49_buick_super

Another great day on the Mother Road. We spent last night in Tulsa at a classic Route 66 motel - the Desert Hills. Love the neon. It's part of the fabric and magic of the Route 66 experience. Lots of good road in Oklahoma today and we had the opportunity to stop by this historical marker that memorializes a small, narrow stretch of old Route 66 from the 20's that has been allowed to survive at this location. The actual roadway is between the arching curb and the marker. Here we met two German men who had rented Harley's and were headed to Santa Monica from Chicago. And, of course, a Buick picture with the present day road in the background. Kansas is home to 11 miles of Route 66 that clips the southeast corner of the state. One of the interesting sites in Kansas is this bridge. It is the last surviving Marsh-designed bridge on Route 66. Kansas is also home to a business named "Cars on the Route". There's a lot of history behind this place as it relates to the Disney movie, "Cars". It was previously known as "Four Women on the Route" and the creative inspiration for the Tow Mater character was supposed to have been taken from an International boom truck on the property that they called, "Tow Tater". In any respect, the business changed hands and is now "Cars on the Route" and the present owner has done a credible job in recreating the Tow Mater and Fire Truck characters. But the real highlight of the day was the late Gary Turner's Gay Parita Sinclair station on Route 66 just west of Halltown, MO. This place is pure gold. You can read about Gary if you Google "Gary Turner Gay Parita" and I won't go into much detail here. Suffice it to say Gary was a very interesting man who spent his retired years recreating this old Sinclair station for the enjoyment of Route 66 travelers. Two of Gary's favorite phrases were, "Friends for life" and "Dream of my life" referring to people he met at the station that stopped to visit and the his work in creating this magic place. Gary was known for his friendly conversation. It was said by one author that visitors to his station that only intended to stay for 15 minutes were happy and reluctant to leave after 3 hours. He would invite visitors to sit and offer them free cold drinks while they were with him. True to the spirit of Gary Turner, we were met on the property by Gary's son-in-law, George, who greeted us warmly and engaged us in some great conversation about the history of the Gay Parita station and his late father-in-law. He admired our car and said it would be an honor if we would drive it on the property and photograph it at the pumps. You can't imagine the thrill for me when he asked me to do this. And just like his father-in-law, he invited us up on the porch to sit a spell and talk. He gave us cold sodas (for free) and also gave me four post cards with pictures of the station. George is very proud that he is able to source all the production for the station's tee shirts locally. We bought two and will wear them proudly. If you ever get out on Route 66, make sure the Gay Parita Sinclair station is at or near the top of your list of things to see. Here's a picture of Gary Turner now in the station's office area... The Buick is still running fine and we're still out here gettin' our kicks on Route 66. Dan

Fortune continues to smile upon us as we traveled from Sayre, OK to Tulsa, OK today and not one problem with the Buick. (yay!) Before we left Sayre we went to the downtown area and photographed the Beckham County Courthouse. This building is well known to Route 66 "roadies" in that it appears in the movie, "Grapes of Wrath." It is seen as the Joad family is leaving their farm in Oklahoma and getting on Route 66 headed west to California. I would have taken a better shot of it from the middle of the street, like it is seen in the movie but the sun was in real conflict with the angle of the shot and this was the best I could do at the time we were there. Oklahoma provided us with some of the worst and best condition Route 66 road surfaces we've yet seen. For the first 45 or 50 miles of the trip today, the road beat the pee eye double s out of the Buick. Dang. But the good road surfaces were great in most other places. We traversed Oklahoma City on 66 and that was not as bad as I had anticipated. But the Tulsa traverse was something else. Tulsa needs to take better care of their heritage road surfaces, especially downtown. I was surprised to see how bad the road surface was on 66 in the downtown area. Digressing a bit, with passed through Clinton, Oklahoma today and stopped at the Route 66 museum. There is another excellent museum in Elk City and we will see that one on the return trip west. Here's a few photos. Tomorrow, we will travel through three states - Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. There are only 11 miles of Route 66 in Kansas at the southeast corner of the state. And thank goodness these signs came down!! (The good ol' Womens Christian Temperance Union) Here's a picture of the Buick at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton. That's some guy from Oklahoma telling my wife a fish story. (At least I hope it was a fish story!) Having a great time out here. Wish a bunch of ya were along with yer Buicks for a caravan across the country on Route 66! Dan

