neil morse

It reminds me of the remains of several vehicles I found abandoned at Joshua Tree National Park in California (see below). The "Earl C. Anthony" tag is a nice touch. But I can't imagine that it's restorable.

It looks very nice and priced pretty reasonably. However "former museum car" and "drive anywhere" don't necessarily follow from one another. I wonder how long it's been sitting.

You are correct, but I think you should cut some slack to people who get confused by the MoPar terminology of the era. People regularly refer to the transmission as "Fluid Drive" because that's what it says right on the horn button. But, in fact, the transmission on the Chrysler was the "Presto-Matic." (Or "Tip-Toe" shift on the DeSoto, or "Gyro-matic" on the Dodge.)

OP says $24,500. Lovely car except for incorrect interior

Sounds good, Dan. On my '41, one key opens everything, but I don't know if this was true when it came out of the factory.

Be very careful not to get too aggressive trying to clean up those engine-turned panels. The engraving is very light, and you can easily rub it right off if you go after the rust with anything too abrasive. One sees many cars where the engine-turned pattern has been completely polished off in places. Here's the dash on my '41, for example. This is the way it was when I bought it. Your car looks like a worthy project. I look forward to watching your progress!

You might try calling Doug Seybold. He is one of the premier restorers of '40 and '41 Buicks, and is located in the Cleveland area. You can reach him at 440-835-1193. The car might have ended up in his shop at some point.

Plaid Tour 2023 Last Sunday was the 20th annual Plaid Tour in honor of Marshall Mathews, a fund raising event for ALS research. We have had so many severe rain and wind storms that several roads were blocked and attendance was down. Here are a few pics (I was there with my Super, but I totally forgot to take a pic of my own car). There were only a few pre-war cars, but the highlight for me was the beautiful unrestored Caddy V-16 limousine.

The driver (friend of the owner) told me it was an "unrestored original," but of course I have no independent knowledge of that. It looked original to me, although the blue color seemed a bit bright for limousine from that era. Maybe it had a repaint somewhere along the line. The interior looked original, but I didn't want to take a photo of the rear compartment out of respect for the two passengers who were in there. Here are two more photos.

I agree. Stunning car, but it should have a black top.

The price seems a tad high considering what I paid for my Buick in very similar condition. But this looks like a great opportunity for someone who wants to get into the hobby.

Yes, that's probably going to be the most difficult part of the job -- except maybe for getting those nuts back on, which is even harder. The main problems are access and visibility (plus, of course, contorting one's body to be able to get a wrench on the nuts and turn them). I strongly recommend taking the front seat out, as Rock10 mentions -- in fact, I'm not sure it would even be possible with the seat in place. Get a few of those powerful LED flashlights with the magnetic mounting brackets -- getting the light in the right place is half the battle. Then have a good set of sockets with different length extensions and U-joints. Here's the part of my "Me and My Buick" thread where I cover this job (click on arrow in upper right-hand corner to get to the right starting post). I strongly suggest that you consider replacing the dash lights with LED's while you're in there. I have more detailed suggestions that I will happily give you if you PM me when you're closer to starting.

Roger, I've run out of words to describe my amazement at what you are doing here! I thought of you on Sunday when I went on a little tour and this unrestored '31 V-16 showed up.

Just what I was going to suggest! Please post a lot of pics -- looks like a great car.

I second EmTee's suggestion. My gauge, even though it was NOS, actually needed to be recalibrated and I had to send it to a guy in Vermont for that purpose. Here are pics of when I checked the gauge when I got it back: If your car was rewired by Seybold, that will definitely make things easier for you in at least two ways. First, you will know that all the fasteners holding the dash together are clean and will turn fairly easily. And second, a new harness means that you won't have to deal with old wiring where the insulation turns to dust the moment you touch it. Even though you're only replacing the temperature gauge, you are going to have to move the other gauges to get access. The wiring on my car was a disaster before I replaced it.

Haha -- correct! But you certainly found a nice one. As I posted earlier, the job of removing the panel and replacing the gauge is a "major undertaking," but it's doable. I actually enjoyed the project of pulling my dash completely apart and installing a new wiring harness (was well as the new temperature gauge). I just depends on how you want to spend your time. If you go ahead with it, I will have some tips for you.

Parts car.

Try Doug Seybold in Ohio. He prefers the phone to email, and can be reached at 440-835-1193. I got two regulators for my '41 from him. The pot metal is very fragile, and they are often broken on these cars.

Hi Mike: Your wheel should look like this, correct? I'm unclear what you mean when you say that you need "the chrome piece." I have an extra of what I guess I would call the "hub," part no. 1319406 (shown below). It's in very good shape. I would be happy to send it to you if need it.

It also has signs for Buick and Oldsmobile Service. And I see two '60 Oldsmobiles and two '60 Buicks in the photo, and I don't see any cars newer than those. I also see two Borgwards, but I don't know the year. I'm just thinking this service station might be connected in some way to a dealership. Great photo, thanks for posting!

Buick, Olds, Borgward dealer?

It looks like you can get a coil pretty easily. Here's one from Cars, Inc. in New Jersey through Ebay. They are a reputable company. https://www.ebay.com/itm/173102769895?hash=item284dbaa6e7:g:ajkAAOSwMfhaXfJ3

It's been a while since I had the steering wheel off my '41, but I think this is how it works: The positive current is in the wire that comes up through the steering column. The brass-colored plate on the back of the center hub in your photos makes contact with the spring-loaded fitting on the wire where it comes out of the center of the steering column. To activate the horn, you push on the horn ring which causes one of the three spokes to make contact with the hub of the steering wheel which grounds the horn circuit. I remember that the adjustment is a bit tricky and you may have to remove and replace the horn ring several times before you get it right. The adjustment is by means of those three insulated nuts on the back plate. I think if the nuts are too tight, the horn will honk constantly, and if the nuts are too loose, the horn won't honk at all (but it might be the other way around). Sorry I can't be more precise, but you will figure it out!

Hi John: Here's a link to the part of my "Me and My Buick" thread dealing with the removal and partial rebuild of the oil pump on my '41. (Click on arrow in upper right hand corner to get to the correct starting post.) I think this will be helpful to you. You will also see some discussion of what's considered "low" oil pressure. Once you get the pick-up screen cleaned up and the bottom plate smoothed up, you will probably be fine. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any additional help.

There still seems to be some confusion about this. As Ken Green posted, there were no running boards on the new C-body cars in 1940, which were the 50 series (Super) and 70 series (Roadmaster). The Special and the Century series had running boards. Running boards were not an option on the Super and Roadmaster.