JohnD1956

LOL, at least you didn't get locked in as you said. My most embarassing time was when I had my 1st 56. A Roadmaster model 72. My brother had bought a set of the Kelsey Hayes wire wheels for his car but gave them to me for the Buick. They were a bit rusty, but I had good tires, new tubes and off we went to Jones Beach on long Island. The car looked beautiful with those wheels. Two times during the day I went back just to check on it. It was a hot day, and all was right with the world. Then at 6 pm when we went to leave, I noticed the front tire was flat. Well, okay, I'll have to put on the steel disk spare. Didn't look great, but with an hour's ride to go, I didn't have much choice. Changed the tire and packed up all the beach stuff. Swung the car out of the spot and figured I'd loop around the circle in front of the main building, to give every one a look see at the wheels on the passenger side when...Thump thump thump. The back tire on the drivers side went flat. Now I'm sitting in front of the main building and I havent got another spare. It took the service truck drive about an hour to show up, an hour of hell, with many people remarking how nice the car looked and how sad to have two flats at the same time. I almost wish I had just locked myself in the trunk.

The most embarrasing time in your Buick. Now there's a neat topic for the forum. Maybe even a contest for the Regional meet?

Can you attach any pictures for us to see?

We bought the car in 93. We didn't have a frozen caliper till 1997. At that time, we did the rear brakes only. In 2000, I put new brakes on my 95 Riviera and likes the performance of the brand, so I tried to match the performance by changing all the pads and rotors on the Regal. I still have three of the original calipers and the one replacement. The car has 139K now. And I am still on the set of yr 2000 pads. By the way, my next door neighbor works at the local independent NAPA. He convinced me to put the softest brake pads on the car that he could get. I did this on my Riviera as well. Thse low cost NAPA pads grip like glue. And apparently wear like cast iron. The advantages have been no rotor warpage, no squealing with brake dust and I think superior braking ability. But the Riviera's system is really superior. That is one of the few cars where I can actually feel the rear wheels bring the car down. I don't know what they did, but the thing does not nose dive with hard braking, it sort of squats down and stops in no time flat. The Regal did not match this performance, but it still stops okay. Of course this is just my opinion.

Those drop tailgates are neat. There is a local car in my area, a 72 Lesabre Wagon, with the 455 and the owner put a nitrous system on it. I know it runs as he drives it to the local shows, but I've never seen it run. It is really nice however. The Buick has a crisper set of lines than the others of this group. Good luck

If another carb seemed better, but wasn't, then you may want to look at electrical, ie plugs and wires. How old is the gasoline? And what is the potential that the tank took on additional condensation? Have you tried doubling up on the dry gas? Also what about dried and leaking vacumn lines?

Just do what I do. Don't step on the brakes? (lol) My 93 Regal went over 50 K on the brakes, except the rear caliper on the passenger side froze up. This is a bigger concern for 89 to 96 cars and I am unsure about the 98 Century. I just wash my wheels as frequently as possible and I got a brush that fits into those small slots in the mag wheels to try and get some soapy water into the calipers. Since my first frozen caliper at 50K, we have put another 80K on the car on the original three calipers. Meanwhile, the parking brake cable to the right rear pass side broke ;ast summer, but it was easy to replace.

I'm pretty sure the Special quarters will not fit the Super. I wonder if anyone from the Buicktown chapter has a list of the vendors at the centenial. I saw two sets of 55 rear quarters there, but I can't remember the vendors name.

There was a lot of talk about this Radial/ rim situation on the Riviera club maillist. And I finally saw that article. I'm no longer convinced that this article even applies to GM cars. It appeared all the sources for the article were driving mopars, of early 60's vintage. Call me whatever you like, but I wouldn't doubt that early Chrysler rims were under engineered. But my 56 Buick rims seem quite sturdy, and the Wheel Vintiques wheels seem even better. I called the Wheels people two times on this. I wound up speaking to Don who personally set up and supervised the construction of these remakes over the last ten years. He told me that the wheels are trued using pneumatic screwdrivers. He said the spokes are so tight on these new wheels that they can hardly be twisted by use of a wrench. He also claimed to have no knowledge of anyone having any problem with their wheels and radials. I also called Coker tire, who claimed they never heard of anyone having such a problem with these wheels. Since you had trouble with original Kelsey Hayes wheels, I think I'm going to try the radials again. Bias ply tires seem way out of line in terms of cost. Plus unless you go for a trailer tire, apparently you cannot get a bias ply tire in a blackwall. On the plus side, you can get a trailer tire in a six ply configuration size 225 X 15 ( which Coker said was the closest exchange for my 7.60 X 15's, at our local Firestone dealer for about $80.00 per tire. They are supposed to be bringing one in so I can see what the tread design looks like. But i still think I'm going for the radials.

