on it and showed 142000 when I stopped driving it.
The other Ltd again has what look like repairable parts (no Bags) but not sure from what I have read that I want to go there as it was prone to problems and hence the recall or replacement back to coil springs.

Short story about Arizona and Buicks: My sister went to ASU staying in Tempe. Flew out one Fall to visit and went to the local bone yards (south of Phoenix I believe) looking for a rear bumper for the Ltd. Found a 58 Roadmaster 2dr with a 1969 license plate and with an excellent driver quality bumper for the sum of 100.00! They handed me the wrenches and said good luck! Being from the rust belt (Canada & salt) I thought is this worth it. Dry Arizona, Dahh no problem! You should have seen me taking it back to my sister`s apartment. She drove down from home (Canada across the river from Detroit) in her 1960 Corvair which I had borrowed to get this bumper. The only way I could get it in the car was to roll down the back windows and hang it out the windows (too tired to take it all apart). Can`t imagine what the guys behind me thought was going on when they came upon this creation.

Found a pic when I had to relocate three of the cars in 1990. The red is the Special, the black is the good Ltd and the front of the other is the Roadmaster.

[d2_willys]

Originally Posted By: dei

Regarding the trany's: Both the Ltd`s and Roadmaster had the VP Dynaflows when I bought them. The curious thing about the Ltd`s is they both have the complete factory system for the air ride system EXCEPT for the bags. The (now) parts car levelers were in disrepairable shape when Dad got the car and other than the compressor power steering unit and height control there is nothing left. However, that car he was able to put on the highway for two years going to work 55 miles each way until the universal went out. That`s when I wanted to get my license and with his help together learned about enclosed drive shaft systems. Ahhhh the good old days, bought a used complete rear end for 25.00 only to find it came out of a Special (too narrow) but the universal was the same so..... a few skinned knuckles later on the road I was. That car had about 85,000 miles on it and showed 142000 when I stopped driving it.
The other Ltd again has what look like repairable parts (no Bags) but not sure from what I have read that I want to go there as it was prone to problems and hence the recall or replacement back to coil springs.

Short story about Arizona and Buicks: My sister went to ASU staying in Tempe. Flew out one Fall to visit and went to the local bone yards (south of Phoenix I believe) looking for a rear bumper for the Ltd. Found a 58 Roadmaster 2dr with a 1969 license plate and with an excellent driver quality bumper for the sum of 100.00! They handed me the wrenches and said good luck! Being from the rust belt (Canada & salt) I thought is this worth it. Dry Arizona, Dahh no problem! You should have seen me taking it back to my sister`s apartment. She drove down from home (Canada across the river from Detroit) in her 1960 Corvair which I had borrowed to get this bumper. The only way I could get it in the car was to roll down the back windows and hang it out the windows (too tired to take it all apart). Can`t imagine what the guys behind me thought was going on when they came upon this creation.

Found a pic when I had to relocate three of the cars in 1990. The red is the Special, the black is the good Ltd and the front of the other is the Roadmaster.

So you have the VP dynaflows in all of them (PNDLR). Too bad you don't have the correct transmissions in the Limited and Roadie (PRNDG). Mine is original, and even though it leaks a little transmission fluid, it still will take the VP dynaflow in the 1/4 mile.

Sounds like you got a steal on the bumper. Mine needs rechroming, but is otherwise fine.

[dei]

You are right that it is too bad not having the FP in the cars and I have heard that those do indeed make a difference with better off the line performance but can tell you that given enough time (ha,ha) even my Special still has the capability of doing over 100. Had a long stretch of new highway nearby some years ago that wasn't open to the public yet and after putting on new radial tires plus ball joints wondered if there was much left in her. Now, bearing in mind how accurate the speedometer is she still rolled up to 105 with a bit more pedal left till coming to my senses! I've never seen that much red on that speedo since and thank my luck stars no police were out that Sunday morning.

Both cars tend to leak / seep when not used for some time and have come to just keep on hand extra fluid and park over spare cardboard which helps keep the floor clean. Has anyone tried a product from Lucas that is for keeping trans seals in good order? I put their oil additive in my GMC 1/2 ton (V6) which has over 150000 miles and she does not burn any oil or noisy at all. Wondered how the trans stuff would be for the VP seals?