Good news from Amarillo, Texas today. As of 1:30 p.m. CDT we were back on the road and apparently no worse for the one week detour. As for the problem, let me explain what I know from the evidence. We examined the car for signs that the fan blade had impacted something on the car, anything on the car, and could find no evidence that the fan blade struck something on the car before it curled into the radiator. By we, I mean yours truly, two shop mechanics here at Vintage, the service manager, Brian, and the owner, Emmett Rice. We all looked and found nothing. Everything has been examined from the top and bottom with the car on a lift. The motor mounts are solid, undamaged and working properly. The transmission thrust pad/mount is intact, undamaged and working properly. We even looked at the radiator frame to see if something was causing it to move rearward slightly when the car accelerated. Nothing - it is rock solid. I was running a 7-blade fan from a 59 a/c Cadillac on this car. The blade clearances near the generator pulley were small. I knew that but it was never a problem before and there were 6,800 miles on this car before we started this trip. Examination of the fan blades showed that one blade had completely curled and ate the radiator. The blade adjacent to the curled blade showed signs of a stress line at the location where the other blade had curled. No other blade - that's 5 other blades - showed any sign of striking anything. There is no conclusive cause to report. The speculation is that one of my rolling tires popped up a chunk of very hard rubber from a heavy truck tire or farm implement tire and the timing was just right to cause the object to wedge between the one fan blade and the generator pulley, thus curling the blade. The object must have remained in the conflicting position just long enough to start to affect the second blade but it was already moving away and the second blade only started to be stressed but not enough to curl it. One blade was enough if you've looked at the picture. So, my radiator has been re-cored (4-core) and I have a new fan. This one is a 4-blade fan with more pitch than the stock fan but plenty of clearance. The water pump did not show signs of damage but in an abundance of caution, I had them install my backup water pump and I'm carrying the first one now as the spare. So, we've been in Amarillo for almost exactly one week to the hour. Trip disasters like this are a bitch but we truly did make lemonade outta them lemons. Here's a few quick tips. For any of you living in Texas or passing through Texas - Joe Taco. You won't be sorry. Tom Hanks is great in "Sully." And there is just a bunch of good Route 66 history here in Amarillo to explore. We even found a car show and voted for a nice guy here with a 76 Skylark and he won an award! Sent me an nice email telling me about it. So, moving forward, here's a picture of the car at Vintage Autohaus, just before we left today. Route 66 is really great here in Texas. We drove for miles on the old original road and never touched Interstate 40. This kind of road trip is just what these old Buicks are good at and fun to drive. As a matter of fact, the old road Route 66 runs from Texas into Oklahoma on some great old road with medians. We stopped briefly in Shamrock at the Route 66 icon, U Drop Inn. This old gas station/diner was built in the 30's and was the creative inspiration for the tire shop in the Disney movie, "Cars." This is just the neatest place. (We visited here earlier this week in the rental car but I wanted Buick pictures to post) The bugs are atrocious and the gal has a face full of them but we have a good cleaning kit along and we put her to bed tonight looking sharp. I spent a lot of time under the hood after we stopped today, cleaning and cleaning some more. The coolant sprayed everywhere and I was just sick to see the mess. But its all good now as I've given the engine compartment the start of a good cleaning. Dan

Keeping our fingers crossed for luck. It appears that we will be back on the road tomorrow morning. We are hoping all goes well as this has been an unexpected detour from our plans. There is a thread about the restoration of this car at http://forums.aaca.org/topic/198847-1949-buick-super-4dr-restoration-project/ We also keep photos and details of the trip for family and friends at www.the1949buick.com (more photos that what I've included here on the Buick forum) Dan

Patient in surgery...

