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Bringing Dad's 1951 Roadmaster Back!


Guest timinbovey

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Guest timinbovey

We've made the decision to try to save Dad's Buick Roadmaster. Dad bought this car brand new in 1951, and still owns it! The car stopped being driven in 1966. Dad had given it to his Dad (my grandpa) to use and when Grandpa died in '66, the car sat parked in Grandma's garage. During this time an uncle kept tabs on the car, drove it occasionally, and we used to drive it occasionally when we would visit Grandma. After Grandma passed on in '77, Dad eventually wound up getting the car back. Having no place to put it, he rented space from a "car guy" with a huge garage. It sat there for several years until THAT guy moved, and the car got moved again, to a lesser quality building with a dirt floor. It sat here since sometime in the mid 80's until now. Dad, although a big Buick fan, who will tell you that this is the best car to EVER be on the road, is not a "car guy" He doesn't fix them, doesn't maintain them himself, etc. However, he's a big fan of waxing and polishing. The guy who had it in storage for us until now lost his home and outbuildings to foreclosure, his wife died, and he was diagnosed with cancer (this all in the last year) so he put the car in a friends garage until now, when it's been moved outside. The attached photo was taken where it was last stored in 2004. That's Dad, Me, and my Son. Dad is 84 now, doesn't drive, but still loves the car. My boy and I still are very attached to the car. heck, I used to get rides to church in it when I was a little kid, I used to sit in it and play driving in my Grandma's garage after it was parked after Grandpa passed. Anyway, we're making arrangements to get it moved about 200 miles from where it is, to where we live now. My son has turned into quite the mechanic, and we have garage space available. So, we're gonna see what we can do. We have no idea the status of the car. The photo you see is the last time we saw it, and that was 8 years ago. Having worked on a lot of old cars over the years we pretty much know what we're in for. We're going to get to have a closer look at it next weekend, then will be working on getting it moved up here. I've got a few slides of when it was new that Dad took in '51 that I'll scan and upload later. Quite amusing! My parents dated in this car, and took their honeymoon in this car!

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That is a cool story!

Mine is similar but without as much history. I am currently restoring a triple black 1964 Buick Electra convertible that my father bought new. Mine is not nearly as nice of condition as yours as it sat outside for many years before I got it.

I am looking forward to watching this tread and seeing what you are starting with and the process of getting it where you want it.

Cheers,

Larry

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Guest timinbovey

Few slides of the car in it's glory days. Mom and Dad leaving on their honeymoon, the Buick parked at my Mom's family cabin (that's Mom on the right) and umm... yeah....Mom on the Buick!

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. . . . . Where about are you located? . . . . .

See Post #3, Pic #1 . . . . .

The cabin, lake, and license plates are a dead giveaway. They're all in MINNESOTA, LAND OF 10,000 LAKES, somewhere "up North" from me (Bovey, MN?). Note that Minnesotans call them cabins, not COTTAGES (like people from Michigan and other places call them).

Al Mack

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

Edited by 1953mack (see edit history)
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Guest ewing

great looking car, and still looks to be in fine condition. Don't see a lot of rust, at least from the top side!

And I see the same spotlight rear view mirror on the driver side now as in the picture from its glory days.

What a great car, and would be nice to get it back on the road as an original survivor! ( the paint looks good enough with just a spot of wear/ thinning on the roof from what I see in the pictures)

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Guest timinbovey

We did get a chance to look over the '51 this past weekend. Seems to be in much better shape than I was expecting. Seems mostly solid, and everything seems to be there, including Dad's accessories like the extra horn, spotlight, steering wheel knob, etc. Even found the owners manual. Now we've trying to find someone who can transport the car about 200 miles from where it is now, to where we live so we can work on it. Once we get it home I'll update as to the status. I didn't get a chance to find out if the engine is frozen, fan belt was broken and I had no way to attempt to turn the crank at all. Three of the 4 tires actually hold air, the last holds enough to get it on a trailer. Actually has 5 matching hubcaps, and even a carefully folded spare pair of pants in the trunk! Along with a set of old, used Champion J-11 sparkplugs. Hopefully my attemps to add updated pictures worked!

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Guest timinbovey

I have no idea why some of those pictures are upside down! They were OK in my computer! Yeesh.

timinbovey

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Guest Rob McDonald

Great old car and so precious to know the history from day one. Don't worry about the inverted photos - our Ozzy and Kiwi friends will appreciate them. Say, does your hot mom have a sister...?

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Posts like this really brighten up a day. Thanks so much for sharing the story and great photos. It looks like you have an excellent car to start with. With all the sentimental value its definitely worth pursuing no question about that.

