neil morse

Looks like poor Bob has hammered and dollied most of his fingers, too! I guess that's an occupational hazard in his line of work.

No cause for a red face! I can see how you would think "Buick" as soon as you saw those three stripes.

I think they are original to the car, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that they were on the car when I bought it earlier this year. They are correct "Guide" lamps which were manufactured by a division of GM, and the oval shape was introduced in 1941. You can read about them here (scroll down to where it says "OVAL-SHAPED GUIDE FOG & DRIVING LIGHTS." http://www.buickheritagealliance.org/content/pdf/GuideFogDrivingLights.pdf

It doesn't look anything like the bumper guards on my '41. I have the same set up as posted by Roadmaster71 (although it's a little unclear from his photo what is going on in the center of his front bumper). On my car, I have a double guard in the center with the license plate mount in the middle, as shown in the photo. Yours looks like the one in this photo of a Chevy on Ebay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-30-S-CAR-TRUCK-VINTAGE-STYLE-CHROME-BUMPER-A-BAR-39-38-37-36-35-CHEVY-/122829402204?fits=Year%3A1939|Make%3ABuick

We have multiple reasons to be grateful to Gary for creating this thread, but one of the lessons that we can take from his experience in this restoration is NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY when you are dismantling your original car! I haven't been keeping a detailed score, but the headlight switch, I believe, is either the second or third item that he needed to resurrect because the "new" part that he purchased turned out to be defective in some way.

Thanks, Wayne. Yes, I agree that driving in San Francisco is about the worst place for good gas mileage, so that's definitely a factor. As recounted in my "Me and My Buick" thread, I ended up taking the car down to Don's where he was kind enough to help me check it out thoroughly, and everything seemed to be in good order. As long as it's running well, I really don't mind spending money for gas, given how little I drive the car. I was just concerned that there might be something seriously amiss, but that does not seem to be the case.

Have you seen the Internet Movie Cars Database? It's a great resource, put together by some very industrious guys somewhere in Europe, that exhaustively catalogs cars in films. Here's the entry for "All Through the Night." http://www.imcdb.org/movie_34449-All-Through-the-Night.html Here's a shot of the '41 from the film.

When I got the 1001's from CARS, they came with a plastic bag with several different size gaskets, one of which was the correct size.

I ordered some filters from CARS. What I got looks just like the one in the photo posted by Vic, and on the side it says, 551001 08071261 MADE IN USA A correct gasket came with each filter.

As I wrote earlier, I have been out of the hobby for a long time, and I have neither the tools or the skills to do any serious mechanical work so I needed some help as far as checking out what kind of shape the car was in mechanically. Fortunately, I had discovered this forum, and after I posted a bit asking some questions about various things, Don Micheletti very kindly sent me a message noting that he lived nearby and suggesting that we get together. I drove down and met Don in April, had a nice visit and saw his two ‘38’s, but we didn’t get around to checking out my car until a few days ago. (Photo below.) Dr. Micheletti gave the car a thorough going over and I was very pleased with the results. Compression was between 115 and 120 lbs. on all cylinders. The plugs looked very clean. We changed the oil and filter, and there was no grit in the oil and nothing ominous was stuck to the magnet on the oil pan plug. I had previously checked the oil level in the transmission, and it was fine. We checked the rear end, and it was down by about half a pint so some 90 weight gear oil went in there to top it up. The tires (even though they are about 12 years old) looked sound with no cracking. Don was very satisfied overall with how the engine ran and sounded. I am very happy to now have the peace of mind to continue driving it, and venture out for some longer trips. One of the things I was interested in finding out was what, if anything, had been done to the engine of my car. When Don and I looked it over the other day, we didn’t find any clear evidence that it had been rebuilt or modified. Today, however, after the postings above about the ’41 engines using 10 mm spark plugs, Don emailed me to tell me that my car had 14 mm plugs. As he put it, “I was surprised to see that they were 14mm. I had thought that Buick used the 10mm plugs then, but I am no expert. I had suspected that your engine has been rebuilt - too clean and quiet. Plus having the 14mm plugs says that the head was modified for them. You are lucky for that mod.” So more good news! My car needs a few things. The ammeter/temperature gauge is in very sad shape, and I plan to repair or replace it. And that will probably lead to restoring the wiring under the dash and possibly putting in a new forward wiring harness. This is fine with me since I bought it partly to have something to tinker with. But for the time being, I’m just planning on driving and enjoying it.

