1941 McLaughlin Buick Roadmaster

Really nice looking car there Keith! Simply beautiful colors.

I haven't updated this thread for a while, so here's the story about fixing my gas guage. It has never worked since I put the car back together, it has always read "Full" all the time. Classic bad ground case, one would think, right?

So, since I do tour with this car a fair bit, I decided that I would figure this issue out, as its' nice the have a working gas guage while onroute.

I ran an extra ground line to the tank, and then the unit itself, all to no avail. The clue came when I took the hot wire off the tank unit to check for voltage, and there wasn't any! I wish I'd done that first. The harness is all a new repro by Harnesses Unlimited, and has been perfect, but there's always the chance of an issue, so I wanted to verify that. Next, I pulled the dash panel out, for better access to the wiring, and the harness line checked out, and there was power to the gauge itself, so I removed the gauge unit to have a close look at it, and low and behold, a tiny wire to one of the coils was corroded through.

I have a few spare gauges, but not a gas gauge, so I decided to try to repair it. I have a very small soldering iron that is suitable for this type of work, but the biggest issue I was concerned about, was whether or not I would have enough sound wire to work with. Before going any further, I checked out the coil itself, and it was fine, as were the pointer mechanics of the gauge. I did not have any wire that was anywhere thin enough, so I stripped out some regular No.16 and used a single strand of it, about 1/2" long. Some very careful soldering later, it looked good. It all checked out with the voltmeter, so I reassembled the dash, and PRESTO! A working gas gauge on my car for the first time in many years!

It seems to be working fairly accurately also.

Keith

Way to go! Sure makes a fellow feel good to accomplish something like that, does it not.

Ben

That's good work Keith. What could have caused something like that to happen? Electrical surge?

John;

It seemed to be corrosion related. I know that its' not common for an under dash component to corrod, esp. on a coupe, but I don't knpw if it was a guage original to the car or not. Also, a surplus of flux when soldering will lead to corrosion later on, and these wires are so very fine it won't take much to eat them through.

Keith

I kind of got behind on updates to this thread, here are a few pictures of the vintage boats that were the main event near where the vintage Buicks were. A bit of background for you folks also. This region is known as the Muskoka's, a group of very scenic lakes that were populated in the 19th century as a resort, by many Americans as well as Canadians for the scenery, boating, fishing, and swimming that were available. This was during the boom age for the railroads, so people took the train to the docks, then large steamboats took them to cottages and resorts throughout the lakes. By the 20th century, many of the wealthier ones wanted there own boats, so a boat building industry started catering to this demand, names such as Minett, Ditchburn, Grevette, etc., were common local builders. As the 20 century progressed roads were extended making the need for the large steamboat unnecessary, but of course people still had their own smaller boats.

Many of these boats that were build in the early 20th century are still in use, as restored boats on these lakes.

I've posted a few pictures. I hope that I will be forgiven for posting boat pictures on a car forum!

Keith

The large steamship in the background behind my car is the Seguin, built in the 1880's, restored and still coal steam powered, now gives tours of the lakes.

Those boats are so cool! If it wasn't for their limited application, I'd like to own one.

John, they are truly lovely, the dark launch in the photo on the right is one of my favs, which is a Ditchburn, and a very decadent boat. I missed a good shot of it coming along the lake, shortly before I took the one I posted, with the gentleman driving it wearing his straw hat, which is called a "boater". But the look of such a large, sleek craft piloted by one well dressed man is very neat. They are like a Buick, a very nice riding boat, but we could buy a number of nice Buicks for the cost of one of those Ditchburns!

Keith

Again some more catch up about a few repairs to my '41. At the same time my gas guage wasn't working, the trip odometer stopped working too. This made it tough to decide when it needed filling, as I'd zero it at the gas station and base the need for more fuel on the distance travelled.

Anyway, I had a couple of spare speedometer heads, that were kind of ugly, and I took one apart to see how they worked, then took the one in the car out. The mileage counter is a very clever little device, using small gears and cams that advance the numbers, well, it seemed like part of this little plastic part (bakelight maybe?) broke off, and then just couldn't advance it to the next mile.

So, I took it off one of the spare heads, and carefully put it all back together, and lo and behold, it worked again. This took waaaay longer to do than to write about it!