Here's a thought for you ( just my .02 mind you). If you really want an Electra, then get an Electra. I have both a 69 Electra and a 69 GS 400 convertible. The Electra is really what I wanted when I got it and it still hold a special place in my heart. The GS is super sweet. A 27K car from the third owner, who was a nephew of the original and second owner. I love them both, but the Electra, even though it still needs complete restoration or just a lot of work, is my favorite. The GS is great, but the Electra is just classy perfection in my eyes. If you have room for one car, get the one you really want. Meanwhile, here are some production numbers for the Skylark from the Standard catalogue of Buicks: If it's a : Model 43537, then 38,658 If a 44437, the 35,639 A quick giveaway as to which model you have is the chrome rocker panel strip on the model 44437. John d

I understand that the Jan 22nd issue of Old Cars Weekly had an article on this, but I don't subscribe and I couldn't find a way to get a copy online. I would like to see this and hear what it says. But the Coker people seemed VERY sure that the new skylark rims were sufficient for radials. On my 56, the center of the wheel on my spare tire is rivited to the rim, but the rim itself is welded so smooth I can't see a seam. Maybe there is concern about the rivits giving way under the stress from the radials? I do have radials on these rims. And, I did have a hubcap that kept coming off my front drivers side, but when I changed that cap and put it in the back, neither that one nor the one I put in the front ever flew off again. Then I drove over a rail road crossing and the bead split off the rim. That may have been caused by my antique auto battery . It had overflowed and dripped on the wheel which I hadn't noticed for a long time. I hope you can find the extra information. I was trying to buy a second set of tires so that I can put the wires on for the driving season and then swap them with the steel wheels for the storage season, without all the hassel of swaping tires all the time. I hope someone has some definitive information on this soon, so we can all avoid wasting any more money on something that actually increases risks. Thanks to everyone for their posts.

I feel very lucky to have my wife. She encouraged me to buy my 69 Electra even though it needed a full restoration ( and still does, 10 years later). She refused to let me sell the 56 Super many times, because it's been a part of the family since we were married in 1974, and she told me to get the 95 Riviera, because I wanted one from the day they were introduced. But when I told her about the 69 GS 400 convertible, I thought she was gonna flip. After a few uncertain minutes, she told me to make him an offer. What a sweetheart! Best part is she won't drive any of them. Worst part is I can't make up my mind which one to drive to the golf course. Ain't life grand!!!

I did call Coker this AM. They also said they have not heard of this. Further, they said Wheel Vintiques manufactures their wheels and that they have sold uncountable sets of these wheels with Radial tires, and not have had a problem. So I'm thinking whatever happend to the car in the other thread, had to be a long shot. Maybe they were "Friday" wheels and were never completed properly, Maybe there was a spoke from a faulty casting which broke and caused others to fail? Who knows. I am still interested in others direct experiences. Maybe some people have had failures and not contacted their supplier. I, for one, drove my car from Albany NY to Flint and back last year with the wheels, and my older radial tires. I did not notice any problem I could pin on the tires or wheels. I did have a few other problems which resulted in a poor ride quality, but it did not seem to be flexing of the tire causing any problems. I'm just thinking of getting a 75 series radial tire and trying it again. It will be rare, if ever, that I will drive that car across country again.

Please help me figure out if I should equip my new Wheel Vintique Skylark rims with Radials or Bias ply tires. Reading the posts under the recent Wire Wheels titled thread, it appears there are at least two people who have experienced problems with the remakes of the Kelsey Hayes 40 spoke Skylark wheels, when using Radials. I called Wheel Vintiques and they claimed no knowledge of this type of problem, yet it appears that they were advised of the problem on one of these cars right after the Centenial. I can't figure out why they would not give me the straight scoop? There were a lot of cars at the meet with these wheels. Please tell me what you're using. I would rather have radials, but if I have to use bias ply tires, then so be it. I would like to avoid buying radials just to find I can't use them on anything. Please advise what your experience has been ( if any) with Radials on these rims. Thanks for all your help. jld1972@empireone.net John d

Boy, that does make me really disgusted! The wheels I bought are already off warranty. If they knew there was a problem I cannot understand their motivation for claiming they didn't know of it. I saw that 57, it was really nice. I sure hope the car wasn't damaged in the destruction of the wheel. Now I wonder if my 4 flats were due to the radials I had on there as opposed to the cut area around the valve stems. Plus I am not excited about going back to bias ply tires.

