Buicknutty

As i now have the car running again, I've moved it to another garage so i get a few other small jobs done on other cars, late models and a couple of the vintage babies. Hopefully I can get all of these out of the way in a few weeks so i can get back onto this one.

Great looking progress Matt!

Today my son and I took his '55 to an upholstery place in another town, to talk to them about getting the seats done, it was about 75 miles round trip. The temps are hot here running in the low 90's to about 95 F, and the engine held it's cool throughout including some traffic. Oil pressure stayed great too, so a successful run. This was the longest it's been driven since we got it on the road last summer, and the hottest drive too. We took the secondary highways all the way and it cruised comfortably in the 55-60 indicated range. Here's a shot of it in front of the shop while we were waiting. Keith

Yes, that's the sad part about this car. I have more pics of the undercarriage and it doesn't get any better.

This car is for sale locally (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) on Kijiji and I went to look at it as I am still way off from finishing the one I'm doing for my wife (see the thread "My Wife's 1968 Wildcat Convertible"), though I decided to not buy it. The car's interior is the rarer bucket seat and console and still would be in usable condition once cleaned up. It has a 350 2 bbl, instead of the correct 430 4 bbl, though it started well from cold and ran good without obvious smoke. I'm thinking the engine is of a similar vintage to the car. Who or when this was done is not known, the car does drive, but it isn't currently licensed. Though it wouldn't have the muscle of the big block it would still take you down the road. There is no visible rust on the exterior panels, and doors etc seem to fit well, though the underneath is much different. The body structure and frame will require a considerable of work. The car was used as a prop car and is owned by the production company and it's no longer needed hence it's now for sale. I believe it's a Canadian car and it appears to have been in storage for some time before being acquired by this company. There's an oil change sticker on the door jam though difficult to read, the date is July 13 198?, I think the last number is an 8, and it shows about 8,000 miles more than the mileage on the sticker. The body number, 218 shows it to be a very early production car out of the less than 3,600 built. According to my info at least. He is asking $9,000 but has indicated he might take only Slightly less. If you are interested call or text Pazz at 416-898-2221. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/city-of-toronto/1968-buick-wildcat-custom-convertible/1659536720

Since it is nice and warm, summer like temps here in Southern Ontario we took the '56 Roadmaster to a large cruise in Port Dover, and old fishing town now a tourist town on the North Shore of lake Erie. Our old faithful, the '56 Roadmaster has had very little use recently, so we gave it a wash job and took it for an afternoon of hardtop driving! The smooth flow of power and the muted growl from the 322 nailhead with the buttery smooth Dynaflow makes it a nice drive. Less than 50 miles round trip but all of it on well paved country roads. The only other Buick there was this Skylark which was a bit of a custom, still running a nailhead though. The paint was extremely well done, kind of like a root beer brown with a hint of burgundy in it. The interior and dash were customized as you can see. Keith

Wow what a beauty! The lady is pretty nice too!

Thank you for the info!

Well Folks, after many interruptions and a couple of snags I finally got the engine in the 'Cat back together and it's running fine again. I have a question about the exhausts on these cars. This one has a single and it would appear as if this is what it was built with. Is there any reason I couldn't order a stock dual system and bolt it up? The car really should have duals as far I'm concerned. Thank you! Keith

Yesterday it was such a nice day, but I had to go to my daughter's place to do a some of work in the backyard so I drove the Electra! That was about 125 miles or so round trip, a warmish day so we ran with the AC on most of the time. The car ran great plus I took a more scenic route as part of a major highway was closed for some weekend repairs, so it was a very enjoyable drive. Sorry folks, no pics this time! Keith

This lady has a casual sexiness about her. I know I've said this before, but I really love these vintage pics, a tiny slice in someone's life. I wonder who she was, who took the picture, where they were going, what happened to her. Thanks, Keith

On Friday I picked my Reatta up from where it had been stored for the winter. The deal was a friend wanted me to sort a few things out on his '40 McLaughlin Buick coupe over the winter, and he would provide storage for one of my cars, the Reatta in this case. With his just about ready to go back to him I wanted to bring the Reatta home so I can drive a bit in the nice weather we are now having. The car was on a battery maintainer all winter, and it started right up like it was yesterday! With a check of the fluids and tires too all was well and I drove it 70-75 miles home and a side trip. Ran and drove great. I love my oldies a lot for sure, but wow fuel injection and electronic ignition sure is nice too! Keith

Awesome work Roger. This is a fabulous thread (if I haven't said so before!) and I enjoy reading your progress, and sometimes even the lack thereof due to the various technical problems you encounter. The best part is how overcome all those obstacles to create to next piece of the puzzle! Keith

Tonight was the first of the local cruise nights to start and we had lovely weather for it. I drove the Electra, and there were 160 cars there but I was the only Buick! One car you don't see too often was this Cosworth Vega, and a very original example. The little screamer puts out in the region of 200 HP with 7,000 RPM redline. Keith

Yes, I remember that well! Long way to go for gas though.

