V.Milke

1925 Elcar 6-65, 37250, Sedan

1925 8-80 coupe

1923 Elcar 6-60, 34592

1917 Elcar Touring Roadster E4

1917 Elcar Touring Roadster E4

1916 Elcar speedster, Australia

To add up to the discussion of Elcars... I guess you could sum it up by saying Elcar is one of those brands to which history has played a bad joke on… too few survivors out of decent production rates. Why? No idea. They were clearly good cars, medium priced and I have read about their good engineering. Besides the powerful engine mentioned, and some important experiments with valves, Elcar had important advances in suspensions, or things like carburators in which you could adjust the mixture from the dashboard, supposedly to get a leaner mixture and use less gas once on the open road. My car has such "Swan" carburator. But my memory is not great and my mechanical knowledge almost non-existant. For anyone real interested, William (Bill) S. Locke can be called the marque's historian and has a great book on them: "Elcar and Pratt Automobiles: The Complete History"... (no wonder he is admitted into the Automotive hall of fame, or something like that I believe it is called). In his book, Bill even lists all known survivors, down to serial number plates. Bill is a great guy. I visited him at his Florida home and learned a lot about Elcars. He also owned many of the surviving cars that eventually got sold to another collector in Indiana, who has a private museum just outside of Elkhart, for the cars and for his pedal car collection. He is almost entirely into Elcars and has over a handful of them. I visited him and I took many pics. Very nice guy but I am reserving his name as I couldn't find him on the internet on a quick search and he might prefer to keep his privacy... but to anyone real interested, drop me a line directly and I will give you his contact information. Anyhow... I offered to post pics of the Elcars known to me, either that I have personally seen them or that I have gotten their pics on the net or via friends. I will do so from old to new...

But it used to be two tone blue... and white before that! If I recall the story correctly, but you can surely elaborate, the guy that got the plane from your grandfather in the trade crashed it that same day or within a few days... luckily your Grandfather's car is still around and as you can see it is quite a car!

Hi Jeff: Sure I remember. Your grandfather's car is now black and silver...

Thank you A.J. Yes, I own the remains of an Elcar... originally identical to the one in the very first post. A seven seater, model 8-81, from 1926. I know nothing of it's history but it was down here in Mexico, together with a touring car which curiously had the inmediately prior serial number. The Touring car was destroyed and I only saw a few bits from it. Here is a pic of both cars, as found in the early 80's by Jaime Cuevas (unkown to me), who sent the picture to Bill Locke (the Elcar historian and expert who has a great book on Elcars!), who facilitated it to me... and then some other pics also taken by him at later dates. If you look closely, you can see the deterioration process thoughout the years... ;-( The car sat there abandoned for years and was then bought by a collector who restored the engine but passed away. At this point, the remains of the body are fully deteriorated, to the point of making it non restorable (IMHO). Luckily, fenders, hood and cowl are still usable, so I will most likely make a copy of a Cantrell Suburban Woody for which I already have drawings and many pics. Quite frankly, I am not sure Elcar ever sold chassises to body builders, but as a medium priced car of good quality, I assume they would have, so in that sense I would not be doing a 'very' incorrect car, and it is a way of saving one of the few remaining Elcar chassis around. I need to run now, but will later post pics of a good number of the surviving Elcars known to me. Victor

I would be interested in several engine components: Carburetor and associated linkages, air cleaner, intake manifold, generator and surely several more bits. Thanks! Victor

Thank you Stuart, both for the clarification on the trunk and for the specification sheet. I will take good care not to confuse any items with a series 40. Victor

The handles could have been added, same as the emblem, when the trunk was modified to turn into a bar... But the fact is it does open on the front. Was Buick's original trunk a fixed wall trunk with no opening front?

George / Jon: Thanks a lot for your response. I wasn't really expecting to hear I should keep the adapted carb, but if that is what is reccomended by experts, like Jon is, I will keep it. I never restore cars to be concourse competitors, or trailer queens, but I like them as close to what they left the factory as possible... I guess this one will have to be an exeption, as I intend to use it quite a bit. Thanks again! victor

My 1934 coupe came with an adapted carb... a Stromberg aerotype, downdraft carb. I would love to find a correct updraft carburator. Can anybody tell me what carb I am suposed to look for? Some listings on ebay my seem to confirm it as a Marvel carb... but is there a particular number to look for? Do series 40, 50 or 60 use the same carb? Anybody out there that may have a correct carb for sale? I will also be looking for air cleaner, rods and hardware to correctly install it, in case anybody has any spares. Thanks for any help, victor

So, guys... any ideas if the trunk may be original or not?

