Buicknutty

My wife has always been very fond (even before she met me!) of the 65-68 Wildcat convertibles, and was sort of on a "someday it would be nice" wish list. This is off topic, but our usual car is a 1956 Roadmaster 2 door that we have driven extensively, and yes, she drives it too! I have been restoring a 1941 McLaughlin Buick Roadmaster coupe, for about the last ten years or so, and it always seems to go slower than I'd like. I do all my own work, body and mechanical. Life seems to get in the way to often, though the car is nearly finished. The Wildcat had been owned by a good friend of mine since the early or mid eighties, and was going to be a project car for him, which never happened. He recently bought a nice, original seventies LeSabre,so the Wildcat had to go! I knew that the car was for sale, but really wasn't interested in pursuing it, as I wanted to get my '41 done, but one day my wife was over at his place dropping off some stuff to him, for me, and when she came home, said "It's too bad you're not done the '41" "Why" I innocently asked "Then we could buy the Wildcat that .... has for sale". Yes, I said, I do want to finish my '41, besides there's the storage issue! All was well for a few weeks, when I met my friend at a car meet, and as we were chatting, he casually asked if I knew anyone who might be interested in the car, as I really have to get rid of it soon. So I foolishly said, actually, my wife would be interested. His yes kind of lit up, and said, well I'm home next weekend, if you want to see it. So, we did, and it was a complete car, but needed quite a bit of TLC, and was a bit of a mongrel too. The 430 had been replaced with a '70 455, the front seat was wrong, from a '69, I think, and the back seats, though they fit in place, were wrong too. Top was bad, and had been fixed with duct tape, and it hadn't run in over 20 yrs. My buddy did drive the car for a summer or two, but it broke down one day with whole family on board, was towed home, and was never repaired. So, we bought it! Who wouldn't! Sane people, I guess. It was originally sold here in Toronto, and as I said about my '41, its' a Canadian car, with all the rust to prove it! Much of the floor damage was due to water leakage from the bad top. The car was originally triple white, white interior, paint, and top, but had been repainted twice. The first repaint was to dark blue, an proper '68 colour, and well done, the second, to red, and was a poor job, as some parts were pealing badly, displaying nice,glossy paint underneath. All of this done before my buddy bought it. Once we got the car home, I set to figuring out if we had a good beast, or a bad one. The engine was key. I did baby steps with it, pulled the plugs and oiled the cylinders, lifted the rocker covers oiled the valve train, and tried to get as much oil as I could down to the cam. Left it a couple of days, and then put a wrench on the front pulley, and it moved without undue trouble. Then I tried the starter, and it cranked well, checked for compression, and it had about 130 lbs., on the ones I tried. Low, but good for an engine that hadn't run for long. I also installed an oil pressure guage, as these models only had lights,and I wanted to make sure that it had oil pressure. Anyway, an oil change next, then it built oil pressure while cranking, but the fuel pump was bad, so a new one was installed, and it ran! Not well though, the carb needed a rebuild, plus the general tune up stuff, and now it is a sweet running 455! End of Part 1, next for the body work! I have some pictures, but haven't figured out how to post them, hopefully I will soon!

Same thing happened here in Toronto a few years ago. A guy was restoring a Corvair, and he had the door closed and some kind of heater on, due to the cold weather, and the gas fumes went up. He survived the fire, but died in hospital about a week later. Not nice. Keith

Since I was restoring the car, I got an original chip chart, and chose "Royal Maroon", and have done the car in base/clear in that colour. I used top line Sherwin Williams paint, and they did a great job matching the original colour with modern pigments. I think that it looks great with the wide whites, and chrome trim. For me, this was the right choice. Don't have any pictures, as I am still assembling the car. Family issues prevented me from getting much done the last half of 2011. Keith

I like the '41's the best, that's why I bought one! I like the dual carbs, and the revised styling, though all of the 36-41's are great looking cars. Keith

Nice and cold (about 3 F. this morning) here in Toronto, Ontario, today, so I think I'll work in the basement on polishing some more of the trim for my '41 rather than turning the heat on in the garage. Keith

Neil; I'll check out the compatibility between doors on '55's and '56's, and let you know? Where are you located?