Keith

Cool thread, and super cool boats. SOME of our cars are limited to USE tooooooooo, Lol.

I have a 1950's 19-foor cabin cruiser that I started building a few years ago, have all the frames finished in Mahogany, and epoxy coated. Also have all the 7-ply plywood for the outer first layer, and have a lot of the Mahogany I planned on strips for the covering, but it's the only project I didn't/haven't finished. Maybe someday, maybe. It's a clone of a Sea Knight.

Dale in Indy

Agreed Dale, some cars are limited in use. But that's not due to where one can use them.

I used to want a boat when I was younger. But over time I managed to get on some and learned a few things. Like, if it's a PIA to transport from lake to lake, you better have one big lake to park it in. Cause it may seem like fun at first but if you can only go to the same places and pass the same stuff each time to get there, then it becomes routine, kinda like going to work, or the grocery store. Mindless activity where the ride is a convenience only, and not an adventure.

Even so, would like to see pictures of the Cabin Cruiser. Are you putting the Limited's straight 8 in it for power?

I will find couple pic's of the boat and post, maybe tonight.

Might tell you of my freak event yesterday, fine today, NOT so nice then.

Dale in Indy

Here is the frame work, will send picture of the boat I was/am cloning in a few, I don't know how to load from two different folders, DUMMY ME.

I have a 70's 75 H.P. like new motor for it, bought from original owner, with very few hours on it.

Dale in Indy

Here is the 21' boat I was/am cloning, only mine will be narrow strips of Mahogany poly coated.

Dale in Indy

That is a huge project! It's gonna be a beaut when you're done. Don't want to hijack Keith's thread but wondering what's the scoop on the freak event?

I'm a big fan of 41 Buick's, Dad loved them too, he worked with Buick for 60 years. Often bought wrecked ones, then in our basement garage repaired them. He was so happy that I grew to love them too.

Sorry if I distracted anyone with my last couple posts, I too like this thread.

With that said, here is what FREAK thing happened to me Saturday.

Our grandson, (8) is in Taekwondo, Saturday was a competition, bride and I arrived at the event around 10 AM. Seating is always full, found four seats, so sat down in Oak wooden folding chairs. I remember the show was just starting, the next thing I recall is I'm on the floor with several people around me. Our daughter-in-law had been setting beside me, she and others since have told me that my chair broke, I fell straight down, but then back and hit my head on the concrete floor. I was out for approx. 3 minutes, seems a female competitor there competing is a doctor, she took charge as I have been told. Since I was out cold, and not responding they had called for outside help. I was laying on the broken chair, at some point they lifted me off of it, and onto the floor. They also put a cold wet cloth on my head.

When the help arrived I was awake, but still very confused. At some point they decided to put me in a soft chair, I was taken to the hospital, scan of head showed no brain bleeding, YES I HAVE A BRAIN. After a few hours I was told I could leave, but not to drive or work for at least 24 hours. I have a sore tail bone, small finger hurts, as does my right arm, but I'M OK......

The strange part is that last week our church asked me to design and install a back board on the choir portable stage, seems someone recently had push his chair to far back and down he went. Friday I cut, drilled and counter sunk holes in wood for such a guard, and Saturday after the competition had planned on installing, that didn't happen. I did finish the install yesterday. I saw the chair as I was leaving, not close, but saw it. They said the two back legs broke, and down I went.

Funny now, NOT so funny Sat. Lol. No law suit is planned, not my way of living, they were so sorry it happened. A competitor (female) approx. 8-10 who I don't know came over and hugged me as I sat in the soft chair. I'm 77+, maybe I reminded her of her grandpa, but thought that was so sweet. Others around me said so too, see there are lots of lovely young ones out there.

Dale in Indy

 I have not posted on this thread for a while, but I got a set of the bumper accessories usually called Elephant Ears the Allentown, and just got them back from being re plated.

 Here's a couple of pictures of them on the front. Anyone know the correct, ie. Buick name for these?

 Keith

Also, on a completely different subject, has anyone used a Pertronix ignition unit on these 41-47 Buicks with the armoured positive lead which runs from the ignition switch to the base of the coil?

 Thanks.

