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HIGH MILEAGE


LAS VEGAS DAVE

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I was reading an old Buick magazine yesterday and there were several claims by owners of 1937 and 38 Buicks of high mileage. A couple of owners claimed driving over 200,000 miles on their cars and one even claimed over 300000 miles. These owners claimed that no major parts were replaced and that their engines had not been rebuilt. I have a hard time believing these claims, what do you think? I can believe over 100000 miles in some cases but it seems to be a stretch to get much more than that. When I was young we thought a car with 50000 miles was probably going to need major work soon.

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Dave,

The "Baby" has 49K and change on the clock, but then, there is no provision for the 1, so I don't know if it has been around once.

Being the 2nd owner, and having talked with the first owners son, I was told the head has never been off her,

and gaging by the 1.5" of grey crud in the pan when I pulled it, I do not believe the bottom end had ever been looked at.

Mike in Colorado

Edited by FLYER15015 (see edit history)
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Thanks for the replies. The straight eights were low compression, low rpm engines which make for long life. I am not surprised at 100000 miles but 200000 and even 300000 without an overhaul is pretty amazing. I find these to be great old cars that can still be used daily even in todays world. They had it all, an overhead valve engine, a synchromesh trans, hydraulic brakes, good suspensions, radio's, heaters, etc, not many cars from the thirties had all of that. The articles from the old magazines are really fun to read.

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I know on my 1939 is was evident that the torque ball would wear out way before the engine ever would.  I would wager that many 1939 Buick lives were ended due to that moreso than an internal engine failure.  On both of my cars, the universal joint either was or had been rubbing the inside of the ball case very badly.  One case almost had been rubbed all the way through and one universal joint was almost sheared apart on the other.  To repair that correctly is a relatively big job. 

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Larry, I agree with you. Oils and anti freeze along with the corrosion inhibiters can't hurt. Ethanal in the gas isn't too good for the carb and fuel pump and also makes it easier for the cars to vapor lock but that shouldn't affect the life of the car any. I think the guys that got the real high mileages out of their cars back in the day were probably driven and maintained very well. Most of the comments I read in the 1938 Buick magazines were by owners who told about driving long distances because of their jobs. Long distance driving is lots easier on engines, transmissions, brakes etc than around town driving. Even the chance of destroying the car in an accident is less on long distance driving then around town. Most of my driving today in the old Buick is just short trips here and there. I change the oil every 1000 miles or even less to keep the sludge caused from the condensation that occurs when driving short trips to a minimum. 

Edited by LAS VEGAS DAVE (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...

 Hard to say, but I bet that those people who were careful drivers, with good maintenance and fortunate enough to do that kind of mileage, especially in the Southern areas. Here in Canada, many of the better quality cars would rust out before they wore out.

 When I got interested in the mid 50's Buicks in the very late 60's, it was not uncommon to see a 55 or 56 Buick sitting behind a house, and when I asked about the car, the story was always the same, the Dynaflow transmission was bad, but it was reputed to run great. Either that or it was rusted to bits, but the engine was still good.

 Keith

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Straight eight Buick engines have a stellar durability reputation. For years many saw mills in East Texas were Buick powered and West Texas had straight eights on irrigation pumps and in the oil fields from light plants to sump pumps. Long life and little trouble was a trade mark.

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