Century Eight

It would aide in preventing bumpers to lock while you are pushing the car in front of you. Otherwise if you went over a bump or over a dip, one bumper would override the other, causing them both to lock up. Cop cars today have “push bars for the same reason, so cars don't get stuck together while pushing.

Good choice, although about a year or more ago, i agonized like you, did a ton of research and for your record, I chose Pennzoil 10w40 high mileage and threw in a little zinc additive. At 500 miles a year, I’ll be dead before II figure out the results! (Oh yes, Synthetic might be too thin or fine and seep out from places you wouldn’t expect)

I agree with a lot of the guys that recommend staying with the original reliable setup. Starting with the simple and obvious, try cleaning up the carb switch. I have a 50 Buick that worked every time until we rebuilt the Carb and by doing so, released dirt into the system. Then I got that horrible noise you describe. It’s on this forum somewhere about a year ago. We cleaned it up and were worried about all the other problems you describe, but the simplest was the fix, and no other worries. The starter and ring gear were fine. It again runs like a champ. i also have a 40 Buick that has run fine for 81 years with a clean simple system. If you are hell bent on adding a button, just do it out of sight. I have two other 40 Buicks where a previous owners drilled a hole right in the dash, thereby ruining it. Those guys are still getting cussed 81 years later. Just go through it, clean it, and you will have a reliable theft deterrent foot starter. Nobody can figure out how to steal an old Buick unless you have a tow truck or already stole one. (Or have a button)! Good luck.

Whatever became of Frank Malatesta’s moving van? Whenever I go to Hershey, I always tell those I’m with about it.

I believe that is the boneyard where I bought a front fender for a ‘66 Catalina convert back in 79 or ‘80. It was active, not grown over. Paid about $50 bucks for the fender and about $300 for the car a week earlier. I slapped it on and sold the car for $700 two weeks later. How is that for an investment? I thought I had done something! Then I blew it on parts a few weeks later at the Buick National in Chicago later that summer.

Paul Dobbin, You mentioned towing your 34 Ford home with a clamp on bumper hitch, ( the bumpers were a lot better in the fifties), reminds me of when I moved from Ohio to Delaware in ‘84. I made three separate trips flat towing two 40 Buicks and a 70 Chevelle with a tow bar. Trailers were around but not as common back then. Besides there were a lot more cars on the road that could do what a pickup truck does today - i.e. big engines and big trunks. They are reprogramming us to think that having a Mr. Bean car as the family car is just fine. Go figure?

Paul Dobbin, I’m glad somebody out there still likes whitewalls. At my age, 72, I like whitewalls because when I was a kid, my depression era raised parents wouldn’t spend their money on such frivolities, and only the fancy cars wore them. The more practical people would use blackwalls, so it was something that was aspirational for middle class folks. I would always try to get my dad to spring for whitewalls. I’d like to have a nickel for every port-a-wall that J.C.Whitney sold. That being said, younger so-called car people don't even know what port-a-walls are these days. It’s funny, Ive had to describe port-a-walls several times recently. I get it that an old car can look classic with the black wall, but that’s just what everything had back in the day. If you lived back then that’s almost all there was , so we were used to them and whitewalls were kind of out of the norm, just as twenty inch wheels are today. Many think those are cheesey today. It’s all opinion. So probably all the old dudes out there are less critical of white walls ( I think). That’s just my thought ha ha. So now, the big question for some. What is a Port-a Wall? …. It was a round, white piece of rubber (like a toilet seat) that was installed over the black wall portion of the tire to make people think you were well healed enough to have whitewall tires but you didn’t. They looked like a whitewall, that fit between the rim and the tire. White wall tires cost several dollars more back then, but today we don't even think twice about it. People like fifties cars these days, but they probably wouldn’t like having to live in the fifties, if they knew better. It was a time converting from war time back to peace time and there were a lot of things just not available or affordable. Now, lets start up the “way back machine” and talk about clamp-on bumper hitches!. Be sure to call on the “party-line”. What’s that? ! I guess you had to be there.

Thanks 1939 Buick. That is quite a link you mentioned from Sean1997. Too bad he is not active these days.

Thanks Kingrudy. My phaeton was restored before I got it, with tan leather and it is currently sequoia cream though the paint started out color 541 which is black. So it kept the same color leather and I like it better in the yellow. My car tag looks like it has the original rivets definitely on the firewall behind the block. If you look up Bring a Trailer, the other phaeton I was speaking of was shown as a no sale from last Feb but is still viewable. His tag is on the top side of the right hand cowl and shows the two screws. BTW, my ‘50 that I bought 46 years ago with under 13 k miles is also on the top side of the passenger side cowl with Phillips heads. Earlier this year on a similar thread, there was a debate about screws vs rivets and apparently they are both correct considering the number of responses that had screws. I just find it odd the locations moved around, especially with the same body style. I have a 40 41 and a 40 46c and both of those are on the right cowl but on the side vs the top. Thanks for telling me about the leather color.

Anybody know how to decode these old plates? Model numbers and colors are obvious if you have a color chart but I have several other questions. I have a 1940 61c and the data plate is on the firewall, directly behind the block and it is riveted on. I was viewing another 40 61c on line and that car had the data plate screwed on the top side of the right side cowl with traditional heads (not Phillips head). I have two other 40 specials, and these have their plates riveted to the side of the right cowls. Did these move around based on the plant? These were all Body by Fisher of course. What is trim code 859 7? My car is body number 65 and the other guys car is body number 109 and trim code 865 7. I assume this was color and material? These don’t seem like very difficult questions. Is there a source explaining all the different numbers and locations? Thanks if you know.

