neil morse

Yes, I still have them and if you give me the zip code I will get a shipping quote for you. I have already figured out (from somebody else's question) that the cheapest way to ship them is by US Postal service, and they fit in a mailing tube that costs $4.00. So it won't run you too much.

Yes, Ken, I contacted Bob's and they are going to change the catalog description -- they said it would take a year, but it would be changed.

Philip, I am finding these discussions very interesting, but I wonder whether you are overthinking this thing a bit. You seem to be searching for a formula that will guarantee that you will get a great car at a great price that you are happy with. I don't think there is any such formula. Just for starters, I see two different schools of thought reflected in the advice you are getting. One school says always buy a "finished car," i.e., let someone else pay for the expensive stuff. Another school says always buy an untouched original and beware of the "restored" car because you never know if the work has been done right. The reality is that both things can be true -- it depends completely on the quality of the work that has been done. And although it obviously helps if the seller is someone who has a good reputation, the only way to really come to an accurate conclusion about the quality of work that has been done is to thoroughly inspect the actual car, not just look at pictures and read the seller's description. So it's not easy. The value of an old car is highly subjective, but the one thing we know for sure is that the actual cost of restoration is constantly going up. So I agree that you are better off with a car where the big ticket items have already been paid for, but in the end you are going to have to compromise in some way. I know from my own search that you are not going to find the "perfect" car, and you are going to be taking some degree of risk no matter what you end up buying.

Nice!

The Limited may be different, but I got the door panel off the passenger side rear door on my car, and it was secured exclusively by the serrated nails. stuck into slots on the door. See photos, below.

Also, you have led off with a title for this thread that is inaccurate. You say, "RESTORED STOCK," and yet you immediately acknowledge multiple modifications to the car. I think this is a mistake since it is misleading. "Stock" means stock. This car is nice, but it is not "stock."

Still available. I'm not sure which models they actually fit, but the straps are 32.5 inches long.

Hi Keith, as is often the case, this thread has gotten a bit derailed. Ken (kgreen) was the person who posted the picture and asked about "part K," not me. All I can report is that my car has not popped out of third gear since I installed the "shift linkage kit" from Bob's that replaces all the rubber bushings in the shift linkage. (Additional note: if you click twice a photo that is posted on this forum, you can enlarge it quite a bit. I could read the picture posted by Ken pretty well after clicking on it to enlarge it.)

Actually, I will give these away -- i.e., for shipping cost only. A new set of gas tank straps I got from Bob's: http://bobsautomobilia.com/fuel-system/1941-56-fuel-tank-straps-and-anchors-.-b1-sta/ The catalog says they fit 1941 through 1956, but they were too short for my '41. They are a little bent from trying to install them on my car, but otherwise brand new. I will happily ship these to anyone willing to pay the shipping cost, which I would think will be nominal.

Reinstalling the Gas Tank I picked up my tank this morning from Ron at San Leandro Radiator. A very pleasant and competent guy, if anyone from the Bay Area is looking for a place that does radiators and gas tanks. As you can see, the inside is now a milky white after sand blasting and three applications of plastic coating. Inside the tank New sender installed and wired up with dedicated ground Tank going back in -- piece of cake! All done. The only slight glitch was that the new straps I got from Bob's were too short so I had to clean up and reuse the old ones. ( I should have wiped off those finger prints before taking the picture!) I put in a few gallons from a can, and headed to the gas station where I filled it up, stopping a few times to check the gauge to try to see how accurate it is. It reads a little low (hits empty with three gallons in the tank) which I suppose isn't a bad thing, but is otherwise right on the money. I'm a happy camper -- a good day.

Joe, you are doing a fantastic job here! I am so interested in following both your thread and Gary W.'s thread on his '37 Special. You are both doing a fabulous job of doing a complete "nut and bolt" restoration, and, at the same time, creating a detailed record of everything you have done. It is fascinating to watch both threads because we are able to learn so much about how the construction and engineering of automobiles evolved in that 21 year period between 1937 and 1958. I wonder how many parts your '58 has compared to Gary's '37 -- a big difference, I would imagine! Keep up the great work!

Did Some Soldering Today I soldered up a new wire to go to the gas tank sending unit today. It might seem like overkill to use old school cloth insulated wire on a driver like mine, but I love working with the stuff! Here's the old wire with the new replacement. I also made up a wire to use for the dedicated ground to the sender. I decided to just run it back up into the trunk with the positive line to keep it out of harm's way. I'm hoping to get the tank back on Friday and reinstall it over the weekend.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I may follow your suggestion.

I had no problem with the dealer raising the price -- it was out of my range at 19,500, and I would have had to pay transportation costs as well. But I still go on the website and drool over the pictures and wish I could have been able to afford it! I think you are making the right decision to wait for what you really want. I don't see the market for these cars jumping way up anytime soon.

