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Re-posting my '52 Buick Super Convertible


retirednow

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I am re-posting this thread since I had trouble posting photos previously. I picked up this car off of e-Bay last summer after I retired. My late uncle had one just like it (although his might have been a '51). It was really cool when he used to drive us to the beach in it, and it was my first experience w/ power windows at age 6 lol. I have picked up some of the few parts it needs. I already got a NOS radiator splash pan, antenna, jack, ventiports, and a better hood emblem. Will start in the fall w/floor board/trunk pan replacement (having this work done). Body panels except for rockers are solid, as are frame and all mounting brackets. Engine turns over by hand. http://s1329.photobucket.com/user/1952super/library/?sort=3&page=1

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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  • 4 weeks later...

Thanks, now that I figured out how to post some pix, I will be happy to. It will be a LONG journey though, lol. Next pictures will be w/ new floor and trunk pans installed. On another note, I would love to know how many '52 convertibles of any model are still around. About 6,900 super converts were built originally, and i doubt very few are still with us. A lot of them went to the boneyard when the tranny went. I'm going to refinish it in glacier green; the original color was Verde Green (#02) http://www.teambuick.com/reference/years/52/52paint.html

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...

I'm going to attempt to register it later this week before I sink big bucks into it. I would like to find a trunk pan before I send it out in the fall, instead of paying a king's ransom to fabricate one but it's like trying to find ...oh well, you know

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  • 8 months later...

After a somewhat long delay on my part, I am happy to report that I finally, sucessfully, registered it today at NY DMV!! :) (Bought it from out of state on a bill of sale only) Will try to figure out how to put up pix again as Image Cave seems to be no more:(. Floor pan and trunk pan replacement are next! (ps- still looking for a good trunk/floor pan for same) -Dave BCA# 46470 1952 56C

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...

I was wondering if anyone (hopefully Dave Corbin:cool:) could figure out my vin 16606586. I know the first digit (1) indicates a Flint build but am lost as to the rest of the #. The guy I bought it from believed it was manufactured in early 1952. -Dave BCA#46470 1952 56C (still looking for a floor/trunk pan)

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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I was wondering if anyone (hopefully Dave Corbin:cool:) could figure out my vin 16606586. I know the first digit (1) indicates a Flint build but am lost as to the rest of the #. The guy I bought it from believed it was manufactured in early 1952. -Dave BCA#46470 1952 56C (still looking for a floor/trunk pan)

FWIW,

1952 Flint-built Buicks started with a frame or VIN number of 16436001.

1953 Flint-built Buicks started with a frame or VIN number of 16740001.

(Info taken from a 1928-1954 BUICK MASTER CHASSIS PARTS BOOK.)

You do the math.

You could probably interpolate for an approximate guesstimate. . . . . 304,000 assigned numbers/autos built in Flint for 1952 (that is if they used all the numbers and built that many autos, which I doubt) and your Buick VIN number being 170,585 after the starting number . . . . . could put it closer to the midway point (May-June 1952?) for the production year run (November 1951 - October/November 1952?) if all months saw close to average production numbers.

Is Dave Corbin "out of action"? I haven't seen any recent posts from him here on the Buick Forum?

Al Mack

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

Edited by 1953mack (see edit history)
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  • 9 months later...

Picked up a NOS pan that covers the underseat heater motor off of e-bay for a great price. Still looking for a trunk pan. In the meantime, I bought a floor jack and 4- 4 ton jack stands so I can start other jobs on her (cleaning 60 years worth of sludge, getting her running, cleaning up small parts, etc. etc.) I also picked up a shop manual

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Picked up a NOS pan that covers the underseat heater motor off of e-bay for a great price. Still looking for a trunk pan. In the meantime, I bought a floor jack and 4- 4 ton jack stands so I can start other jobs on her (cleaning 60 years worth of sludge, getting her running, cleaning up small parts, etc. etc.)

That's a good start. Looking forward to pics tho :rolleyes:

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Hey John, I'm not too good w/posting pix:confused: I had some on an Image cave account at the top of this thread that disappeared off the face of the earth. I put these on photobucket-hope this works http://s1329.photobucket.com/user/1952super/library/?sort=3&page=1

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Guest Rob McDonald

Posting photos here seems to work best when you don't use a service like Photobucket. When I click on your link, I get a one second glimpse of your car, then the page goes blank. Could be my link to Photobucket - it's been acting oddly for me - but it's pretty easy just to use this site's utility.

1. Copy your photos to your desktop, making sure the they are less than 100K if they're jpg's and less than ?K if they're pdf's. Hmm, there used to be instructions here about file sizes of various formats but it's gone now. Maybe size doesn't matter, after all? :) I recommend saving them as jpg's. That's easy to do on a Mac but I think you need a pretty good copy of Adobe, v.9 or better, if you're saving to a different format and downsizing files on a PC. This is a temporary location, to make them easy to find while you upload. You can delete them from your desktop, once you're done.

2. Top left corner of the Forum page, Hit Post New Thread if you're starting one or hit Reply To Thread if you're already in one. You can also hit Reply With Quote at the bottom right of someone else's post if you want to include all or part of that message.

3. Write your message, then hit Go Advanced. Don't worry if something glitches and you lose your message because these Forums have Auto Back-up now. You can just start again and your saved text will be waiting for you.

4. Scroll down a bit and, under Additional Options and Attachments, hit Manage Attachments.

5. Top right corner, beside the cross in the green circle, hit Add Files and then Select Files.

6. Pick the files you want from your desktop and hit Open.

7. Hit Upload Files, pause while it does its thing, and then in the bottom right corner, hit Done.

8. In the bottom right corner of the next screen, hit Preview Post to make sure you've got everything you want, and then hit Submit Reply.

