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1949 Buick Super Sedanet (56S)


Wilf Sedanet

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Hi guys and gals,

some of you may remember that I put up a WTB for a '49 Buick Sedanette. I have been searching for this ultimate dream car for about ten years but never found the one that fitted my wishes (some were too clean, some too expensive, some too far gone, some were horrible custom cars that broke my heart). This year I finally found the car I have hoped and dreamed for so long.

Starting this thread still feels a bit premature since the car is not here in The Netherlands yet (it will be shipped this month - there's some delay due to the severe winter on the East Coast of the USA) but since I bought it, it's technically already mine.

So here it goes, my first pictures to share with you.

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The car has been repainted some decades ago and that paint is beginning to wear a bit too but my guess is the car is painted Allendale Green originally.

The car has its plus and minor points, I'm prepared for the minor points and pleased with the plus points. When I get it here I'll first repair and change everything I need to get it registered here and after that I'll gradually change and repair the things that need to be addressed to make it a solid, complete working driver. I hope to drive it to Sweden this summer already although I do need to sell my DeSoto to make that happen (gas is not cheap in Europe).

Cheers, Wilfred

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Edited by Wilf Sedanet
Changed faulty title from sedanette to sedanet (see edit history)
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Thank you, 95Cardinal!

It sure has the looks but as every car nut knows pictures can be a bit deceiving. There is still work to do. But it is a really solid and great start!

Some of the things not working that I will address when it's here are:

- Speedometer is not working. The odometer is so it's probably something in the gauge housing (I heard something about a magnet..?).

- Locks are not working easy / properly. We'll clean all of the linkages and lubricate them, this may be the trick.

- The radio does come on but does not make a sound. This may have a numerous of causes of course (faulty tubes, wiring, speaker, potmeters or whatnot).

- Exhaust gasket is leaking when engine is cold (cracked gasket I was told).

Some things probably needed for registration:

- European front lights (American lights have a flat line, in Europe we have to have a skewed end to light things on the passenger side of the road).

- Rusted out body mounts.

Edited by Wilf DeSoto (see edit history)
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Wilco, Great find and a really beautiful model ..Wow! :cool: We keep our eyes on your progress , and for questions just ask .

Maybe usefull for your information is MTH Classic services in Almelo , he is a Cadillac expert but knows a lot of other GM cars too . He repaired my waterpump and friction plate and renewing now the seals of my front shocks , Great guy and saves you shipping costs to the US to sent your cores ...

Paul

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Thanks for the kind words and tips, much appreciated. I've a good friend who will help me make the car tip top. He sells high quality car stuff (for the things that need not be period correct, just solid and trustworthy) on his site specialpartz.com and lives around the corner. If MTH can offer restoration parts cheap that would be great. I need an exhaust gasket but rockauto asks insane shipping costs these days (even costs that should be company costs like shipping costs from different warehouses to the distribution center).

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Wlfred, congratulations on a great find! As you can see from my avatar, I was infected with the 49BuickSedanette virus, too. When is it supposed to ship to the Netherlands? We'll be looking for lots of pictures once it gets home.

Geoff

BCA 46433

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I got some nice stuff from the seller - a box of perfect literature and some new pictures taken in February. Because of the personal notes I blurred the letter and I only uploaded one of the pictures of the car. This picture does the color of the car more right I guess. It seems like the respray somewhere in the seventies or eighties was based upon Allendale green. It has a nice deep green color to it but in direct sunlight it seems to have a bit of yellowish lighter green in it too, maybe a bit metallic? We'll see when it gets here… :)

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Car as of February 2014 in its habitat - this will change as of March / April.

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Box full of the stuff one really wants - a perfect owners manual (as new - it says it has been printed in '49 but could be a reprint..?) and a work shop manual. The magazine has a nice article especially about the '49 Buick design - great text and pictures! The envelope is empty but seems like an original envelope. What was this envelope for..?

