49_buick_super

Congratulations on the award, Ben! Nice to meet you and talk Buicks in Denver. Dan

I love that place!

Lynn and I will be coming in the '49 Super. Looking forward to our first National meet. Dan

I went through all his cars and the best one on the lot was a 64 Chevy Impala SS 2dr convertible that was in reasonable condition. Price was $57.5K. Next time you drive through Quartzsite on I-10, stop and see if Silly Al's is open. Order the "Everything" or "Meat Lovers" pizza.

No. When I asked permission to wander about and look at the cars I was told not to open any doors or hoods. The hood didn't close properly as you can see in one of the photos.

Wandering about Arizona and found this 54 Buick Special sitting in Quartzsite. I have included a picture of the sales price to make you smile.

I just got reservations at the Marriott South Park tonight using the event URL/key without problem.

Another tumbler, spring and installation tool kit has become available. Hard to find if you need it. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-1949-Cadillac-Buick-Oldsmobile-Door-Lock-Latch-Spring-Set-W-Hubs-Tool-/391851767672?hash=item5b3c2f7778:g:l5MAAOSwXYtY4AwQ&vxp=mtr (I'm not the eBay seller nor do I know him/her or have any monetary interest in these parts.) Dan EDIT: Just noticed - he has three available.

That's great news if someone out there is making reproductions. I just found that the eBay seller where I got mine has posted another set. If any '49 Super or Roadmaster guys and gals out there need this repair, here is your chance. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-1949-Cadillac-Buick-Oldsmobile-Door-Lock-Latch-Spring-Set-W-Hubs-Tool-/391825614542?hash=item5b3aa066ce:g:l5MAAOSwXYtY4AwQ&vxp=mtr

In April, while opening the driver's door on my 49 Buick Super, I felt the handle lose tension and fall half way out of the escutcheon on the door. Examination revealed that the door handle remained in this loosened condition but now the door was unlatched and would not close and remain latched. What follows here is a brief description of the problem with a few photos to visualize door lock mechanism including details of how I repaired the lock. The 1949 door lock (not to be confused with the door key cylinder assembly) is hard to find these days. The 49 Buick door lock was a one-year only part. 48 door locks and 50 door locks won’t fit. To make matters worse, this assembly only fits the Super and Roadmaster. And we are only talking about front door locks here. The rear doors are another critter because they do not have the locking mechanism. Hollanders reports that front door parts for the 48-49 Cadillac 60S, 61 and 62 as well as front door parts for the Oldsmobile 48-49 Ninety-Eight will interchange with the 49 Buick Super and Roadmaster. Look for front door lock assemblies for the 49 Super and Roadmaster in Group 10.470. Look for the front door lock tumblers in Group 10.553. If you travel to those parts groups in a Master Parts List book, be prepared to be bewildered by the volume of front door locks. Focus on the 49 model year Supers and Roadmasters. It will help you zero in on the specific part numbers if you need them. This is the door lock for the 49 Buick Super with some labeled parts. Here is a picture of the door lock assembly with the door handle inserted into the tumbler. The setscrew is circled. The TUMBLER is the part that holds the door handle shaft in place after it has been inserted through the outside escutcheon. The door handle is held in place by the SETSCREW. This is a specialty screw and if you have occasion to disassemble the lock on a 49, don’t lose it. The LOCK PLATE rotates in an arc of less than 90 degrees and operates against the ears of the door lock key cylinder to lock and unlock the door with a key. The lock plate is another very delicate part. Cast from soft metal it is easily broken. The original lock plate on my 49 Super was broken when I bought the car and sent me on a 4-year search for a new lock assembly. When I finally got the door lock assembly out of the door, this is what I found. The tumbler is press-fit into the articulating locking lever which is tensioned by a stout spring. Over the years, the collar of the tumbler wears away and when it finally gives way, it allows the tumbler to fall out of the lock lever. This effectively negates the action of the door handle in opening and closing the door against the door latch. The door handle just “dangles” there but won’t fall out because it is still held in place in the tumbler by the setscrew. Here is the fix. This is a new tumbler and complete set of new door lock assembly springs as well as the press tool necessary to properly press-fit the tumbler into the lock lever. The springs are easy to find. The tumblers and the tool are much harder to find. Here is a picture of the new tumbler after it has been press-fit into the locking lever. You also set the spring pin that must also be removed and re-inserted and re-staked in the repair process. Once the new tumbler and pin have been properly press-fit into the door lock assembly, the door can be re-assembled and will hopefully be good for another 68 years. Your best friend for door disassembly is the Fisher Body Service and Construction Manual. By all means, locate an original copy because the aftermarket manual copiers usually don’t have a clue on using grayscale to scan black and white images. In manual copies, the photos are almost always black and white with no shades of gray to show image detail. With a copy of the original manual, you will see the full details of parts. I hope you never experience the sinking feeling of having your driver’s door handle come loose and half-way fall out of the escutcheon. If you are lucky, you won’t hear any loose parts falling inside the door, but if you do, it will be the tumbler spring releasing and falling after the tumbler is released. My thanks to BCA member Ken Mitson for his assistance in his machine shop when it came time to install the tumbler and spring pin. Dan

