96roadmaster

We had all the trim on our '59 removed and buffed out. At the same time all the little dings were taken care of. The restorer said it's Stainless Steel.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A very cleverly made picture. </div></div> The picture was real. I saw it on the news back then but never bothered to find it online. I just happened to stumble across the picture and posted it here.

You may remember about a year ago some Cubans converted a 59 Buick to a boat and sailed to Florida. The coastguard intercepted them, sent the Cubans back to Cuba and sank the Buick in the Atlantic. I was just looking around at pictures of 59's online and came across this. The rear quarter looks as long as a 225, but my eyes may be deceiving me. It's a flat top too!

I did the same thing as Invicta592 this past weekend. I raised the idle just a bit so the 225 idles very nicely now. It also has a bit of a "lopey" idle which I kind of like, as long as I don't feel it. With the new exhaust (very quiet) it's so mild, I love it. You can only hear the exhaust when standing next to the quarter panels, or behind the car obviously.

The price sounds about close. I got mine installed for $275 installed, since I know the owner of the tire shop pretty well.

As much as I love the look of generationally-correct tires, on my Riviera I have Yokohama Avid Touring tires. They are quiet, handle great, and provide a positive handling feel. Best of all, they have the whitewall I lvoe on this car. Here is a picture of the tires on the car. They are 235/70/15 (correct height of stock tires).

'55 Specials and Centurys has analog "needle" speedometers. Even if the speedometers indicated lower speeds than they were actually travelling, the speedometers only read up to 120mph anyway. Therefore I still question the 140mph claims.

I doubt it because of the way the trunk slopes down at the rear. It can't hold any air pressure there and would not increase the downforce at the rear. The tail of the car should be an upwards tilt somewhere near the edge. Here is a picture of a Didge Viper, just to show you what I mean. The tail on the Viper is obviously a bit extreme compared to most other cars, but I just included this to make it easier to see.

Woohoo...I just called SMS and ordered vinyl samples for the driver's door armrest. I was stressing about the small cracks on there and was scared of taking it to just any shop. This just made my day And just to keep this thread on topic, what has a faster top speed... The Twin Turbine with the street gears or the Triple Turbine with highway gears?

Time to run our '59 flat out Yeah right, I'm scared to shut the doors

55 Packard, you are absolutely correct. Just take a look at the few who have tested their cars back to back with minor differences between them. Lowering springs increase a few mph mainly due to the reduced amount of air underneath the car. Now comparing the power of the '59 against my '96, and considering the aerodynamic differences, I stand by my judgement in my previous post. Either the numbers were exaggerated, or the speedometers are optimistic. Philippe, the 65's with the 401 had the same horsepower and torque ratings as the 59's. I believe the camshafts between them are the same as well (according to replacement camshaft part numbers). Our Riviera has the 425 engine, with the same ST400 transmission and single Carter carb as your car. It pulls much harder than the '59 and runs very strong. I personally wouldn't be surprised if that car was able to wind up through most of its 140mph speedometer, although I've never taken it past 90mph (needs fresh tires for high speeds and I don't trust the original front end). The difference between those two cars is great. I believe the 59's main handicap is the Dynaflow transmission, even though it's supposed to maximize performance.

Btw, to answer your question, I believe stock 401's redlined at 5500rpm, if I remember correctly.

Just because a car is equipped with highway gears does not mean it actually would run all the way to redline in the highest gear. For example, my Roadmaster has 2.93 gears. There are many people who swap those out in favor of 3.73 gears, and actually pick up a HIGHER top speed. That is because with my gearing, the car is running at the bottom of 4th gear. The higher gears pushes the rpm into a fatter part of the torque curve and essentially gives the car more power at that speed. Of course there is a point where even higher gearing (numerically) would reduce the top speed as the car would bounce off the rev limiter at a lower speed. My father's 1995 Fleetwood is equipped with 2.56 gears, and has a lower top speed than my Roadmaster. Same engine and transmission as my Roadmaster too. That car gets to 104mph in 2nd gear If it could pull to redline in 4th, the car would have a theoretical top speed of over 300mph

