Thriller

A '37 looks very much like the '38, but the bars in the grille are finer and there are more of them. The '36 grille is a completely different animal. There are a few photos of '36 Buicks at the bottom of this page - Buick Club of America Pre-War Di

Congrats...your experience inspires me...almost enough to do some mucking around with my '29.

The clutch on my '41 chatters as well, although I am pretty sure it is only in first, not in reverse.

Excellent photo essay Leif.

I wish I could remember everything when I bundle up to go out to the car. 4-3/4" - back of rear brace to edge of hood at inmost point 41-1/4" - outside of front brace to outside of rear brace 10-1/2" - approximate from front of front brace to front end of hood Time to run outside again.... 51" - front of hood to back along centre line That increased to about 62.5" if I curve the tape along the curve of the hood

There's a few of us here from the Commonwealth who haven't gotten lazy and started leaving letters out of words like neighbourhood ;) I'd love to hear more about that Super, perhaps even a few photos. There's also a site at 1954 BUICK | The Forum & The Website that you may want to consider visiting.

Memory is short....

48 minutes left, 37 bids, $8100. I think Tom's car is the one to buy if I were in the market for one of these.

So I'm guessing you used the Winnipeg Free Press services. I never thought of that. Graham & Edmonton is only about two blocks from where I currently work - the building pictured is no longer there as far as I can think of. I haven't forgotten about getting a photo of the location that Copper Top was sold from...I walk to work, so I don't have easy means to get to the location in the daylight...I'll have to remember to pop there on the weekend, but Saturday at least looks pretty hectic.

I couldn't find any markings on my hood...doesn't mean they aren't there, perhaps I just missed or didn't look in the right spot. On my 41SE, the side of the hood measures about 58" from the back corner to the rear of the front brace. The mid-line measured about 39.5" from the point near the cowl vent to the back end of the hood ornament. Of course, typing this, if you were looking at a hood without an ornament, that might make it tougher. I hope this gives something to go by.

There were only 417 of these made. It doesn't get a whole lot rarer than that. Ultimately it comes to what you desire for the car, and how much time and money you want to invest in it. From my experience, the first numbers for costs are high, but wouldn't necessarily be out of line for a worst case scenario. These straight 8s are nice smooth torquey engines. This car would be a pleasure to drive in, especially on the highway. If you look at a site like nadaguides.com, you can get a retail value for a restored car. Restored properly, it would get their "high retail" value, which is listed just under $50k. Of course, it is a guide, not an absolute measure of value. Good luck coming to a decision.

http://www.buickclub.org/BCA%20JUDGING%20MANUAL/BCAjudgingrev2.pdf I don't believe it will have the detail that is being requested though. The ultimate would be someone who has seen an original engine. I believe the engine on my '29 is in original condition and everything is uniform in colour (that is the painted covers on the engine are the same as engine colour).

Pas de probleme. Votre anglais est bien mieux que mon Français. There are Buick rodders around here as well. The practical folks will recognize that not all cars can be saved to be restored. I think saving a car from the crusher and making it very personal is fine. I haven't done it myself yet, but may someday.

Gary - I think I know what your problem is...you fought with this for a whole hour before going to clear your head with beer. Man, you are so much more patient than I am.

Well, I don't have the Reatta...I think that is one that is on the list though. Buick truck from the teens. '33 Buick Last generation Riviera It would be easier if I would stop trying to buy every Buick that comes my way.

Ow. More like the bozo fell asleep at the wheel or something. Sorry to see the car in this condition. I hope you get a fair shake out of all this.

Welcome aboard! That's a very nice car. It reminds me a bit of my rusty, dusty '52. John is right - while many of these were originally produced, there aren't that many left, and there is something to be said for being unique. From the photos, I'd certainly show it off. Attending events and chatting with car folks is one of the most enjoyable parts of this hobby to me. Consider bringing the car down to Iowa next summer for the Buick Club of America National Meet. We typically have a fun breakfast for forum members, as well as it being a generally Buickful time.

nali, Welcome aboard. What part of Canuckistan? There are a few of us here on the board. What are your plans for the car? Since a friend now has the straight 8, I presume this is going to become a street rod.

