neil morse

Looking great!

Wait, didn't you mean to say "find the non-Buick?" (I can't find it.)

I agree. Looks like a great opportunity for someone who wants to get into the hobby at a reasonable price.

New Steering Wheel Not much to report, as evidenced by the fact that I haven't posted here in seven months. However, yesterday I got my new re-cast steering wheel. It came out great, and I'm eager to install it!

You just can't resist showing off those math skills, eh Elpad? 😄 I like the fact that Harry's flashy Polara looks to be fully-loaded, including the swivel seats! Quite a contrast to Harry himself.

😄😝

Larry, I found that the little plastic bag of moly grease was plenty enough to coat all the surfaces that needed to be coated. You can see some photos of that in the sequence I posted on my thread. As I mentioned in my thread, following Don's advice I made sure to wear latex gloves when applying the grease.

Not to mention the '54 suit! Now that's when trousers were trousers. The guy had a good tailor for sure.

Larry, I'm sorry I read your post in a hurry and didn't see the part about how you had everything ready to slide back. I can't really tell from your pictures exactly what that flange is, but my point was that you will have to disassemble the whole thing to do the job anyway, so you will be able to understand it better once you get it apart. Regarding the "split ring" or spring washer ("AD" in the exploded drawing that Ken posted above), Ken is correct that this goes behind the original cork gasket to keep pressure on the ball and help seal it. However, when I took mine apart, the spring was missing. With the new rubber gasket from Bob's, I figured the spring washer wasn't necessary, and so far that appears to be the case since mine is still completely dry after nearly a year and 1,000 miles. I have posted again the part in my thread where I discuss the torque ball procedure. Just click on the arrow in the upper right hand corner to get to the right place.

Maybe it's just because I did my torque ball when the transmission was out of the car, but I just don't see how you can possibly do this job without at least pulling the torque tube back and pulling the propeller shaft out of the U-joint in the torque ball.

A very odd collection of Buicks and French cars (Renaults and Peugeots) -- and the business has a French name, but the signage is in English. I wonder where this photo was taken?

Nice work, Peter! Looks great.

As I said, I'm just passing along what Doug told me. I also checked Bill Anderson's "Restoration Facts" book on the '41, and he just notes that a chrome-plated "Speedline" ornament is placed on the rear fender or on the "wheel shield" on cars that are fitted with the shields (skirts). (pp. 84-85.)

Mike, I found this thread that has some more information on skirts for the '40.

For what it's worth, here's what Doug Seybold told me: there are two different lengths of spears, 21" and 24". The 24" were originally intended for the fender and the 21" for the skirts. However, the 24" spears turned out to be a problem on the fenders because the long tips were fragile and tended to break off, for example, if they caught on a polishing cloth. So they started using the 21" spears at the factory for the fenders as well. So the 21" spears are "correct" for either the fender or the skirt. As I say, that's just what Doug told me and I can't vouch for its accuracy. (I got in trouble once on here because I posted something that Doug told me and a lot of people disagreed with it.) I'm just the messenger.

But Matt, I'm pretty sure that skirts ("fender shields") were a factory option for Buick in 1940, although they are not nearly as prevalent as on the '41's. Does anyone know the answer to this for sure?

I had a '48 Chrysler and the inside of the trunk was that same green color -- I think it was a standard thing, probably to save money as 58L suggests.

Yes, as long as you aren't trying to parallel park! Then it gets noticeable very quickly. I still remember my poor mother struggling to park our '50 Nash when I was a kid. It not only lacked power steering, but with those skirted front fenders it had the turning radius of the Queen Mary! 😄

Hi Phillip, here's what Don is referring to. (Click on the arrow in the right-hand corner to get to the right place.)

Looks like another great MoPar at a very attractive price. These cars are very solid and will run forever.

Yes, I have seen the same thing. I didn't want to make my previous post too complicated, but there is a very strong group of vintage lowriders here in SF. So I didn't include these cars as "unmodified" because they aren't. However, the modifications are the kind that were done by this particular community in the 40's and 50's, and these cars were among the most "unmolested" that I saw at these events. The '37 LaSalle (shown below) for example had all its original running gear including the flathead V-8.