neil morse

I believe they only made 699 New Yorker business coupes from 1946-1948. I had a friend about 40 years ago who loved them and had two of them. They are almost a "cartoon car" with that long wheelbase, huge trunk, and single bench seat. Certainly the ultimate 40's three window coupe, but difficult to find, as you say.

Hi, welcome to the AACA forums! You have come to the right place to learn more about your car. I have the same car as you, and I have the same situation with the rear fender trim. When I bought the car seven years ago, I could see that it had been repainted at some point but there were no rear fender spears and, like you, I could not detect any filled holes on the inner side. I know that cars that were ordered with rear fender skirts (actually called "rear wheel shields" in Buick parlance) had the spears deleted from the fender and installed on the skirts. This was a $10 "factory installed accessory" as opposed to various "dealer installed accessories" that were also offered. Since the skirts were "factory installed," I assume that the fenders on cars with skirts were fitted on the assembly line with fenders that had no holes for the fender spears. So my guess is that both of our cars were originally fitted with the skirts at the factory. Another twist to this story is extra little piece of stainless trim on the leading edge of the fender that was added to cars equipped with skirts. (See photo below) If a car came from the factory with skirts, there must have been holes here for that little piece of trim. I can't find any evidence of filled holes in this area on my car. So it's kind of a mystery. I bought a nice set of spears to put on my car, but I haven't put them on yet. When I got to thinking seriously about it, I realized that it's not so simple as one might think! Once you start drilling holes in your fenders, you better get them in exactly the right place or everything is going to look crooked. It's the kind of installation that has to be nearly perfect or it's going to look awful and bug you every time you look at it! What occurs to me is that the only way to really do it right is to find someone who has a set of rear fenders that have the factory holes drilled in them. From these, you could make stencils that would insure that you are locating the holes in exactly the right place. But finding someone who has a set of fenders and would be willing to make stencils for you if going to be difficult. (The other possibility, of course, is to obtain a set of skirts and have them painted the right color. You can find skirts, but they are generally quite expensive. Also, I honestly don't think the shorter wheelbase Super and Special look very good with the skirts.) So I'm kind of stuck at this point about what I want to do. Here's a link to my long thread in the "Me and My Buick" forum that covers pretty much everything that I've done to my car since I got it. You might want to take a look as it might be helpful to you depending on what you car needs. Also, feel free to send me a private message if you have any questions that I might be able to answer.

Looks like a fun car at a decent price.

No, as others have stated, the "apron" between the body and the bumper was standard on the '41, and it's only the distortion of the wide-angle camera lens that makes it look weird. Here's a shot of my Super for comparison: This car looks very good to me (based only on the photos, of course). The interior is in excellent condition, particularly the wood-graining on the dash, window garnishes, and seat back. All the difficult to find trim parts (knobs, window cranks, etc.) are there, and the gauges, dash panels and steering wheel are also in great shape. Assuming it has no serious mechanical issues, it looks like a really good deal at that price, although I know nothing about that particular dealer. Edit: Having looked at the interior photos in more detail, I realize that my statement about "all the trim parts" being there wasn't completely correct. The ivory plastic "wings" on the window garnish moldings are missing in a few places, but reproductions of these parts are easily obtainable.

Yes.

This looks like a really nice car. I don't know if the interior is correct, but it looks appropriate and appears to have been very well-done. I would remove those skirts which look like an ill-fitting afterthought. Otherwise, as long as you can live with a lot of green, this is a great car. As has been said many times before on this forum, the MoPars from these years were very well-engineered and provide many miles of trouble-free enjoyment. I can't comment on the price -- it seems a tad high, but probably in the ball park assuming the car is in good mechanical shape.

That's a great reminiscence! Those "floppy" handles were very stylish, but they did not hold up well over time. The floppy part of the crank that folded flat was held in place by a lucite insert, and over time the plastic tended to become very brittle and break. Fortunately, someone started making reproductions so that the handles could be restored.

It's unclear to me who asked the question, but it has "Fluid Drive" for sure -- standard equipment on the Windsor. Also written on the horn button and on the brake light housing. (It's there, Jeff, it just doesn't show up because of poor photo resolution.) Having owned one, I can say that these are wonderful, comfortable and dependable cars that will run forever, but this one looks a bit rough to me for $6.3K.

I fear you would immediately be underwater with this project even if the car and engine were given to you for nothing.

For anyone interested in seeing what the correct interior looks like for this car, there are tons of great photos on this Mecum site of a stunning example that I assume is correct. (I couldn't copy any of the photos to post here because they are some kind of different format.) As has been mentioned, the real wood caps on the door panels are not correct, nor is the pattern for the seat leather. https://www.mecum.com/lots/1095236/ Also, "Beaver Brown" somehow doesn't sound like a name that GM would have used for a paint color. How about "Opossum gray?"

Yay! So glad that worked for you!

I'm not familiar with the 233 ci engine, but my assumption is that it's basically the same design as the 248 in my car. The passage into the water jacket is pretty short. You can see this from the cross-section drawing I posted of the 248 block in my thread (reproduced below). But the problem is that the opening for the drain at the lowest point in a very narrow part of the water jacket. So when that part of the water jacket gets filled up with rusty bits, it completely blocks the opening. So you have to find someway of "drilling" through the accumulated shards of rust to open it up. Of course it helps if you have the head off and the core plugs removed, as I did. As you can from the little video I posted in my thread (as well as the photo that Gary W. posted on my thread), the drain plug opening lines up with one of the core plug openings on the other side of the block.

The drain passage was blocked on my '41. The tool that finally broke through the blockage turned out to be very simple -- just a piece of bent coat-hanger wire and an electric drill. You can read about it here (click on the arrow in the upper right hand corner to get to the right starting post):

The Olds looks nicer!

I see three. Did I miss any?

From "The Killers" (1946):

That darn handicapped parking sign is the only thing that gives you away. I love the blackwalls!

Yes, I have set the handles on both front and rear doors so they are pointing downward. This is the way they were when I first got the car six years ago, but I have since had all four door panels off for various repairs, replacing sound deadening material, replacing rubber seals, etc.

That's interesting. On my '41, you pull the handle up to open the door. Can they be installed either way?

The car in the Hagerty article is an actual Ferrari Dino -- a completely different animal, as Leif explained above. As described in Wikipedia: "The Fiat Dino (Type 135) was a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car produced by Fiat from 1966 to 1973. The Dino name refers to the Ferrari Dino V6 engine, produced by Fiat and installed in the cars to achieve the production numbers sufficient for Ferrari to homologate the engine for Formula 2 racing." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Dino#History

You are a very patient man! The car is looking better and better each day.

And here I had been lulled into thinking you were such a nice guy! 😆

This is not a Roadmaster. The data plate indicates "56C," which makes it a Super. (You can also see the "Super" script right under the portholes.) But the portholes are not correct in any event -- apparently, someone's idea of how to gussy it up a bit.