Try posting in the Garages, Trailering and Towing section under Towing needed for someone to move the car. It'd be best if the tow person hade some experience with these cars.

Best of Luck moving forward

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Guest ewing

your 52 has an interesting side sweep-spear. At the back door it curves back to the fron of the car like a 52, and, also has a horizontal extension that runs out over the rear wheel well... like a 51.

Question for the 51/52 experts, is this an early 52 using the 51 side sweep spear trim?

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Guest timinbovey
your 52 has an interesting side sweep-spear. At the back door it curves back to the fron of the car like a 52, and, also has a horizontal extension that runs out over the rear wheel well... like a 51.

Question for the 51/52 experts, is this an early 52 using the 51 side sweep spear trim?

Maybe because this IS a '51?

timinbovey

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It does have some interesting conundrums. The trunk handle is on the bottom of the trunk lid as was '51. The '52 is mounted near the top of the trunk lid. The front bumper guards are '51. The '52s wrap around the bumper a little more. It has the '52 fins on the back fenders. Back fenders changed at sometime?? A look at the data plate on the cowl will answer any questions. An absolutly beautiful machine. I am envious.

Ben

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Guest shadetree77

Hmmm...this is an interesting and beautiful car. In answer to John's (ewing) question above, after looking at some of my brochures, this is most likely a Roadmaster Riviera Model 72R (I'll include the brochure page). I didn't know this before now, but some of the Roadmaster models side trim DID sweep back toward the front like on a '52. Check it out near the bottom of the brochure page. BUT, to my knowledge no '51 ever had the fins on the fenders. Maybe they were added at some point like Ben said? You can see them in the old picture above (the one with Mom on the front fender). I don't know how possible that would be as far as parts fitting but I also don't see how '52 fins ended up on what is clearly a '51. Timinbovey, do you have any idea how those fins from a '52 made it onto your Dad's '51? Might be an interesting story here somewhere.

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Guest timinbovey

Hmm.... well I'm certainly NOT a Buick expert! Still waiting to find someone to transport the car from down by St. Paul to up here in northern MN. But ALL the documentation says it's '51 -- title, service receipts, notes on old slides, etc. I did find a photo of what's described as a '51 Roadmaster Convertible with those fins on it, and a limo too, that I'll try to add in here. Any chance a dealer would have added them? I'll ask Dad later today but I can't imagine him spending the dough to have that done, and he certainly wouldn't have done it himself. Hmmmm indeed!

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Guest shadetree77

There's no question that your car is a '51. That convertible in your post is also a '51. Not sure about the limo though, its got trim from a '52 on it. Anyway, I guess it's possible that dealers started slapping those fins on the leftover '51's near the end of the year to push the sales up. I would imagine they would be pretty easy to install. I've had mine off before and all you would have to do is mark and drill some holes. Maybe somebody will come along here shortly that's heard of this phenomenon before. I'm also interested to hear what your Dad says. I love discovering and learning about little quirks like this.

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Guest timinbovey

Asked Dad about the car today. He says the only things he added after purchase were the extra horn and the steering knob. His Dad (my grandpa) added a home made "emergency kit" that's mounted in the trunk to the right of the spare with a gas can, etc. Dad let Grandpa and Grandma (his folks) use the car to drive to the New York Worlds Fair in 1964. Dad has a huge collection of family home movies, and it only took him about 3 minutes to find the reel with him driving the '51 into the driveway right after he bought it, and the chrome is there on the rear fenders in the movies. He bought it brand new, trading in his less than a year old Studebaker Champion, which he says was always breaking down and "didn't have enough to drive over a 2 by 4 on the garage floor". He says he "went into Schwanberg and Scheefe and told them the Studebaker was a pile of junk and he wanted them to sell him a REAL car". They showed him the Roadmaster and he said "I'll take it!" and that was that. Somewhere around here we have a black and white snapshot of the Studebaker broken down on the side or the road, hood up -- as I recall somewhere on the highway on a trip on South Dakota. Also, my Dad had the '51, and his twin brother and Grandpa had 1949 Buicks, and somewhere around here I have a slide of all three parked in a row in the front yard of my Grandparents house. I'll have to look around and see if I can find that. All these slides took on new meaning after we've decided to get the Buick back on the road.

STILL trying to find someone to trailer it from St. Paul about 200 miles to here.

AND, where are people buying tires? Gotta have the wide whites of course, but can't they be had for under $200 each? That's about the only price I'm finding no matter the brand/dealer.