Call me crazy but I still find it a bit hard to believe. The 401 is rated at 325hp, which converts to about 260hp in today's standards. The car is not especially aerodynamically efficient, nor is it light. With my 1996 Buick Roadmaster, I turned a 154mph run on an empty freeway with a slight downhill. That is with a complete cold air intake, a few accessories, and a computer reprogramming. On a straight level road I've seen a maximum of 148mph. This is a car that can effortlessly spin its tires off the line and chirps into the 2nd gear upshift at wide open throttle. We also have a 33k mile Elecra 225 in beautiful shape. Just for old time's sake (my dad had one in his younger years), my dad nailed the gas and this car has a tremendous surge of power. However, it doesn't pick up speed particularly fast nor does it seem to be able to run comfortably at higher speeds. At one point in his life, my dad had a '58 Buick Special with 3-on-the-tree, and my uncle had a '63 LeSabre with 3-on-the-tree. They both raced eachother on an empty stretch of road, and the '58 pulled ahead off the launch due to slightly better gearing. Between 50-90mph (2nd gear), the LeSabre caught up and ran dead even with the '58 up until they topped out at an indicated 120mph on both cars. Exact same top speeds. Neither car was rev limited at that speed. Now considering that, with those being lighter cars than the 59 Electra with Dynaflow transmission, I find it a bit optimistic to call the 59's true 140mph cars.

Yes, that was Jay Leno's twin turbo LS7 Toronado (estimated @ 1000hp). It's been converted to rear wheel drive Brian, welcome to the Buick Club

I had a blast

Hello, I'm fancying the idea of acquiring a '52 Plymouth for my father's birthday coming up in 3 months. Since I'm not 100% sure of this idea, I'm only passively looking. Does anyone have any leads? Can someone please also give me an idea of the current prices for a Camridge or Cranbrook sedan in good condition. I'm not looking for a 100% restored example, but an original car in good condition. Thanks in advance!

I just realized that this show is coming up, and I'd love to hear some details about the date and time. I'll come through with the pictures again

Yeye, that '38 I posted is a dark cherry color, almost maroon. If you look closely, you will notice that the car is also very slightly lowered and raked (the front sits a bit lower than the rear). Also, the car has radial tires and a very neat pinstripe between the chrome trim ring and hubcap. This car was full of small details that I really, really enjoyed looking for. Although some of these things are not original, they tickled me in the right way. I think this is my favorite '38 that I've seen so far.

Here is a picture of a '38 Roadmaster I fell in love with at a local Buick show last month. It was simply beautiful, and I also would enjoy seeing one in my driveway. I posted the picture so you can see the correct grill for the car... Yeye, here is a picture of a '37 so that you can see the different grill...

Yes! I saw that car on Ebay earlier today and am very curious to see what it closes at. I love the red/white color combination and the car is pretty sharp.

Just get a '96 Roadmaster Wagon There are lots of guys in the Impala Forum who use those as their tow vehicles (to tow 2 ton Impalas!). ALl you would need to do is make sure the car has a mechanical fan (dual electric fans were a factory option) and you could opt for numerically higher gears as NTX suggested on another vehicle. Also these wagons are cheap and dead reliable. I have a Roadmaster sedan and you wouldn't believe how long these things last, with decent gas mileage too!

Yes, they have the torque tube rear end. I know our '59 has it as well, but I don't know when they stopped using it. A TH400 would be easier to hook up to a 425 than the 700R4.

Tom, where did you order your exhaust from? Do you happen to know the brand or price? How loud is the burble at idle? Right now our 225 is making a deep bassy burble that can be EASILY heard from inside the car. That is what's driving me nuts. I would also opt for the resontators as well. Do you know if the exhaust looks factory correct (resonator right before the axle in the "incline", and the larger muffler after the rear tires in the quarter panel area).

I took the '59 to a local exhaust shop for a new complete dual exhaust system, just like stock. The workmanship is incredible and the gentleman there did exceptional work, however, I don't like the type of mufflers he used. I stressed that I want the car as quiet as possible, and he used Gurlock (sp?) mufflers, in the same setup as stock. The mufflers sound very smooth while accelerating, but they have too much burble at idle. I am looking for a different brand to replce them with since I want the car to be whisper quiet at all times, just like stock. Any ideas?