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Well I dug in today for the first time in the engine compartment. I pulled the air cleaner and valve cover. The air cleaner looked like new and actually had some clean oil in it. Under the valve cover, the valve train looked great as well, with hardly any sludge at all. Outside of the engine was a different matter-really dirty. Cleaned the passenger side of the engine today. No camera here presently. I'll take some pix later and TRY to post them.

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Guest shadetree77

Dave, I'm assuming you're working with Windows here so disregard if you have an Apple.

1. Open the "Paint" program, go to "File", "Open"

2. Then find the picture on your computer. Click on it to open it up in Paint

3. Click on "Re-size". You might have to hunt around for the "Re-size" option because it is in different locations on different versions of Paint.

4. There should be a place in the box that pops up for you to re-size the photo based on pixels. Make sure "pixels" is selected and not "percentage". Should be two boxes with numbers. One for length and one for width. Change both numbers to 2000(or 1500 if you want them a little smaller). Then click "OK". Make sure you save the picture after this and then close Paint.

It should now upload to the forum. If that doesn't work, you are more than welcome to email them to me and I can re-size them and post them for you: shadetree77@yahoo.com

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Photo 1- Air cleaner like new Photo 2 - Inside of valve cover Photo 3- NOS radiator splash pan installed Photos 4 and 6 -Valve train pretty clean! (this is how it looked after removing valve cover-no cleaning yet) Photo 5 - remains of old radiator splash pan (about what the floor and trunk pans look like)

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Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Guest shadetree77

Glad I was able to help Dave. Thanks for the photos. Photo 5 above looks like swiss cheese! I'm surprised it didn't crumble in your hands during removal. Glad you were able to find a NOS replacement. Mine had a few rough edges but no rust through. I coated it in Chassis Saver(similar to POR-15).

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Did some cleaning on the valve train today and after much huffing and puffing, removed rotted passenger side bumper bullet. Am going back out now to do some more part removal/scraping. Pictures 1 through 3- having car legally registered to me was critical, as I purchased it from out of state (Va.) on a bill of sale only (note the cheesy plates that NY is issuing now-not even embossed!) Picture 4-valve train looking better Picture 5- old bullet w/ nice re-chromed one that came with car.

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Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Guest shadetree77

Wow. That old bullet was toast! I guess it's a common thing for the plates not to be embossed now. Georgia now has plates that are not embossed. They look cheap to me(probably because they are!). Anything to save a buck I guess. Does New York have the thing where you can use a vintage plate on your vehicle if it's the same year of manufacture as your vehicle?

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Yes, they have the vintage plate thing. I am going to turn these plates in next month, as car is not inspected. They served their purpose, allowing me legal ownership. Might go the vintage plate route when the time comes

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Dave,That picture of the nice hood emblem on your hood reminds me of the scene in Christine when the old guy (Robert Prosky) says about the kid (Christine's owner): "That boy put new wiper blades on a busted windshield!";)That is pretty nice that the engine internals look so clean.

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Good one Mike! Great movie, but should have had a Buick instead of a Plymouth. Was encouraged about the valve train, wonder if I'll have to drop the oil pan although I think I will just to play it safe.

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If it hasn't run in a while, you definitely should drop the pan, make sure there are no engine parts or critters living in the screen. Look for Buick Man's advice on flushing an old engine. What are your plans for the car? Full resto or fix and drive?

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Hey Dave, Glad to see you are getting into this sweet car. Are you thinking of coming up to Rhinebeck this weekend? Never know what parts will show up for a Buick there. If you do come up on Sunday look for the Buick Club class parking ( class BC1) right in front of the grandstands. I expect to have my GS there this year along with a bunch of other Buick guys, including some from the Lower Hudson Valley Chapter.

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Guest shadetree77

Do yourself a huge favor and drop the pan! Save yourself future anguish from a clogged oiling system. While you're under there you can clean out the entire crankcase and the crankshaft itself. I also recommend dropping the trans. pan and checking the filter.

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Thanks guys, guess I'll drop the pan. The last time the car was started was 13 years ago. At that time the previous owner changed the oil and tranny fluid. I want to do a driver quality restoration.

If it hasn't run in a while, you definitely should drop the pan, make sure there are no engine parts or critters living in the screen. Look for Buick Man's advice on flushing an old engine. What are your plans for the car? Full resto or fix and drive?
Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Glad I'm finally working on it! I have a lot of bbq'n (my other hobby) to do for my step-daughters' birthday, so I wont make Rhinebeck

Hey Dave, Glad to see you are getting into this sweet car. Are you thinking of coming up to Rhinebeck this weekend? Never know what parts will show up for a Buick there. If you do come up on Sunday look for the Buick Club class parking ( class BC1) right in front of the grandstands. I expect to have my GS there this year along with a bunch of other Buick guys, including some from the Lower Hudson Valley Chapter.
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  • 1 month later...

Photos 1, 3, and 5-pass. side fender and wheelwell off. Photo 2-Some of the fender to cowl bolts were a B*&^% to get at, even after popping off the pump motor reservoir (fastener was turning, had to get a small vise grip up there) . Photo 4-I actually like the original color, visible after removing the headlight bucket-Verde Green

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Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Guest shadetree77
....even after popping off the pump motor reservoir.

So that's the hydraulic pump that works the power windows? Interesting. I've never seen pictures of one. Thanks for posting.

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