We love Texas. And, icing on the cake - discovered Joe Taco this evening.

I was just accelerating away from a stop sign and about 1/2 way across the intersection I heard a thump/bang and then the fan commenced to eat the radiator as you can see in the picture. The shop where I'm having the repairs performed said they haven't seen anything that would have caused the fan to slide forward. As I said, I have my reservations and I'm going to insist on looking at the engine and transmission mounts because, as you can see in the photo, the one fan blade curled before it hit the radiator and the radiator surely didn't cause that curl. Thanks for your advice. I just don't know what the fan hit if the engine moved. Everything on the engine would have moved back at the same time. And, yes, the trip continues as soon as the car is fixed. I hope that is sometime before we become residents of the State of Texas by virtue of the time spent within the borders.

That's exactly what my friend who used to live in Texas asked! He said, "$hit, you hit an armadillo, didn't ya?" We're having a good time here, livin' like locals. The lemonade is good. Dan

She is the best. We did all the seat and arm rest upholstery in this car together and she was the lead. I couldn't have done it without her. Dan

We are now starting Day 2 in Amarillo. The weather matches our mood - overcast, gray skies, fog everywhere... But the Buick has been safely towed to Vintage Autohaus here in Amarillo and we appear to be in good hands. This is a huge vintage/classic car operation here with a very large shop. The service manager, Brian, is a car guy right down to the ground. The first speculation on what caused the damage is road debris thrown up that hit the fan. Possible, I guess, but I'm reserving a conclusion until they get everything apart and get a close look. I doesn't appear that the fan walked out of the water pump. There are two local shops that may be able to recore the radiator. Failing that, we will be here until one can be shipped in. It's a Walker radiator in the Buick now. Walker is in Tennessee, I think, and we are in Texas. The adventure continues. Dan

DAY 5 – Tucumcari, NM to DISASTER! Having stayed at the Blue Swallow Motel, we were somewhat disheartened to discover that we could have stayed where Clint Eastwood stayed. Bad luck, I guess. Day 5 started off with a wonderful tour of Tucumcari. This town is rich in the history of Route 66. There are many beautiful murals here. I photographed a few but did not get them all before we left town. Here is a sampling of the beautiful sights in Tucumcari – Here's a perspective from the driver's seat as you drive along the original Route 66 in eastern New Mexico. Interstate 40 is off to the left. We were driving along, enjoying the day, about 15 miles west of Amarillo, Texas when - DISASTER! That is exactly what it looks like. One of the fan blades curled and embedded in the radiator. How this happened is anyone's guess right now. The water pump is intact. The fan remains securely bolted to the water pump. The generator is where it should be. I really don't have a clue at this point. As a result, this was our ride into Amarillo - We are sleeping in a motel in Amarillo tonight and the Buick is sleeping here - I've got every spare part I could possibly need except a radiator and fan. And here's the problem when you run into trouble like this while traveling in a classic car: where do you go for repairs? I talked to a AAA garage in Amarillo and at first they were receptive. They called back before we were loaded on the tow truck and said they could not do any radiator repairs and referred me to a specialty radiator shop in Amarillo. I called that shop and the owner said to have the car towed there. We did and when he looked at it he said he couldn't fix it. Talk about a lost feeling. There you are with your car on a flatbed tow truck with nowhere to go. I was having visions of being dumped in a parking lot and having to sleep with the vehicle while fending off creeps and cops. Kind of in desperation, I asked the tow truck driver if his company could store the car until I could figure out what to do. He got it approved and I have sheltered storage of the car for $25/day until I can figure something out. The tow truck driver is a decent guy and he started making some telephone calls. He put me in touch with a shop here in Amarillo called Vintage Autohaus. I talked with the owner of that shop and he told me to have the car towed to his shop tomorrow and he would get me repaired. I don't know this shop and so I'm left with taking a chance and having the car towed to that shop to see if I'm moving in the right direction or losing ground. In the mean time, we Uber'd ourselves to an overpriced hotel in Amarillo and are looking forward to renting a car tomorrow and settling in to be temporary residents of Amarillo, Texas. To Be Continued...

