cxgvd
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Posts posted by cxgvd
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Finished day two of five days and all Buicks are performing well. Here are the others to attend, a '15 C37 from Mi with new owners, a 1915 C55 7 passenger touring car with new owners and a 1912 model 35 touring car. Lovely weather, dry and temps in the mid 70's.
Regards, Gary
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Day 1 is over. We visited a creamery, the oldest general store in Ontario, had a cold cuts on fresh buns at a small town Legion for lunch and visited a cheese making operation all in just 46 miles. All the Buicks performed great, one time after a left hand turn there was a steep grade going up, of coarse, which made me drop down into first gear. Later there was a longer grade and two of the Model 31s made it on top gear and the green car had to gear down. We gave it a tune up in the parking lot last night, I donated four Champion W89D sparkplugs which have a longer reach than the Autolite 3076 he was using and he reset his valve clearance from .020 to a more reasonable .008 intake and .010 exhaust. The engine started with one pull and sounds stronger. Fingers crossed for today, 90 miles.
Two of the guys got out a 1904 Northern and '06 Cadillac, both single cylinder cars, and were giving rides last night, just love these tours.
Did I mention 12 children under 12 years old? Life is good.
Regards, Gary
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On a Snappers/ HCCA tour, completed the first day with no problems. There are 3 1931 Model 31 Buicks, mine and these two. Among the 65 pre '16 cars are a 1915 C37, a 1915 C55, '12 model 25 and another model 31 owner with a different car. More tomorrow.
Regards, Gary
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The joint Snappers/AACA tour has 65 cars, 150 people including 12 children under 12 years old. There are 3 Model 31 Buick, we outnumber the 1913 Fords, I think. Everything is going well after the first day of 5 days driving. Here are photos of two of the other than mine 1913 Buicks. The green car is the first outing with a new owner and is from NY, the blue car is from PA and is owned by a young family with two boys.
More tomorrow, Gary
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Being a Canadian who lives an hour drive from the USA I sometimes forget things. When I read the colours for my 1915 McLaughlin touring car was a dark blue body and black bonnet, I thought blue car with a black top. Then my English came back.
Rod, do you have a '13 Buick? I'm going to a meet today where there will be two.
Regards, Gary
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Sounds good Larry, you are invited to stop in for coffee on your way to Kingston. A friend used to say " Go ahead and buy it, I've never seen saddle bags on a coffin!"
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Larry; As you know Buick guys are helpful. You can stop by my house on the way to your vacation in Kingston and we can mount my good rad to your car. Problem solved, go and take care of the boy scouts.
Regards, Gary
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Sunday starting near dawn, Bev and I are pulling our 1913 Buick to Kingston, On to join a ACCA Snapper's/ HCCA tour for five days of fun and comradery. Since this column is concerning pre '16 owning thought I would show you my choice of towing equipment. I use a 2010 Toyota Tundra, regular cab, 2WD, gas v8 engine which I bought new for this duty. There are as many tow vehicles as there are personality types, some guys use motorhomes, some use Suburban type, a lot of fellows like diesel trucks, etc.
Almost everyone, 99.9% has an enclosed box trailer. This one I bought new in 2016 with three options, an extra foot of height so I can drive in with the top up, 5200 pound axles because when loaded I am over 7000 pounds which is the standard weight and aluminum wheels just because I like the look.
I'm told the organizers have 65 registrations, that's great. My project for the week is to meet people and get everyone's picture with their old car.
Regards, Gary
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Hope you have a lovely five days touring in Ontario. Larry. Probably overstated the fear of having a breakdown, these cars quit often and there is no shame in it. We all maintain membership in AAA for a reason, the occasional tow truck ride back to the hotel and trailer.
Just got off the phone with another Model 31 owner, this time from NY state. The Snapper's tour will be his 1st outing with the car and a week before the tour his car started to run with little power. He thinks oil is going past the rings and fouling the sparkplugs, I suggested too rich a fuel mixture because I recall when that happened to me and how the Buick behaved. He is also running a Remy magneto, which I believe may be an issue. I offered him the loan of a spare Bosch which I trust I will not need and may solve his problem? A wise man once said 90% of fuel problems are electrical.
Regards, Gary
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It's very odd, in the past 4 years of restoring my blue 1915 McLaughlin I have never photographed it with my 1913 Buick model 31, until today.
