Barney Eaton

My parents had a new '49, '50 and 53 at a time I was getting an interest in cars. All our cars were Statesmen 4 dr. I had my first date using the '53 and for some reason they traded it in on a new Chevy.... could it be that the seats made into a bed?

2 seater is the engine expert but a bad cam sensor with put the car in a drivable mode but the timing will be off. It is usually the magnet has fallen out of the holder. you can expect poor performance and bad gas mileage if the cam sensor is the problem.

I am not home where I can access my reference material.... from memory it is a 1949 because the front fender side trim just says Ambassador. Later years would have Special or Custom after the series name. As noted above, the Statesman had a flat head engine and the Ambassador had a OHV. As 58L-Y8 stated, the rear seat that looks like two overstuffed chairs was an option on 2 dr Ambassadors... he said it was the Brougham option but I seem to remember it as the County Club option, but the option name could have changed with different years. I think it is worth saving.

I have my room reserved .... but have yet to send in my reservation. It should be a big event based on the location. Michigan, Ohio and lots of East coast states have lots of Buicks, most meets East of the Mississippi have great turn outs... I go the see the cars and old friends (expect to see Ben there) hopefully make some new friends.

I think the Honda type exhaust would be neat. Thinking about the v8 swap.... most of us automatically think dual exhaust with a V8 but with a transverse mounted engine, duals are a waste of pipe and space. Bring the two banks together into a larger pipe (1991 Reatta used 2 1/2 pipe). If you have any problems it will be in the back because the rear suspension does not look like the Honda. The Reatta pipe goes over the rear suspension .... way off center. To replicate the Honda muffler it would take some tight bends and the floor of the trunk may limit your space. I am presently at my daughters on the East side of Dallas and do not have access to a Picture of the Reatta exhaust for comparison.

I might add that the first number of the tire size is allegedly the fattest (widest) part of the tire in mm. If a 225 (8.86 inches) does not rub, a 235 (9.25 inches) is only .39 wider. That is spread equally to each side so the 235 would only be .195 wider on each side. All this does not take into consideration what rim you are using.

Attached is a chart (powerdog.com) that compares different sizes mentioned above. In a reference book, it said 1963 & 64 Rivieras came with 7.10 x 15 and 1965, 66, 67 came with 8.45 x 15 consulting another chart .. found one that said 7.10 x 15 converted to a 225/75r15 and a different chart did not show the 7.10 size but had 8.45 X 15 converted to 225/75 r 15 so there may have been a tire industry change in designations. Gene above said he liked the 205 because of the shorter sidewall, note the 225/70 sidewall is only 1/10 inch taller and the 235 is 1/10 shorter. When you use powerdog, the first tire you enter should be your base as all the other are compared to the first entry. Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revolutions Speedometer Odometer Difference 225/75-15 6.6" 14.1" 28.3" 88.9" 713/mi 60MPH 10000mi N/A 205/75-15 6.1" 13.6" 27.1" 85.2" 744/mi 63MPH 10436mi -4.2% 225/70-15 6.2" 13.7" 27.4" 86.1" 736/mi 62MPH 10323mi -3.1% 235/65-15 6.0" 13.5" 27.0" 84.9" 746/mi 63MPH 10466mi -4.5% h

There are several on Ebay

If you are new to the supercharged 3800 engines the first thing to check is the supercharger oil. There is a hex plug on the snout end of the supercharger, unscrew and check the oil. GM sells/sold some sort of "snake oil" that was to be used in them and try and use that. The supercharged engine was an option and the first year a large percentage of the Riviera were supercharged. I have never heard of a "GT" version, Willis is very knowledgeable and will probably agree that there was a towing package that included the upgraded suspension,

running when parked?

I'm looking at the safety chains. It is my understanding that they should be crossed...... the object is should the trailer disconnect, the tongue would drop into the crossed chains and that would keep the tongue from dropping to the road and digging into the pavement. On this example it appears the chains are twisted together because they are too long and would drag. If you are going to use them get it right.

Kind of like asking someone if they like liver and onions.

In my opinion the rally wheels look equally good with red line or whitewall. If you have the standard hub cap.....no red line only whitewall. Not a fan of blackwalls on a vehicle unless it has alloy wheels.

Since it is attached to the lighter socket, any chance it is one of those vacuum things for cigerette ashes?

Hagerty has the car listed between $15K to $55K.......however that is a running drivable vehicle. The amount you can get depends on how much you want to do to get it ready to sell. As is probably worth less than $5K to the average buyer.... if it happens to be a low mileage car that would help. As mentioned above, cleaned up, and if you could get it drivable, you could approach $10K. You will not know what the paint looks like until it is cleaned.... in the pictures it looks like the trunk is in primer.