I got my paint chips... and Century blue (which according to the data plate was my car's original color) appears attractive! I will probably go back to it eventually, once I restore the car, but Empire blue (for the pinstripe) is not shown. Also, Century Blue dark for the moulding is not shown, though two different numbers for Century blue are shows, so perhaps one of them is the darker and the other one the lighter. Any chance somebody has a picture of a car with that combo? I am also making a list of the parts I need to source, like a carburetor, air cleaner, etc... I will post my needs in the parts section. But while at options, I would love to ask: does my trunk seem original? I know it was not with the car and was bought at Hershey some 25 years ago or so, as a friend of mine was with the past owner when he got it. He adapted a bar on the interior and perhaps some exterior decoration... but I would like to know if I have a correct trunk or not... any ideas? Look at the last pic... no wonder the car was nicknamed Buick-Bar back then! Thanks! Victor

Sean: Thanks a lot for your post. Very informative. So, from the information you posted: Paint code 352 means my car was originally Century blue with Century blue dark moulding and Empire blue light stripe. Wheels, if I understand correctly, either Century blue (which would be my choice) or Empire blue light... or perhaps the list means Century blue with Empire blue pintstripe. Trim code 202 is Gray whipcord, according to your compilation, which has an astonishing amount of work, congratulations! Perhaps I should keep my car as originally supplied... it may look very good as described! I will check on the paint chips once I get them to get an idea of the tone of blue and see how much I like it... but again, sounds attractive IMHO. Thanks again! Victor

Ok, guys... comming back to options, and looking at the list for the series 40 that Buick64C posted, I have a few questions: SPECIAL EQUIPMENT, FACTORY INSTALLED... 1. It would seem that bumpers were optional equipment fitted at the factory... "single bar V-type chromed plated bumpers". Is that really the case? Were bumpers an option or am I getting something wrong? I know I haven't seen a 1934 Buick pic of a car without bumpers. 2. Lock. When sidemounts, I take it would be a lock on each one. Can anybody tell me how these locks look like? A picture would be wonderful! "SPECIAL EQUIPMENT, PURCHASABLE FROM DEALER..." 3. Bumper guards: as mentioned above, I have them, but only at the front bumper. Is this normal or shoudl I have them in the rear bumper also. I also have a triangular shaped center bumper guard that I suppose is aftermarket. And these items, I would love to have a picture would be great to know what I need to look for: 4. Gas tank cap with lock. 5. Heater. 6. Metal license plate frame. 7. Onyx type gear shift ball. 8. Spot light The rest of the options, apparently my car has them. As you see, I am trying to get as most factory/dealer correct options as possible... the ones I like only. That is what I do when I restore a car. Think how I would have gotten it from the dealer back then... the color and the options I would have chosen. thanks! victor

Bob, thanks for your post. Beautiful car! Again the same bumperguards I have... so I am glad I have them. And yes!, 40 mph does sound a bit boring, but it's the price to pay for having such a nice ride! I have a 1933 Packard and I also enjoy it to about 45 or maybe 50 mph, but not much over that... feels reving to high if I go over that.

Jay: Thanks for the pics! Comparing with the paint chips, yours may be the Malolo Tan Light. I also compared the bumperguards with what my car has and I am glad that I seem to have the correct ones.

Thanks, Grimy. I think you are right and they all look very dark. There are some paint chips for sale on ebay, and I asked the seller if they included the malolo tan... and it turns out there were three malolo tans... I got the paint chips... expensive but well worth it. Thanks, victor

Great information, Grimy, thanks for sharing it! So, Malolo Tan... I wonder if that is what corresponds to the 852 paint number it has on it's plate... and I like the idea of black walls too! and the trim rings I think look good also! I browsed the net and found some paint chips... I like the Malolo tan!, but I love the Berkley green!! Of course, I would need to find an original paint chip sheet to see the actual colors as I have always heard you can't really trust what you see in a monitor.

By the way... I failed to mention that I live in Queretaro, Mexico, and though the car does not have the original invoice, I am guessing it was originally sold down here as the speedometer would seem to be in kilometers, as it goes up to 150, which would be a bit over 90 mph.

Thank you, Grimy! So, from your description, what I have should be a 56S as it is a series 50 coupe with rumble seat, and it has the artillery wheels with sidemounts. I will try to find out if it still has the cable to the chicken wire roof. Just checked the plate... yes, it is a 56S, so I am guessing it is very similar to the one you learned to drive on. Were the stainless trim rings an option on artillery wheels? My car has them and I have found many pics of 1934 cars with them also. Would you or anybody know where to find the list of colors available originally to the car? I am not too fond of what it has now, a red with metallic burgundy fenders. I am thinking of going monotone in an original shade of beige, green or blue.... but of course I would love to find samples to give myself an idea of how it would look. Thanks! victor