 Keith

Tinkering with the '41 this evening. Now I know its Fall, I turned the heat on in the garage for the first time today! Cold and blustery, though sunny all day. A few repairs on the old girl.

I noticed that the master cylinder was leaking, and it seems that the cup seal that goes over the front split on the bottom and moisture got in and caused quite a bit of corrosion in front of the cylinder bore, so it is now at a shop to get sleeved with stainless.

 Also, I am finally getting the rear "Elephant Ears" on. The plating shop didn't properly protect one of the mounting studs on each one, so I had to use a dye and recut the threads.

 I have one last tour this fall, but its' mid week, that is the only time the gentleman has available to open up his warehouse of cars and other collectibles. The weather looks cool, but dry and sunny, so I am hoping to drive one of the cars, perhaps the '41 if I get it fixed in time.

 Keith

PS Dale, What happened to that boat?

I hear you on the change of weather Keith! Our hot desert like summer conditions are long gone!

Wondering, by chance did you have the plating done in Cambridge?

I like the look on the car and from the pictures, I would be happy with the finish. 

The chrome is a combination of original NOS, (not replated), a few original pieces, and replated parts. I used a small shop in the East end of Toronto, Mayfair Plating, for most of the plating. The hood pulls were done by Cambridge. The steel parts, ie bumpers and associated items have all been replated, and some of the pot metal, but most of that is either NOS or original. I am quite happy with the quality (Mayfair) of their work, and the odd piece I was unhappy with, they redid without argument. Earlier in this thread I showed pictures of the turn signal lever, they plated the original but it did not turn out well, so I remanufactured it in brass on my lathe, and they redid the replacement at no cost.

 The front turn signal housings are interesting. One is a perfect NOS, which was still in the Buick box when I got it. The other side is a used piece, but I don't think that I have ever seen used chrome that old, that good. Nearly impossible to tell apart from the NOS one.

 If we get together again sometime you may take a good look at the car. The paint is not as good as it looks in the pictures I'd say, a nice driver quality, but it has also picked up a few chips and marks too.

 Keith

12 hours ago, Buicknutty said:

The paint is not as good as it looks in the pictures I'd say, a nice driver quality, but it has also picked up a few chips and marks too.

Inevitable!  And enviable!!!! 

Here is a picture that a friend of mine emailed me of my '41 that was taken in the early 70's I believe. His Dad did some service on the car from time to time. and they have a few vintage pictures of it.

Keith

That is such great provenance Keith! 

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm at the age now when bits and pieces sometimes get mixed ), when we met on your club tour to our Museum, did you say the car came from the Barrie area? 

Doug, you are correct, the car spent a large part of its' life in the Barrie area. I believe that the car have been sold new in that area, as I have traced its' ownership back to about 1950 and it was in Barrie before then. An older woman, at the time, had to stop driving it due to arthritis in her arms and hands and then later sold it. I spoke with the son of the man who bought it from her at that time. It been stored at a dairy in Barrie during the late 40's, but I have not been able to determine which dairy it was at. The person I bought it from was in a small town outside of Barrie.

Keith

Pheeew! Guess I have not lost it just yet! 

Now.....

Tell me if the family name was Fox?

It was owned by Neil Fox, who I spoke to a couple of times during the restoration, unfortunately he passed away before I got it on the road again. Though his son Stephen, has seen the car again. He has fond memories of riding around in it and sitting in the back seat. It was then sold to Frank Owens, who passed away about 1990, and I bought it from his widow in late '91. I cannot believe that it is very nearly 25 years since I bought the car!

What do you know of the car's history, Doug?

Keith

Wow Keith! Talk about the three degrees of separation thing....

My connection here is with Steve and his dad. 

They had moved here to Windsor to start another bakery chain store that had been very successful in Barrie in the early 90's.

Steve owns his first car still, one 1969 Buick Electra convertible and joined our club/museum becoming very active to the point he was elected to be CEO for several years just before we were given the generous donation to build the clubs dream of opening up the museum you saw when you were there. 

Getting to know them, Mr Fox senior talked about the Roady with great fondness and some regret having sold it. I did remember seeing a picture once but obviously did not know the car first hand. 

If you have met Steve, after his Dad passed, you know he moved back to Barrie running his own Bakery there and I found he has moved north of Barrie where he is (or has) completed a large building for his car hobby.

