Manitoba McLaughlin-Buicks and More

I've had a couple threads in here about a couple of my cars as individuals, but after spending some time with 3 of them in storage today (patiently awaiting my restoration attention), I thought I should put up a little bit here with all of them.

So, to respect our elders, let's start with the oldest. This is a 1929 McLaughlin-Buick model 51. We purchased it in 2005 from an estate. We got a little lucky as a higher offer had been made, but since we were there with the cheque book and would keep the Canadian car in Canada, the family agreed to sell it to us.

Then there was the excitement of a new addition to our family just this past May - a 1941 Special model 41SE. The family had been trying to sell this car for a while, listing it on eBay last year and then again this spring. With the latest auction though, BCA Pre-War Division chair noticed it was in my neck of the woods and sent me an e-mail. I had no intention of purchasing a seventh old Buick, but the fastback or torpedo or jetback styling appealed to Suzanne and I. Besides, we didn't have one from the '40s yet. We managed to get a trailer from another local old car buff and hauled it out to the National Meet in Seattle this July where it managed a bronze award thanks to it being a very original car.

In 2002, a local car buff mentioned there was a Roadmaster for sale in a lot here in the city. As it turns out, it was just around the corner from where I was working at the time, so I took a look. After mentioning it to Suzanne, she wanted to see it...we wound up bringing it home. Unlike most of my projects, I have driven this car. Unfortunately, it didn't want to start today, which would have made moving it a bit easier.

In 2001, I was involved with the local car club executive and was getting ribbed about not having a club car at any events...around my birthday, I was looking at a "running" 1956 Special in Alberta on ePay. Suzanne told me to either buy the car or put an equal amount of money into the car account...I should have put the money in the account. After eventually hauling it home, it wasn't even getting fuel (so how could that be a running car?). A rebuilt fuel pump later, the car would start, but only at WOT for up to maybe a minute before fuel starvation. The car went into storage and was brought home this summer with the intent to at least get it running, then hopefully it will be easier to sell.

When we got married, Suzanne told me the old car hobby was fine, so long as the next one was a convertible. An ad in the local club's newsletter led me to this 1961 Invicta convertible. Suzanne couldn't go down the road with the wind in her hair, but I'd kept my word to her. I really like this body style and really hate to see it sit and wait for me to be able to begin restoration.

In the fall of 2002, I made another mistake purchase on ePay. This time, it was for a 1962 Special convertible in Kansas that had been hit from behind, but again was a "running" car. Three thousand dollars for a marginal engine rebuild (shop is now out of business if that says anything), and another ten thousand for the body and mechanical work to get it on the road in late October, just in time to put it away for the winter, I had a sort of driving car. Since then, the carb has been rebuilt repeatedly to get it to where it is approaching what it should be. There has been a passel of other work, some of it to repair issues created by the first shop and the engine rebuilder. This car did receive a Driven Award at the 2006 National Meet in Rochester, MN (about 1100 mile round trip). Oh yeah, this car has the 198 ci V6.

That brings us to the last, and first, car. When I was in university, one of my friends was into GTOs and 442s...he got me into the hobby by helping me to acquire a Javelin. Eventually I got tired of that and in 2003, saw a complete 1966 Buick Wildcat in a wrecking yard. I would up selling the Javelin so I could afford the Wildcat and it came home around the time I met Suzanne. The car had a bit of attention early on, but I had neither the time nor the money to really do much. A decision was made to drive it to Rochester in 2006, so into the shop it went in fall of 2005. In January, with a fresh motor, the car went to the body shop...it came out in the spring to head back to the mechanical shop for a few tweaks. I put on miles just driving so I could get the first oil change in before driving down to Rochester. It too received a 2006 Driven Award. We've been continuing to tweak, including interior work, since then and I'm hoping to have it judged in the relatively near future. This car was my first Buick and I still really like it.

I'm not going to state that the collection is complete, especially after giving a once-over to a '59 LeSabre today, but for now, that is all.