Stooge

(continued from the last post to see if I can use Flickr to get around the 9mb post limit) I was mostly experimenting and just wanted to do the door and fenders, but did the cowl and door jambs as well. still a lot of body work to do, but atleast I have a better idea of the course to go now. next will be the roof, and rear qtrs. before spinning it around for the driver side, (shop is full right now and space is at a premium so I have to work with that for the time being) 20190330_140843 by Dan Haas, on Flickr Also acquired what ends up being, 2 more sets of internals, plus a few extras, for the 6 bolt transmission to replace the chipped gears that were in my transmission when I bought it so I can piece meal the best ones for the rebuild. I still need to find a few things before I can mate the engine and trans, but im on the way. specifically still need everything clutch related, a starter, and the correct front motor mount plate as my 320 came from a later year and has the incorrect plate. I live alone and can rebuild a transmission in the living room if I want to! 20190226_192650 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20190222_163154-1 by Dan Haas, on Flickr and also the 1958 edsel villager is now in the garage at my house to start mechanical work, along with his wife not wanting it at their house. 20181229_153359 by Dan Haas, on Flickr 20181220_153518 by Dan Haas, on Flickr

its not much of an update, but after many hours or cleaning up the bare metal trying to get the pitting, rust, old paint cleaned up, some dents knocked out, fixing some old repairs from a previous owner in the front fender, it got a skim coat of filler in a few spots and a some high build primer on the passenger side. Good to see it looking a little more whole for the first time, but it was sort of an experiment to see what I could get away with in regards to some of the blemished/ pitted sheet metal. A few people had suggested just covering it all in filler, but I wasn't too keen on that since I would drive myself crazy with sanding it all down and getting it straight, and for the most part, wasn't really necessary. The U-Pol high build covered most of it, with the exception of a few areas where the body trim was that was a little heavier pitted, but overall, im pretty pleased with it.

There has been a new old stock one for sale in the HAMB classifieds for awhile now, started around $375, but the ad has been up for months. hopefully it is alright to link to it https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/buick-38-47-distributor-nos.1122761/

While i am sidelined/ taking it easy for a few weeks while I am in physical therapy for a back/ leg issue, (pretty optimistic and has been helping immensely so far), I have been trying to look out for a few of the things missing on my basket case of a Century coupe, and before going to Dave with my list, wanted to check here first. As my car was pretty well stripped, while i sourced the correct size 320 engine for the car, it unfortunately is for a later year, and have been trying to find the correct front motor plate/ support. i have found a few for the smaller 248 engines, but given that the gasket sets are different for the timing covers between the 2, i would have to assume that it would not interchange to the larger 320? But if anyone has the correct plate, or knows of one, it would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I just turned 31 and am considered a millennial, and have owned cars that were at least 30 yrs old for the last 8yrs, and bought my 1937 a little over a yr ago. There is a lot of truth to what Matt brings up of people buying what they are familiar with, and at least in my case, my first hobby car that I bought in my early 20s was an 80's chevy c10 squarebody, just like what was being driven when I was a child. my family wasn't really in to cars so I wasnt really exposed to them much, but fell in with a group of car guys in my early 20s, who were ranging from 10-20yrs older than myself, decided I wanted something to tinker with and bought what was cool when I was a youngin'. Working on that truck with those guys exposed me to a lot more, and I started working on their stuff which happened to be, aside from some muscle cars, some late 30's GM stuff, and that style really peaked my interest. A few years later, I'm finishing up some personal projects along with some car projects for other's, and I start looking for another car and pick up a 1937 Buick, a car I didn't know I wanted until I saw it. Along the way, I made a good friend who, while he liked older cars, didn't really consider buying one, but just like me, I rubbed off on him a bit, and ended up buying a 1958 Edsel Villager that we have been working on together. along with this, friends my age, generally having little to no interest in older cars, see stuff im working on, or see pictures from shows I go to, and while I don't think they will ever buy an older car, it at least puts those cars at a more familiar level to them when they see someone they know around them, than just the once a yr they happen to see one in a parade or at a fair, and gets them noticing the cars when they see them, sending me pictures, asking questions, etc and even my parents do it and will text me pictures asking what something is.

