Gene Brink

Ouch! A Buick no less...

Driving home from work a couple of days ago and was looking at the tailgate of a Toyota Tacoma and found myself wondering how many different marques and/or models have/had city names. Here are some I came up with (and I know there are tons I've missed) – can you add to the list?</SPAN> Bristol – Bristol</SPAN> Checker – Manhattan</SPAN> Chevy – Malibu, Biscayne, Monte Carlo</SPAN> Dodge – Newport, Aspen, Monaco</SPAN> Kia – Santa Fe, Sedona</SPAN> Mercury – Monterey, Milan</SPAN> Muntz – Hollywood (seems to me other marques used this one)</SPAN> Plymouth - Sundance</SPAN> Pontiac – Pontiac</SPAN> Toyota – Tacoma, Avalon </SPAN> Suppose one could come up with a number of variations on this – whimsical names (Scamp & Bluebird come to mind quickly), places (Catalina, Yukon), jobs (Matador, Mountaineer), animals (lots of these), etc.</SPAN> I've got to get the radio fixed so I have something else to do when driving...:cool:

Also on the album by the same name, Brian. I could not remember who and where it was and the internet did not have anything on it until around a year or so ago. When I found out I actually bought an old album so I'd have it. Kids roll their eyes when I play it... Go figure.

Try http://forums.aaca.org/f162/water-hose-routing-304768.html to see a general diagram of hose routing for several years of Buicks

Not your usual Jan & Dean style...

Some good advice in other responses. If your starter is working now the most I'd do is replace the Bendix drive (if teeth are a bit worn) and brushes if it is out of the car. If in the car leave alone - seems folks have more problems after messing with than before frequently.

Some good advice. Nothing wrong with your oil choice. Two things come to mind - 1) When you say a tick - how pronounced is it? If slight and not sounding like metal to metal "sharp" sounding I'd be comfortable with some gentle driving to see if it does not free up. 2) Indeed could be an exhaust leak as previously noted. Check bolts to be sure they are tight on exhaust manifolds and exhause pipe connections. Nice looking '64 - enjoy it!

Not quite as easy as a newer car, Clark. Temperature gauge is part of a sealed unit consisting of a pressure gauge connected by a capillary tube to a vapor bulb. Shows temperature change as the sealed-in liquid expands as the engine heats thus moving the gauge needle. Not too much that can go wrong unless a leak in the system develops in which case no gauge function. They can be rebuilt - and if my memory cells are functioning believe there have been other chains about this so a search of the Buick forum should give you some ideas on how to best fix. Good luck.

The 66 Special Convertibles were scarce when new, but this one had to be a major oddity with factory A/C in a bottom of the line Special convertible. Probably not too great an oddity in Arizona (assuming the car was originally an AZ car) given the heat.

I'll leave it to others more knowledgeable than I as to interchange of '55 & '56 transmissions but assuming they are the same except for output shaft spline (and possibly rear mount?) it is really easy to exchange the output shaft and housing which would mean you can get a transmission for any model '55 or '56 and use your old transmission for parts if needed. Good luck!

Crane Cams custom grinds for nailheads. No specs on their website but this number is listed to call for details. They might have stock specs. (866) 388-5120. Also believe there were changes (slight) to heads each year. Good luck.

Brian, Responding as one who frequently visits/posts but frequently is not defined. If I were to compare myself with Lamar or Bill (or any of the other "heavy hitters" I would not be at all frequent.

Sid, More than likely the grease in the wiper motor has thickened with old age and is keeping it from working correctly. Easy to disassemble, clean and relube and there isn't much that can actually go wrong with the units so that should fix it (assuming, of course, that you are getting vacuum). Only caveate is to be careful disconnecting the linkage wire - there is a nylon piece that will be 57 years old!

Puts one on my face! Very nice, Sid

Ah the "if only" list is way too long... 41 Super convertible; 53 Skylark when they were affordable; early Riviera's; 65 Skylark GS make up a quick short list. The wish I had kept list would include a 50 Super, 54 Super, 55 Century for starters...

Not like that but I did have a '50 2dr Super 51-52 years ago (ouch - that hurts) that did have inserts in each porthole. Stainless steel, well formed, notched top and bottom so a self tapping screw could be tightened to hold them in place with a number of tiny verticle louvers in them when in place. I've never seen a close up of them but looking at pictures of '50's in the Bugle it sure looks as though an occasional car has them. No pictures of the old Super myself and have always thought that they were something lost on most cars. Maybe Pete can look at original pictures that were posted in the Bugle issue covering the '50 and tell if one or two of the cars don't have something in their portholes. I thought that was the case.

Sweet!

Wow! Have not seen wires like that in years. A real advantage will be that you can individually trim wire lengths to get a factory like fit (something you cannot do when wires are already made up since everything seems to be made to fit multiple applications).

Chuck, You might want to have the radio repaired as they are pretty rugged. Had a '66 LeSabre radio that quit working and took it to a local radio repair shop (granted there are not many of those any more) and got it back for $30.36. Minimum labor charge was $30 and a single transistor went bad and the cost for a new one was $.36 including tax. Was expecting to pay a lot more and was pleasantly surprised. Good luck!

And I've just begun tearing down my longbed I've had since 1999. On blocks, right front fender and hood off. Left fender almost off. Already have a pile of parts and a number of plastic baggies with bits and pieces in them... Truck was "free" so it will be interesting to see how much $$ it costs to put it back on the road.

This may be too late to be of use to TCoker but for others searching on this... it appears Brian is correct. Per the 1958 repair manual both 3100 and 3200 series' are 1/2 ton the difference being wheelbase and bed differences with the 3200 being the longbed. 3/4 ton series numbers are 3400, 3500, 3700 (Light Duty Forward Control vechicle type) and 3600 (Light Duty Conventional vechicle type). The 3600 is the "normal" pickup truck and only comes with the 123 1/4 inch wheelbase so all are longbeds (not true for Forward Control which have wheelbases of 104, 125 and 137 inches). 3100 & 3200 will have 15" with 4 lugs (lowest gross vehicle rated truck), 15 - 16 - 17 inch with six lugs. All 3/4 ton trucks will have 17 or 19 in and 6 or 8 lugs depending upon individual model.

Sadly I too have the same problem on my 2000 PA, Joe. Have not found a seat to replace and it is not in my future to buy new parts to fix... Have done a good bit of reading forums and blogs and the problem is not uncommon. Easiest fix is to wrestle around and get a socket wrench on the shaft that needs turning and wrench it down (or up) to the height you want and then leave it there. Not a bad solution provided all drivers can use at a single height (like when I was a kid and nothing was height adjustable!). Just have not gotten around to doing myself thus far... Good luck!

Sid, I imagine you could get red if you'd like but would probably have to have a dealer order for you and wait until the car was in. Kelley Blue Book is showing standard colors you've mentioned + Gold Mist. Optional colors are Black (carbon metallic), Red and White (diamond tricoat). Red costs $325 (dealer cost of $286) extra but a small cost to get what you want. GM used to also do special orders for paint and you could pick any color that the paint manufacturer made for some additional $$. Winding Road tested a red one recently - Winding Road | Driven: 2012 Buick Regal GS

Looking good!