1928Buick

Loftbed... Is Don Pettee's former car...? I believe a school teacher bought it new, and drove it for many years. It was restored cosmetically very nicely, but the mechanics were ignored. I believe Tony Bult went through the car mechanically and got things up to par. If I remember correctly, it steers very hard, and shouldn't. I believe what the problem is, is not the car, or clutch, but your skill. I always tell new 20's car owners....SLOW Down....!! Not just car speed, but.....You. We are in a fast paced, "instant" world now. We jump out of a modern car, and into our antique, and its our frame of mind that is still going too fast. FIRST: you MUST have true 600W oil in the transmission if you want to experience what Buick intended with its engineering. without true 600W oil, the gears are spinning too fast. SECOND: check your idle speed. I can not count how many cars I see on yoututbe or in person, and their idle is waaaaaay too high. Buick says that on level ground in high gear at idle the car should travel 5-8 mph for proper idle speed. The idle speed makes a great deal of difference when puching in the clutch to shift. THIRD: Style of driving. 1st gear is NOT to be driven in under normal driving situations....it is to get the car moving...ONLY. You are in first gear for an honest 1 to 2 seconds....it is ONLY to get the car moving. Shift to 2nd right away, and barely stay in 2nd. Do not wind it up in 2nd gear. Shift to 3rd. Remember...in this era, it wasnt horsepower but torque that was king. Buicks can throttle down to 5mph in 3rd gear all the way to top speed. FOURTH. Now days we accelerate right up to a stop sign then slam the brakes....In the 20's, when approaching a stop sign....leave the car in gear.....DONT put the clutch in hundreds of feet before the stop....leave the clutch out and let the engine and weight of the rotational mass slow the car just to the stall point, THEN put the clutch in and brake. I have found most people I have helped were just revving the engine waaaaaaay to high....had improper oil in the transmission case, were staying in 1st and 2nd waaaaay too long, and didnt let the gears slow the car down, before disengaging the clutch. Hope this helps...!!

Awesome....cant wait to see...!

Please Post photos of your Aug. '18, and Sept. '18 Model 96's.

There was one in Texas in the late 90's...a Medium Burgundy color with wire wheels and dual sidemounts. Nicola Bulgari has this one now, in PA. Not sure if this is one of your "known" examples. Please post a photo of your Aug. '18 and Sept. '18 Coupes. :)

hi Mark!! I sure Miss You...!!!! Think of you often ! gosh, don't think I've seen you since Seattle '07 (?) no....the Buicks are in MN still. I've been travelling A LOT, and garages in palm springs are like diamonds, except harder to find, and more expensive!! haha. everything is car ports due to the 359 days of Sun we have each year. Being the 28's are so original, I just won't store them without 4 walls and a roof. Once I settle in one spot, I'll bring them out. I summer in MN most years so get to enjoy them for a few months each year. Right now they are in just pristine storage conditions....heated, air conditioned, filtered air, and No rodents!!! lol. The original 89 year old Factory supplied tire alas has finally peeled away from the tube, a chunk of about a 50 cent piece, so will have to get 4 blackwall Silverton Cords, and will keep the original on as a spare, cosmetic only. Sure missed the PA national at Nicola's. ?

omgosh Matt....I Want Want Want this car...!!! Beautiful, just regal and stunning. Make no apologies for it..! You can be very Proud of your Buick. I would recommend any modern "upgrades" you make, be reversible, in the event you ever sell it. There are many purists out there that enjoy the authentic ride/handling of bias ply tires, original carb, and authentic experience of driving with the light that was originally provided in 1941. No surprise the Buick hunted the Packard, no surprise at all...!!??

it's a 1928 Model 58 Victoria Coupe. First production was Boulevard Maroon. Second Production was Boulevard Maroon Medium, Final production was solid Black, with a Sport Green Moulding, striped in cream. The top is Not original. The dash has been repainted, should be sport green, and walnut trim is missing or painted over(?), interior should be Dark Green mohair (22 oz), landau bars are ornamental. Frame number should be just past 2 million, headlights tilted and out of adjustment. makes me think the car is tampered with more than the ad states. Buffalo Wire Wheels were a brand of Wire Wheels and were the Brand contracted to Buick to supply. The option added $350.00 to the purchase price, and included a mandatory trunk rack in either single (standard) or folding double (extra cost) size, along with reconfigured fuel filler spout. The trunk is incorrect for this year and model. It has no "hat box" but a full rear seat. The model 48 had a "parcel container" next to the two-place rear seat. Beautiful car, many of them still around.