He is a hard working guy, long hours but I have his contact info if you think there might be more background info he could help with the 41.

Small world even being four hours away.... 

Doug, that is an amazing story, and a very neat coincidence. I do have Steve's contact info, thanks.

 Yes, the few times I spoke with Mr Fox senior, it was obvious that he had very fond memories of driving and owning it. He said how nice a car it is to drive, and he is certainly is right!

I was quite sad to hear of his passing, as he was looking forward to seeing it, and riding in it again, but it was not to be. At least he knew that it had gone to a good home, and he was also happy about that as well.

Keith

I have a question for the other '41 owners out there. I have had the rad out for a shop boil out, and I'm adding an electric fan for additional air flow in slow driving, and doing a few other things at the same time. Isn't it always the way. One thing leads to another, and it always takes longer then one hopes!

 So here's my question, I have a curved piece of steel, maybe about 8" high, that I think mounts in behind grille, does anyone know where it belongs? I missed putting this on when I put the car together.

 I don't have a picture of it, but hopefully some one knows what I mean? I can post a picture of it tomorrow.

 Also, I have the axle which has the 3.4 ratio in it at a local shop which specializes in vintage car work. They are pulling the old gears and checking it all out. Then I'm taking the car out to them to do the swap.

 Since I usually do all of my own work, I feel a bit odd farming this out. But I really want to get this done, and I have not been able to get around to it. Too much other stuff going on my life lately.

 Thanks. I will post more details on the work later on.

 Keith

Keith, when you say boil out, what does that mean. Were the tanks removed and the tubes rodded out?   If not, I hope it cools ok. I have found the only sure way to kn ow the radiator is clean is to rod it out. Just had one done. They said an amazing amount of scale came from it.

  Ben

 The rad isn't that old, it was recored with a modern high density core about 5 years ago, just before I put it on the road. The original was not savable, it was like a sieve after the cleaning, so I opted for the newer style of core as it cools better. This was just maintenance. The shop that did it has done much work for me over the years and I've always been happy with the results.

Keith

On 9/5/2016 at 8:00 PM, Buicknutty said:

Also, on a completely different subject, has anyone used a Pertronix ignition unit on these 41-47 Buicks with the armoured positive lead which runs from the ignition switch to the base of the coil?

 Thanks.

 Keith

This post is from a while ago so you may have gotten your answer by now from other sources, but I can tell you that I have a Pertronix unit on my '41 Super and it runs like a top.  I have only had the car now for a month, and I'm still finding out things about it.  I didn't know about the electronic ignition until I'd had the car for a few weeks.  I noticed the modern wiring and popped the distributor cap and found it.  I have since discovered that it was installed by one of the two dealers that the car went through last year before I bought it.

 Thanks, Neil. In fact I did not get an answer to that question, and went with the stock points with the rebuilt distributor. The issue is how the "hot" wire from the ignition goes through the armoured cable and into the base of the coil. I see that there are two wires that go into the distributor which have a modern type of outer sheath on them. How is the coil wired?

I quite like the Petronix on others cars that I've had it on, so I am still interested in it on the '41. I did have one start to fail on my '56 Roadmaster and have reverted to points on it, but have the Petronix on my '69 Electra.

Happy Easter, if you celebrate, of course.

Keith

I am not very sophisticated when it comes to automobile electronics, so I don't know if this answers your question.  All I can tell you without further investigation is that the red wire to the Pertronix unit comes through the firewall from under the dash.  The black wire is attached the coil as shown in this photo.  The stock "armored" cable is attached to the back of the coil in the normal manner. Hope that helps,  Happy Easter to you, too!

Neil

 I'm once again reviving this thread, I've posted quite a bit about the car this year on the "have you driven..." thread, but not this one dedicated to my car. I have, once again been chasing my tail a bit trying to get it running well. I put a rebuilt distributor on, and it helped things a bit, but I was still having issues, mainly with higher speed driving, so I swapped carbs with a spare one I have, and it was an improvement, so I gave it to Doug Seybold to do a rebuild on it for me. The results, so far, after only a 10 mile est drive are really great. Smooth as silk at slow speeds, and nice up to about 50 MPH, as I didn't take it to the highway for a high speed run. Hopefully on the weekend I'll get a chance to do that. I had another strange issue, but not related to the engine, the trunk lock completely jammed, and I had to take the back seat, rear side panels, and the plywood pieces so I could climb through to the trunk and unbolt it from the inside. Not an easy chore! So I don't have all of this back together, and am not comfortable driving it much till I get things back together!

