BuickBob49

The car fits well with the 1920s/30s vernacular homes that form the backdrop for the photographs!

Ben, hang in there! Been there and done that with keeping my 49 Super for 41 years, including 12 years in Pullman while I was in graduate school and after (1983-95). I stored it at friends' houses, in barns, and even in a pea combine warehouse. The rewards are there for you once you receive your degree and have the discretionary income to dedicate to your old Buick. The attached poor-quality photo is of my 49 Buick in front of the old NP railroad station in Pullman, taken one Fourth of July in the late 1980s. Bob

My '39 model 81 is set up the same way as Senbotsu's '39 model 81. Appears to be stock.

Great thread! Do you have any ads for a 1939 Roadmaster that you could share? Thanks.

The 1949 Buicks really rock! I, too, would like to drill down into the BCA registry to learn more about the cars. My Super four-door sedan, model 51, is one of 131,514 produced. It has a manual transmission (15 percent). Unlike gdmn852's car, mine is a late-production model with many late-model oddities.

This sounds really basic, but are you sure that the spark plugs and wires aren't one hole off on the distributor? That happened to me many years ago on my 49 Super. A friend replaced the spark plugs and wires. I tried to adjust the timing and kept hitting the end of the adjustment on the distributor. I then moved the wires over one hole on the cap, as my old Chilton's manual suggested in its troubleshooting section. It brought the correct timing to the middle of the adjustment band. Set at 450 rpm, I could about adjust the timing by ear. I verified it with the strobe and it picked up the yellow mark.

A member of the Portland Area Chapter of the BCA had a fully restored 1948 Super convertible. It had leather seats with cloth seating surfaces. I believe that it was a 400 point car at the National Meet in Portland in 2014. You might save on upholstery costs by going that route. The member has since sold the car, but he may have some photos. I'll check.

Many of my relatives worked at the main Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota, where the Spam Museum is located. Several years ago, I was lucky enough to have my aunt take me on a special tour of the museum. Her last job at the plant in the 1980s was making Spam. It is an interesting part of Americana!

Here's a photo of the three overriders on the back bumper of my 39 Roadmaster. The middle one would be a great addition to your car. A great parts source for you would be Dave Tacheny. He specializes in late 1930s Buicks. Dave lives in Minnesota. He corresponds by phone or regular USPS mail. No emails. I'm sure that others can weigh in with his current contact info.

The older and larger California plates had rounder corners than the larger plates from other states. The California plates take a special adjustable frame to accommodate the rounder corners. In 1956, all states agreed to start using a standard size plate--the ones that we still use today.

They are available. I may be wrong, but California plates may take a special model. You can research it online or go to Bob's Automobilia. They specialize in Buick parts. They're in California.

Boyer's Restorations of Hanover, PA, may be able to help you with reproduction maroon plastic pieces for your interior, including the one for the center of your steering wheel. I need to see if they have the little spear-like inserts for a few of my window cranks. I also see that you have the correct ash receiver/lady's compact holder for the left rear armrest. Cool! You're just missing the plastic cover. Do you have the three uprights for the rear bumper? The middle one will drop down to allow access to the trunk.

You have a very nice car! Please participate on this forum. 1939 Roadmasters really rock! I have the 718 Gray Bedford Cord interior (Hampton Coach reproduction) and the 530 Carlsbad Black paint. The paint is a bit dodgy. However it looks good on overcast days! Drive the car and have fun with it. Expect folks on the street to take a lot of photos of your Roadmaster! They can't fathom its size and its presence on the road.

Thanks!

I am trying to determine the Series number that corresponds with the engine number that I have for a 1941 Buick sedan. Oregon Motor Vehicle Registration information states that the engine number was 44194020. Sean, could you help? The owner was Conde B. McCullough, state bridge engineer for the Oregon State Highway Department from 1919 to 1937, and assistant state highway engineer from 1937 until his death in 1946. At work, McCullough drove Buick Roadmasters in the 1930s and 40s. I wonder what model that he drove during his personal time. His estate's probate records suggests that the car it was a sedanette. What Series could it be? Thanks.