Philip, on the question of price I can appreciate your frustration, but the fact that someone sets an unrealistically high price for a car doesn't mean you won't eventually find something affordable if you have patience. I know you are looking for a 37 or 38, so this is not directly on point, but when I was looking for a car I found the 41 Century listed below for $19,500, which seemed like an exceptional deal. It was unfortunately out of my price range. A few weeks later, I checked it again and the dealer had raised the price to $21,500. Shortly after that, it was sold. It is a super clean original car, as you can see from the photos. (I still have second thoughts about letting this go, as you can probably tell!) https://www.connorsmotorcar.com/vehicles/404/1941-buick-century

I am interested in this question, too, since I have to do some work on the doors of my car. When I did some initial poking around, it looked like the panels are held on by serrated nails -- which concerns me since that doesn't seem like the greatest way to do it. The nails are attached to a metal piece, as in this illustration from Bob's catalog: I can't be sure whether these "nails" are the only thing holding the panels on since I haven't completely removed and panels. On my '48 Chrysler, the door panels were held on by spring clips like the kind shown below. Is this what people mean when they are using the term "clips?" I'm a little confused by the terminology being used here since I'm wondering whether some people are using the term "clip" to refer to the nail attached to the metal piece, as shown in the photo from Bob's. Thanks in advance for your help.

Some Preservation Work While the gas tank is out being reconditioned, I wanted to do some cleaning up of the area above the tank. While I was at it, I did the spare tire well also. Just "lazy man's rust removal," which consisted of using the "prep and etch" to neutralize the rust and then a coat of flat black paint. Before After Spare tire well -- before and after I also installed the gas tank "cushion" material for the top of the tank. It is held in place by tabs that go through holes in the material and then are bent. I was concerned that the tabs might be so rusted that they would break off, but they held up fine. I used a punch to make holes in the new material, using one of the old pieces as a template. Ready to reinstall the tank. I dropped it off at the shop on Friday, and it's supposed to be ready by this Wednesday -- very quick turn around!

Thanks, Gary.

Gary, I understand the need for a separate ground wire for the gas tank sending unit, but can you explain about the necessity for ground wires to the lights? Also, where are you attaching the ground wires to get a good ground? The body? The frame? Thanks.

Fabulous!

I have a Super, but I unfortunately don't have any extra tail lights, grungy or otherwise. I also wondered about whether Boyer was the source of the repros being sold by Bob's, but the significant price difference makes that seem unlikely. On the other hand, it also seems unlikely that there would be two different sources for such an obscure item. Who knows? Thanks for the background on Skip and his dad -- very interesting. I was also thinking about the variation in color from digital photos. Actually, the color in the photo from Bob's catalog is not too different from the photo posted by Grandpa, so they might be closer than they appear.

Wow, I had no idea I would be touching off such a spirited discussion. As I noted earlier, I didn't even know that the parking lights had these diffusers because they are missing from my car. However, I did wonder about the coloring on the inner lenses in my tail lights when I took them apart recently to install new outer (red) lenses. This is what the inner lenses looked like, after I cleaned them up with soap and water. I wasn't sure whether they were this color to begin with, or whether they had "yellowed" from age. They look a little lighter than the parking light lens in Grandpa's photo or the inner tail light lens in the photo posted by Matt. Is it possible that the opposite thing is happening, i.e., these lenses started out a deeper amber color and then got faded from age/ sun/heat over many years? I guess it's a mystery, lost in the sands of time, as Matt says. I also just checked Skip Boyer's list of plastic reproduction parts for 41's that I recently got from him, and interestingly enough, he lists "Parking Lamp condensing Lens [amber color]" for $29.00 each. I don't know how the color of Boyer's reproductions compares with the ones offered by Bob's, but it's interesting that he identifies them as "amber." At any rate, I am persuaded to go ahead and invest $24.00 in a pair of the reproductions from Bob's. They seem close enough to be in the ball park, and I'm really more concerned about safety for my car (strictly a driver) than any concerns about authenticity. I want my car to be basically correct, but anything that will help other drivers to see my turn signals is a plus as far as I'm concerned.

I am not offended at all, but now I'm concerned that I've offended you, which certainly wasn't my intention. I respect your knowledge and experience, and as a newbie to this forum (and to Buicks), I am very grateful to have this as a resource to answer questions that I have. I just could not discern an answer to my question in your response about the set of lenses offered on Ebay.

Yes, that's a lot of money. But that's not the question I was asking. I don't know why you couldn't just address the question I was asking, but I guess you have given your answer in your response to Matt.

Thanks, Matt. That's what I wanted to know. My car (and I'm sure many other 41's) lost these internal lenses on the parking lights at some point, so I wasn't even aware that they existed.