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Could it possibly be a travel trailer wheel?

I am with you Barney, have passed up a few used tire machines and wished I had bought one of them.. Did buy a HF manual tire changer to use for small tractor and 14" and 15" tires, but it is a workout, not sure I have the moxie to tackle 17" and 18" rims. As it was, have had to resort to using my log splitter to break the beads on some very old tires.. Tire shops in my area are killing me with junk fee's, $30 per tire mount/balance plus $25 charge to remove/install because it is a F250.. Small cars/SUVs are still no charge for remove/install, YET.. Yeah I realize the shop and employees must make some money but $120 plus $25 extra and we are now up to half the price of a 5th tire..

That is one rare car!! 1952 was wartime production with poor chroma plating. Low production and low survival. 1952 was the first year for all steel wagon bodies at FoMoCo. They trumped everyone by offering both 2 door (Ford) and 4 door wagons The basic versions all had sedan like styling. (Compare to the tin woody Chevrolet and Pontiac). But the Mercury and the Ford Country Squire had decorative wood trim, and the railings were real wood! There must have been some serious discussion about the use of “wood” as the industry moved to all steel wagons. Chrysler abandoned exterior wood for a sedan look but Ford retained it. Who made that decision? Only recently have we learned the story about the one person who spoke with HF II begging him to not abandon the V8 (Chevrolet was doing just fine with a 6 so why should Ford keep their 8?). Somebody must have spoken up and made a persuasive argument about keeping wood on a steel wagon. Ford the Wagonmaster.

I agree with Walt that the ad leaves a whole lot of questions. We can tell from the body that it's either a Special or a Century. I can't be sure from the one engine photo, but I suspect it's a Special. It has a spark plug cover from a later series engine, and it appear to be missing the oil filter. Also, the underside photo shows that the parking brake return spring is missing. The price does not seem out-of-line at all if it has really had a "full frame off restoration," but if the seller is really interested in attracting more than local buyers, he's going to have to post a more thorough ad with more and better photos.

Hello Raynard, Dave Henderson, Old Tech & Dave Mellor, Thanks so much for the clues and opinions. Let me dig in a little further and see what I can come up with. It is a 15" wheel. Ken

Let me update you on my transmission woes. I’ve run this car in Great Race for the last 3 years. I don’t think the transmission is up to the constant shifting and loading. After all this is a 4000 pound car and a 60 pound transmission. Good for normal driving, not good at stress. I now own three 1939 Special transmissions. #1 parts are in a bucket under my workbench, having failed in a most spectacular fashion during the 2022 Great Race. The rear bearing failed (I suspect because the main shaft internal pilot bearing went bad, allowing too much runout on the shaft), the fluid escaped and everything internal overheated badly. I bought #2 transmission and gave it to a local old time tranny rebuilder who was really dubious about the internal parts from #1. I put the rebuilt #2 in the car and ran the 2023 Great Race without problems. BUT then in a weekend practice rally last October it locked up with 10 miles left in the event. I got it out of lock, finished the rally and towed the car home. When I checked the fluid it was full of metal. So, I bought transmission #3. Which was supposed to be very low mileage. Not true. I swapped transmissions and found #3 leaked at both ends. I then gave #2 to a recommended tranny shop and pulled #3 to reseal it. My machinist friend Jim and I took #3 apart and found the bearings were worn, we replaced them and everything looked good after re-assembly. Felt good too. There didn’t seem to be any problems. So I put it back in the car, went out for a test drive and found that the darned thing would not stay in second gear. On a side note, the first transmission guy went out of business right after I picked up the rebuilt #2. I called my 2nd transmission guy last week and got his answering machine which said he was in the hospital and wouldn’t be back at work until the end of May. It is getting harder and harder to find people to work on these old cars! Transmission #3 runs great in reverse, first and third. It stays in 2nd on deacceleration, but when accelerating it pops out. It’s hard to even hold it in gear. I dragged out my 39 shop manual and went through the transmission shifter adjustment procedures. Several times! No change. It still won’t stay in second gear. Now I’m wondering if anyone in the Buick community has an inkling why? I suspect there is something internal that is bad, but when we had it apart, there was no sign of it. My machinist Jim swears the problem must be external. The synchros don’t have teeth and ours looked very good, we re-used many of the spacers and retainer rings that were in it, I bought new detent springs, but they were much larger than the originals and we didn’t use them. As I said, it went back together and shifted easily and precisely on the bench. In the car not running you can feel the detents when you shift it. But under load… ANY THOUGHTS?

I have owned my own tire machine for at least 40 years. And it was used when I bought it. Don't use it much lately since I don't race much anymore. The other day I scored a set of 18 inch wheels for a current project and bought some new tires online. Thinking, this should be easy. Mount em up and drop in to the tire shop for a quick balance. Its not legal to put weights on the race cars. Turns out the old machine didn't like the 18 inch wheels. I was able to get one mounted up and decided to take the whole pile to the shop and pay the hundred bucks. I see modern tire equipment for sale and I am tempted. But the older I get I am not sure that it would be really cost effective over time.

That’s why you should get the car for free!

Now I am drooling over having my own tire machine.......