We looked for the shoe tree and did not see it. We were aware of it before we got to Amboy. Rain in So Cal this past fall and winter was transforming to many landscapes so it would not surprise me if it has disappeared. Dan

We stayed overnight in Kingman, again at the El Trovatore. You just can't beat this motel for Route 66 ambiance. There was a group of at least twenty New Zealanders here at the motel, all in ten rental Mustangs in which they are traveling Route 66. This adventure must be costing them a small fortune just in car rental but here they are, foreign tourists enjoying a road trip that is uniquely American. I have learned in my reading that there are almost as many Route 66 Associations in Europe as there are in the United States. I met Gary, a fellow Buick enthusiast, two years ago in Kingman at the Route 66 Fun Run. At the time, Gary was working on his 47 Buick. When Gary learned we would be in Kingman, he communicated with me and suggested we meet at take some pictures of our cars together. It was a great suggestion and, as it would turn out, very fortunate for us. Here's a few pictures of our cars together in Kingman... And a picture of a couple of retired, happy Arizona Buick guys... Before Gary came to the motel to meet us, I opened up the car for the day and as I turned the key in the driver's door lock, I felt the tension release quickly, the door handle came loose and I heard something fall from the lock assembly inside the door. Dang and dang. I must have been the latch spring because the door would not latch when closed. Gary kindly offered to take me to a NAPA store for a length of velcro strap to hold the door closed and offered the services of his garage at home. How lucky could we be? We went to Gary's house and opened up the door. We found the latch spring had come loose from the lock. Nothing appeared damaged. We tinkered about for a while trying to disassemble the lock but it's been since April 2011 when I disassembled the door for the restoration and I don't have my photos and videos along. I have the shop manual but the real details are in the Body Manual, which, of course, is a home. So we decided to apply our velcro door latch and Gary helped me rig some padding and cording to hold the door handle in place and keep it from flopping about while driving. We thanked Gary and his wife, Carol, for their hospitality and help and started home. We arrived home at about 5:15 p.m. All is well. Just a few words on closing. We have had the time of our lives on this road trip. It has been a true adventure. I don't need to go into a long description of the fun we've had because it's all been written about in the posts above along with the pictures. It is my fondest hope that we may have encouraged more members of our Chapter club here in Phoenix, Valley of the Sun Buick Club, to get out on the road and enjoy touring in their Buicks. I also hope that we may have done the same for the BCA at large. You cannot imagine the enjoyment and adventure until you actually do this. Some of you will say that you drive your Buicks long distances to the Nationals. I'm not detracting anything from that experience. It is an adventure because of the destination. But that travel is usually done in the shortest amount of time, usually on direct routes and often on Interstate highways. Travel like we have experience on Route 66 is done without a daily mileage goal - just traveling down a non-Interstate road, driving through towns, stopping and meeting people, seeing what the day may bring with serendipity as your guide. You have seen that our trip was not without problems but I have reported each and every one and as you have probably noticed, each problem was taken in stride and they all worked out to take the experience of the trip in a different direction for a while. Our worst problem in Amarillo, in retrospect, was one of the most enjoyable parts of our trip as we lived like locals in Amarillo for a week and really experienced Route 66 in Texas to a greater degree that we thought we would. Don't let your beautiful Buicks be seen only in car shows. Sure, some guys have cars that are just too valuable to drive. But most of us have Buicks that should not only be shown in car shows, but shown in dynamic shows - driven on the road and shown to a wider audience. People out there love these cars. You won't have any trouble meeting people or starting conversations if you road trip with your Buick! Thank you for riding along. We have enjoyed sharing this adventure with our BCA friends and we have appreciated the many kind comments. All the best of life to each and everyone one of you... Dan and Lynn

