BuicksBuicks

Be aware of the plugged rocker arm shaft. Sludge collects in the rear end of the shaft and prevents oil flow to the valves on cylinders 6-8. It might just be a cause of back pressure in the oil lines. Having been there I thought I'd throw it out and see if anyone salutes.

Some of those beasts look like they had 12-in-line engines. Maybe 16.

I still don't know what kind of horn this is. Ah-ooo-gah? A matched tone pair? I recommend measuring the resistance from the horn electrical post to the case; I'd be happy if the resistance is under 100 ohms. Is there any writing on the horns like, "Chrysler", "General Motors", or "Tucker"?

Snapped a photo of a well-worn Model T in Juneau. I suspect its due for a tune-up.

That tiny prop that's placed so high yet powered by a Ford V8 just doesn't make sense.

Many years ago I used wheels from the 1950's on my '37. Of course those wheels were very common back then in junk yards.

When you start to do any engine work just think of it as a Chevy with a couple of extra cylinders.

My future son-in-law has driven stick since he first drove at least fifteen years ago. That's why it surprised me about the shift pattern. I certainly can't expect him to learn to drive an "antique" car but I did think that after I croak he could have the Buick. I guess that might not be a great idea but its certainly not an issue. He's a nice ,very smart guy and I certainly can't hold his reluctance to drive an old car against him. He will be welcome in the family and maybe I'll drive the Buick at the wedding. I"ll have to wash and wax it first.

My 32 year old future son-in-law had a stab at driving my '37 Special. He can drive stick although he was quite confused about the three speed; and that long shift lever with no visible shift pattern on the knob. When he got in the driver's seat, the car wouldn't budge so I advised him to release the hand brake. Where?? I told him it was over there on the left side of the dash. He tugs on the throttle knob. I advised him it was the big handle under the dash; he found it but couldn't figure it out. I told him how to release it and to him that simple operation was bizarre. Soon we got it into first and began moving; after a hundred feet in first he simply gave up and stopped the car. We never got out of the Lowe's parking lot. Operating an eighty-three year old car was not easy! No power steering, no power brakes. I took over the driver position and zoomed away, chuckling to myself. And I didn't need a shift pattern on the shift knob.

FINALLY! The last time I drove my '37 Special was early November of last year. At that time I a bothersome noise occurred in second. Damn, a transmission problem. A transmission repair would have been a simple repair if I only had the ability that I had sixty years ago when I last repaired one; but today I'm almost 75 and very limited by rheumatoid arthritis, a fused back, and a cancer that has invaded my bones. Over the winter I emptied a bottle of SAE 90 into the transmission after I had removed the center front floor and one bolt on the top of the transmission, and let the bottle drain into the bolt hole. That worked fine but then it appeared that the cooling system was leaking; and now I had to charge the battery every time I wanted to start the engine. Last week I checked the coolant and it had refilled. I pulled the battery, measured the "cage" and got a perfect fit battery from the local Shell. Now I could go for a drive. Rain had long washed the salt off of the roads. The engine started immediately, I put it in gear and raced up the street. Then another street and another. I'm finally back to regularly driving my now trusty '37 with it's powerful 100+ hp. Great driving ahead.

The nichrome wire barely gets warm. I suppose it might get rather hot if I kept the horn blasting constantly. I use the horn so seldom the wire doesn't even have a chance to get warm. Even so, the fiberglass sleeving provides heat protection and self-shorting prevention.

For 6 volt horns on 12 volt systems, I use a series resistor made of nichrome wire. The proper length was determined by connecting a voltmeter across the operating horn, and moving a tap (clip lead) along the nichrome until it reads six volts. When I found the correct length of nichrome, I slipped a piece of thin fiberglass sleeving over the wire. From there the nichrome can be wound around a finger and held in place with a tie-wrap. Another method is to use a low resistance, high current potentiometer or rheostat in series with the horn and adjusting it for six volts across the horn. From there the potentiometer resistance can be measured and that value used in a length of nichrome. Nichrome wire and sleeving came from Mouser as I recall.

I know nothing about Hups. How does one shift gears?

If I were to see any pre-war car with a similar bright and dark color scheme, I would immediately assume that it was rodded. It's just the way my mind interprets it and in this case my interpretation was be wrong.

I was told that this evening gathering existed but haven't been able to learn more about it or have a contact. Does anyone here have any info?

My '39 81F Formal Sedan, completely destroyed in a fire years after I sold it.

That's a great car and you'll have lots of fun and gain education with it. Please don't take short-cuts in getting it on the road. There's a lot of wood in that vintage so you may gain in carpentry knowledge too. You probably have mice inside the seats; they come out of nowhere. Best empty out those nests outdoors.

In one of the "Honeymooners", Ralph Kramden drives a '37 Buick Open sedan with side mounts and tries to escape to a hunting lodge with Norton, while trying to leave the wives behind. Does anyone know what year/show this was? It was one of the high quality shows, not one of earlier shows.

Thanks to all for the positive marks. On the '39's I've seen them with and without the bullet lights on the top of the front fenders. Were these an option? I had them on my '39 81F lino. And, on the posted '36's, there are "fender finder sticks", whatever they are called, for learning drivers like my 17 year old uncle. I can only guess that my uncle was allowed to drive the '36 sedan but not the classy new '37 coupe at least until he was an experienced driver. That coupe would have been very out of place with my grandfather but I would have loved it. I can only assume that these Buicks were Roadmasters or other high end models. Any comments? I'd love to know.

There were many more Buicks than existing photos. I've hopefully given them the correct years in the titles but please correct me if I'm wrong (except the 36 &,37s) A comment on the 1924 Buick in snow- he lived on a very steep one-way street, heading downward and with a curve in the middle. To get to his house there was another one-way street upward and extremely steep. I just can't imagine how he was able to drive up or down with those narrow tires, even with chains, and two-wheel brakes. As for the 1934 sedan, that car is beautiful. Years shown here are Buicks 1937, 36, 22, 24, 31, 34, 39, 47, and Cadillacs 1929, and 1941. If I were to add in my fathers, uncles, and my Buicks, we'd pretty much covered nearly all Buicks from 1924 to 1964.

Email the pics in your phone to your email address; after that, open the email and download the pics to your PC. From there the pics can be attached to your postings.

Re: the cinder blocks Mea Culpa. I was 17 at the time with a typical "what, me worry?" teenager attitude. Looking back and I'm appalled too. Working part time in a drug store at minimum wage while still in high school didn't give me much money to buy things that were needed. The reason for the bad orientation would have been in consideration of the crush-abilty of the cinder blocks if they had been rotated 90 degrees. Working on soft soil wouldn't have made jack stands any safer. Three months after this was taken I was in the Navy; when I returned I bought jack stands and resumed driving the '37; by that time it had been painted.

Accidental double exposure of the family '50 Special Sedanette; also a teenager's '37 Special getting some gear changes.

Me in my first car, a 1937 Buick in 1961 and recently with another '37 Buick.