I agree. We are using the 4th edition of this guide for our trip. Jerry McClanahan is the author. He lives and breathes 66 not to mention his artwork. He is a very talented car artist.

Yes, taking the old Route 66 alignment to Santa Fe on the return trip. I've heard of La Bajada and I think it would be considered 4WD today. Dan

DAY 4 – Albuquerque, NM to Tucumcari, NM The start of Day 4 has me hot on the trail of figuring out what is causing the noise I’m hearing. I whip out the trusty iPhone and sure enough, I’m within blocks of Jim’s Route 66 Muffler and Auto Repair. As luck would have it, they had no customers when I arrived and I got on the lift right away. Inspection revealed that when the car was restored, the tail pipe bend above the rear axle housing was poorly positioned. The articulation of the suspension had caused the axle housing to impact the exhaust pipe which, in turn, broke the exhaust pipe hanger. We are traveling with a load in the trunk and that is the probable reason why I’ve never experienced this problem before. Some handiwork by Jim and we were good to go with a new hanger and the exhaust properly positioned. Leaving Albuquerque, we passed through Moriarty, NM. An interesting stop there was an old Whiting Brothers gas station with a restored sign. The current proprietor is using the old place as a tire repair shop with a small Route 66 museum. We talked with him at length about old stories of Route 66. The rest of the day found us cruising on old Route 66 which sometimes was near the Interstate and other times was out of sight of the Interstate. Wonderful feeling to be driving the Buick across the high deserts of New Mexico, moderate temperatures, windows down, enjoying the driving experience and scenery not to mention the nostalgia of the old Mother Road. Arriving at our destination for the day, Tucumcari, we stayed at a Route 66 classic motel, The Blue Swallow. This motel is literally an international favorite, very well-known in Route 66 circles. The old motor court style is stunning and the current owners are friendly and just a blast to talk with about the road and the town. I won't bore you with room pictures but look at this telephone. It works. This has to give you an idea of staying here. It's like a time warp to the 50's. Most of the rooms have an accompanying garage. Our room had one. A few more pictures of the motor court and neon lights. Dan

Day 3 – Holbrook, AZ to Albuquerque, NM Lots of interesting travel on the real Route 66 on day 3. Most of the Arizona travel for us this day is on the surface of Interstate 40. Route 66 lies beneath the roadbed of the eastbound lanes of I-40. About 8 miles west of the Arizona/New Mexico state line, the real Route 66 roadway is still there and accessible. You jump off I-40, get on the Old Route 66 and head east, eventually crossing into New Mexico at Lupton. There are rest areas on both sides of the border as well as many commercial ventures that have been here for years. Chief Yellowhorse and the Tee Pee Trading Post have been here for years. If you look in the photo below you can see the towering sandstone cliffs that straddle the Arizona/New Mexico border. If you have seen the movie, “Grapes of Wrath,” you have seen these very cliffs displayed in the background scenery as the Joad family made their entry into Arizona through the inspection station. In this photo, the roadway in the foreground is the actual Route 66 and beyond is the every-busy Interstate 40. The cliffs in the distance appear like this in several places along Route 66 in New Mexico and also in Arizona between Kingman and Oatman. They suggest to me where the creative inspiration came for the background cars-and-fenders cliffs in the movie, “Cars”. New Mexico has many, many miles of the original Route 66 to drive. It parallels the Interstate and you just cruise along just like they did back in the 40's, 50's and 60's. The end of the day’s travel was in Albuquerque and we stayed at another Route 66 classic motel, The Monterrey. This motel has rooms that are unbelievable in their amenities and décor. And I love neon signs. . On to Buick matters. This day saw us dealing with more trouble. During the day’s travels, I began noticing an ominous loose rumbling and banging coming from what seems to be the area of the transmission mount. Of course, I’ve looked under the car but can’t see anything amiss. The noise happens mostly when I’m stopping or on rough road like cattle guards. As the day progresses, I was becoming very concerned. Problem 2. Rain. We went through some real down pours about 30 miles east of Albuquerque. When I got to The Monterrey Motel, I found that my rear window seal is leaking (slightly) but nonetheless, it had moistened a small portion of the left side of my trunk upholstery. This has me a bit chapped because I discovered this leak well over a year ago. I took it back to where I had the rear window installed during the restoration and it was allegedly fixed. So, tomorrow we will figure out a way to deal with the leak and I will have to find a shop with a lift and get my eyes on whatever is causing the rumbling and banging under the car. Hope you guys are enjoying reading about this. For me, its all about the Buick and a long road trip that recreates my first real adventure as a 12-year-old kid in May/June of 1964. Dan