I'm getting the '13 ready for a 5 day AACA Snapper's tour and road tested the car today. Since the last outing I swapped out all of the clevis pins in the brakes and clutch, changed to a higher quality fuel cutoff tap, drilled out some loose rivets and installed grade 8 nuts and bolts in their place and filled all of the grease cups and lubed the chassis. There will be 65 pre 1916 cars in Kingston and I DO NOT want to be the guy sitting on the side of the road trying to fix something which could have been done at home. The car must be reliable for the next 600 to 700 miles.
Tomorrow, Saturday, we are driving over to RM Restorations for cars and coffee. It is a different world, walking past Packards and Cadillacs to get to Duesenbergs and Ferraris. A life style I would like to become accustomed to. They have a 1910 Daimler, first choice of British royalty. Awesome.
Regards, Gary
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Thanks Larry; These belts are somewhat unique because they have two loops. One on the backside is used to attach the belt to the spare tire clamp and the other loop is used after the belt is cinched tight to store the loose end.
Todays interesting story is for my plater, The Plating House in Vaughn, On. The Plating House redid all of the nickel plating for this job and they said the headlamp rings were too far gone. These rims are spun copper and I have a shop also in Toronto who would spin some new ones but I would have to make a wooden buck or pattern for them to use. Just another problem to work through with 100 year old cars.
The guys at the platers called me back and said they would like to give the rims to an apprentice so he could get some hands on practice. No charge to me and they may not even be acceptable but they would try if I was not in a hurry. Well, to me they look nicer than I expected. I offered the Plating House a token payment, likely what I would have paid if the parts I sent them were any good, they accepted and everyone is happy. In the photo they are on the buckets and working. I have a pair of Monogram fluted lenses but I read somewhere the 1915 Buicks had clear glass. I got new glass cut in 1/4" but the rims would have fit tighter to the base with 1/8" Finally in the USA the headlamp parts are black painted but in Canada the McLaughlin parts showed the remnants of plating, expensive but it's only money.
Regards, Gary
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In honour of taillight Tuesday, Mr. Earl's Daily Dose of Buick, I am reviving this thread to show my completed taillamp on my 1915 McLaughlin touring car. The photo does not show it very well but is glowing.
Also note the belts holding the spare tire to the car. Those are the belts I received with the car and could be original equipment. I planned to get them duplicated at my local shoe maker's shop but instead I restored the leather with a concoction of half and half Neat's Foot oil and black enamel paint.. Spread the oil with a small paint brush, let soak in and wipe with a dry rag, came out pliable and dark, with a semi-gloss sheen.
Regards, Gary
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Thought people may be interested in an amateur job being performed by me in my 2 car garage. If I get an invitation to Pebble Beach I would attend though I didn't spend outrageous money to restore my 1915 McLaughlin-Buick. I did try to paint the car in correct colours, I was dismayed to find the bonnet was to be black, that was a new style popular for a short time, but now I love the look. Presently the fenders are painted in a single stage urethane and have been wet sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper, ready for the next step of machine compounding and polishing. I did blow the budget on nickel plating, it is beautiful. In front of the car is the garage it was painted in.
Regards, Gary
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Thanks Matt, I drive defensively, my concern is tailgaters. I agree with your points but they still bother me. Funny, driving my 100 year old Buick, 7 feet tall and at 35 mph, other drivers never seem to trouble me.
Please remember to wish your wife Happy Canada Day for me.
Regards, Gary
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Thanks, Matt, for the terrific report. Could you please give your impressions for dealing with traffic. I am new to this type of car and I feel I need more space because of the way in which my '39 Century handles and I do not feel as though modern drivers respect my plight? Loving the 320 engine, leaving a traffic light or two lane black top I do not impede anyone.
Thanks, Gary
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It's your nieghbourhood. I live in a small village and I do not lock my vehicles. If someone needs my loose change they are welcome to take it.
Regards, Gary
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I read you were thinking of using Stan Uher's shop in Blenheim and totally agree with you he would be a good choice for your upholstery repair. He worked for RM Restoration after his apprenticeship and then opened his own shop around 1987. Stan may have worked on the '58 s top, RM had few workers back in 1985. I have a small metal repair job there on the McLaughlin's right front fender which he has promised me soon.
Here is a photo, which my wife snapped, of Stan and his wife during the Friday RetroFest/RM Sotheby's parade, he is driving his 1915 Gray Dort, a Chatham built car.
Regards, Gary
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Thanks for posting photos from RetroFest, the show was a smashing success for Chatham, On. I had too many jobs helping out so I didn't bring a camera. I am a pre war guy and you posted the highlights, the Willys Knight Plaidside roadster is a Pebble Beach car as well as the Packard V-12. The 6 cyl 1916 Buick D 45 is from NY and we toured with them 2 years ago at the AACA Vintage Tour in Pa.
