Long Roof

Well, I found one of my original cranks, why the other wasn't with it I don't know but it will turn up somewhere. Anyway, the first picture shows the OEM crank on the left with the aftermarket crank on the right. You can see the OEM crank has quite a bit more offset and clearance. I temporarily solved the problem by modifying one of my aftermarket cranks by shortening the crank arm length to miss the window frame. The second photo shows the OEM on the left, unmodified aftermarket in the center and modified aftermarket on the right. Thanks for the comments and offers for vent knobs but right now I have two functioning knobs so I don't need replacements.

The aftermarket vent cranks have about 3/8" clearance between the door panel and bottom of the knob. It looks like I need about 1/2" or 5/8" to clear the metal window frame. The good news is that the aftermarket knobs are pretty inexpensive, but if they don't work... Has anybody been down this road before? Thanks, Steve

I am looking for a pair of vent window cranks for my 1956 Century wagon. I seemed to have misplaced my original set. I had all of the cranks and levers off to fit new door panels. Finally got the panels installed and found that my new aftermarket set of cranks don't work for the vent windows. The end of the handle is too close to the door panel and hits the metal window frame when cranking. Anyway, I need a working set while I try to find "new" ones that will work. Thanks, Steve

I have to keep telling people it is not pink, it is coral. I do like it though. They had some interesting colors back in the day.

Beautiful spring day and had a Kodak moment with my son's 1953 Special and my 1956 Century wagon. Quite a change in style in just 3 years.

How much higher will the power seats be that the original manual seats? I assume the power seat frame is a little higher.

Matthew, Could be a good excuse for a long weekend road trip. Could you send some pics of what you have? Thanks, Steve

Greg, that's good to know. It may be easier to find one with more years to choose from. I have a spare front seat from my 56 wagon but being a 4 door it won't fold forward.

Probably, doing a little research. I would think that a 2 door post car seat would work too but not sure.

Need the front and rear seats for a 1953 Buick Special 2 door hardtop. Will consider any condition. Hopefully there is a set your there looking for a car! Let me know if what you have. Thanks, Steve

Well we had several leads but Eric W's Phoenix lead won out in the end. Worked out a deal and brought this to Illinois. One issue that needs to be sorted out is the seats. The original seats have been replaced with bucket seats from an unknown car, front and rear. I will start a new thread for those.

Still looking for a 1953 Buick Special 2 door hardtop, straight 8. Have had a couple of possibilities but no purchase yet.

handworn and leon bee, that ebay car actually belongs to my son. He wants to sell it to fund the straight 8. He has had both over the years and really likes the straight 8. I believe he has it sold now. motoringicons, I really like your 56 but I am a little partial to the 56's. I don't think you will have a problem selling it. Thanks all for the input. Keep it coming!

Still looking for a 1953 Special, 2 door hardtop with the straight 8. Would be nice to find one within 12 hours of Illinois. If you have a lead, pass it on. Thanks

Thanks for the leads. The nicer one is kind of what I had in mind, but it is a little too far away to check out from Illinois. Wish it was a couple of states farther to the east. Will keep looking. Steve

I am looking for a 1953 Special 2 door hard top (no post). I believe it would be the 45R model. This is actually for my son. He really likes the straight 8 engines and the smaller frame Special models. If any one has one or has a lead on one please pass it on. Thanks, Steve

I think I have an 18 tooth gear if that helps.

You are a step ahead of me. I am working on the interior of my Century wagon and will soon need the seat skirts repaired or replaced. I have a couple of sets in various stages of ill repair. I had thought about trying to fortify and beef up the skirts from behind and then covering them on the outside surface with vinyl that matches the seats. Surely somebody has already dealt with this problem. What fixes have been done in the past?

I had some time this weekend and sewed a piece of welting cord to a scrap section of windlace. It seemed to work well sliding into the groove. Thanks for the replies, they saved me a lot of time and frustration.

I had wondered about a rubber seal but the doors already have the large weather strips on them. I can see that a second bead string sewn into might work. I have some cording left over from the seats that looks to be about the right size. Thanks a lot for the replies. Long weekend coming up maybe I will make some progress.

I need a little guidance on the interior of my 1956 Century wagon. The two pictures are the passenger side door jamb. The dark green channel with the white cardboard next to it appears to be a U channel to accept the kick panel. It will come off by removing screws. It would then appear that the windlace goes directly behind this U channel. What is the channel that the screwdriver is pointing to in the second photo? It runs from the floor to the bottom of the dash. My car did not even have remnants of the trim in this area so I don’t have anything to go by. Can someone post a photo of the windlace and trim in this area? Thanks for any help.

David, Are you the photographer? I like what I see.

Thanks for the comments and input. It is starting to make sense to me now. In my last post I said there were relays but I meant solenoids in the seat mechanism.

Well, there is one 12 or 14 ga red wire coming off the seat harness. When I hook it to to 12 volts and ground the frame, the switch operates all of the positions properly. There are several relays in the operating mechanism. I just wanted to know how the main power feed got to the seat harness and where it originated. I would like to duplicate the circuit if possible.

I am swapping out my manual front seat in my 1956 wagon for a 6-way power seat. Looking at the shop manual, it looks like the power feed was an un-fused wire from the fuse box. Is this how they were wired? Did they have an in-line fuse? Thanks for any comments. Steve