As to the bumper, while it was not dented or rusted still would only be considered driver quality but still a good buy even back then. I had collected spare bumper parts for the Special and had them re chromed about five years ago and without purchase costs had about 1600 Canadian in it but is ready to bolt on when I get to the body & paint.
I really wish I had the ability like some of you guys to get at your cars to get them done. Seems looking back I've spent more time collecting stuff than doing them up. So much to do, so little time.

[d2_willys]

Originally Posted By: dei

You are right that it is too bad not having the FP in the cars and I have heard that those do indeed make a difference with better off the line performance but can tell you that given enough time (ha,ha) even my Special still has the capability of doing over 100. Had a long stretch of new highway nearby some years ago that wasn't open to the public yet and after putting on new radial tires plus ball joints wondered if there was much left in her. Now, bearing in mind how accurate the speedometer is she still rolled up to 105 with a bit more pedal left till coming to my senses! I've never seen that much red on that speedo since and thank my luck stars no police were out that Sunday morning.

Both cars tend to leak / seep when not used for some time and have come to just keep on hand extra fluid and park over spare cardboard which helps keep the floor clean. Has anyone tried a product from Lucas that is for keeping trans seals in good order? I put their oil additive in my GMC 1/2 ton (V6) which has over 150000 miles and she does not burn any oil or noisy at all. Wondered how the trans stuff would be for the VP seals?

As to the bumper, while it was not dented or rusted still would only be considered driver quality but still a good buy even back then. I had collected spare bumper parts for the Special and had them re chromed about five years ago and without purchase costs had about 1600 Canadian in it but is ready to bolt on when I get to the body & paint.
I really wish I had the ability like some of you guys to get at your cars to get them done. Seems looking back I've spent more time collecting stuff than doing them up. So much to do, so little time.

Can you tell me how they did those stripes on the back bumper (on the roadmaster)? Was it some stick on stuff or did they actually have ridges like the side moldings have? I have tried to get better pics from the guy that is selling a roadie on ebay and he keeps sending me wide shots which do me no good. My back bumper needs rechroming, unless there are two plates which have the stripes on them. If they are separate plates, I think I can get them separately chromed and striped. Perhaps you can shoot some pics of the back bumper stripes from your roadie. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dei]

Good morning,
Just a quick response to your request. I believe I have the two pieces you are asking about somewhere in the garage that are off one of the bumpers but will have to look. Once I locate will post a pic or two to show better how they look. I'll try and get it done this weekend, Doug.

[d2_willys]

Originally Posted By: dei

Good morning,
Just a quick response to your request. I believe I have the two pieces you are asking about somewhere in the garage that are off one of the bumpers but will have to look. Once I locate will post a pic or two to show better how they look. I'll try and get it done this weekend, Doug.

Great, thanks alot Doug

[dei]

Hello d2_Willy,
After trying to find a needle in the haystack (have to admit my garage is a mess) finally found the two bumper pieces that I believe are off my Limited parts car which is the same size as your Roadmaster.

In case the pictures are not self explanitory these pieces appear to be STAINLESS STEEL not steel and chromed (makes sense since most of the trim is stainless on the car - wish I had stock in that company then). The stripes look to be high polished areas with black painted on later. The question becomes: was this a chassis mat finish or gloss? I took metal polish and some liquid chrome cleaner by hand to remove the rust from the upper portion of one. The rust is from the chromed steel parts bolted to the panels that never get cleaned or dried over the years. Found the black getting thinner the more I hand polished.

The polished stripe areas measure 1/8 inch wide and the painted striped measure 1/4 inch wide. If you see the picture of the back, while it appears to be painted silver, it is my opinion that this is unpolished stainless that has dulled resting against the steel plate that bolts to the upper chromed center panel where the fuel door is and the lower bumper rails and bumper ends. All this has to come apart in order to take these panels off.

Just to answer another question that came up, the side quarter stainless did not come with painted stripes from the factory. I might be wrong but the picture of yours appears to be a bit grainy or has a shadow making it appear to be painted black also. All my four cars show no signs of paint here but they are the same on the rear bumper (shall we call them) insert panels.

Hope this helps. It was a GOOD way to spend Fathers Day, Doug.

[dei]

OK, one more picture that needs to confirm measurements.