Thanks again, Gary
PS. Here is my photo of the Willys leaving on the Friday night cruise around Kent County.
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This weekend was the regular Friday evening cruise and Saturday show called RetroFest, combined this year with RM/Sotheby's 40th Anniversary celebration. Here are 4 photos of Buicks which attended. My 1913 surrounded by other cruisers gives an overview of the parking lot. A lovely, low mileage, light blue Riviera. A husband and wife story, the Mrs. bought her dad's Model T Ford roadster, her husband stepped up to a '28 McLaughlin-Buick Master roadster with wire wheels and side mounts. The last photo is a daily driver 1950 Special.
Beautiful weather for a couple of days, the cruise was well over 500 cars, Saturday featured a downtown car show with 850 vehicles. I am a member of the car club which hosts the event and had many volunteer jobs, RetroFest is all no entry cost for the attendees. Today, Sunday, we are driving our '13 to Erieau, "a drinking town with a fishing problem" beside lake Erie for perch and ice cream.
Regards, Gary
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The recent pre war tour and show at the Gilmore Museum does renew ones faith in the hobby. There were many fine examples of 1941 and earlier vehicles like a '31 Buick cabriolet, '39 Packard, electric powered Autocar, 4 Stanley steam cars, as well as the impressive Cole exhibit. My wife and I entered one of the pre '16 cars mentioned above, a Buick touring.
We are attending an HCCA tour in July with 65 other brass era cars. Many young folks including seconds and third generation tourists have been going to this once a year joint event between the Southern Ontario region and the North Jersey since the 1970's.
The Old Car Festival, in Michigan, attracts 800 pre 1933 cars, that is enough reason to get a pre war car, so, the pre war part of the hobby always has a place. We need to make sure there are places get them out and drive or show them.
In the photo is a young lady piloting her grandfather's Columbus electric. When you see smiles like hers you must feel good about the future.
Regards, Gary
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The thing with pre war cars is they are reminder of history. FDR was elected to four terms and was loved by the voters, the Hoover Dam was a marvel of the day, Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis made movies and the government was not 22 trillion in debt. As well as the pre war culture we get to drive on modern highways, looking along a long hood with twin side mounted spare tires following a chrome goddess, bird or some other piece of artwork in a 4000 pound, straight eight engine car. Beautiful.
What was Henry Ford going to do next? Should I buy a Duesenberg or a 16 cylinder Cadillac or a Marmon? Did Chamberlain make the correct decision? Will the market come back? IMHO history is the reason to have pre war cars and they will I am sure they will persevere.
On a related topic I agree the Mustang is a great car. I drove a six year old English sports car during my high school days and it was horrible. The heater as almost non existent, the top would not hold out the rain and if you tried to make a turn it would spin out. Why anyone would pay large amount of money for an old sports car is unbelievable to me. BMW, Audi TT, Mustang or Fusion is a far superior product, IMHO.
Regards, Gary
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Doug; Bev and I were thinking of you Saturday, lucky the storms held until your trip home. We went to the Chatham Airport for an airshow with our '39, sorry no photos. A thunderstorm after lunch was brief but severe, happy for you and thanks for posting pictures from London.
Regards, Gary
ps. We plan to attend Essex next week, likely see you then.
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I've purchased parts for pre war cars from Jim many times and even the occasional car. He is a character, he is smart but doesn't act as if he is. I tried to buy his curved dash Olds many times but was never successful, last I heard he was restoring it, which to me, meant it will be ruined. Tons of parts and cars, poorly stored, expensive, but if you know what you are looking at then you will think you died and went to heaven.
Regards, Gary
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Larry; I am so sorry to learn of your engine problem. Looking for a silver lining, the problem serves to remind me to "get out and get under" and put a wrench on various fasteners to seek out issues which can be repaired at home instead of on tour. A few years ago a different friend of ours had a brass headlamp come loose, fall on the road and he ran over it. Ouch. That occurrence was my first reminder to crawl underneath and check antique, truck and trailer.
All the best in Oklahoma, Gary and Bev
Brass and Nickel
in General Discussion
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Hey Joe, Gary here and I am on the HCCA tour you are asking about, Bev and I are talking over your question and she thinks the early cars attract young families for the following reasons. The cars are often handed down from father to son and that makes them young families, the planners make a point of having activities for children and younger adults, and I think it is because the early cars are exciting and foreign.
Look at the picture the teenage daughter is the navigator, no seatbelts, open air sights, sounds and smells. They are all doing something.
Good luck with the Vintage Tour, Gary