Dominic_Martinelli

You're only a tiny bit off on the year. It was first published in 1951 and used as the theme to the Buick-Berle Show from '53 to '55.

Hello all. I'm trying to help a friend find a Radiator Outlet (water inlet heater return pipe) GM # 24570500 for a 1992 Buick Skylark 2.3L 4-cyl. The part was a dealer-only item and has been discontinued. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of the actual item, but the item is part #4 on the attached illustration. Please PM me if you can be of assistance. Thank you.

I'm out east, near Irwin in Westmoreland Co.

The closed car in the first and third picture looks like a 1922 to 1925 Ford Model T tudor. The car in the second picture looks like a 1928 or 1929 Ford Model A Fordor.

Poor form Bob. Very poor form. When you should be impressed that your car scored a 398 out of 400 and you learned something you didn't know about your car, you stoop to name calling and intimidation. Your car is absolutely beautiful and you did a great restoration. But no one knows everything about everything, no matter how old they may be. This is the kind of age-ism that keeps younger people out of the club. How often is it that you find a person who knows much about anything that came a generation before they were born. Shame on you for your sour attitude toward someone who tried to make the hobby better.

Do you still have any of the '56 blocks left?

Originally your Special had a rubber mat in the front. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to go to a full carpet. I'd look for a Daytona weave carpet as it is the closest to what was originally used in '57 Buicks. Carpet for a 2-door Century would work just fine.

I can't remember if these are supposed to be painted or left "raw." Any help is appreciated.

There is a vaccum pump built into the oil pump on the '57 and '58 Buicks. Not sure about later. There is also a vaccuum reserve tank usually on the back side of the inner fender near the antenna. I've seen some resto-mod Buicks of this vintage with an electric wiper motor subsituted for the vaccuum motor but the drawback is that you'd lose functionality of the cool wiper switch. I do know that some GM cars of the 80's had an electric vaccuum pump under their hoods. You might be able to locate an old Chevy Celebrity or Pontiac 6000 and pull one of these to use as a secondary vaccuum source. Best of luck!

A few months ago (must have been the fall) my mom and my younger brother said that they saw a car "just like mine but it was pink and white" at the Giant Eagle Supermarket in Irwin, PA. I thought yeah, uh-huh, it was probably a DeSoto or Chevrolet or something. Well, yesterday April 3, lo-and-behold, what is traveling in the opposite direction on Clay Pike, between Irwin (15642) and Herminie (15637) but a 1957 Buick Century 4-door in Shell Beige and Dover White. We were both doing about 40MPH so I couldn't ascertain if it was a Model 63 (hardtop) or a Model 61 (sedan) but it was definately a 1957 Buick Century 4-door, and a pretty one at that! As I own 2 1957 Buick Century Model 63 Riviera Hardtops, I thought it would be cool to meet someone else in the local area who has one too! If anybody has seen this car and knows the owner, feel free to forward my info along to him (it's in the roster) or ask me for it.

It would be neat if Buick could hybrid all their cars and badge them as "Electra." Lacrosse Electra, Lucerne Electra, Enclave Electra?

I went to the auction today at 9:30 AM. Gave the car a thorough checking out. The Electra 225 had the Custom trim and just under 62,000 miles. Original paint, top and upholstery; Black Buick floor mats. Included was a 1973 chassis service manual and original license plate frames. Power windows, power seat, power locks, cruise control, AM-FM, cold AC, possible and probable factory undercoating. Original Guide headlights. Only noticable flaws were mismatched tires front to rear, pitting on rear tail light trims, scuff on the front bumper moulding, shrunken white trim in the bumper moulding, and two 3-inch splits in the driver's side door panel arm rest. Opening bid was 10,000 but quickly dropped to 3,000 and was bid up to 4,000. Winning bidders were a group of kids (aged 19 to 21) looking like members of Jesse James' Monster Garage. One girl said they were going to give it to her dad for Father's Day. I hope the car found a good home but I have a sinking feeling about it. I would have bid it higher but I really didn't want to dump that much money into a car I really don't need.