We are east-bound on Route 66 today. Amboy is our next stop. This location has been cut-off to westbound travelers due to bridge washouts during the exceptionally wet fall and winter just past. You can still get here, but you have to double back after passing it for some distance on I-40. Old Route 66 is still open to Amboy from Ludlow on excellent road surface. Once you get to Amboy, you must detour north on Kelbaker Road to I-40. Amboy is an iconic Route 66 location. The "Roy's" sign at Amboy is probably one of the most well-known Route 66 symbols, especially of the Mohave desert. Amboy has been a combination of railroad service location and mining community. Two things are still mined here: medical-grade limestone and salt. (Please don't ask me what medical-grade limestone is used for; I don't know.) This is Amboy - Once a very busy location on Route 66, Amboy and Roy's withered and died with the opening of I-40. I-40 is about 11 miles away from Amboy so the loop is really big. The railroad used to deliver potable water to Amboy but stopped doing so when their interests here evaporated. Now, with no drinking water, it is not possible to run the motel cabins, a restaurant or much of anything else. The toilets are operated with salty groundwater. The gift shop is open and manned by a gritty chap who looks like he has lived in Amboy all his life. He say's he owns 40 acres nearby and he lives of the grid with solar and wind power. He trucks in his potable water. He also packs a slab-side cocked and locked .45 on his hip. This place really doesn't feel like California. More like Arizona. I love it. He tells us that tourism and movie production makes up the core of what happens in Amboy now. A horror movie just finished shooting here last week. He tells us that horror movies are mostly what is shot here. He sounds sad when he says it. At least six other cars stopped here while we were visiting Amboy. As far as I could tell from listening to them talk, they were all from other countries. A few views around Amboy. The old cabins - The old school at Amboy - A US Post Office at Amboy which is alleged to be still in operation. No flag flying but it is Sunday when we are here. There is still a mail box out front and I would assume that attests to the active nature of the post office. A view of the motel main lobby as it appeared in days gone by... Here is another peculiarity to Amboy. A "trash" tree which is a pole on which travelers have left anything and everything you can think of nailed or wired to the pole. There is a woman's bra hanging here as well and a number of expired identification cards, cigarette butts, bottles, cans,... Not far east of Amboy there is a lengthy embankment which over the years travelers have taken to writing their names in large stones which have been arranged in the shapes of letters that spell the words. Interesting to see but not my idea of a good time. Our names are not there. This whole area around Amboy is literally in the heart of the Mohave desert. I couldn't leave this area without taking a few photos that convey a feeling for the character of the land and how Route 66 appears as you travel through it. We are back in Arizona tonight in Kingman. Tomorrow we will travel to Flagstaff where we will close the loop on this whole trip and find ourselves right back at the spot in Flagstaff where this whole journey started in September last year. Dan

I knew I was going to get a comment like this. LMAO! That water looked cold - and wet!

We got up early today - 2:15 a.m. We left our motel at 2:50 a.m. and headed west on Foothill Blvd which is old Route 66. The remaining distance to the western terminus of Route 66 was 73 miles and all on surface streets. We passed through many cities along the way - Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Claremont, La Verne, San Dimas, Glendora, Azusa, Duarte, and Pasadena. Our route through Pasadena along Colorado Blvd was on the street used each year for the Rose Bowl parade. We passed over the old Colorado Street bridge and drove on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, formerly known as the Pasadena Freeway, one of the first in the Los Angeles area. Arriving in Los Angeles proper, we drove west on Sunset Blvd and through "Hollyweird" on Santa Monica Blvd, finally passing through Beverly Hills. Leaving Beverly Hills, we entered Santa Monica and at the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean Avenue - SUCCESS! THE WEST END OF ROUTE 66! These photos were taken at Santa Monica Blvd and Ocean Avenue (on Ocean Avenue) It was still on the dark side when I took these photos. I was actually parked on a traffic lane but was fortunate enough to be right behind a line of food court trucks parked in this lane just outside the Santa Monica pier. After taking these photos, we drove out on the Santa Monica pier... In this photo, you can see the glow of sunrise in the east... I got a picture of the Buick staring out at the waves breaking on the beach... And a couple of photos of the foolish folks who thought this trip up as a retirement time burner quite a few years ago... Here's a view on the north side of the pier... A bit of the Santa Monica skyline... And the view toward the pier entrance from the pier... We left Santa Monica and didn't waste anytime heading east. We are now on the road, headed back to Flagstaff to close the loop on what will be and west-to-east, then east-to-west trip on Route 66. Much later in the day, we arrived back in Victorville and visited their Route 66 museum. Many towns on Route 66 have such museums and they are all quite good at offering a look at life in their communities during the time when Route 66 was a commissioned federal highway. A few photos from their museum... Look at this pin map. Visitors to the Victorville museum are asked to pin their home locations. Notice the distribution of pins in the United States and then the rest of the world... The Victorville museum has a beautiful mural on their building a we took a photo of the Buick posed in front of the mural. - Here's the photo everyone wants at the west end of Route 66 but is impossible to frame - your car with the Santa Monica pier entrance. So we settled for a convenience photo with their mural. While we were at the museum, we were introduced to the Mayor and a City Councilman from Victorville. The Councilman is a Covair guy and I told him about the large collection of Covairs we had seen in Missouri at Gay Parita. He was born in Missouri and is going to look them up next time he is back in his home state. Moving east, we came to the Bottle Farm in Helendale. This is the life work of a man who collected bottles and arranged them on stemmed poles. It is quite fascinating to look at them and walk in among the bottle trees. This has been a Route 66 attraction for quite a while. - We are back in Ludlow, enjoying a good rest after a hectic travel day. Stay with us a few more days as we see a few more things we missed on the way west. We will finally end up in Flagstaff to close the loop. The Buick has been running flawlessly. Today we climbed out of the Los Angeles basin and up Cajon Pass on old Route 66 and some on I-15. This is a demanding climb and if the Buick was going to vapor lock, it would have done so on this portion of the trip. Not even a burp. Still gettin' our kicks on Route 66. Dan