Thriller

A new twist to Girls on Buicks?

The '40 was in Portland. Quite a trip for a prewar car. Now someone else may stand a chance at winning the prewar mileage award.

John D. should consider this as a matching convertible to his Electra. :cool:

This isn't all that far from Denver. I've been dreaming about a few of these....

http://sheridan.marknetlive.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/4987/?page=1 Seven Buick wagons for sale. Very nice, but I don't think the ones I looked at would take a Gold Senior award unless judging was very liberal. if dreaming, it would be nice to have the '53 and '55 as bookends to my Century.

Perhaps it is different scenery, but it is probably reassuring to drive now without so many guard rails obscuring the view

20 plus years too new for you Mark

Too many possible directions to go with that Mike....

Thanks for the photo of James. We were wondering about him recently as we haven't seen him for a couple of years at least.

Sounds like Bruce :cool:

And the first words out of Fred's mouth when he saw me were about setting up another tour next year so Minnesotans (and anyone else who would like to join) can drive some of their old Buicks. Stay tuned.

Keith - we had that very discussion on Saturday at the regional. I wasn't hard-nosed about it but as judges we need to remember that we are judging the cars and not the ability of the owner to prep it for judging. Joe - some of us are working on judging from withi. And recognize that end of assembly line wasn't perfect so making allowances for that. As as for rutted Washington roads, at every border crossing I've been through you can always feel the difference between Canadian and American roads. Ours are poorer. Some me cars seem to prefer bias ply and ride nicer on them than radials. For the Wildcat, I put bias ply tires on the original rims with hub caps for judging and found a set of the correct optional chrome wheels and put radial tires on them. For a little bit of time I can either be in the factory condition or put on the sportier looking wheels and light up the radials. It it was explained very well. Part of the idea is that awarding a Gold Senior award to a car implies that it is very correct. It can somewhat be used as a model for correctly restoring other cars of the same year and model. There are many options if you want some recognition at a BCA meet - 400 point, driven, modified, or archival - picking the right class is something I think we need to better communicate to the membership, particularly those attending a meet for the first time. Alternatively if one doesn't care about hardware, display only is another option. Regardless, any driven Buick can wear the dead bugs as badges of honour.

I can go along with the nomination, but he can also be an expensive guy to know. He has helped me locate and procure two pre-war Buicks that I didn't know that I needed to buy. he still had some parts that didn't get to South Bend last year so I got to tour his garage and shop during the meet which was really cool.

Put about a thousand miles on the Reatta since Thursday to visit Paul Syrdal and take in the Heartland regional. This was my first regional and had a lot of fun. A bit of a drive though.... I came home to a cleaned up Wildcat in the garage so I may need to go somewhere later after I've had something to eat.

I spent about two hours with Paul and Donna this morning before continuing on the way home from the Heartland Regional. He isn't his old self but he seems to be doing quite well considering the condition he was in a week ago. He was really pleased to have a bunch of the Buick brethren visit.

In BCA judging, we don't look at the data plate to determine whether the colour is factory correct for the car. That means a colour that was correct for the year is acceptable. However, I don't recall whether the special order or Riviera-only colours have been discussed. If there was a question of authenticity, the owner could point out the data plate and ideally have documentation for the colour. However, if you painted your car with a Buick colour that wasn't correct for the line, I don't know how the judging would handle it.

The body plate on my '41 Special lists a paint code that, according to the BCA judging manual and all the paint code sheets I've seen, is a 1940 two tone code. I don't know if it is an early car and was just a crossover or what.

Good to hear.

The sheer immensity of Rushmore is worth it. Some very pretty country today.

Hi Ernie. From my understanding, these engines are relatively low compression, and combined with the metallurgy of Buick engines, hardened seats aren't necessarily required. A good grind may be all you need as part of a rebuild. I am am not an expert though. I expect someone else will chime in. You may want to consult a local engine builder as an option.

We got home just this evening. We had some very good times with family and friends on a circuitous route home. Max ax has a cracked lower bumper - don't know how that happened. To my knowledge everything else is fine (verified the bottle of Kraken). That will be verified in the coming days as we unpack. Thanks for asking DD. Of course, we all know that JD is having to much fun to go home.

Cool. Looks like a blast. We are back in Canada and have crossed the mountains. It's all downhill from here. Glad ad to see you are enjoying the adventure.

Yes that is a slow road with all the RVs and tourist stops. We used to have family in Lincoln City so have been there before including after 2007 meet in Bellevue. Enjoy the journey.

Whadaya mean hope? It is under 750 miles from Athens to Springfield. You'd darn well better be there. No excuses allowed.

I looked for Brian but wasn't successful in locating him. Stuff happens. I'd find it hard to pick a favourite but it is nice to bring a car that there aren't 18 of. The '36 McLaughlin-Buick phaeton that was originally sold to the premier of BC, the '34 McLaughlin-Buick, the Canadian build '27 for the prince of Nepal and the story that went with it, and many others were really neat. It seemed to me that this year many cars had intriguing stories. There was only one GN, which is unusual. The in colour for Reatta this year was white - ours would have fit right in.