Yup, i agree, people can do whatever they want with their cars, but not everyone has to like or appreciate it. I have a great appreciation for restorations, and tasteful, period correct hot rods and customs, and i have only ever built cars on a budget, as hot rods, customs and correct'ish stock cars. They take longer and you have to get a little clever and creative, maybe safely adapt nonstandard parts, but thats what makes it worth it. Thats also what makes me have very little appreciation for seeing someone weld up the worm gear on an adjustable wrench and use it as an engine mount, weld chain links together to make link bars, take a handful of trinkets from a swap meet table and sprinkle them all over the car and finish it off with some combination wrench door handles for their doors that proudly have giant rusty holes in them. I have seen alot of tacky, lazy built cars at custom shows, and alot that are downright dangerous and shouldnt be on the road, and im sure the owners love them that way, but i dont want to build a car that way.

Back to "correct'ish" 🙃 with a few liberties taken, mostly concerning the interior as it will be fairly bare bones for the time being mostly due to budget, but stock suspension, steering, transmission, keeping it 6volt, stock trim moldings with the exception of the running boards as they are homemade, a yr off ,('38 rather than '37) on the correct split bench front seats, and correct engine, (320 straight8)but again wrong yr as it is what i could find within my realm of possibilities and budget. i am deviating on the air/fuel, (going multicarb) and exhaust but i was also missing everything. For what its worth, i absolutely hate rat rods, (in the sense of throwing trash parts, rebar grilles, skulls, cheesy mustang II ifs, etc, and generally trying to make a car look sh*tty on purpose), but admittedly am as much of a fan of traditional and tasteful period correct hot rods, as i am of correct restorations. My century coupe was really close to a minitruck chassis, air suspension and a LS before i bought it, (as in so close that the seller was trying to throw in a donor chevy colorado truck with it that he had bought for it when i picked it up) so it can only go up from what it almost was! 😃

Having some issues uploading pictures due to the 9mb restriction so I will cut it a little short. Also finally had a chance to fit the standard black steering wheel that @Ben Bruce aka First Born sent me, I really like it and think it will be a great fit for the car! Thanks again, I will be messaging you this morning

Well after over a year of ownership, and 8 or 9 months of slowly plugging away at the Buick, I finally got to actually sit in it! It may not sound like a big accomplishment, but it was certainly a nice feeling, and all I had to do was rebuild most of the floors, rebuild the rockers on both sides, rebuild the door sills, rebuild the inner and outer sections of both doors, make some running boards from scratch, find an engine and transmission, find a steering column and steering box, and find some seats. Also had a few of my most used tools break on me the last few weeks, so I was on hold for a bit while I upgraded some tooling. First few pictures are of getting the last big piece of the floor in, using a method I affectionately refer to as a poor mans spot weld/ plug weld, but for an area that's fairly obstructed for a spot welder to get in to, it made the most sense to go this route. Both the under lapped piece and the over lapping piece that will be sandwiched, are both painted, (I chose white for ease of marking), cleco clamped in place, and the upper piece is marked off where the plug welds will be . These marks are then drilled, the piece put back into position, and the lower piece is marked off to the accompanying holes, and the upper is removed again. Then I kissed the new marks on the lower with a carbide bit to remove the paint, upper piece is repositioned and clamped, and plug welded. the rest of the perimeter of the new piece is butt welded, but is just tacked in place for the time being until I go back in and finish welding the rest of the floor. Im not a fan of weld-thru primers, they seem to have very bad adhesion and poor conductivity so you get a lot of spatter, which can create a dangerous fire hazard when there is still some insulation in the car body....I've also lit a pair of pants or 2 on fire thanks to weld through primer spattering

I'm a bit curious as to who the type of person bidding on these cars is, (although the bidding history is slightly suspect as it appears 1 person upping the price versus 1 other bidder coming in later), as this can only be losing investment for anyone who didn't inherit the cars, especially at what is basically $10k a pop. I may be a bit ignorant on prices for driver quality 20s and 30s Lincoln stuff, but for even the one I find most desirable, one of the '29s I believe, and as someone who likes a nice, overwhelming project, i couldn't see it going for more than $4 or $5k in its current condition from what I see looking for project cars.

Picture from 1940, predominantly of a grocery store and a ford, but on the right side, looks like a 1937 Buick that's had a bit of an accident larger version here, on Shorpy http://www.shorpy.com/node/24036?size=_original#caption

Carter makes a readily available 6V pump,(maybe $70ish?), that works well and I have used several times before in both 6 and 12v, (same pump style, just 12v) applications, and I very much agree on using a safety switch on it incase something were to happen. i like using an oil pressure switch in line of them, so in case the engine stalls and dies, the lack of oil pressure stops the fuel pump.

i have seen that picture before, but I really just assumed it was from some Buster Keaton/ Harold lloyd type movie

But notice the Pontiac ambulance is owned by a mortuary! (top of the ad)

I used one in my last project, and intend to use one again in my current Buick project, for as much of a safety/ isolating standpoint as an antitheft device, or atleast an antitheft inconvenience. I had originally tried using a cheaper one and was causing issues before the truck was even on the road, and ended up going with a much more stout and robust Flaming River switch, which also features a removable key that you insert and twist, though I've generally left it in place. "hidden" behind the passenger seat so I can reach over from the driver's seat without it being a hassle.