I called Wheel Vintiques today, and asked about the radial tire on the new Kelsey Hayes style wire wheels. They calimed to have no knowledge of their customers having trouble with the wheels they sold, due to radial tires. Scott, were you using original wheels? or the remakes?

It's hard to sit by the sidelines on this topic, but in reality, isn't a RESTORED car really modified? If you use new paint on a car of any age, it's actually modified. Maybe RESTORED to look original, but modified just the same. Let them all in. And when you pass by one you don't care for, say "hi" just the same. When 6,000 Fords show up for their centenial celebration, and only 1,700 Buicks for ours ( even though they were the most beautiful 1,700 cars I ever saw), I think the club is missing something. John D

I painted trim from a vinyl roof on a 69 Electra once. We used the same paint as that on the car. I would just make sure there was no wax on the chrome, but I would not sand it. I would think sanding it would cause surface imperfections that might be seen. Also, I'm pretty sure these are stainless, so I'd just wipe them with a clean cloth and some laquer paint thinner. Mask as needed then use a quality primer and allow it to dry thoroughly, then spray over with another quality top coat paint. I would even consider putting a satin finish clear coat over the top coat, as it seems most times you see flat colors on a car, it really is a satin finish that just looks dull next to the shiney top coats.

I bought a set of the wheel vintique wire wheels this last summer. I did put radials on them as I was unaware of any such engineering issues. I did have trouble with leaks after I drove the car 600 miles to Flint for the Centenial. I had tubes installed and drove the car 600 miles back home, with no problems. The Representative at wheel vintiques told me that most likely someone had cut the seal around the valve stem believing that todays generic stems would not seal against the silicone bead they put over the nubs holding the spokes to the rim. Sure enough, they were cut. Wheel Vintiques took the wheels back and resealed them for me, plus I had them install stems so that I didn't have to mess with this again. But now I need to look into that radial tire issue you mentioned. As to Wide whites on wire wheels, and on a 62, My vote is DON"T DO IT! Wide whites are for 50's cars, not 60's, and all cars came with black wall tires. My .02 is that mags of any sort ( especially wire wheels) should stand out, and they can't do that with that big white bead runing around right next to them. Go with blackwalls, it will make the wheels ( and thus the car) look much nicer.

I think a 63 or 64 Wildcat convertible with a 4 speed would be my dream car. I had had a 66 GranSport with the factory 4 speed once. Unfortunately too many northeast winters took it's toll and eventually I had to sell it as I couldn't afford the repairs to the frame. But I do love the 4 speeds. I just think the pitch of the tranny in all 4 gears is a sound that can't be beat. I'd love to see pictures of your cars, especially an interior shot. Does your car have a console with the shifter in it, or that consolette like my GS used to have? What about factory A/C?

Your picture opened. Looks liek you have quite a few people interested in parts. I guess it's Kill It!

Most likely cause is that one of the small wires at the starter is actually laying across the top of the other one. This probably happened when you reached up to tighten the nut on the wire, and the entire wire turned with the nut. Just check to see if they are crossed, and straighten them out.

I heard that there were only 11 64 wildcat's with 4 speeds built. Don't know if it's true, but I'd tend to agree that you have a VERY rare car! And one I'd love to see. What does the car have for options? Do you have any pictures you could post?

I had the tank on my 56 Super done this past summer at my local Gas Tan renu dealer. My tank was leaking, plus I had managed to crush it badly one time. I brought them the tank and I asked them in detail what they would do to repair and seal it. Of course, I asked them to only cut it on the top side, and to make sure the filler neck was in the correct location/ orientation. Then they asked me if I wanted the smooth silver finish or the black undercoated style finish. One week and $300.00 later , that tank looked perfect. Back in the car, I finally gloated that I'd be able to fill-er up after close to 15 years. In went the gas and it leaked. Took it back out and right back, where they sloshed the gas around and found the rivits holding the new sending unit together were weeping gas. They epoxied over the rivits and it's been perfect. This is probably some of the best money I spent on my car!

My 56 Super 2 door has that wrap around glass. There is a chrome belt that starts over the doors and runs over the trunk. This is pretty wide and it was held on by bolts in side the trunk and there were hidden screws inside the area's over the windows. But I assume you are talking about the narrow strip around the glass. This chrome was a special treat. On the top and bottom, there are spring clips similar to newer 60's cars but the corners had clips that were placed inside the chrome strip, and the clips had bolts attached. The body had holes drilled thru the channel where the window goes and then there were nuts inside the car. I had to take the inside chrome off to get to them. And they were not fun to get back on. Good luck.