neil morse

Like the line in the Godfather Part III. "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!" 😄

Have we forgotten the title of this thread? This is the car which shall not be named!

Dual carbs were standard on every model other than the Special.

Looks like a nice car for the price. I wonder what kind of shape the seat fabric is in under those covers? These are great driving cars, very dependable, AND it's a New Yorker so you get the prestige of 8 cylinders. Also, those deep dish beauty rings are difficult to find. Many of these cars ended up with one piece '49 wheel covers which look okay but not as nice.

Sounds like Bloo found the answer. So "41-4409" is the standard Special fastback 4-door sedan (single carb), and "41-4409D" is the same car with the dual carb setup, which was optional on the Special.

I am not an expert by any means with regard to decoding data plates, but I found this earlier thread which indicates that a '41 Special Touring Sedan (like yours) was designated "41-4409" on the data plate. The initial "4" indicates a Special model, the "1" indicates a 4-door sedan, and the "4409" is a Fisher Body internal number indicating the 4-door fastback sedan. I can't find any mention of a "4409D" designation -- maybe someone else can chime in with the answer. I'm curious -- since the data plate on your car is missing, where did you find out about the possible "4409D" designation? Here's the earlier thread:

Haha -- that bumper looks as big as your Peugeot!

I actually don't think that's the case. Dan ( @drhach ) and I had a DM conversation about this topic recently, and we concluded that the "wavy" pattern is, in fact, what the "tan and gray" Bedford Cord (Code 900) looked like from the factory. We based this conclusion on two things: (1) a photo posted by @Grant Z of the original fabric on his '41 coupe, and (2) a photo that Dan had of a sample from an original '41 upholstery sample book. The samples looked identical, and in both cases had the wavy lines. However, I think it is only the "tan and gray" Bedford Cord that had this characteristic. I believe that both the "tan Bedford Cord (2-tone)" (Code 903) and the "gray Bedford Cord (2-tone)" (Code 905) had straight lines like the fabric on my seats, as shown in the photo above. Here's a further kicker. Cadillac Nut mentions that his car has the "common beige colored broadcloth," not Bedford Cord. I see in Anderson's "Restoration Facts" book that another fabric choice, called "Tan Canada Cloth," is listed as Code 902. Would this be the "beige colored broadcloth?" If someone out there has one of those upholstery sample books, it would be a huge help to us!

Click on arrow in upper right hand corner to get the post about the fabric.

I was able to get SMS to match the tan Bedford Cord in my '41. It was $149 a yard.

I love "serious inquiries only." Like, "Dude, are you serious?" 😁

I noticed a poster on the wall on the left hand side of the photo, just up the hill from the Buick, that says "Yes on 11." I did some searching online and see that California had a Proposition 11 in 1950, so this photo must have been taken in the fall of that year. That looks appropriate to the cars in the photo, as best as I can tell.

Based on the "1000" on the top of the Pine Street sign, this would be the view looking up Taylor.

Imagine driving that behemoth around San Francisco with a stick shift. Then imagine a line of cars, bumper to bumper, headed up that hill toward the stop sign. I really get a workout driving my '41 around town, and I have to confess that there are certain hills that I simply avoid. Starting and stopping in the middle of one of those blocks is not for the faint of heart, especially when there's someone behind you, hugging your rear bumper!

I don't think there's anything wrong with your brain. I feel the same way, and it's because I prefer the Chrysler to the DeSoto. This looks like a solid car at a reasonable price, but obviously you would need to give it a thorough look and, as Jake says, you would have to carefully catalog which parts are there and which are missing. I happen to be partial to Airflows, but I know they are an acquired taste. The '34s are the best and "purest" examples of the design, but the '35s are still nice despite the artificial "prow" that was tacked on to make it look a bit more conventional. However, anyone contemplating giving this car a full restoration should understand that it will be a labor of love and you will almost certainly end up way under water in terms of cost versus the value of the finished car. Back in the early 90's, I had the opportunity to buy a '34 Imperial Airflow coupe that was in very similar shape to this one. All the parts were there and intact, but it basically needed everything. The price (I think it was around the same as this one -- but of course in 1990's dollars) was reasonable but way beyond my means at the time. This was probably a fortunate thing, but I still periodically take out the snapshots I took of the car at the time and dream about "what might have been." It was the most desirable year and the most desirable model and it was complete. But I'm sure it would have made my life miserable as I would have constantly been longing to transform it in a way that I could never afford.

[edit] Overly negative post removed by poster after being viewed in the morning light. 🙃

No harassment intended. You were so quick to respond that I was too late in my edit to show you where you could have posted your pic of this dreadful creation. Hey, to each his own!

Yikes, wrong thread! Please remove that bizarre disaster from among these lovely Buicks! 😁 I think this is where you meant to put this:

Don't like what I'm seeing with the brake and clutch pedals.

As Den says, Bob's Automobilia in California is a great source for Buick parts. If you don't seen something in the catalog, it is definitely worth making a phone call because they have a lot of parts that aren't always listed. https://bobsautomobilia.com/ Another good source is Cars LLC in New Jersey. https://oldbuickparts.com/ Steele Rubber Products in North Carolina has a wide variety of rubber parts for all cars. https://www.steelerubber.com/ Things like gauges come up from time to time on eBay, but I find their search feature a bit difficult to navigate. https://www.ebay.com/ Good luck!

David, your car looks magnificent and I would love to see some more photos of it, particularly the interior. But be careful when you refer to the dash as having "Di-Noc" on the instrument panel and glove box door. You will open a whole can of worms about whether the "engine turning" on the panels was actually engraved or some kind of decal. There have been several long threads on the subject. The most recent consensus was that the panels were actually engraved, not a decal.

If you upload your video to YouTube and post a link, it will work very well. I don't know of any other way to directly post a video on this forum.

Great to hear that you are making such progress! I'm very curious about that gunk that came out of the radiator and block -- could it really be egg whites? Very odd. A steady 180 degrees is just fine -- you don't need to get it running any cooler than that. I believe those hose clamps are more modern than '42, even though they appear to be factory parts for a Buick.

Raise your hand if you washed at least one old Buick this weekend! A pleasant way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.

I found this old thread that might have some useful information in it for you.