Posting these from my phone at my shop earlier, i left out several pertinent ones to the smaller mounting holes

Here are the driver side measurements, i tried to include some reference point on whatever ruler i was usin, but let me know if you need anything else

Will do! I would have to imagine, the gm split bench seatbacks of that era were the same across the board, with the main difference I've found in the handful of seats I came across trying to buy one being the position of the handle to adjust the position forwards and backwards. even the track itself that came on the lasalle seat, is identical to the track that came with my car....just with no seat attached to it....thanks to whoever was trying to part the car out at one point

Also, great write up on your issues with the coil springs, as that has been something I have been contemplating replacing when I refurbish the front end. they seem to be in good shape, but its one of those, "while i'm doing this, I might as well...". How are the replacement rear leaf springs working? same jarring effect as the new front coils? I do not see any broken leafs, they do not have their protective cover anymore, but seem to be in tact. Im not sure if having the car blown apart for, conservatively the last 30+ yrs with no weight on them has been advantageous or detrimental for their condition. Both came from Eaton, correct?

Gary, if this looks like it is familiar to your seat back, ( although my seats were out of a Lasalle) I will be at my shop in a few hrs and can take some measurements, though the large holes look very similar to Carl's picture

And a little work on the edsel fender im still working on here and there, but started to fill up the large hole around the headlight bucket. Decided to make the raised body line in a separate piece of material to make it a bit more manageable for myself, but still need to make a wooden hammer form for it Don't mind the all over the place cleco clamps, the original metal in this area is pretty soft and I was having a time trying to find spots that they would actually hold. This new piece is further along than what I have pictures of, added a nice bead/ flange around the edge that goes to the other new piece to mimic the factory shape where the driver side grille seats up against that flange.

Some progress being made in an effort to start body working and high fill primer by the end of the year. Rolled the Century out of the shop to move a few cars around and also to spin the Buick around so I could more conveniently work on the passenger side. There's still some paint hiding around in some crevices around the front fenders, and I didn't touch the hood or trunk, but I did a solid first pass with some fairly coarse sanding discs to knock down the old paint and crusty surface rust, and started clearing a few dents that I've found. not many surprises around the body with the paint off, no surprise filler anywhere, a few spots of brazing on the rear passenger fender flange, and some more brazing around the tail pan but that will just be cleaned up as it was done well enough. a few small areas that will get cut out and replaced with new metal, but for the most part, some areas will be treated with a rust neutralizer after a few more sanding passes on the bare body. And started cutting out the passenger side door sill/ rocker areas. Had to make a handful of pieces, including the inner body structure, the inner rocker rail, a new outer rocker skin, and a new outer door sill piece, and have been busy getting those in and looking right, still have some massaging to do with the sill, and I ended up pie cutting most of the length of it to make for a better fit, so it looks a little askew but will look right when done, as the sill corner isn't welded in yet, and the bottom of the sill hasn't been welded to the inner rocker so its just sort of hanging there. Not the prettiest of welds, just slowly tacked into place, but was cleaned up later Start of making the new door sill Added the weather stripping channel to the top, not a million miles off, just the front facing edge came out a little bigger than anticipated which later required some cutting and refitting, but not bad for the side of a table and some stuff I've collected over the years to hammer metal over First pass cleaning up the joining edges of the new and old outer rocker, still a few more passes to clean it up, but that's about where I am with it,

Aside from the car that isn't my taste, the houses you can see in the non-photo shopped backgrounds look like perfectly nice houses, and the ad would look a lot more 'normal' and probably wouldn't garner the negative attention if it wasn't so haphazardly edited like that

i dont know about favorite, but most current atleast, and was great to see it outside for the first time since January. Had to shuffle a few cars around at the shop and I was wanting to spin my Century around to make working on the passenger side a bit more convenient. I am mostly done with sheet metal work on the driver side, with the exception of an area in behind the front fenders, I just need to clear a safe spot to store those giant things