dibarlaw

I am unable to zoom in any farther but I see that the first cylinder rocker assembly looks to be removed and just sitting on top of the casting. I found it! Here is the photo that was posted a while back. Probably its 2nd top since the original would not have gypsy sides. Looks to have at least the same amount of upholstery as the one we offered on in New York.

I contacted the owner via a PM. He said he would send more photos and condition information. He sent a little information but no other photos.

Brad: I just re-read your post about the top bow patterns. Over a year ago I checked with Rick Kesselring here in Chambersburg when I thought that I could have a set of sockets made up by John In Cal. He did say that he had the patterns or dimensions for my 1925-25. I will check with him again.

I believe that there was a full side view of this car posted on the forum over a year ago. It was shown in a garage at the time. I know we asked questions about it at the time.

Pete: I will look forward to the article. I have already lost out on 3 1914-37s. Translation, all too expensive, one too nice, one too rough with missing pieces and one just about right but with radiator, wheel and upholstery issues. Just like "Goldilocks and the 3 bears".

When I made my temporary rests I also turned a set of "PINS" according to the photo Leif sent me years ago. As you can see I used what I had around the shop. NM electrical box clamps and heavy 3" conduit bracket clamps. Not too elegant but it worked. The 7/16 thread is what fits (I did have to clean up the hole with a 7/16 tap) The body diameter of the pin is 5/8" which fits the Clamps I now have.

Hudsy: That is what I started with. Edison Phonographs Back when they sold at local auctions for $10 or so. By the time I was a teen ager in the late 60s I could no longer afford them. But they would throw out the 1920s battery radios out at he end of the sale since they could not get a 25 cent bid. That is when I got into radios. After a while they also got too expensive. I began doing work for others in trade for sets and parts to build a nice collection. The current Idea was to sell off some of my radios and phonographs to fund the car projects. So far it has been a lose-lose situation. As to my 1937 Buick's radio and checking on the price for conversion I believe I will carry my portable CD/MP-3 player. Not only are my pockets not deep enough, they have holes in them.

Leif: That was what I was trying to say before. I think you misunderstood from my January 31st and February 1st posts. Your rear socket at the "prop nut" turns under. Hugh's and mine turn up. The old photo I posted matches what you are showing in the photos (no bend, straight out from the prop nut). The factory photo in the catalogue looks to go straight also. Hard to tell as this is an artists illustration and not enough detail at that spot They use the same base illustration to show the 25-A

I also agree with Beltfed. I have collected 1920s Battery radios and AC radios into the 1930s for nearly 50 years. A somewhat dying hobby sector. I do listen to an some Golden Age of Radio stations on AM. But AM programming, even on some of my short wave sets, is severely lacking in interest for me. But mainly I listen to CDs for the 1920s and 1930s music I like. When I first got my 1937 Buick in 1987 there were at least some Big Band stations.

TG : Ventport begged off so the radio is still available. Looking at the owners guide it looks that the Special radio fit is different than the rest of the 49s Still using 1948 styling. As they show the speaker above the controls while the other series show speaker below the controls.

Mark: When I first asked John 2 years ago he said he could not make them. At the time I was considering one of the 1923-55 sport touring cars that where around on the forum for sale. They had the top sockets but were damaged. John said he could redo them . Now that I have more specific information I will try again.

My 1925-25 Buick Touring has a set of cut down sockets from a larger older model. Only recently were several hobbyist kind enough to give me all the required specifications. We have noted some posts in other forums that show salvage yards with piles of top sockets, bumpers etc.but really no way of getting out to search the yards. The yards located in Idaho, Arizona and others way out west. This is what the top looks like with dimensions.

My 1925-25 Buick Touring has a set of cut down sockets from a larger older model. Only recently were several hobbyist kind enough to give me all the required specifications. We have noted some posts in other forums that show salvage yards with piles of top sockets, bumpers etc.but really no way of getting out to search the yards. The yards located in Idaho, Arizona and others way out west. This is what the top looks like with dimensions.

I will try to give them a call to send the photo of the top sockets I am looking for. Unfortunately I am in Penna. To bad my son is stuck in Nebraska during the Blizzard with his semi.

Just looked it up and it sure looks to be a dead ringer for our gas cap. Inside and out.

Brian: I know we spoke of this when we visited last summer. We are hoping to be able to attend. I have some more sorting out to do with my 25-25. It made the 100 mile round trip to our car show last year but has been giving me some issues as of late. I will keep plugging along.