Just a little historical fill here before I move on to post Day 3. It is Buick-related. The cities and towns mentioned by Bobby Troup in his song, “Route 66”, are: Chicago, St Louis, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup, Flagstaff, Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino and Los Angeles. Of special note to Buick aficionados is that Troup and his wife, Cynthia, penned most of the lyrics to the song in 1946 while traveling from Pennsylvania to California on Route 66 in their 1941 Buick. Troup was headed to Los Angeles try to make a living as a song writer. Having earned more than $4 million in royalties for just this one song in his lifetime, I believe he accomplished his goal. End trivia entry. Dan

DAY 2 - Flagstaff, AZ to Holbrook, AZ Before we left Flagstaff we visited Lowell Observatory where the planet Pluto was first discovered. Then we stopped by a Route 66 icon in Flagstaff - the Museum Club. First started in the 1930's as a museum of hunting trophies, but for decades it has been a lively country western music place. A few local tour consultants stopped by to admire the car, give some Route 66 site seeing advice and insisted they be photographed with the car. After leaving Flagstaff, we passed through Winona. Recall Bobby Troup's famous "Route 66" song and the lyrics, "...don't forget Winona..." If you blink, you'll miss Winona but there is an old bridge here worth seeing. Traveling east, we stopped by a Route 66 icon that is now dead. Twin Arrows. I recall seeing this as a bustling business in 1964 but it was right on Route 66 and had not been bypassed by I-40. Moving further east, but 6 miles south of Route 66 is the Meteor Crater. This is on private land and is not a state or federal site. Well worth seeing if you get the opportunity. Years ago, and I saw this in 1964, there was a business that advertised to all west-bound travelers. The bill boards started in Oklahoma and had catchy phrases like, "See it. 625 miles" Then you'd pass another and another, always a catchy phrase with the mileage yet to travel until you arrived to see what ever it was they were hyping. Finally, when you got there, this is what you saw. Yep. The Jackrabbit Trading Post. Still here and still open for business. Bought some postcards and an iced tea. Doing my part to keep it alive. Holbrook was our destination and if you've watched the Disney movie, "Cars" and you are on Route 66, you just have to stay at the Wigwam Motel. The Wigwam was the creative inspiration for the "Cozy Cone Motel" in the movie. This is a wonderful place that has been in family hands since the 1950's. The owner has a bunch of old cars parked outside the Wigwams and as props they give the place a real "back then" appearance and atmosphere. I'll show two of the cars here because they are Buicks. And of course, us, parked at Wigwam #12. I met the current owner of the Wigwam Motel. His name is Clifton Lewis. A very interesting man. Most of the cars on the property have current Arizona registration plates. They all run. He takes each of them out once a week and gives them an exercise run about town. If you ever motor west, you must stay in Holbrook at the Wigwam Motel. Being inside one of the rooms is like being back in the late 40's or anytime in the 50's. Great fun. Dan

