Thriller

Not having country stations isn't a bad thing At your age, once you start driving the car, I would recommend you not worry about a radio for a while. Listen to the car and pay attention to what it is telling you. You can learn a lot from hearing the car and it can help you when things go wrong, possibly even prevent damage. Another, less expensive option, if you want FM / CD / MP3 is to get a smallish portable player. It can fill your itch for tunes and you can either take it with you or lock it in the trunk when not in use.

You got that right. From my earliest memories Dad had the little Massey 44 and a bigger IH. For whatever reason, he didn't like JD. So, the toy tractors and combines I grew up with were red. It doesn't matter much to me at this point, but I think I'm in good company here on the forum with Mr. Corbin.

Thanks Larry, but the '29 no longer has the flat sides - it is completely round. I know '26 still has that style of cap, so it changed in '27-'29. I like the idea of the strap type oil filter wrenches - never thought of that. Of course, since these pliers are for oil filters as well, a strip of rubber or leather to protect them would give me some piece of mind.

Here's a question, not to necessarily prolong things, but something that my brain is trying to work through. Let's say we get those 3 Opel owners. Let's say nobody jumps up and offends them. They buy a one year membership, read a year's worth of Bugles, and then what? I wouldn't mind seeing Opels in the BCA, and therefore in the Bugle. Would an Opel owner stay if they received 12 Bugles and the only Opel reference was theirs in the new member's page? There are already people who think that way...if Pete doesn't cover their year of car or interest, they're gone. That's a tough job to fill with over a hundred years worth of production. We also have some special interest groups within the BCA (e.g. the various divisions) who probably wouldn't mind more coverage. Would we simply lose some of the Joe Average BCA members then if the Bugles increased significantly in coverage of Modified Division, Reatta Division, BDE events, etc. which could have the result of decreasing column space available for what they are more interested in? I can't really identify with those people as I have such a wide range of interest in Buicks myself, so I enjoy the variety of the magazine. Mind you, if such an event did occur, perhaps I would eventually lose interest in the Bugle and, therefore, be less content with my BCA membership. I guess I'm trying to point out that it is all a balancing act. If we give on the one hand, with limited resources, we need to take with the other. That is what happened this past summer - the board looked at cutting costs by downsizing the Bugle...the furor created resulted in the Bugle being reinstated to its previous size and colour content and an increase in dues. If we cover every year of Buick in every year's worth of Bugles, not to mention the National Meet edition and modified coverage, we would have something like 15 years worth of Buicks represented in each Bugle, giving perhaps a page to each. Personally, I'd rather see some more in depth coverage as well as some of the travel / adventure and restoration stories. At any rate, I won't snub an Opel, but unless someone can show me how it works for the club long term, I won't put on a huge push for it either. Vehicles produced by Buick are primarily what brings us together, and we meet the people who are stewards of those Buicks and we become friends, which is more lasting than the Buicks...that's how I see it.

Well, you see, there's at least one in Ontario and a pretty famous one in Europe...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

For those of us geographically challenged, whereabouts are these? Dad had a Massey 44 and an IH tractor that I can first remember...wound up trading the IH on a White with duals in the mid to late 70s. All I have at the moment is a 26 hp compact Kubota.

Happy Annual Getting Old Day! I guess I can't buy you around today, so I'll just have to pour myself one and toast you.

Part of the reason I like Buicks is that they are a bit different from the mainstream. Along those lines, it wouldn't bother me any to see Opels at meets and, as a matter of fact, I would probably go out of my way to look them over because I can't even think of the last time I saw one.

Oshawa will be building the Regal when it comes over from Germany.

Sean, I don't think there is such a thing as a boring post that ends with photos of a car like that. Welcome to the hobby and the forum. You have a great car. You need to keep in mind that the National Meet is in your neck of the woods in 2011. I'm nowhere near you, so can't offer installation advice. Good luck with the car.

Beauty. Great shine to that paint. I find a lot of people can be distracted by shiny things....

JD, they obviously do a much better job of snowclearing in your part of the world than here...we were out and about a bit today and no sign of any snow moving equipment....;)

Very nice Grant.

I believe the model 48 is referred to as a trunkback sedan, where the trunk bulges out. The 44 would have a straight(ish) line rather than the bulge out for the trunk. That's my understanding...I could be wrong.

Happy Annual Getting Old Day Sir!

Wow. We're getting a bit of snow here, but nothing like that. I guess we are far enough north that it is colder and the air won't hold as much moisture...or something. We do get some drifting though. Here's a couple photos from last weekend. The before photo is shot from essentially bare gravel. I'll have to give the Stihl a bit of a workout when I get enough time out there to deal with the tree that got blown down.

Nice Wildcat. I know that today I definitely couldn't play my sax like that...there was a time I may have come close, but without practice, not now.