Very interesting reading and I agree with much of it. My apologies for the following pointless ramble: As for the Rambler, it is a tweener. Friends that own these and know them well from a mechanical standpoint are less than thrilled. Repairs and sensible improvements have cost them ungodly amounts of money. Although the engine is 5x5 1/2, same as a Packard "30", it is no Packard. The Rambler does not breath and it has suspect engineering. The dealer markup on this car is probably 20% or more, so this is really a $70k-$80K car. At $100k it's been around for a while. No buyer yet. I like it, I would own it. It's not a car I would spill my guts over, however. With it's mechanical issues, I could just barely buy it, but I can't afford to own it. All of these cars need work or will soon. Finally and to the point: There are sub $50K cars like Chalmers, EMFs, Buicks. Most horseless carriages are now less than $50K including my beloved 11 Cadillac. Buick Model 17s are a bit of an anomaly and go for $60-90K because of their performance and style. There is a big gap in-between above this level. The jump is steep into the $200K region with little to be bought in between (Pope, Pierce etc). Rich friends say that you don't need a $100 - 300K to have fun. The hotel, scenery, food, roads and everything is the same. I own three model Ts 1912, two 1913s and I love them to death. If I were getting started I would by a 1912 Buick model 29 with an older restoration. Just to be a little different if I could swing it.

This factory-rebuilt CARTER AFB carb is still available. PRICE JUST REDUCED TO $385, plus the shipping. Thanks for looking again. John

I'm just back from the Bakersfield/Famoso Swap-O-Rama followed by a wonderful 4-day HCCA tour out of Paso Robles sponsored by four HCCA Regional Groups (RG). Here are a few of my not in-the-know observational comments on the first year of this swap, which I hope will continue in the future with much better outreach to pre-war collectors other than (1) brass and (2) Model T. The outreach to those two communities resulted in an extraordinary response: There seemed (from my small-time vendor standpoint) to be an additional 25-30 pre-war spaces sold and occupied beyond the initial 100 spaces allocated. BUT...there was virtually nobody else, including the entire "post-brass and non-T" community! I brought post-1920 but still pre-war parts and a few immediate post-war parts, and had miserably low interest--nothing listed in my May 2 post sold or elicited any interest. And there seemed to be very few spaces devoted to the usual (these days) fare of mag wheels, SBC and Mustang parts--or anything else post-war. The organizers did a very good job of focusing on the brass and T folks, but should expand their outreach next year to the entire pre-war community including Early Ford V8, Cad and Buick and Chev communities.

Still have one used GAS and BAT gauge set left for 1939 BUICK, all series. Thanks for looking. John

Still have one used GAS and BAT gauge set left for 1939 BUICK, all series. Thanks for looking. John

The first photo above is NOT a beauty ring, it’s a snap ring. Beauty rings ONLY fit drop center wheels, which basically started in 1932. We spun our rings……..out of stainless. Fun project, and we had a decent return and sold them out in less than a year.

One 1939-40 BUICK taillight lens STILL AVAILABLE. John

I’d be all over these if you were on the east coast

ONE 1939-40 BUICK, small series TAILLIGHT LENS STILL AVAILABLE. John

This factory-rebuilt CARTER AFB carb is still available. PRICE JUST REDUCED TO $385, plus the shipping. Thanks for looking again. John

George……if Bob bought your old trailer for 5k, it’s obvious he over paid! 😂 Renting a truck is a very reasonable alternative if there is a place close by. It’s a much better value than actually owning one if you use it less than 30 days a year. In many places you can’t rent a one ton truck and tow with it……….Enterprise Truck Rental is very good if you have access to them. Hauling high dollar cars, I won’t run thirty year old equipment……….but for a seldom used hobbies, it’s a reasonable choice.

Thank You for your help and detailed explanation NTX5467. I have every Buick Chassis & Body Parts Books from 1937-1981. The closest I could find in the Illustrations were in Groups 14 & 15. No picture or information regarding these plastic "corner covers". Windlace and Mouldings were present in the pictures, however none of these were pictured. I believe you are right about one thing.......they probably were available on All 1966-1967 "A" Body 2 door hardtops and possibly convertibles. 442 GS Skylark GTO Lemans Tempest Chevelle. Greg Thomas

Wish I could attend. Instead I’m stuck here at the Tiki bar in Palm Beach having a liquid lunch. 😉

Another guessing game presented by the seller! Make and year are correct but series?model? big price difference and engine between the Special, Century, Roadmaster and Super. So what is is, guessing it is a Century?? The $46,500 question...................Define in detail "restored".

This genuine GM accessory rubber trunk mat is STILL AVAILABLE. $120, plus the shipping. PRICE JUST REDUCED TO $100, plus the shipping. Thanks for looking again. John

I was going through a tune up yesterday and I cannot get the vacuum gauge to stay at a firm reading. It's oscillating almost too fast to see the needle - around 20". 1965 401 - single carb. Engine is at operating temp - choke fully open. Dwell set dead nuts at 30 - barely moves when hammering the throttle. Timing - Vacuum Blocked - Mechanical Only: 550 - hair below 2 Spark plugs are .035 gapped R45S plugs Plug wires are all Taylors with good ohm readings. Fuel is 91 octane - no ethanol. Carb is a Carter AFB Compression is good across all cylinders I'm taking the vacuum reading direct from the intake port. I have the PCV hooked up to the rear of the carb, but everything else is plugged up to determine where the leak might be occurring from. I sprayed Carb Cleaner everywhere I could think of, but couldn't get any change in rpm or vacuum. Anyone have any ideas I should check regarding a really fast vacuum needle on a Buick 401? Thanks,