Lots of interesting stories about east to west travel. Yours sounds like my own kid story. In May 1964, my family traveled west from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles on Route 66. We got on the Mother Road in Missouri. We traveled in a 1960 Ford 2-door with an inline six-cylinder engine and a three-speed standard transmission, no air conditioning. We saw the route as it was in the final years of its real US highway existence. Fifty-two years later, in 2016, we’re traveling in a 1949 Buick Super 4-door with no air conditioning. For the first trip in ’64, I was 12 years old and our ’49 Buick - where ever it was then - was already 15 years old! Dan

Day 1. Phoenix to Flagstaff. Flagstaff is the start of the trip - actually on Route 66 at that point. In the photo of the Buick parked at the Chevron station, we are at the junction of Old Route 66 with the connector to I-17 headed to Phoenix. I posted a map image showing the start point. The trip to Flagstaff was not uneventful. The car ran well for the first 100 miles. Temperatures in the desert were in the mid to high 90's. I climbed one hill with an elevation change from 2000 to 3500. No problems. I followed some slower moving 18-wheelers to kept the stresses at a minimum. But then I got to the point where you have to climb from about 4000 to 6500 feet in about 12 miles. With no signs of overheating, I started to bog-and-surge from vapor lock. I got to about 1/2 mile from the top when she crapped out. I had to sit along side the road for about 1/2 hour and let things cool to the point where the glass bowl would fill using my electric fuel pump. From that point, we were back in business. I've driven this car in Phoenix on very hot days and never experienced vapor lock. Elevation, heat and crap gas, I guess. I thought my 6 volt fuel pump was going to keep me out of vapor lock trouble. Fooled me. I did quite a bit of planning for this trip and I'm still amazed at how much "stuff" we've got along for a trip that will last somewhere in the range of 3 to 5 weeks. I've got a small NAPA store of spare parts in the trunk and that, combined with cleaning supplies, a tool bag, a luggage bag apiece for the wife and I, camera bag, a laptop computer each, jack, car duster, car cover, and a dry bag containing a quart of oil, 2 quarts of Dexron, and a gallon of coolant. Sheesh. Dan

Started the road trip today that was one of the underlying reasons we restored our Buick. Start in Arizona on Route 66, east to Chicago, U-turn and head to Santa Monica. From there, another U-turn and back to the starting point in Arizona. I'll post some pictures as we progress. Dan

That has been my fervent prayer to the tire gods every time I take the Buick out on the road. Dan

Ed - If you lift at the frame, won't the body rise with the frame and the wheel drop with gravity acting on the suspension --> clearance? I have never had the pleasure of using a jack on a Riviera so I'm just doing some mental speculation here. (You're sending me scrambling to look at pictures of the first generation frame and suspension...) Dan

I've got the correct bumper jack for my Buick but it is there for show. I would never use it to change a flat. I've been looking about trying to find something practical to keep in the trunk for road trips and here's what I've settled on. It's a scissors jack from a 88-99 Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra. The jack weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces. It is 21 inches long and collapses to a 4 inch high profile. Very easy to get under any flat on a car that hasn't been seriously lowered. The lift saddle will fit at standard frame lift points or under the rear axle. The extensions are each 26 inches long and when coupled allow a reach of 51 inches. Together with the ratchet, they add another 3 pounds to the total weight. The single extension can be operated at an angle of about 45 degrees which would keep you safely off the road if lifting on the traffic side. The scissors will lift to 18 inches. I've successfully lifted my 49 Super in the front and rear with half that reach which is sufficient to raise an inflated tire off the ground. The base is very stable and the scissor lift is smooth and easy with the ratchet handle. If you are looking for a sturdy jack with a low profile, this one might serve you well. Dan

Let me add another place to check: http://www.sandersreproglass.com/ This place had all the glass for my Buick when I restored it. The green tints were offered and they will etch the bug into your glass to make it look exactly like the OEM glass. Reasonable prices and the glass was shipped in excellent packaging. Dan

My '49 Super 248 c.i. takes 7 1/2 quarts with a new filter. 1/2 quart goes in the filter canister with the new cartridge. But even though I've told you this, be sure you have a manual and confirm it. Best practice. Dan