Thanks for this interesting discussion guys. We haven't been able to get non ethanol gas here in Ontario for a while and am concerned about the '16 D45 in particular. All the other cars, even the '41 Roadmaster I've made fully ethanol compatible so at least it won't screw things up, the jetting etc is a different issue naturally. Mostly all run well with the 5-10% ethanol we have here.

It was a local multi make car club's safety inspection on Sat morning. They require a valid sticker for the current year to participate in any of their tours or activities with your vintage car. I took the Electra and the '41 Roadmaster and they both passed without any issues. No pics of the '41, but here's the Electra with a first gen Mustang poking it's nose from behind the much bigger Electra. Actually some others commented how the Mustang disappeared behind it! An old tree had this huge fungus growing out of it, amazing and so can see the size of it with my hand beside it. Of course no way on Earth am I touching it! Keith

I had a good Buick day today, I drove my friend's '40 coupe about 40 miles, and then later I met some friends for a burger dinner at an A&W, and drove the Electra though the heavens opened up, but unlike the '40 the wipers work well on it!

We had a great Buick afternoon here. I started the '56 Roadmaster for the first time this year and it ran great and started easily once it got fuel into the carb. I had to move the '41 Roadmaster to get the lawn tractor out, it started quickly but was running terrible, so I took it out for a short spin to warm it up then it smoothed out. Though I fear it needs a bit of attention! Then my son started his '55 and we took it for a short drive to give that one a bit of exercise. We do check the basics before we take one of these babies out for the first time in ages. The '41 had been out to show a friend who has a similar model, the difference in ride and drive with the radials instead of the original bias plies on his car. Keith

We are going through a similar thing with the '68 Wildcat I'm restoring for my wife, I have all the stuff to install A/C on it off a car I parted out a few years ago, though major parts are likely non operative and was looking at a mostly new system for it. Expensive, and nice to have but then how much will it get used I wonder so will it be worth the money. Not sure yet. Keith

Yes, this is what I am tempted to do, thank you and everyone else for their replies.

I'm not a fan of the look either, which is why I didn't do this sooner, but I have not had success with Pertronix units either. Are these from Lectric different?

The picture I'm posting tonight is almost the same as the one I posted nearly one year ago! As some may know, I'm working on a '68 Wildcat Convert for my wife, and I have bought a number of new parts for it and not all of them are on it yet, including a brand new HEI distributor. Those who have followed some of my adventures know I don't seem to resist temptation very well! So as it happens I decided to see how the HEI distributor works in the Electra's engine. The answer is Fabulous! The points and condenser were requiring service on it anyway, so I'm going from old points to new electronic. My wife gave me a sad look when I told her I wanted to "try" the unit designated for her car, but I promise to put it in for her after some running in the Electra. Now I have the dilemma, do I buy another one for the Electra? Or go back to the points. The last few years I've had so much sub standard ignition parts I'm almost afraid to buy new stuff to put it in. I'm an old school guy so I grew up changing and adjusting points and don't mind doing it, but I want my car to run right for a decent amount of time. In my research I saw some called "small cap HEI" which use an external coil, and would look a bit less in correct. Either way this car is a driver, and a distributor is a fairly easily changed part.

Yes, that is a top protectant I put on several years ago now, though the car is garaged most of the time. At this point I'm sorry I cannot remember the brand I used except it was one of the more expensive ones and was a cleaner, then when dry you applied the protector. If I find the propducts I used I'll let you know,

I had the Electra out for the first time in a few months. I had snuck it out during the winter on a dry day but now with the weather a bit better I took it out for a nice drive on Monday. I don't have the outside water on yet as the nights are still below freezing from time to time, so to the car wash I went! Then I went for a drive to dry it off, etc. All together about 25 miles.