grhouse

Bump If anyone can help me on this I would really appreciate it. I am trying to determine a fair price so that I can pay the man for it. Gene

We need more pictures. I wonder if there is a gear tucked up in the top part of that cover that is removed in the third picture. If it is and it meshes with the larger gear then it would turn the splined shaft in the center. It appears that there would be a belt on the flywheel on the right side in picture two. But, the duel intakes and exhausts are a little confusing for steam or for a pump I think. For a pump you only need one intake for your fluid and one exhaust for your fluid. Pictures one and two clearly show what appears to be a metal pipe on the side and rubber tube at the top of each end. Maybe it is a double pump being able to pull liquid in from the lower pipe and exhaust it out the top tube at both ends at the same time. That way both pistons (there are two under closer examination) would work as the driving forces. Very interesting! Of course, this is all just wild speculation considering that I cannot get my hands on the unit to see how it works. Gene

I see a 3 lobe cam and what looks like at least one piston (maybe 2) but I do not see any means of getting spark or fuel to it so if it is an engine it is probably steam. At the same time, it really does look like a big transfer pump that would be run with a belt attached to one end of the crankshaft (for lack of a better term). Of course I've been known to be completely wrong before too. Gene

I recently located a man who has a small collection of vintage car jacks. He has decided to part with them and has let me have one to see if I am going to be a good outlet for him. I need some help in identifying this one. I have never seen one like this before so I am asking for help here on the forum. It is probably one I should know and make me look dumb but that is OK. The only printing I see on this one is "1 W on the upper movable portion of the jack just below the round hole. Gene

John, Thanks for checking on that for me. I just tried again and the pages will not load for me. I guess I'll have to call them. I'm using XP and Firefox. That price looks acceptable and comparable to Kanter if the quality is the same. I've noticed that some others here have used Bob's and that is why I thought I'd give them a try. It appears they specialize in Buick parts and it is good to keep folks like that in business. Gene

It is a 4-door. I've got to check to see which plugs, points, etc. to get. Bob's website must be down or something. I tried them and it would never load properly. Everything at Kanter is about $130 including new wires. At oldbuickparts.com they advertise a "kit" that includes everything for $90 but if you but the parts individually it comes to about $120. Has anyone on here ever dealt with oldbuickparts.com? I like a good deal but good quality is more important to me with my cars. It does have the Delco distributor on it and it looks like AC plugs currently. I'll be posting pictures soon. Gene

Yes, add me to the membership please. I've made the changes in my profile. While I'm here, where is the best place to get tune-up parts? I've looked at both Kanter and oldbuickparts.com. Oldbuickparts has a good package deal but I'm not sure of their quality. I think that you can generally be sure of Kanter's quality. This beauty runs great but has not had new plugs, points, etc. for a long time and I want to give her a good tune-up. Also, what is the best way to treat the air cleaner? Should I just clean it good and oil it? I'd like to get a good replacement if I can find original equipment style to replace it with. The car is all original now and I do not want to change that. It is great to know that there is a special group of folks here on the Forum that specialize in 39 Buicks! I'm sure we'll have a lot to discuss and maybe there will be someone else from the mid-South that I can meet with to go to shows. I actually live in the small town of Thorn Hill, TN about 45 miles north of Knoxville, TN. Gene

By the way, the car is all original. Gene

I just bought a 39 Buick Special and noticed that when I bounced up and down on thew running board that the whole car swayed a lot. The owner's manual says to put fluid in it when it gets low. What type of fluid should I put in it and do you think that will help the problem? Gene

Maybe I can help (or muddle the waters a little). Here is a picture of the compressor attached to the 39 Super 8 engine that I recently bought. It attached very nicely to existing locations on the engine and has the wide pulley. Now, before anyone gets too excited, this is not an original compressor but either a replacement or an additional at some later point in the cars history. I ended up with this well kept running engine when the owner decided, to my horror, to street-rod the car. By the way, the compressor is for sale including the brackets. Gene

I've been able to narrow the information down on this radio head to probably the early 30s and probably column mounted based on information from a well know classic radio person. He was not able to help pinpoint the year or manufacturer of the head. The numbering appear to almost be hand lettered and notice that there are only lines at each number and none between numbers as you usually see. Also note that there are no zeros used. The cables are just at 24" long and the wires about 13" long. The numbering is vertical rather than the horizontal that you'd normally see in a dash mounted radio head. We initially thought that this may be an armrest head used in a Limo but the cables are not long enough for that. There is a number on the dial face where the ends are stapled together: 56734. Finally, the knobs that are on it, almost certainly, are not original and should not be considered in you evaluation. Thanks in advance for any thoughts and comments. Gene

Correction! I misunderstood the information I was given. This radio was actually used on the 1938 Packard instead of the 1937. Sorry, Gene

The mystery has been solved. The "radio man", Harold Rushing, was able to identify the year for me and told me where to look for the model number. It is a Philco Model P1530 made for Packard in 1937 and this particular one would have been mounted in a Limo in the trunk with the head (dial) in the passenger side armrest. The speaker was often mounted directly behind the center armrest in the trunk. Thanks to all who offered their opinions. If anyone has a need for a limo radio then feel free to contact me. Gene

I need to determine exactly the range of the numbers on the dial and try to fix a closer year that way I think. My guess is that the earlier radios did not have the wide range of stations that more modern radios have. The station range should give us a hint, Perhaps I can use a glass to discover some marking on the dial to help further. I'll do some more digging this weekend and report back with my findings. This is getting increasingly interesting. Gene

OK, that makes sense. The cables I have are probably long enough to reach if the radio was secured directly in the corner behind the seat in line with the armrest. I wonder where they would have put the speaker in a case like this? It is hardly something you could easily hide considering its size.