neil morse

That's Conners Motorcar Company, and yes, this is the second time I have seen a scam based on this same car.

My God, don't tempt me! I have always wanted to own one of these, and this price seems very reasonable. Lucky for my wife, we only have garage space for one collector car, but I'm sure this car is going to make someone very happy. Good luck with the sale. Neil

Keith, if you're not averse to "invisible" improvements, you might want to consider LED bulbs for some of your lights. I'm using them for tail lights and instrument lights in my Buick, and they brighten things up considerably without drawing any more current than incandescents (actually less). This outfit has a pretty good selection of 6 volt bulbs in various sizes. https://www.ledlight.com/6-volt-positive-ground-automotive-led-lights.aspx (That's a link to the "6 volt, positive ground" section -- which I'm assuming is what your car takes based on my MoPar experience.) Neil

I'm a Buick man now, but I have a huge soft spot for the MoPars, having owned a '48 Windsor sedan about 30 years ago. They are super solid and reliable cars that just keep running and running! I agree completely with everything you say. Four-door sedans are not highly valued, no question, but to me the flip side to that "problem" is that they are readily available for projects like the one you are doing without requiring a big investment up front. And they are just as much fun to drive and as satisfying to work on as the more "valuable" coupes and convertibles. Too many people get caught up in the idea that this hobby should somehow result in making a profit. How much profit to people expect to make from hobbies like golfing, boating, and fishing? Thanks for posting the pics of your '53 -- she's a stunner with those wire wheels, and I love the crazy side mirror on the roof! Neil

I really like what you're doing here, Keith! You don't need to spend a lot of money in this hobby to create a nice driver and have a lot of fun while you're at it. And it's nice to see that your wife is involved as well -- the headlight harnesses she made look great! (Also, your Chrysler looks beautiful on your avatar and lurking in the background in the garage. How about a few shots of that as well? Or is there a separate thread somewhere around here about the Chrysler?)

Hi Anderson: I really like what you did -- it pretty much matches the illustration from the accessory manual that I posted earlier. It's very interesting to see the instructions that came with the Guide brackets. Did you by any chance get a switch with instructions as well? There was some discussion on another thread earlier about the best place to tap into the system to power the fog lights, and I'm curious about what the Guide instructions to the dealers specified about how to wire up the lights. Neil

Thanks, gentlemen -- I was very happy to find that connector.

Fog Lights In a separate thread about fog lights, I noted that the fog light brackets that were on my car when I bought it were too short and put the fog lights too low, below the top of the bumper. With the help of the inestimable Matt Harwood, I purchased a pair of reproduction brackets that were taller. I finished installing them today. I also redid the wiring for the lights to replace the job done by a former owner. As of now, I am using a toggle switch under the dash, but I left enough wire to move the switch over to the right side of the dash if I should ever be lucky enough to obtain a factory "FOG LIGHTS" switch down the line. I soldered a second wire to the socket to use as a dedicated ground, and enlarged the hole in the housing so both wires could exit together. I then had just enough of the wiring loom I got from Bob's leftover to put a length of loom on each light to cover the two wires from the light to the point where the wires went in through the grill. Here's what it looked like (and yes, I know that it was not completely "correct" to use black wire for both the power and the ground and that I may confuse some future automotive archaeologist, but one is cloth insulated and the other is plastic insulated and that's just what I happened to have on hand). When I was figuring out how to do the wiring, I was troubled by how to do the "Y" connection where the hot wire to the lights split from one wire into the two wires for the lights. I was looking for something else on the Rhode Island Wire Service website, when I found the perfect solution. It turns out they offer a "one-into-two" vintage bakelite connector that takes bullet connectors for all three wires. So this way I can simply pull out the fog light wires if I ever want to change them out later on for something different or if I have to do any repairs, etc. Here's what it looks like. I hooked everything up, hit the switch, and was happy with the result! Thanks for viewing and listening, and have a great evening!

Thanks, Peter. I'll save you some time. Here's Matt's post about the LED's. You may have noticed that my fog lights are missing in that most recent shot of my car. I got correct brackets that put the lights up above the bumper where they should be, and I'm in the process of putting the brackets on and redoing the wiring on the lights. Neil

Great purchase! I hope you're as excited as the young couple in this pic from the Dodge brochure! It's hard to say from the one photo whether it's been lowered. Based on the brochure, it actually looks about right when you look at where the wheel wells hit the wheels.