I posted this photo on another thread, but could someone tell me if the tow truck is a Buick? The unfortunate car is a 1927 Buick coupe. Hood River, Oregon, 1929.

Here's a photo of a wrecked 1927 Buick coupe towed by what appears to be another Buick, maybe a late teens or an early twenties model. Please weigh in if you can identify the tow vehicle. The photo is courtesy of the History Museum of Hood River County, Oregon. Local utility man Alva Day, an accomplished photographer, shot the image, probably in the city of Hood River, Oregon, sixty-four miles east of Portland, on the Columbia River. Ouch! I wonder about what happened to the engine in the coupe.

Congratulations on being a new owner of a late 1930s/1940s Buick. The advice of other owners here should help you to master the three-speed column shift on your 1939 Special. I've owned a 1949 Super four-door since 1978. I purchased it from the original owner. She was a surrogate grandmother. I helped her with the car as a teenager. She quit driving and then took me out for driving lessons in her car. It was my first experience with a manual transmission. Four years ago I acquired a 1939 Roadmaster. A few observations: first and reverse in both cars are not synchronized. To avoid grinding gears when engaging first gear, you need to be aware of the light sequence at intersections. Shortly before it is your time for a green light, hold your foot on the clutch. Then, when it is time to go, you can drop the shifter into first gear without grinding. (I don't like to hold down the clutch through the whole light sequence.) If I have a memory lapse when driving the 49, I've found success by monentarily shifting up to second gear to catch a synchro and then into first. It hasn't worked as well with the 39 Roadmaster, but they do have different transmissions. Otherwise, Dynaflash echoes my thoughts about having to push the shifter away from you when going from first to second. My shifter on the 39 is sloppy and doesn't have much spring in it to push the shifter on its own through neutral. (It may be the cable arrangement.) Conversely, my 49 has a tight shift pattern with much more spring to it. I've also found that many mechanics tend to set the slow idle speed up too high. The shop manual for my 49 suggests 450 rpm. That works better for grind-free shifts into first and reverse. I rarely do a third-to-second shift. If I do, I try to match the engine revs to the transmission. Brake pads are a lot easier and less expensive to replace than clutch discs. Finally, my 49 has a full-width cabin. My driving position is much like what I have in my 2001 SAAB wagon. My 39 has wide running boards and a narrower cabin. I need to pay extra attention to the skip lines between lanes and centerline stripes to avoid crowding them. Just be aware and adjust. Enjoy your Buick!

I finally ran the plate number 106851 for the car in the second photo in Bob Engle's set through Oregon motor vehicle registration records for 1911 to 1946. That photo is the one showing the Buick with the hunting prizes draped over the hood. I got a hit for the plate in the April 1923 list. The plate was registered to a Lloyd E. Ogle of Lakeview for a 1923 Buick touring car with engine number 1003105. Lakeview is in south-central Oregon, near the California border. Records show the owner, the make and type, and the engine number. (See attached photo eight rows down--the plate numbers are on the left side.) Another tool to have at hand is a group of photos showing the annual plate changes for Oregon--color combinations and arrangements of numbers, etc. For instance, I needed to confirm that the plate was for 1923. (You can barely see the "3" in the photo.) By 1925, Oregon added hyphens in the middle of the numbers and made other changes to the plates. These research strategies would work for motor vehicle registration records in other states.

That second car has an Oregon license plate. I found out recently that historical license plate records for Oregon are available through Ancestry.com. The original printed yearly volumes are at the Oregon State Library in Salem. Some one could "run the plates" and find out make and model, and owner info for this car. Cool!

Nice car photos in front of Bryan Hall on Saturday. Your Buick is in a class by itself!

Sean, thanks for decoding my data plate! Bob

Please disregard this old post.

I am looking for data plate info on my 1939 Roadmaster. Frame number is 13467033. Data plate is in attached photo.

I believe that the metal hood support arms on my 1939 Roadmaster are missing some sort of rubber bumpers to keep them from damaging the hood when they are in the upright position. (See photo showing arm on passenger side of engine compartment in lowered position.) Could someone help me with a photo showing what the bumpers look like and a source where I could purchase some?