Don, I'm about 500 miles away from the meetings, so I generally don't get to any. There's a few folks online here who are Gopher State Chapter members - aside from myself, there's Tom, Wildcat62 (or something close to that - Kris Syrdal), Kevin Kinney the chapter director, and I'm sure a few others that I can't think of at the moment. Don't take them too seriously...they don't. The first Sunday of May is the big Spring Extravaganza show on Machinery Hill at the state fairgrounds in St. Paul. I don't know if I'll get down this spring, but it's a lot of fun and I know there would be folks there who'd be interested in seeing and learning about your Roadmaster.

I believe I would have first ridden in a '69 Meteor. Dad had a Dodge pickup at that time, but I don't recall the year. He replaced the Dodge with a '73 Ford, then a '79 Ford. The '79 is the first vehicle I drove without sitting in a lap, first in the fields, then on the back roads. I'm pretty sure I steered the '73 sitting on Dad's lap before I could reach the pedals. There were advantages to growing up the son of a farmer. Once I got my license, there was a Mercury Zephyr that my brother generally had when he was away at university and the main car was a '77 Mercury Marquis.

I hope someone else will verify, but in both those years, there were 3 wagons - models 49, 49D, and 69. The 49 is the Special Estate Wagon - this is effectively a sedan style, with window frames on the doors. The 49D is the Special Riviera Station Wagon - I don't have a photo handy, but I presume this is the hardtop style, that is with no frame around the door windows. The 69 is the Century Caballero wagon - it is a hardtop wagon, but with the more powerful engine than the Special.

I have a question. I'm hopeful a member of the BoD or the Book's could supply an answer. Could we pull up membership numbers for the past several (10-20) years? I know that there are new memberships and renewals and cancellations all the time, so a particular point in time would have to be chosen - perhaps year end. I don't recall if those numbers have been published recently - if so, please feel free to slap me around and direct me to the numbers. I know that I joined in early 2003 in order to attend the Centennial in Flint and I have never looked back. My BCA number is 39416. I just got a copy of the October Bugle this week. I see new member numbers are well over 44000. So, assuming numbers are assigned chronologically, we have had roughly 5000 new members in the past 6.5 years, or an average rate of over 750 per annum. Sadly, we do lose members to death. How much has our membership dropped in the same time frame overall? To lose 250 per year overall would mean that we are losing 1000 per year after taking the new memberships into account. That would be a 10%+ turnover. The local club I am a member of has highs and lows as well, but I don't think the turnover is anywhere near that. Is it the new members we are losing? They perhaps join to take in a National near them, and let their membership lapse after a year? Is our age demographic such that we have that many passings? Is it long term members that we are losing? I suspect it is a combination of all of the above, but it would be nice to get a feel for it. If it is primarily new members finding the club is not for them, perhaps after they don't renew, we should contact them again asking why and what the club could do for them. Is that something that could be asked of the chapters to make that contact? It would be a bit more personal, especially if the dropout had attended chapter events. Frankly, the changes I would or would not like to see ultimately don't matter as I don't foresee anything that would cause me to let my membership lapse. It is what is or is not appealing to those who give up that matters. Perhaps we can make changes to accommodate that, and perhaps we can't. But if we don't know why they quit, then all of posting here is conjecture and posturing. I don't pretend to have the answers...I'm not so much a "doer" as a "thinker", much to the detriment of house repairs and Buick restoration. On a side note, the Conference Board of Canada has declared the recession over up here. I understand we weren't hit as hard as the USA, but it's a good sign at least. Perhaps things will start looking up and folks' finances will improve to where any memberships dropped due to belt-tightening will be picked up. I guess I have another question. In allowing non-members to attend National Meets (admittedly at a higher cost), are we shooting ourselves in the foot? I can see the potential of selling someone on the experience and camaraderie / fellowship, but is that the last we see of them? If they don't join as a result of attending a National, are we charging them enough? I can definitely see it as a double-edged sword.

Either that, or the seller simply neglected to mention that the rest of the car goes with the hub cap.

Cool. There are 2 active chapters of the BCA in MN - I belong to the Gopher State Chapter - even though it's too far for me to attend meetings or all the events. They're a pretty fun group. I'm happy to hear you will drive the car regularly. Too many of us don't do that. I'd like to drive my cars more, but I'm guilty of watching for rain clouds and the like.

Hmm...here's a man whose brain I need to pick as he'll know stuff about a couple of the cars in my collection.