[Trying to find a good "driver Buick".]

The sport roadster was a pretty worn cond 3-4. A 49 year old restoration. Body paint was good. Fenders and splash aprons needed redone. Decent top & side curtains. Had a very serviceable original Spanish Grain leather upholstery and dash. The owner did state that it was driveable and ran well. While there I checked the radiator which was empty. Tires were also 49 years old. The underside showed many obvious leaks. When he tried to start it for me it seemed that he purposely flooded it to avoid me hearing it run. (Electric fuel pump). The previous owner had it stored for 15 years driving it only 3 times without doing any thing to it. His description "it would need a light serviceing" He came down $6,000 from his asking price of $26,500.

[37 special 248 engine block drain]

I have searched all my old Torque Tube mags and my shop manual. The shop manual states that the block drain is located at the rear most cylinder. I have felt all over the block and have found nothing that low for a drain out. Now the rear freeze plug is leaking. I thought I drained everything 20 years ago. But I guess not. Since I am starting to work on it again I need to pull the radiator and have it redone. It looked perfect the last time I ran the engine(1991) But time marches on.

[Trying to find a good "driver Buick".]

I have a 37 model 41 that I have been working on for the last 24 years and not close to getting on the road. My wife and I wanted a 1920s or earlier touring so we could participate with our local club(Mason-Dixon). A good older restoration is our goal. We chased a few leads so far. The first was a 23 sport roadster located in Vermont. Well after 2 weeks of phone calls,e-mails and photos we agreed on a price and a pickup date to test drive and have a carrier bring the model 54 home. We called the owner thursday night to say we would see him the next morning. He said no problem that he would be around all day. We drove 6 hr from Chambersburg Pa.to my daughter's in CT. Stayed over night then 3hr to Fairlee Vermont. As we got closer we called him 4 times both cell and business numbers. No answer. We arrived at 11:45 am,his home was open

as was 2 garage doors. In the garage he had a 23 Chevy coupe,a 23 Cadillac coupe, a 1920 Studebaker touring and a 20s Model T 2 door sedan. The 1923 Sport roadster was outside covered with a tarp. Around 1:00 we finally reached him. He said that he thought we were comming on saturday and that the car wasn't ready,but to take the tarp off and check it out and make ourselves at home. (It appeared to be exactly as shown in the descriptions.) That he had some things to take care of at the office(20 miles away) and he would be home shortly. 3 hours later with no hope of getting title work done he showed up. Needles to say my wife and I were more than upset. When I calmed down I told him I still wanted the car and had the money but the carrier could not pick up the car till the following week.(Sunday was hurricane Irene)! He then made excuses about the vacuum tank and the fueltank needing $1000 worth of work, even though he stated the car ran and drove well. Thanks but no thanks then 9 hr return drive. Learned that he bought the car last Aug. And he had the car listed for sale as early as Jan. Said he had too many cars and needed to downsize.

So other Buick Club members be forewarned by our first failed attempt.