What about the passenger side door? Is it available? I have a '56, and I believe that the doors are the same. Keith

John, Happy New Year to you too! Hopefully we will meet again at another show. I'll try to get some stuff together and start a thread about the Wildcat. Keith

John, quite the story, I'm glad that you got the car, sounds like it made it to a good home! My wife has a '68 Wildcat convert, and it has a similar sad story. My goal with that car is similar to yours, ie., make it into a decent driver, with doing the work myself. I am a competent mechanic, and have good welding skills, so I feel I can make it a good looking car with doing the vast majority of the work myself. This is not a common car, but not a really rare one either, so I don't think that it is worth spending a huge amount on, if we wanted a a top concours type of Wildcat, much better ones could be found to start from. When we got it, it had the wrong seats, a 455 (430 is correct) that hadn't run in about 25 yrs, the passenger and trunk floor had been patched with sheet metal screws and roofing tar. The left rear quarter had been hit, repaired poorly, and was now rusted. Other than the incorrect stuff, all of the Wildcat trim was there, and in decent shape. I took great care in starting it first, but I got the engine running, and after a carb rebuild and some tune up work it now runs beautiful, and doesn't blow smoke! The engine oil was as black as ink, and after a couple of hours of running, it was very dark, so the poor 455 has suffered from neglect to, we'll see how it goes when we get driving it. The passenger floor and left quarter is fixed, and I'm starting on the the trunk. I suppose that this story deserves a thread of its' own, and perhaps I will start one. Keith

Thanks for posting pictures of the engine. That looks like factory A/C, as I have a '56 Roadmaster that has factory A/C, one of the oddest things is the covering on the blower motor housing, it is for heat insulation and is a rather lumpy foam rubber stuff, but that's the way it was made! Keith

Cool project Shadetree! Although my Dad wasn't really into working on cars to much, he was a smart guy, and helped me a lot with my first couple of projects, and I learned so much from him. Brings back good memories working with him, as he passed away last year at 93. Wish I had a picture of us together, but we were always dirty, and no one else in the house could use a camera! Keep up the good work, and keep posting! Keith

Nice looking car! How are the mechanicals, does it still have the original 322 V8? Have a Merry Christmas! Keith

Lovely car! Keith

With a car you don't know well, I too would take it easy on the secondary roads. Easier too, if the old girl gives some trouble, hopefully not though! Keith

On both of mine, if there've been sitting for more than 3/4 days they will take a bit more cranking to start. If left overnight, or a couple of days, they generally start right up with one pump, and then hit the starter and away they go. If the carb gets flooded, you will smell gas pretty quick, if you don't then the carb was likely just dry. Keith

Pouring some gas down the carb will help it start, when the choke won't work, a rather dangerous tactic, but it will work. There is a product usually called "Quick start" which is ether, and is extremely flammable, and will help it start, instead of pouring gas down the carb. If you do this I suggest putting the air cleaner back on, before trying to start it, so if it backfires the carb won't catch on fire! Your best friend in this could be the shop manual, though if you are very unsure of how to fix the carb, perhaps you could find a mechanic that has the knowledge, and patience to work on these cars. Another poster suggested spraying the linkage with cleaner, and it possible that might get you 90% to working choke. Cool car, and good luck with it. I've driven a '56 Roadmaster extensively for many years! Post some pictures if you can. Keith

Worked on the left rear quarter panel of my wife's '68 Wildcat convert. In the past it was hit just in front of the wheel well, with mediocre repair done, plus a dose of rust, has made it a bit of a mess, but it is looking better now! Hope to finish this week, as I have no heat were it is right now. Keith

I have had a '41 McLaughlin Buick Roadmaster coupe for 20 years, and I just cannot believe it has been that long, and have been working on since about the year 2000. Though it ran when I got it, the previous owner had started restoring the car, and did a lot of damage to the already badly rusted body. So that was a major challenge to get through. Anyway, the long and short of this is to say, I really thought that this would be the year it finally makes it back on the road, but work, and close, rather ill relatives, conspired against the completion of it! Hopefully next year!! Keep up the good work guys, and try to not lose hope! Keith

Mike; Very cool, and as the old expression goes, small world! I live in the Scarborough Bluffs area, and have through McGill St. from time to time. Likely you had university students staying at your parent's place. Also, I was in Whitby yesterday! Keith

Mike; I should have a few, but I don't know where they are. I'll take a look through some of my old stuff, and see if I can scan and post one or two for you. The boat was an 18' Shepherd, mahogany runabout, with large 6 cyl engine, Crysler Crown, marine, if I remember correctly. Keith

Mike; Thanks for taking the time to share all this with us. I found your cutting setup interesting, it reminds me of a duplicating lathe that one of my grandfather's had, at one time, so that one could make exact copies of spindles for making chairs, etc. I once restored an early fifties wooden speedboat, and went from metal working (my norm) to wood working! My boat was rather like those woodies, a lot of work but fabulous to look at, and not so practical. Keith

Give me a couple of days to check it out. Keith

Might have a spare, I can go and check, but where are you located? Shipping would be quite costly, pick up would be best, though I live in the Toronto, Ontario, in Canada, sort of across the lake from Buffalo NY. Let me know if you're interested, and I will go check and take a couple pictures. Keith