Jeff, 1929 was the first year for chrome plating for Buick. Prior to '29, it would all have been nickel, although you do see chrome. Highly polished nickel can come out pretty close to chrome in appearance though. Now, I didn't pay enough attention - were door handles discussed? Essentially, in the long run, I'll need to answer the same questions for my '29...although if I get something wrong, I can always point to the fact that it is a McLaughlin-Buick and there were some subtle differences

All manufacturers do put DRLs on their cars...at least for the Canadian market since Jan. 1, 1990. DRLs or simply turning your lights on was worst when there was a mix on the road in the mid to late 1980s. It made it harder to judge how far away vehicles were. The early pre-war cars tend not to travel at the same speed on highways as other traffic. Also, in the cities, they don't generally accelerate as quickly as modern traffic. For that reason, those of us with these cars (and their often tiny and sometimes single) 6 volt lights. Those of us interested in additional lighting are concerned about protecting the investment we have in our older cars and, while we recognize we can't avoid all collisions, try to do what we can to reduce the likelihood of collisions. We are trying to reach the more attentive drivers who do notice lights. I have been looking for a product similar to the LED strip noted here, although it isn't quite what I want. That being said, it does tell me that I should be able to get 6V strips to do what I want, which is to put tail / brake lights and signals into the openings between the horizontal pieces of my '29s bumper (and signals up front). I do want to make them relatively removable in the event I want the car judged, but I want more in the back than the single brake light. For many of us, the question is not whether or not we get hit in our old cars, but is say $100 and a bit of our time worth the improved visibility we will get for our cars that we have (or will have) considerable monies invested in. For many, I suspect the answer is yes. Enough said.

Howdy all. I was needing to remove a hub cap from my '29 to check the size so that I could verify with a fellow who will make a wheel puller. I never thought of trying by hand, assuming that they were going to be a bit stuck on. I bought a pipe wrench, since mine is at the country place...too small. Went back to the store and looked around and wound up buying a set of Channellock oil filter / PVC pipe pliers. They have three sizes and I got the one in the middle - 212 - 12 inch Oil Filter Plier @ Channellock I put it on and I had the hub cap off in moments. In case the threads dry out and you do need to use a tool, this is smaller and lighter to carry around than a pipe wrench. Just thought I'd pass it along.

Shoot...I just barely got my January issue...if anyone is tossing their copy, I'm sure my daughter wouldn't mind having a spare copy. One of these days I think I'll try to figure out the Bugles we have contributed to and contacting the Portholes to see about getting a spare or two of each.

LeRoy, Sorry to hear you have to sell the car. It looks very sharp. You may want to consider sending an e-mail to webmaster@gopherstatebuick.org - this could be forwarded along to the club contact list, so perhaps someone local to MN would be interested. I could be wrong, but I suspect it may be difficult to get your investment out of the car - a Special 4 door sedan isn't that highly sought after, although you may get lucky and find the right person. The Old Cars Report lists a #2 condition at $14,000. Of course, price guides are just guides. Good luck in selling the car. My wife really likes the look of the '52s, which is part of the reason I have a Roadmaster project. If we had space in the barn, I believe she would be tempted.

I don't mind seeing new reproduction parts, but it is the skull shift knobs and the like that start to annoy me. I don't go to eBay very often nowadays - I don't have enough willpower to not buy everything in sight...sometimes incorrectly.

A post by Reatta Man in the Barrett-Jackson thread about cars being believed to be a higher rank in the 5 or 6 condition rating scale by sellers got me thinking. What are your thoughts about comparing those scales to the 400 point / awards of the BCA? Would a #1 only be a Gold Senior car? Could a high Silver be a #2? I'd hate to think of a Bronze car being a #4. I am of the opinion that there are relatively few #1 cars. Some cars are advertised with the BCA or AACA pedigree, so it can tell people where it fits into the general scheme of things. It just made me ponder, and I'm not sure what exactly I think about it (I'm tired for one and haven't given it a lot of thought).

Mike, This is from page 9 of the http://www.buickclub.org/BCA%20JUDGING%20MANUAL/BCAjudgingrev2.pdf (page numbering, not PDF page count): If there is something there saying it has to be year correct, I don't see it. The only thing is that I recall some clarification going on. Whatever clarification goes on in the Bugle will hopefully be added to the Judging Manual. To me, even though the road wheels came out a year later, that is period. Again, I am not the authority here. Based on the above, my interpretation would be that the Centerline wheels on my pace car should be allowed as they are period correct. If they were new 18" Boyd or whatever wheels, I wouldn't be bringing this up. All I'm trying to do here is understand the system myself and hopefully alleviate confusion for others by getting a definitive clarification. Unfortunately, my world isn't organized enough to be able to easily find a particular Bugle which may have had additional clarification. Ultimately, my motivation also includes getting my registration in. If I can't get an answer soon as to whether my car should be modified driven class or driven class, then maybe I'll just plan to leave it behind and just bring the wagon down. In some respects that makes life easier.