Edited by Wilf DeSoto (see edit history)
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I'm very glad indeed although I'm gonna need new bumpers and a grille if I want them neat. The car has been transported to the docks of NY. The big wait begins. I heard there is a big delay because of the cold and harsh winter, so I have no idea when it arrives here.

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Thanks! Anxiously waiting here. :) I already enrolled for a US car meeting on the Zandvoort racing circuit end April so I hope it does not take too many weeks before I can get it from the shipper. I do have to be prepared to wait about a month because of delays I heard. Let's hope that's just a pessimistic guess. :)

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Kelsey
It's next week today (monday)! Today the car will be delivered at my garage… A bit unreal but today is the moment I've been waiting for since january…. Wow! Pictures will follow! It's now midnight here so in maybe an hour or twelve I'm wiser about the car :)

I had, at one time 2 49 Super Sedanettes... and tons of spare parts.. These are truly one of the most beautiful cars ever built IMO.. I will caution you.. They are a 1 year car only and parts are very hard to find since there is very few parts that interchange from other years... I still have a few parts leftover from my 49 days.. I also have a lot of literature and I mean alot!!

Let me know if you need anything and I can see if I have it in my leftover parts... Great car!! I wish I had totally finished mine...

Congrats

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Super Wilf! I'm going to be watching this post for lots of "baby" pictures. I had the same reaction as Paul - the color looked lighter in your avatar, but different cameras produce different hues.

The car looks great - I hope it is everything you were hoping for.

Geoff

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The color of the car has been a surprise throughout. It is the same car as in my avatar but it was then standing in the sun. My picture was made on a cloudy day and the car was covered with dust from standing in NY I suppose. When I brushed away the dust I could see the metallic color coat that will give it a lighter color in full sunlight.

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So now the car is in, now come the (known) issues and a new problem that occurred.

First the new problem: The car will not start. The electric fuel pump works, so I have juice from the battery but there is nothing when I push on the throttle. Not even a toggle, switch or whatever sound. Not even a voltage drop of the fuel pump. So my guess is: something with either the neutral safety switch, the accelerator vacuum switch on the carb or the solenoid on the starter motor. (Edit: just found this, first to test on my list)

Another thing that got me a bit worried, which maybe happened during transport or towing: When pushing the car in Neutral there was an audible rattle. It sounded coming from somewhere in the Dynaflow (maybe a faulty parking pin?) or behind the engine. The rattle was speed dependent, quite a lot of clicks per meters pushed.

Furthermore: The front hood lock on the battery side comes loose when opening from the other side. Quite scary when opening from the passenger side because there's only one hinge keeping the hood tight right then.

A few other things I did know that need some attention: The door lock on the left does not work. Probably the linkage as the door lock on the inside will not go up. The speedometer does not work. It reads 45 MPH all the time. The exhaust manifold gasket is cracked. There is some rust on the right side and rusted out body mounts. Battery and clock are defunct.

So yes I got some work cut out for me but I knew about most of it, and the unknown issues are in line with expectance of a car standing still for 3 months awaiting shipment (old imported cars rarely start after shipping). The rattling noise when pushing could be some shipping damage maybe. First thing I want to do is get it to start! :)

I'll add a few extra pictures here:

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Edited by Wilf DeSoto (see edit history)
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Try to push the solenoid on the starter by hand . If the battery is ok than that should work otherwise the capacity of the battery is low. A Fuel pump runs also on low amps . A starter needs full capacity and after 3 months of shipping ..... empty battery . Good luck wilfred ..

Paul

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Wilf,

These cars are straightforward. I repaired the door latching mechanism on my car (passenger side) and once you get the mechanism out of the door, it is readily apparent how it works. Very repairable. My hood lock on the battery side also let the hood loose one time and gave me a scare. It has not done it since as I make sure it is securely latched by pulling and releasing the hood release handle on that side before raising the hood on the driver side. Your dash looks a lot better than mine! I've removed it for painting.

Members of the Buick Club of America are very knowledgable and helpful, particularly on the Dynaflow - they've helped me address issues I found with my 49.

Send me a PM any time...

