BuickBob49

Bob's sells torque ball seal kits for all Buicks from 1936 to 1948, except for 1939. Are they different for 1939? Please advise. Thanks!

Bob's sells torque ball seal kits for all Buicks from 1936 to 1948, except for 1939. Are they different for 1939? Please advise. I need a kit for my 1939 Roadmaster. Thanks!

Do you have one of these cutoffs on your battery? My 1939 Roadmaster had one. The car was very slow to turn over once it warmed up. I thought it was either starter drag or a bad battery, but the battery checked out fine. The cables are large diameter. The problems went away when I removed the cutoff.

Great story. When I was sixteen, I started helping a neighbor lady down the street with her 1949 Super 51. At some point, she gave up driving and asked me if I wanted to purchase the car. I did. I've owned it since 1978. My first car!

1940 may have been the last year for the rubber donut.

Is a rubber donut washer part of the assembly? My 1939 Roadmaster has one. It is like mouse pad material.

As a stop gap, I've been using an old gray wool blanket on my 1949 Super's front seat. It had tattered dealer-optioned green nylon covers when I got the car in 1978. Gray colored cotton bath towels also work in a pinch. I use them on my 1939 Roadmaster. I don't want to sweat out or stain the nice repro upholstery kit. Both are easy to remove for shows.

You can see the original engine decal telegraphing through the paint respray on the valve cover, along with some red decal showing through chipped paint near the front. The decal says "BUICK VALVE-IN-HEAD EIGHT" and "SILENT OIL CUSHIONED." The engine number appears to have the correct type font (the "6" looks like a "b"). My 1939 Roadmaster has a replacement engine. Several tip-offs, included the correct number, but in a non-Buick font. My engine probably dates from 1947. Not necessarily a bad thing, however. Dipsticks have a part number on them. Mine is for a postwar 248, not a postwar 320. Something I need to change. A fine looking car, though. Good luck! Happy motoring!

At least my old 1981 Chevy Citation had jack holes in the bumpers. Much safer for using bumper jacks. Used them seasonally to swap out summer tires for snow tires and vice versa.

In the 43 years that I've owned this 1949 Super four-door, I've never had the opportunity to use this bumper jack. It sits stored in the trunk behind the upright spare tire!

Here's a photo of the original jack for my 1949 Super.

I suspect it was an evolutionary thing. Put the switch on top of the gear shifter arm in 1939. Move it to a separate arm near the gear shifter arm in 1940. Move it to a separate arm on the left side in the early 1950s when Dynaflow took over and there was much less need to shift and also to eliminate conflicts between the two arms.

With my 1949 Super, I just got used to it. However, my car has a manual transmission. So it is actually very intuitive to have the signal arm near the shifter arm. Fortunately, the signal arm is self-cancelling. On my 1939 Roadmaster, the signal switch is mounted on top of the shifter arm and is not self-cancelling. By 1940, Buick moved the signal actuator to the separate signal arm and it became self-cancelling.

The handles and locks are the same for both series. Something puzzling is going on with your trunk lock. One question: Do you use one key to operate the dash switch, the glove box lock, the front door locks, and the trunk handle lock? That should be the case. If not, something must have happened before you acquired the car. My car came to me from the original owner with two identical aluminum keys. One of the keys has never been used and is still wired to the break-in tag.

I've had my 49 Super four-door sedan (model 51) since 1978. Insert the key into the lock teeth down. Turn the key counterclockwise to unlock the handle. Turn the handle counterclockwise to unlatch the lid. Reverse the process to latch the lid and lock the handle. You should be able to remove the key in the locked and unlocked positions.

Nice photo! The Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge (Lake Washington Floating Bridge) in Seattle, is in the background (1940). Lacey was Edward R. Murrow's oldest brother. Edward was the CBS News correspondent in London during WWII. At the same time, Lacey was the director of the Washington Department of Highways.

It all depends. My 1949 Super 51 dates from the spring of 1949 (window glass month/year etchings and connecting rod insert bearing month/year stamps show Feb. 1949). It has a manual transmission and hydraulic lifters. I'm the second owner. Had it for 43 years.

Please send us a photo of the number stamped on the engine when you send more photos of the car.

I believe that Pete's description is the same for my 1949 Super 51. However, the car is currently stored at another location and I can't verify it for you.

I had some grief with the Washington State Department of Licensing when I registered my 1949 Super there many years ago. My frame number is 15I88I58. (Notice the two capital "I"s in the number.) It did not exactly match my out-of-state title that said 15188158. For some reason, Buick used a mix of fonts in its frame numbers in those days. The "I"s are actually "1"s. The inspector finally relented after we talked a bit.

Oregon is fine with restored YOM plates. The set of restored yellow and black 1939 plates look great on my black 1939 Roadmaster. Fortunately, by 1946, Oregon went to unpainted aluminum plates with painted numbers. (Much easier to restore because of no steel to rust.) I have an unrestored set of plates on my 1949 Super. (Black numbers on unpainted aluminum.) The restored 1939 plates cost me about $200 several years ago from a local plate restoration vendor.

Group 3EH. Group 2E was OEM on my 1949 Super. It is still available, but is expensive and only has 620 CCA. Group 3EH is slightly larger, but still fits the battery tray. It is less expensive than the Group 2E and has 875 CCA.

Good luck on your project!

I replaced the manifold valve body on my 1949 Super 51 many years ago because of a frozen flapper. It had froze most of the way closed, but enough hot exhaust gas passed through to rot out the intake manifold and ultimately cracked it. The replacement newly cast manifold valve body unit has no flapper, just a rod, and the weight and coil thermostat for looks. Having your weight over to the right is where it should be. Mine froze just partially open and that caused my problems. Earlier, my manifold valve body developed a hole, probably because of the partial opening. I had a welder braze the hole, but not knowing about how it all worked, the braze only took care of the hole and not the stuck flapper. (The braze would have impeded movement of the flapper if it were functioning.) I ended up also replacing the intake manifold with a used one. No problems since with the repro manifold valve body and the used intake manifold.

The front mount for 1938-40 may be interchangeable. See photo below for the front plate on my 39.