Wow! These are all great ideas and tips. I knew I could find some great info from you guys. The resourcefulness and inginuity of restorers never ceases to amaze me.

I spotted what looks to be a very nice 1973 Buick Electra 4-door hartop at the Goodwill Auto Auction in Irwin, PA. The car is dark blue with a white vinyl top and white vinyl interior. I didn't study it too long because I was technically tresspassing but it had AM/FM and AC. I can't remember if it had cruise and power locks but I'm pretty sure it had power windows. The auction yard opens at 9:30AM on Tuesday, May 12 and bidding starts at 11:00AM. Opening bid for this car will be a minimum of $250 and a $100 refunable bidders card is required. Here is a link to Goodwill's site giving their info. http://www.goodwillpitt.org/retailServices/auto_auction.jsp This car looks very nice and in need of just a little TLC but not much. I'd buy it but I'd be shot by my family. Hope a BCA member will get it and enjoy it.

It's long past time for me to build a workbench in my 2 car garage. How did you guys build yours? Did you anchor it to the wall, to the floor? Both? Any tips on plans, materials, etcetera would be greatly appreciated.

My half-educated guess would be that the Series 40 fenders had 6 holes drilled in them for the 3 portholes to be mounted whereas the Series 60 fenders had 8. I'm thinking Buick did this to minimize time in the body shops and errors (aligning the holes and drilling them) when these cars were on the road and being bonked into on a fairly regular basis. For my '57, a Special fender was used and 2 more holes were added to it for the 4th Ventiport.

Just as a note. Remember that Studebaker declared bankruptcy in 1933 and emerged from recievership in 1935 and went on to produce cars for another 30 years. Just because GM may declare bankruptcy doesn't mean it's the end of the world, just a change in the world. That being said, what is a real shame is that GM got themselves into this predicament in the first place.

Hopefully this will be of some help. I used Pilkington Classics when I replaced the windshield to my '57 Century a few years back. While it wasn't inexpensive (what is for these cars), it was a perfect duplicate of the original down to the L-O-F logo. Give them a call at 1-800-848-1351. They can even have the date code etched in. Good Luck Adam!

I found these while combing through Craigslist. I hope somebody can put these to good use instead of being scrapped. http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/cto/920656763.html

Is there a part number stamped anywhere on the case? It's possible that this could be an Opel speedometer. It does not look like a 1950's Buick speedometer though.

According to the Buick Master Chassis Parts Book of 1957 there are two different part numbers for the hoods of the 40-60 Series and the 50-70 Series. The part number for the small series cars is 1174731 and the part number for the large series cars is 1174732. I'm pretty certain that the Roadmaster/Super hood is wider than the Century/Special hood. The hood to my '57 Century measures just over 41" at the leading edge of the hood and about 42 1/2" at the cowl.

Why don't you use new floor pans? Classic Fabrication of Surfside Beach, SC makes new floor pans from 18-gauge steel for the 1950-1953 Buicks. Check out their website at classicfabrication.com I don't think there are any differences in floorpans between the Roadmasters and Supers and the additional legnth in wheelbase was usually used up in the front fenders and hood because of the Roadmaster's longer 320 c.i. motor. Also the 4-window sedans seems to be unique to the 1950 models, I have never ever seen a 1953 4-window sedan.

Forgot to mention. There is a $100 core charge. I don't know why exactly, but since I have already pulled all four of my ball joints from my parts car/possible future project, it's not an issue for me.

Would you believe that you can buy new ball joints, uppers and lowers, from AutoZone??? They are made by RareParts Inc. of Stockton, CA and are available at $234 a piece. It's still not cheap, but I'm still glad to know they are only as far away as the local AutoZone parts store.

Curiousity got the best of me and I stopped by the lot. There it was parked right up front at an angle. It looked pretty good, but in the windshield, written in shoe polish were the words "NO BRAKES." Probably not a good idea to drive it home. Also it's a 2-door hardtop, silver in color with a dark grey/black vinyl roof. Somebody please save this car before the scrap guy buys it (he's there every week) or some hick buys it for a derby car.