My first Buick

Here is some pics of our customized 48 Roadmaster...http://radmasterandbabycan.wordpress.com/

Looking for clues of it's origin.

Wow! That is cool! I like it. Great find. That would be a BLAST to drive once it's restored. Can't wait to see what you do with it. I like your idea of resto-rodding it. Restoring it and improving it a bit while keeping it original looking. I would strongly recommend keeping the original engine. That would definitely add to the style of this car and those straight eights are great engines. I just can't see this cool, old school custom with a shiny new crate motor stuffed in there. The Dynaflows aren't as bad as people say either. They do have a tendency to leak but that can be fixed if done right. From what I've seen they are quite reliable too. I bookmarked your site but it would be great if you could post here on a regular basis too. I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Good luck with her!

P.S. Hope you don't mind but I posted some of your pictures here so more people can see them. Anyone reading this I highly recommend navigating on over to their site as well so you can see their other cool project and read the stories.

Thanks for the kind words. It will be a challenge and a fun build. Of course I plan to keep the Straight 8. We'll see where it goes from there. There is a lot going on in the shop, and it will have to wait until I get some time to work on it. I could not see this beauty being lost to scrappers.

Oh man, that is different. Don't know if you follow any of the Great Race, but there are more than one or two Buick straight eight powered racers. And some VERY interesting modifications to those engines. This would be a perfect car to enter in one of those competitions.

Watching this one

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Also watching, and waiting. It sure looks like a rather well crafted customization. I am guessing this car is in California. Can't wait to see if anyone knows the history, but I am thinking back-tracking the previous owners might be the best way.

John

To date, what we know about this car is that it was seen up near Milwaukee, then went to the Chicago area where it was in a garage fire. It was sold to a St Louis Buick collector in apprx' 2009 and has now followed us home. We're happy to have found it and look forward to saving this old car.....it sure has some style and great lines. We hope to discover more about the car history.

....from the other half - wink!

BTW, here is just one example of a customized Buick Straight eight from the Great Race participants:

The Great Race looks like a fun event!

We're getting underway, DH found a convertible frame that we can easily size and adapt. We're trying out some paint colors and talking about what we'll do with the interior. We found a starting point, a candy dye with cut glass pearl. It's a wowser!!

This is our first color rendering....there will more as we progress.

RadMaster and the Baby Can

Those CUT DOWN doors are probably what INSPIRED Buick designers to cut the doors down on the 53 Skylark, DON'T YOU THINK, Lol.

Good thing I don't own it, cause it would have SCALLOPS SOOOOOOON!

Enjoy,

Dale in Indy

That's cool!!!

will be watching this tread

Those CUT DOWN doors are probably what INSPIRED Buick designers to cut the doors down on the 53 Skylark, DON'T YOU THINK, Lol.

Good thing I don't own it, cause it would have SCALLOPS SOOOOOOON!

Enjoy,

Dale in Indy

mmmmmmm.....scallops!

If you'll pardon the crude are work, I'd be re working those rear fenders a little like this:

I ran a short article on that car when Paul Meyer in St. Louis owned it, asking if anyone in the BCA had any knowledge about the car's history. I dont' think he ever got any responses, which is a shame, because it is really unusual. He told me that it ran pretty well when he got it. I'm sure he will chime in on this thread.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

I bought it from him, but as you said, he never got any concrete leads as to who made it. I would think it would stick in your head forever it's that neat!

Pete:

Can you find out what engine is in it? I know of a very similar car modified in 1956 near Yuba City, CA. It had a Hemi engine in it with a LaSalle tranny.

Dan

This is the 320 fireball Buick straight 8 possibly the original engine.

I ran a short article on that car when Paul Meyer in St. Louis owned it, asking if anyone in the BCA had any knowledge about the car's history. I dont' think he ever got any responses, which is a shame, because it is really unusual. He told me that it ran pretty well when he got it. I'm sure he will chime in on this thread.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Pete, is this article still available? Was it in a BCA newsletter? We'd like to access and read the article if possible. Thanks.

If you'll pardon the crude are work, I'd be re working those rear fenders a little like this:

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Haha...very cool John! Yeah those elongated rear fenders are a keeper! We like the low, long and sleek look of this old car.

An update and some progress: The parts car is ready to roll. We'll be trailering it to our shop.

http://radmasterandbabycan.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/the-parts-car-for-our-48-radmaster-custom/

Anything to report on this one Jewlgurl? I tried to check up on it through the blog site and it no longer exists.

Hi Robert,

Thanks for asking.....no more progress, other than the parts car is now keeping company with the roadster. Such a kick to look at them side by side smiling their big old toothy grins. Our time has been work busy slammed - haven't been able to lift a wrench in their direction yet. We hope to start on them this winter.....

As for the blog, it and another one I have were severely hacked, so have taken both blogs down for the time being. Idiots roaming the net - messing it up for everyone else!! Prior to the hack, I was getting up to a 1K spam comments (ppl selling stupid crap) each day on the car blog. Ugh!

I'll eventually resurrect the Buick Radmaster blog on down the road - when I get over my burned up response and figure out how to bullet proof the blogs.

On another note....we were recently contacted by a car owner, who bought this 41 Lincoln, who's also trying to discover the history of his car. It's roadster customizing has some style similarities to our Buick convertible. Cruising in custom roadsters seemed to be a hot item in the late 30s and early 40s.

How about this continental tire placement?

Thanks for the update Jewl. I got concerned when I found that the blog had gone down. Thought maybe you guys had sold the Radmaster. Good to hear otherwise. Thanks again and good luck with the hacker stuff!

Never seen one of these. She will be a great car when done.

I am remembering a JAY LENO tv episode with dennis cage where he found a car in a california garage blocks from his building . It had the same looks as yours , it was a while ago maybe 2003 . his I thinking was a auburn ... He does tend to dig up the makers and history on the cars he buys , my dream alter ego .sweet ride by the way ...