Back on the road Everything is back together, and I've had a successful shake down cruise. Here she is today after a good wash: The dash is all back together and looks great -- I also added a new horn button I got off eBay (but now my steering wheel looks more shabby than ever -- typical problem!). LED's in my instrument lights (Thank you, @Matt Harwood for the idea) make everything sparkle at night. Also, thanks to Matt's suggestion, my directional signal arrows are nice and green. So I'm very happy with my rewiring job. By the way, the harness from Rhode Island Wire Services was perfect in every way (as were their charts and instructions), and I would recommend them without reservation to anyone looking for a new harness.

Why thank you, Greg. I also thought I did a pretty good job with those cinder blocks. 😜

In my modest, completely unbiased, opinion 😁, the '40 and '41 Buick dash is one of the most attractive of any mass-produced car. One of the reasons I ended up with my '41.

Touch Up Paint I wanted to post some information that might be helpful to others who are looking for touch up paint to match the color of their car. My car has an "older" paint job that's in pretty good shape, but there were a bunch of chips and dings that I wanted to take care of. Also, as I posted earlier, the cowl vent was never properly repainted and had a stripe of primer right across the middle. We have very strict environmental laws in California that made it pretty much impossible (as far as I could figure out) to find any oil-based paint locally. I'm pretty sure that paint on my car is lacquer. I went online and located an outfit in Florida called "Dr. ColorChip." https://www.drcolorchip.com/ I sent them one of the door jamb switches from my car, and they used it to do a color match. I bought a one oz. bottle of touch up for starters, and was very happy with the color match. I then ordered an additional spray can ($30.00) so I could take care of the cowl vent problem. Here's are before and after photos on the cowl vent: Here's what the paint looks like: The spray can actually came from a company in Wisconsin even thought it was supplied through Dr. ColorChip: I was very pleased with the results, and would recommend the good doctor to anyone looking for a good paint match. The people were very nice on the phone, and the orders were handled very efficiently.

Okay, thanks for your answer. Anything you do with your own car is fine with me. Neil

The most frightening part of that chart is the idea that my Super (with a 3.9 rear end) is capable of 101.5 mph! I can't imagine doing that, but I guess they had young, adventurous drivers at the proving grounds! Neil

Okay, I'll bite. What have you done and why don't people like it? Are you running a different engine? I get miserable mileage on my Super, but I really don't care because it runs like a top. Neil

Can't wait to see more pics, especially the interior!

My Super has the optional 3.9 rear end, so what Matt says about its cruising speed is accurate. I routinely drive it at 60 mph. I have had it up to 65, but I prefer to drive at around 55 to 60, where it seems very comfortable. Good luck with your search -- Buicks are great cars, no question. Neil

You refer to the "larger" series, but I'm assuming you understand that you are actually referring to the cars with the larger engine -- the Century, Roadmaster, and Limited. The Super is the larger-sized body with the smaller engine. As a happy Super owner, I would suggest that you might want to consider broadening your search. You might find that you would be just as happy with a Super. The interior trim of the Super is identical to the Roadmaster. The Limited (of course) is in a class by itself because of its larger wheelbase, and if you're set on a Limited, then you will be "limiting" yourself (pun intended) to a very small sample. The Century is what everyone wants because it was the first factory hot rod to come out of Detroit, but keep in mind that it actually has the smaller body and is not as spacious on the inside as a Super. PS: I agree with Mike that the Super currently offered by Specialty Sales in Pleasanton is grossly overpriced. If you're looking for a nice Super, you should be able to pick one up for a much more reasonable price.

Wow, a "two-for-one" special! 😜

What's going on with the speedometer on the Chrysler? I can't figure it out.

Hi Greg: Thanks, the bottom pair look like what was on my car. I will call you. Neil

Another banner day here for this project -- everything back in the instrument panel, and the panel back in the dash. Getting the gauges back in the panel and the panel back in the dash was the most challenging part of the project, no question about it. I'm hoping it will all pretty much be downhill from here on -- I just have to put the rest of the dash back together, install the switches, radio, glove box, etc.

Speedometer This is what my speedo looked like when I bought my car: I had it rebuilt and recalibrated by a local speedometer shop, and did a cosmetic restoration that involved using a reproduction part for the plastic face. It was okay, but the ivory plastic piece had a greenish tinge that I wasn't too happy about. Then, just when I was getting ready to put it back in the car, I felt very fortunate to find this NOS face for sale online: I substituted the new face for the reproduction, and I'm very happy with the result: I'm just about ready to reinstall the instrument panel, and then I have to put the rest of the dash back together. All in all, this has been a very satisfying project!