 The pre WWII touring group of which I'm a member is having a couple of events this month, and I'm really hoping that I'll have it ready to go. One of which is a weekend long event touring through some little used roads in Northern Ontario, it will be a great area to drive in and I'm really hoping that the car will be ready. This bunch brings cars that range from early teens Model T's on up, with mine and a '41 Ford being the newest. But the styling on the '41 Buick is such that it looks out of place amougst the others!

 Keith

 We are moving in a few months and of course we're going through stuff, as one has to when preparing for a move, and I found a few pictures that I took of the car in the mid 90's. Even though I'd had it a 3-4 years or so by then, it still looks just as I bought it. So, I scanned them for all to see! In one, that's my daugther, Rebecca, about 3-4 years old standing in front of the car. Now she's taller then me.

 As you can see the lower part front quarters are missing, and the lowest several inches of what was remaining was too rotten to save, so they had to be fabricated. That was one of the hardest parts to do, to match the curve where it bends into the wheel well, and then joins up to the rocker panel.

 Keith

Wow, Keith, those pics really show how much work you had to do on this car!  I had no idea since this thread starts when it pretty much looked the way it does now.  When I see these "before" photos, I have such admiration for the amount of work and dedication you and others like you have lavished on your cars.  I feel fortunate to have entered the Buick world with such an intact vehicle, but it also makes me feel like a bit of a piker around here! 

 Thanks Neil, it was a long road to where it is now, and at times it didn't seem as though it ever would get done. I think that these pictures make it look better than it actually was, as a lot of work that the floor and structure required doesn't show.

 As I go through stuff I will find more of the "in progress" pictures I took, and will post them. Kind of a backwards progression on the thread, but much of the work on the car was done before I joined the forum here, and I was shooting film, so not so easy to post as well.

 Keith

 Here's a little fix that I did on the '41 this week. Currently it is laid up awaiting the return of it's gas tank, which is at a shop having a liner put in it.

 I had installed new shock links when I put it together 5 or 6 years ago, but was still using the old shocks till recently. I got rebuilt shocks early this year, but had not put them in as I was planning to put the taller ratio gears (3.4's instead of the stock 3.9's) in, and much of that has to apart anyway to do that. To save my aching elbow, I had the work professionally done, much to my satisfaction I must say. So I had them put the rebuilt shock in at the time.

 Needless to say, the ride was considerably improved, till one day I heard a banging at the back. Sliding under in a parking lot I could see that the pin that connects the link to the shock had simply pulled out of the link, but it was still connected to the shock itself. Those readers that have worked on these units will understand, but for those that haven't, here's an explanation.

 The shock bolts onto the inside of the brake backing plate, and a link connects to an arm which comes out of the inside back of the shock itself, but doesn't attach to the frame directly, like modern ones do, but rely on a slim vertical bar, with two shortish tapered pins. The top one fits into a fitting on the inside of the frame rail, and the lower one into the shock arm. The pins in the link are set into rubber, much like a motor mount is, and it was this which failed, and let it pull out.

 Also, there seemed to be a bit of misalignment of the pin to the arm. I still had the old ones, and compared the two, but they were identical. I drilled and tapped into the inner side, and put a bolt in where it goes through the link, but it worked its' way out after a short while again.

 So I decided to create a new modified one on my lathe. When doing the careful measurements I found part of the answer, as the taper on the shock arm was a bit larger, which when tightened up, pulled it even further out of alignment. I think that since the old shock wasn't doing too much, it didn't put very much stress on this unit, but the new ones, did.

 So, when making it up, I increased the gap about 3/32nds, and made the taper a bit larger as well, so that when installed it would be more in line. The biggest change was to make a stud which goes out the inside end of the link, so that I can put a nut and then a lock nut on it. There is lots of space on the inner side, the there is no issues with the stud interfering with another component.

 I have posted a few pictures of the manufacturing progression.

 Keith