A few decades ago, I saw three car fires in one week. I dont think any of them were antiques, but you never know so I even keep fire extinguishers in my newer vehicles and even on my Ford Golden Jubilee.

Good for you, but for anyone reading this two more points to make. Rolling the tires by hand (especially uphill loading) can overload your arm. (Ask my orthopedic surgeon how I know). The second point, if you have the luxury of a nearby ditch, just put the trailer wheels in the ditch, then roll the vehicle off the trailer onto the seemingly level surface.. Oh yeah, many times off loading equipment at airports with no ramps, we just picked up the phone, called a rollback to come transfer our stuff off of a semi-trailer , back to back, and put it on the ground. Then the biggest thing we picked up was a pen to write the check. Everybody is happy and safe.

Napa should be able to supply the cables and the batteries and Bobs, CARS or Kanter should have most anything else you ever need.

The switch on the carb must be clean, and like 39-Buick suggested, get a shop manual. I went thru similar issues on my 50, and it was the carb switch. There is a ton of info in the manual

Nice looking Buick. Why dont you try to find the 2020 roster and the 2017 roster of the BCA and see who owned one in that vicinity. That wont give you the exact answer but will help you narrow it down, I’ve been able to use that method to narrow down history on some of the cars that I have had.

I occasionally buy one, and last year got one at a local battery vendor who sells nothing but batteries. I have also checked at Advanced Auto and the local Interstate guy as well as Tractor Supply and they’ve all said if they dont have it, they can get one in a few days. Mine seem to last two or three years. Hopefully the supply issue is just one of people not wanting to show up for work and that will work itself out. I know the group 2e is almost impossible to find so I switched to the group 3e which is stronger but slightly taller. I just use a longer j-bolt for the tie-down. Nobody knows unless there is a sharp-eyed judge looking at my car.

Yes, it is a Studebaker- Garford, an awesome car and history. About a year ago, there was a thread somewhere on this forum and is worth searching for.

Got to be rare by today’s standards. Too bad its so rough. Check out the Garford car in the Crawford Auto-Aviation museum.

My ‘31 Chevy was pretty worn out by the time I got it(wish I still had it) and I couldn’t stand the thrill of driving it faster that 50 mph. But I must tell you about the time I won the “slow race” in my ‘50 Buick at an antique car show about thirty years ago. All the cars lined up on a grass field and the idea was to be the last car to get to the other end, without putting on your brakes, and there were judges watching for your tail lights to come on. Most of the cars like the A’s and T’s just walked away though there was a Corvette near me with an automatic trans that was pretty slow. However, with my dynaflow I actually had to give it some gas after I put it in drive, otherwise it would just sit there! I had to give it some gas because it wouldn’t even creep on the grass. I got a nice big four dollar trophy for my efforts!

It’s generally true that today’s oils are so much better than the older oils, and there was an old adage to use anybody’s best oil and you cant go wrong. However today at the stores it’s very hard to find anything older that SM and certainly next to impossible to find anything more primitive than SJ. There is a concern of damaging flat tapper engines with the new oils because of the lack of zinc on the surfaces. You have to do your own research and decide for yourself after talking with the right engineers. Your comment about AB oil is interesting. I’m going to look into that. Some of todays engineers know about the tight future gen engines and dont realize how loose and sloppy our old engines from 1940 and 1950 were. Our old engines had lower revs and were not built to go 300k miles nor was there thought about the EPA. Actually too much zinc is said to be bad also. I’m no expert and there is nobody out there to help us with our old cars and its getting harder. I just keep reading and re-visiting it. I’m not pulling a trailer up Pike’s Peak and i never get to drive the old girl more than 500 miles annually, so its really a moot point.

After agonizing and researching, I use Pennzoil 10w40 on my ‘50. Be sure to check zinc level of the new oil and probably get a zinc additive. Also add oil to the canister because if you clean out the canister, , it will take more than 5 quarts. If you don't know the history of the car, I would get the dynaflow serviced. I was shocked at how clogged the screen was on my car, yet how well it ran at the same time. Sure beats a rebuild.

Thanks MG. Did someone say Bugle Material?

Willcockson Motors or Vesper Buick. I thought I would ask again if anyone has information on this old St Louis dealership from the twenties, thirties and forties. In Google, you can find information from the National Historic Places site but there are no vintage pictures of the building as it closed in the mid forties. It was torn down in the eighties. I have checked sites like the Old Motor etc, but I have not found anything. The dealership belonged to my grandfather and all we have is a drawing from some letterhead, which Pete Phillips used in one of his dealership articles some years back in the Buick Bugle. I would like to find a picture of it back in the day, so I could get Pete to show it in the Bugle, and also I really would like to photoshop my Buick in front of it to make a vintage picture. I live on the east coast so going to the St Louis library to study their old microfilm newspaper is not in the cards. Thanks for any help you can give me.

Ha ha, I always hated green cars too, but when I was raising three kids and needed a van for the fam, a Firebird for my daughter, or a pickup for myself, the green ones were always the ones a dealer or an individual would make a deal on. The only exception was my green 70 Chevelle 396 SS that I had decided to buy when the dealer had already committed it to a paint shop. I wanted it red but it had a green interior, so I decided to ignore the color. It was too good to pass up and now I get compliments on it because its so ‘’ retro”. As they used to say, no sale green and resale red. But today, if it’s not grey, white, or black, you’’re probably going to be walking.

At one time, I owned four green cars at the same time. You could always get a deal on them and they were cheaper than red cars!