Yes John I agree that it would look good in my garage. And at our 8th annual Mason-Dixon car show. But Tom has already tried to give me a break on the other cars he had. As stated in my post. One in one out. Thus spoke SWMBO.

I found a period photo of a 1925-25 with the Burbank (tan) top and it shows the same type of rests that Leif has. It's rear prop socket is different from ours and Leif's This one appears to be straight.

JV Your work is truly outstanding. I feel that my situation is similar. I also am an amateur machinist with some early line shaft equipment. I do tend to get caught up in solving problems for others hobbyist's parts fabrication problems. Also the deep pockets thing as I am a newly retired Industrial Arts teacher after 30 years. Just finding out about monetary limitations. So when we were looking for an early Brass Buick project we had saved a given amount for purchase. Most what we had found was previously very old restoration and needed a complete redo. Or, an incomplete basket case. Either way the price of admission was about the same.

I truly empathize with all the above. As a director of our local BCA chapter I believe I have the oldest car in our chapter (The 1925-25 Buick in my avatar). That does not mean to say I am not somewhat obsessed with finding a Brass Era car to tour with. I have wanted one since I was very young in the early 1960s. All the older cars I have purchased since 1971 have been bought to capture some of the thrill I wanted to experience from the early cars. I have not gotten there yet. By the mid 1960s the local parades that would include antique cars no longer had any brass cars and usually only had later 20s Ts and Model As. All the Brass cars disappeared? I remember my poor mother driving me to check on a lead of any Brass cars. Not to buy, since at age 10 we had no money for "big boy toys" . I just wanted to look! If we could get some one to share what they had, it was usually pushed into a corner of a garage covered with boxes and household stuff. My, some of the adults were indulgent of me. When speaking to the people that owned the cars at the time the usual story was that they" fixed up" the car (the word restoration was not used by them) in the late 1940s to the mid 1950s.and drove them in parades. When I would ask, Why aren't you still driving it? Most would answer they needed a part or just did not have the time. Would they ever consider selling it? The answer was usually an emphatic NO! Then there would usually be a story about all the people who offered all kinds of money for their "rare Gem". Sometimes there was the one about the local Ford. Chevy, or Buick dealer offering a brand new car in trade. So at the time many saw these "Rare Gems" as money in the bank gaining interest. Even though they were not doing anything to maintain their "investment". A good friend from the Pittsburg area (Bob)had restored a 1916 Model T touring in the mid 1950s. He did a lot of local touring and also did the 1959 Glidden tour in it. By 1965 he had sold it for $2250. He felt that he had "made out like a bandit". Justifying the sale because the one daughter was in college and it had become too scary to drive the car around the Pittsburgh area any more. Just before Bob passed in 2012 he criticized me for wasting money on the purchase of my1937 Buick in 1987 and later the 1925 Buick in 2011 and said that they will become "money pits." (He was right about that)! That I should have gotten an earlier Brass car with character instead of the "used cars" I bought.

I usually am on the Buick Pre-War forum but our inquiries have not been fruitful. There are several of us who have mid 1920s Buick touring cars. The three cars in question are 1925-25 Standard touring cars. Our one friend Leif Holmberg from Sweden has the type of top rest that I have seen on Cadillac touring cars of similar vintage. There are reproductions of a similar rest made by an Australian firm but are somewhat smaller. The only reference we have are the set in Sweden. Has any Cadillac owner been able to source this type of rest? If not I was wondering if anyone in the States may have a set for loan so we can have patterns made.

One concern is that the US built cars show the rear socket at the pivot turn up while Leif's turns down. The difference would probably account for the 2 1/2" difference. The longer rest on Leif's car make the top stack sockets look straight and parallel to the body. I am going to ask around on the Cadillac forums since many of the late 20s touring/ phaetons do show the rear socket turning under.

Wow! Congratulations, this is one beautiful automobile. Can't help but love the McLaughlins! Maybe some one can help him on the Brass Buick Site. Please share more photos with us.

Up to 1925 they were nickel plated brass then 1926-28 they were aluminum. There were several aluminum ones at Hershey. The seller insisted that they were Cadillac oil filler caps and was insisting on well over $100 each. We could not convince him that they were Buick gas caps. He has had them for many years. I was able to buy a 1926-26 spare gas tank with a dented aluminum cap as the one I had, the steel locking lugs were rusted away.

I believe the headlights you show are for Cadillac.