Geoff

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Regards the rattle, without the engine running, put the trans in drive and push the car a little. If you have no rattle then it is probably the parking pawl linkage on the transmission that needs adjustment.

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John, I was thinking along the same lines (parking pawl) but the rattle was very fast, when pushing only slightly the clicks were already 4 times per second and when pushing the car to about 2 mile per hour it was almost indistinguishable. So far, far faster than the torque tube spins.

Geoff, the latch on the battery side is hard to latch but when it did latch/seat properly I dared open the other side. Whilst opening the other (driver) side I noticed the hinge mechanism at the front was not turning with the latching mechanism, thus suddenly prying itself out. Maybe a lot of cleaning and then lubing will help.

I've done some earlier door latch work on other cars I had, I know it's straightforward in old US cars, with lots of metal rods connected with clips et cetera. The thing I am more "worried" about is getting the door panels off and keeping them straight and neat. That's always a delicate procedure.

Paul, I've removed the battery and it's loading at home, so I hope it indeed was the battery. The interior light and the fuel pump were happy enough with the battery but that doesn't say everything of course. But - and this is what surprised me - you'd expect when engaging the starter engine there would be at least a voltage drop, a solenoid or relay making a sound or any other sign of life. None happened. The fuel pump did react on me putting my foot on the brake (a slight voltage drop making the fuel pump sound pitch go down a little - probably because of the brake lights).

Thanks for the reactions so far. :)

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Wilfred What happend to the Buick ??? wheels on the roof :P LOL

wat een mooie auto ! ( what a beautifull car)

Congratulations it looks great is that the same buick / (color) as in your avatar ?

regards Paul

Wilf, just a little help to get the shiny side up. - Dan

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Guest Rob McDonald

It's been such a long wait, I hope you're not too disappointed with the flaws that your car is presenting. Sounds like you are close to solving the starting problem. I have no clue about that rattle. Once you get these details worked out, more photos of this beautiful car would be welcomed...

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I'm not disappointed but have not had the time yet to go to my car (it's located 20 miles from here at a garage with normal opening hours). Furthermore, my DeSoto needs more attention as I want to sell it ASAP but it needs new dizzy parts.

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Today I had some time to tinker with the car. It would not start previously (not a single crank or click) but the battery was full now, I had some spare time and I had the goal to get it started today. So I brought my spanners, the shop manual and my high spirits and went to the garage.

I first installed the battery, now full. That went quite easy because I had some help. Then I tried starting it again. To no avail… Then I opened the shop manual and searched for the start circuit. I found out I have a stromberg, not a carter carb and then tried the solenoid. And there I had it: when stepping on the gas the lever would not automatically go down. It would just sit up there and do nothing. So i decided to gently pull and push a few times to get it going.

Full of anticipation I got in to the car and tried again. *click!*

Well, that was a positive sound, first I did not hear anything! But no starter motion yet. So I tried again but now no sound anymore. Then I noticed the battery posts sulfuring up again (I cleaned them before reinstalling of course). Aha! The problem was the plus pole. So… Loosen the minus and plus, clean them up again, put them back on and put them back on, this time check if they are really snug and try it again.

*steps on the gas* And there it goes, cranking the motor and a few moments later there was ignition and lift off!

Here a small movie as eye witness. I could not move far because the car was locked in between a wall and a caravan but the demonstration of movement was enough I guess. :)

th_Buick_rolt.jpg

Now I have to change some stuff for our DMV (front lights, leaking gasket, maybe some welding of the frame, some other small stuff) but only when the garage has time so it is time for some more patience...

Edited by Wilf DeSoto (see edit history)
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Wilf,

Copper gaskets are worth the extra expense. Yes, you can buy the cheaper ones, but they do not last very long, and then you find yourself doing the job all over again.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Leonard, Texas

1948 Super 56S

1948 Roadmaster 76S

1949 Super 51

1949 Super 59

1950 Roadmaster 76R

1959 Electra 2-dr. ht.

(and others)

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Guest Rob McDonald

Sounds great! Just a combination of little problems prevented the car from starting. Good luck with the inspection process.

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