Tim in Bovey

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Dad has a huge collection of family home movies, and it only took him about 3 minutes to find the reel with him driving the '51 into the driveway right after he bought it, and the chrome is there on the rear fenders in the movies.

THAT is bad-a$$. Get those puppies transfered to digital and post them so we can see!

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Tires: you are going to get to pay$$$.

Coker tire has L78-15 tires for $169 in 3 or 4 inch white. These would not be correct for judging, but would look good and give good service. If you drive more than 5,000 miles a year consider radials such as those from Coker tire or Diamondback. If you get radials, they will not be correct for judging either. Also ask for the date code on each tire before they are sent...you don't want tires more than 6 months old.

Willie

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Guest ewing

When I see the chrome on top of the rear fenders I see a 52 Buick. I see its posted as 51 Buick . I agree the data plate info will be interesting.

I know that dealers often added paint , and maybe trim to cars at the dealership, whether to a customer's order, or maybe in this case to make the 'old' model year, 51 look trendy and current with the new 52s. The next model year often arrived on the showroom floors before all the prior year models were sold... who knows... maybe the dealer installed the rear fender top trim to add some showroom sparkle.

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Some other differences between a '51 and '52- a '52 has a "squared off" deck lid and a '51 is more rounded. Also a '52 has 19 grille teeth (including the 2 "baby teeth" at the ends) and a '51 has more ( I'm not sure how many as I don't have a '51 lol) -Dave BCA#46470 1952 56C

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Guest timinbovey

Found a couple more slides from back in the first days of Dad's '51. Here's a shot from on their honeymoon, and one taken in front of my folk's first house.

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Also, if all the stars align properly, the car should actually BE here by the end of the day! Found a guy who can move it for us, who actually lives not far away, is familiar with where we live AND where the car is. So hopefully during the coming week I'll be able to share a lot more information on the status of the car. It's gotta go into a single car garage, but it's big enough to have a workbench at the front and on one side -- not quite as small as a typical 50's era single, and it's going to have to do. It's actually a three car garage, but has three separate stalls, two with no wall between, and this one separate from the other two, but this one has the good lighting and workbenches, so that's where she's going. Pictures of arrival later this week I hope.

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STILL trying to find someone to trailer it from St. Paul about 200 miles to here.

At 200 miles I would contract on a local rollback to do the job. If you find one interested ask for a quote. I would think $2.00/mile is more than reasonable. That is $800.00. I will tell you my straight trucks need to be in the $1.50/mile range to make a profit. You should be in the $600.00 range for transport. I contracted on a rollback in VA to transport my Buick. 200 mile round trip. $350.00.

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Guest Rob McDonald

TIM, those latest pictures are priceless! If you don't restore this car and share it with the world, your family will have my permission to disown you. That's a real piece of North American history there, please treasure it.

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Guest timinbovey

NASA may have landed a rover on Mars last night, but we landed a Roadmaster in the garage! Was contacted by a fella who saw my post in the trailering section of this forum on Friday who said he could do it this weekend, told me he'd see me Sunday evening, and he did. He made contact with the fella who had been storing the car for years down by St. Paul, arranged for pickup safely loaded the car early Sunday, and arrived here dinner time. Car had a flat and his air pup unit was kaput, so they loaded it with the flat (it was parked on grass). We put on the 1950's era wide white BALD spare tire when they got here, roller her off the trailer, and with one of the fellas driving, me, my Wife, and three members of the college football team who live next door, we managed to put it into the garage, perfectly centered, right where I want it to work on it. Dad and Mom (it's in one of their garages, they live next door to us now) were so excited to see it. Dad hadn't seen it since 8 years ago parked on 4 flats in a barn, and Mom I don't think had seen it for over 30 years. Dad just kept saying "I can't believe it's here" and Mom kept exclaiming how "It's not the big pile of rust I was expecting!" the car is amazingly solid. Much better than I was expecting as well. The bod is solid. There's no rust out in the usual places on the fenders. Bang on these fenders and they're solid steel! The frame is rock solid. Inside the headliner is perfect. And it turns out that it looks like the original Buick upholstery has been covered by seat covers all these years (pictures coming in next post -- this is a two-parter). Windows, doors, locks, key all work fine. Dad is so thrilled to think this car may drive again! Pics below -- trailer delivery, and Mom and Pop with their honeymoon car! They were pretty emotional, and I was over the moon about it's safe arrival. Coming up, some underhood shots, and data plate.