Wow, Keith, those pics really show how much work you had to do on this car! I had no idea since this thread starts when it pretty much looked the way it does now. When I see these "before" photos, I have such admiration for the amount of work and dedication you and others like you have lavished on your cars. I feel fortunate to have entered the Buick world with such an intact vehicle, but it also makes me feel like a bit of a piker around here!

Thanks, Don -- that's what I figured given how well it's running.

Thanks, Matt -- we posted at the same time.

I'm learning some things here, which I'm always thankful for. When I had my car down at Don Micheletti's house the other day (and there will be more on that later in this saga), Don noted that the engine did not have a road draft tube like earlier Buick 8's, but instead had the "PCV" tube going from the valve cover to the air cleaner, and also had a breather cap for the oil filler (which you can see in the picture of my engine) instead of a fixed cap. So this primitive precursor of the modern PCV system was apparently something that the Buick engineers thought was a good idea for the compound carburetion engines for some reason. Here's more from the Buick Heritage Alliance website: PVC System Modifications The simple PVC system introduced in 1941 was blamed for coking of the carburetor jets. As a result, Buick offered a kit to eliminate the valve cover to air cleaner connection and install a valve cover breather and crankcase breather tube discharging to the atmosphere. The 1946 and later models used a valve cover and crankcase breather as Buick abandoned the PVC system until it was required by the federal government in the 1960s. So there you have it. I haven't examined the jets on my carbs, so I don't know if there's a problem, but maybe someone else with more knowledge about the '41 engines can provide more information about this. Edit: See Matt's post, above

I found this on the Buick Heritage Alliance website: 1941 - Compound carburetion introduced on all Super, Century, and Roadmaster models as standard equipment and available as an option on all Specials. This year 10 mm spark plugs were also used and the forerunner of a PVC (positive crankcase ventilation) system was pioneered which vented the oil vapors to the carburetor through a small tube from the top of the valve cover to the air cleaner. Compound carburetion continued through the limited 1942 production, but was discontinued after World War II.

As I mentioned, I don't know a lot about the history of this car, but I've had fun doing a bit of detective work since I got it in March. I got it from a dealer named Donn Dabney in Sonoma, CA who runs an outfit called Left Coast Classics. I actually had gone up to see Donn about another car he had -- also a '41 Super sedan. The car was okay, but had a number of things wrong with it that concerned me. Donn told me that, coincidentally, he had just looked at another Super that a dealer had for sale down south that was in better shape, and he thought he could get for me if I was interested. Long story short, Donn eventually went down and picked up my car from the guy in Santa Barbara, and brought it up to Sonoma on a flatbed, and I bought it. The only thing that Donn did to the car before I got it from him was a brake job, which I clearly wanted done before I drove the car down to my home in San Francisco. The photo above of me standing with the car is from the day I picked it up from Donn. (By the way, Donn is a stand up guy and I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone who's thinking of buying a car from him.) When I picked up the car, I found a box from Bob's Automobilia in the trunk with a few parts, and there was an invoice from 2001 with a name, address, and phone number in Ventura. Off to consult Google, and sure enough, I located the same person still living at the same address! The phone number was no longer good, but I mailed him a letter via the United States Postal Service (old school), and he got back to me within a week or so. This guy (Brian) was a fireman in Ventura, and he had bought the car in 2000 from a man in Thousand Oaks who had "restored" it (which, of course, could mean a lot of different things). Brian told me that he had done nothing to the car but drive it and enjoy it for about five years. Around that time, he bought a new set of tires (correct 6.50-16 BF Goodrich Silvertowns that are still on the car), but then the car stopped running. He parked it outside his house under one of those "pop-up" portable garage/tents, and figured he would find out what was wrong with it and get it running again. Well ... that never happened. Fast forward to 2015 -- the car is still outside under what was left of the tent (which apparently wasn't a whole lot), and Brian decides he's never going to do anything with it so he sells it to the guy in Santa Barbara. I next talked to the guy in Santa Barbara (Richard). It turns out he was not really a dealer. He's a real estate broker who is an enthusiast and is part owner of a restoration shop. He is also the owner of a beautiful '41 Super convertible that I posted some pictures of in the "Favorite Pictures of My Pre War Buick" thread. He was very friendly, but I had a hard time getting much information about what he did with the car. He told me he bought a new battery and had Pertronix electronic ignition installed, but it seemed he really didn't know what else was done to the car when it was in his possession (or wasn't telling me). But he did say he was sorry to let it go because it ran so much better than his convertible! So I never have found out what was wrong with the car and why it stopped running in 2005. However, he has proved to be right about how well it's running now (more on that later). So … next step was to try and locate the guy from Thousand Oaks who presumably did a bunch of work on my car and then sold it to Brian in Ventura. This was very frustrating because I was able to determine through the internet that he was still listed at the same address I had been given by Brian and even had the same phone number. I also found out that he was an active member of the BCA, and even found articles by him the “Torque Tube” Newsletter. But he has not responded to phone messages and letters. So I haven’t been able to figure out what he did to the car. It appears that the car has been repainted in the original color. It looks like “royal maroon,” but I can’t be sure since the data plate is missing from the car. The door jambs, interior of the trunk, etc. all appear to be the same color, so I think it’s the original color. The paint is in excellent shape. It also appears that the seats and door panels were redone in the correct materials. The headliner is clearly original. The engine appears to be the original, but I have no idea what has been done to it. That’s it for now – next installment coming soon.