Believe it or not...Buick was one of the first if not The first automobile brand to market their ads toward women. Starting in around 1915/16. While Buick did not think of this strategy on their own, they did "take the leap" of faith before ANY other manufacturers dared to. The answer lies in New York, and not in the automobile world, but the world of advertising. Psychology as we know it today was a new budding concept in the medical field. To some, it was newfound brilliance in understanding the human condition, to others, the stodgy old 'science' minded establishment...it was hogwash, and snake oil, and had no redeeming value in the treatment of human health. Madison avenue advertising firm(s), started rethinking the nature of "advertising" a product. Perceptive ad-men, read all they could about "psychology" and conjured up what we now call, Market Research. What they found, was what they already knew as married men. Women held the power over buying decisions. How many men lamented to their buddies that they wanted something, but would have to pass it by the missus (the boss) first, for her approval. Before this time, henpecked husband's never revealed the truth to their buddies or co-workers during lunch hour, about the 'truth' of the power structure at home, preferring to maintain an perception that they were king of the roost, and no woman will ever tell me what I can or can not do. With the explosion in the teens and twenties of new, creative, and 'psycholigical' use of advertising images and text, men realized that they weren't 'alone' with the bossy wife, but that all men had the same issue of the woman controlling the purse strings. Buick was I believe the first car manufacturer to take a chance, and market their product toward women. Not because women were their true market, no, men were, but because they realized if they could sell the woman of the house, the man would be able to buy the car. As far as Buicks being "easy" to drive for a woman during the 24-28,29 era....that was true. Many restored antique Buicks do not drive like fresh factory originals. They steer with one finger, they stop with minimal pedal effort, they shift smoothly with low revs, and there is a plethora of photo documentation to prove women driving in the 20's and 30's. Mostly city women, not farm women, but yes, Buicks in factory spec, are 'easy' cars to drive. One must remember what the human experience of this generation of people had lodged in their memory banks. these where people born in the Victorian era. They knew cold, work, and effort like we can't imagine in this 21st century. What we think of as crude, primitive, and effort filled, was luxurious, powerful, and convenient. The marketing to women by Buick, to gain the sale from a man, was daring and brilliant of Buick, and we can be very proud of that fact. Another Buick 'FIRST' !

This is my 1928Buick Model 47S Town Brougham. The 47S was a Special one-year only model. This car is completely Original, and UNrestored. In fact, I'm still driving on the Original, Factory, diamond pattern tire on the right rear....89 years old! This was the Fire Chief of Milwaukee's car, John Homolka. The Chief bought it brand new in Jan. of 1928. It was big news, and the whole block waited at Mr.Homolka's house for him to round the corner in his new Buick. He then gave rides to all the neighbors and friends who had gathered. The Chief took the streetcar to work everyday, so the Buick was only driven on Sunday to church, and every Summer, he would take his family on a vacation. He died by fire in 1932, and the missus never learned to drive, so the Buick was put in the garage behind the house, with the shades drawn, and it sat there unmoved from 1932, to 1956, when Mrs. Homolka died. The Chief never had any sons, only two daughters. The eldest, Olga Dambrucht, now grown and married, came back to close the estate, and when she went to the garage, there she saw it...."Dad's Big Buick" as they always referred to it as. It was 1956, everything was chrome and atomic age, who wanted a stodgy old car from the 20's? She remembered her childhood friend, and the boy next door, Burt Brunnel, and how he always admired "Dad's Big Buick". He of course was grown, married, and had moved to Mercer WI. She called him, told him mother had died, would he want "Dad's Big Buick"? would I!!!?!!??? he said. YES! So, she gave it to him. He took the train from Mercer to Milwaukee, said he went to Gamble's hardware store, bought a 6 volt battery, primed the vacuum tank, and he said the Buick popped right off...! it had 6000 miles on it. He drove it back to Mercer, and said as he drove, the original factory tires started to shred. He owned about 400 acres of grassy field land, and he stated in a notorized statement to my Dad that from 1956 to 1965, when we bought it, that he never licensed the car, and the car was never on a public road. He said once or twice a year, he would start the ol girl up, and drive her around the fields a little bit, then back in to a pigeon shed and tarped. When we got the car, there was long dead grass in the bumpers and undercarriage. The right rear tire is the original spare tire from the Buick factory in Flint. The Brougham is Light Promenade Blue, with Black above the beltline. Winchester Gray Mouldings, with Buick Red stripe, edged in Gold. The Brougham had a Special Taupe interior specific to this model. The 47S is the mid-size offering for 1928 with the 120inch wheelbase, but the big 50 series Engine, and DeLuxe 50 series interior, and bright nickel trim.The car has NEVER stranded me Once! Not Once in 51 years of enjoyment. The Buick starts on the first try every year, and steers with one finger. This is the only car anyone has seen with the Factory Inspection Tags still sewn in the seats..! These were typically removed by the dealers after offloading from the railcars. The Brougham still has the gold embossed, leather covered smoking set, and ladies vanity with peach toned mirror to even the complexion. The top is the tarred canvas, with the Brougham rear, shiny black patent long grain leather. I was offered 1 million dollars at the Buick Centennial in Flint MI, by a famous music promoter, writing a check out to me from a Huge binder checkbook on the running-board as I consistently said 'No, Thank You' because he had never seen a car so old, and so factory original.. for you see? This Buick, "Dad's Big Buick", is truly Priceless..! She now has 16,000 original miles, and only 3 tires, the sparkplugs, and exhaust pipe are not factory original. I'm visiting my parents on Lake Superior as I post this, and only have these few poor photos of the Town Brougham, but I will post some better shots when I get back home to Palm Springs.

Hello Everyone... I have been a member of the Yahoo 27 Buick group for nearly 20 years...for some reason just never joined the AACA Buick forum...until today! I know Mark Shaw, Fred Rawling, and a number of the Buick 'heros' on here. I was raised in the backseat of Antique Buicks, and own two 1928 Buicks. I'm an Antique Automobile Preservationist with 40(ouch!) years of research, knowledge and skill in this skull of mine. I'm happy to help anyone I can with issues of Preserving their pre-war Buick. I have a large collection of private, internal documents, that were saved from the 'great-burn' of 1973 in Flint, MI. Best Regards, -BRENT

hi Hugh....try WD-40 sprayed liberally in each comb, and triple-zero (000) steel wool wound tightly around a q-tip. tho marketed as a lubricant, WD-40 invented by Bell Labs is actually a cleaner. I've used it to great success on a number of preservation projects.