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Guest timinbovey

Today I had a chance to finally look at the car a bit from a mechanical point of view -- past the amazing wonderment of it actually being here! Near as I can tell, it's all here, complete, as it was when last on the road (1970). My first concern was to find out if the engine was frozen (stuck, seized, whatever phrase you like) so I decided to pull the plugs, planning to quirt some oil, and try to turn the crankshaft with a breaker bar. The plugs are relatively new -- a good sign I figured. Can't remember the number off hand... Champion something, with an 18 in the number.. anyway. The plugs were snug but not tightened to what I would consider driving torque. Upon removal some were oily! Like, with clean motor oil! After removal, I took a deep breath, put the breaker bar on the crank and it moved! Smoothly and readily, with no forcing! It appeared to me that the folks in charge of storing it all these years must have been oiling the cylinders every so often, taking into account the oily plugs!

As I started checking out other things I discovered what to me looks like a pretty old electric fuel pump. No fuel lines connected to this or the original pump still in place. The inlet side went to a long clear plastic hose, and the line to the carb was nearby. So I'm guessing at some point the caretakers started it up, and perhaps the original pump died and they went electric, and it was easier to run it off a fuel can? I have no real idea -- obviously further investigation will be in order as the tank I'm sure is cruddy, and the line from the tank could have issues, etc.

So, what I'm thinking is to order a new original style fuel pump for it. It's not really necessary to switch to electric, is it? After all, they drove this beast all over the country with no issues for years with the original design, right? Anyway, that's what I'm thinking. I don't know if the original pump died or they just made it easier to start occasionally with the electric or what. But I'd like to start off with a fresh new fuel pump anyway. As you can see in the photo, it's not exactly "installed" but just shoved in there and I'm guessing that the bracket it's bolted to doesn't belong in the car, right?

You can see one of the hood latches - nearest the firewall on the passenger side - is no longer mounted -- haven't figured exactly what's supposed to be holding that in place, but I'll investigate after I find the flashlight!

Data plate photo attached too. Translators welcome.

Also, my Wife discovered that it appears that the seats are seat COVERS and the original Buick upholstery is under them and probably never sat on, as we all remember the car with these seats, but the original velour is underneath and looks like new. Will the original stuff hold up to use now? Obviously, too, all these photos are before we've attempted to clean up the car at all. This is pretty much as it left storage, except for taking out about about 100 dryer sheets tossed in to keep critters away.

My next plans are to pick up a battery and see if she cranks over (no ignition wired, no plugs, etc and plenty of fresh oil squirted in the cylinders). Passing that test I'm going to order a fuel pump (Do I go with Kanter or Bob's? I bought a LOT of parts from Kanter back in my Edsel and Hudson days with no issues) or might my FLAPS have one? Then I'm going to put her up on a set of truck jack stands, pull the tires and get to work on the brakes. The rear brake drum on the passenger side had to be cut off to get the car to roll -- they tell me it was pretty well stuck to the insides and couldn't be persuaded to turn, so there's no drum on that wheel, and besides doing the entire brake system is of paramount importance anyway.

You can see the windshield has a couple vertical cracks, so I'll be needing one. Any reproducing them or should I start the salvage search?

It's going to be another big automotive adventure. My ace mechanic -- my Son Ryan, got married and moved away so now I'm going to have to do all the dirty work myself again (or wait till he comes to visit). He's one of those guys that can rebuild anything and once he starts on a project he doesn't stop till he's done. Kinda scary to go into the project without him around! However I did order him a shop manual too, so he has one on hand when I must consult.

timinbovey

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Glad to hear the car is home!! Some windshields available on e-Bay 1950 1951 1952 1953 BUICK,CADILLAC, CONVERTIBLE & HARDTOP WINDSHIELD GLASS | eBay Here's another http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950-53-BUICK-WINDSHIELD-CLASSIC-AUTO-GLASS-VINTAGE-/250895432886?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1951%7CMake%3ABuick&hash=item3a6a887cb6&vxp=mtr Don't know anything about these companies, just posted to show that stuff is out there. -Dave BCA#46470 1952 56C

Edited by retirednow (see edit history)
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Guest Rob McDonald

Wow, what a great day in Bovey! That's Minnesota, right? Those are two mighty happy looking old newlyweds. Plenty of memories being rekindled, for sure, especially with you having lately gone through their old slides and home movies.

Please, please just get this great old car running well again and share it with your parents - and your kids - while you can all still enjoy the experience. The temptation to tear off the front clip or, more radically, remove the body from the frame, to really get in there, can wait. Spend your "garage time" digitizing the family images and grilling you mom and dad for all the stories that go with the pictures.

The Buick has proven that it will wait for your attention but old people can't guarantee that.

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