Ah .. I see. You will have to get the answer to that question from someone more knowledgeable than I am. You are correct that it's just a rubber hose with no check valves or baffles of any kind. But it was standard equipment on the '41's (and likely other years -- I don't know), and at least I know that my car doesn't suffer from any undue oil consumption.

Hi John: Thank you. I have to confess that I don't understand what you're asking me about. I even Googled "PVC" to try and find out, but to no avail. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. They are wrong. Here's a link to someone who has the correct information: http://www.carnut.com/specs/gen/buick40.html

248 is correct for the Super. The Century and the Roadmaster had the 320. (And I was pretty sure that I understood you correctly, but thanks for the follow up.)

But what do people make of the fact that the car says "Special" both on the radio delete and the hood latches? I was theorizing that it might have been some unique "rebadged" Super that Buick made for export, but Morten (if I'm understanding him correctly) says that the car was only imported to Norway two years ago. Seems like a mystery to me.

A little bit about myself (since the name of this forum is "Me and My Buick). I am returning to the old car hobby after a 25 year hiatus. In the late '80's and early '90's I owned several cars, including a '48 Chrysler Windsor Highlander that I did quite a bit of work on. I am not a mechanic by any means, but I like taking things apart and enjoy doing cosmetic work. I ended up putting a new, correct interior in the Chrysler, which included removing the dash and the garnish moldings, cutting new door panels, rebuilding and repainting the heater, etc. I had a trim shop do the seats and headliner, but I did pretty much all the rest myself. I also took the front clip off and detailed the engine compartment, including new wiring from the firewall forward which I made up myself using the correct cloth-insulated wire and connectors. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of the Chrysler from that pre-digital age, but I'm posting two that I scanned from battered snapshots. I always figured I would get another car when I retired, so I started looking around early this year. The Buick fit my budget and seemed like just what I was looking for: a nice, solid driver that needed a little cosmetic tweaking and I could have fun with without spending too much money. So far, it seems to be exactly that.

After posting various photos in the "Favorite Pictures of My Pre War Buick" thread, I decided it was time to start my own thread. I got this car in March of 2017, and I know very little about its history. It appears to be an older restoration of a solid original car. I will start out with some photos (some of which have already been posted in the other thread).

Your car looks great! I can see why you would think it was a Special because of the nameplate on the dash where the radio would be, and the name on the hood latches. That's odd. Must be something to do with cars that Buick made for import.

Sorry, but I couldn't resist jumping in here with a little "before and after" moment. I only have one question? Where's that great fan? I hope it's getting the full "Gary W" treatment!