Thriller

There's no photo of it in use, but the photos in this thread depict the first use of the anchor.

I'll have to fire up another computer to find photos. To help visualize, you could think of it as a porcupine or hedgehog, although not nearly as dense. One heavy piece of rebar went all the way through the box so that acts as an anchor point and the "spikes" of rebar are buried in the concrete to hold it in place. It was the concrete contractor who actually put it together - I gave the basic idea of what I wanted. The box is big enough to wrap a fairly heavy chain around the anchor. Another idea would be to embed something a little more naval in the concrete. I'll try to get photos in the next day or two...it is presently kind of covered up by the '29 and I know I have photos here somewhere.

Well, I didn't really have time to read all this, but I did. Good thing I took the week off. I think the general thing is that the marketing types seem to be driving product development, in many cases forgetting that while they may be looking to statistics to design their vehicle for what the "average" or "common" buyer wants, they cause issues for anyone outside that part of the curve. Are they not taught about the Edsel? Built with everything that the survey results showed was wanted resulted in a sales flop. My first vehicle was a used '91 Ranger extended cab with 6 cyl and 5-spd. I loved that truck and made a bad deal getting rid of it. The issue was that I'd gotten married and had a child and the rear jump seats didn't work for a child seat, so I needed to go to a full size pickup to get a rear bench. To know then what I know would have made for a much better deal...I guess that is what experience was for. I'll never forget though the time I had street racers jumping at the red light and with a cap and 500 lbs of humanity, I was able to beat a 5.0 Mustang convertible off the line to the speed limit. We laughed and the truck was dubbed "Mustang killer". When we were married, Suzanne had a '91 Nissan Sentra. On the highway, that car got as high as 45 mpg (Imperial gallons, so about 37.5 for US gallons). That car treated us very well until child #3 came along and the rear seat was too narrow for boosters / child seats (sensing a theme yet?). I'll ignore the minivans in the interim. We presently have the 2006 Rainier CXL AWD with 6 cylinder. We do like it, but are disappointed in fuel economy. As the Rainier is now off warranty, we have been having some discussions about what to do. Based on fuel burned, we'd like to get into something more fuel efficient. We rented two vehicles this summer. The first, at Logan, was a 2011 Lucerne. While overall a nice car, there were two items which put it into the "no way" category for us. First, the A pillar design is poor - it is large and at so low an angle to be able to hide a vehicle in the adjacent lane...it either needs to be more vertical, or half the size for visibility. The second issue is the rear seat. This all started off lamenting the loss of a bench seat in Buicks up front. Well, how about getting in the back of one? The middle place in the rear seat of most new sedans I have seen is no longer made for a person. It is not flat with a full seat back, therefore uncomfortable. As a result, for our second rental, we actually looked at the vehicles before renting and, without prior prejudice as to what brand, wound up renting a Ford SUV (Edge if I recall correctly) as it was the only vehicle Alamo had with a decent rear seat for the children. As a child myself, nobody wanted to sit in the middle because of the transmission / driveshaft tunnel...that was an inconvenience, but we lived with it. Now you can't even comfortably sit in the rear seat. Now, even as I discuss the children, I recognize that having three makes us a larger family than average. That said, the 13 year old is now about 5'6" and we expect to see another 6" inches of growth for height. So, what are we to do? So called full-size or premium cars don't sit our family properly. We would like to improve our average fuel economy for the family. The reality we are now looking at is having to keep the Rainier to be a family mover and get Suzanne a relatively fuel efficient car. Since we have some brand loyalty, she wants to wait until Buick comes out with a hybrid. I'm less keen on that...if we can get comparable fuel economy with a traditional drivetrain, I'm comfortable with that. While Suzanne no longer carries all three to school at once, we still all go to church together and semi-regularly go to our country place or on other travels as a family. There are still families out there with more children than we have. They are being relegated to minivans and SUVs with third row seating, or being forced into having two vehicles to move the family around. Why not offer station wagons again with third rows? I guess it comes down to volume. Those making the decisions seem to want volume to be able to amortize tooling costs over a larger number of vehicles, but in so doing cater to a demographic while forgetting that there are outliers with money to spend. Personally, I've been frustrated with the Buick line for a few years now. While the introduction of the Regal is great, there has been such a limited choice of vehicles of late. Want a 2 door? Forget it. Want a fairly compact car with Buick amenities? For a number of years, forget it. Oh, but we can set you up with an SUV. Tell you what...we've driven Enclaves and Suzanne finds them too bulky compared to the Rainier. They are nice, but don't suit particularly well. I'm all for better fuel economy, but a vehicle has to meet my needs first in terms of passenger space. I'm not particularly fussy (although brown is out...meaning we get gray, which may limit exterior colours, but that's another rant), but comfort is important, as is space. The other thing that burns my butt with GM is that Chevy gets everything. Enclave selling well? Well, then, I guess we need a Chevrolet version. The Corvette is a sacred cow. However, the main thing is that Chev has a full line of trucks, vans, SUVs, 2 doors, 4 doors, in all sorts of shapes and sizes while other divisions are starved for product. I have no interest in buying a Chevrolet. Nor am I interested in having a Cadillac. So, to stay in the GM stable, I am left with Buick and GMC. If Buick has no product offerings, how will they keep me as a customer? It really is that simple. With no variety, there will ultimately be no customers. For what it is worth, Suzanne and I are both under 45, the children are 11, 13, and 15, and our family income is in the top 5%, if not 1% of Canadian families. We can buy whatever we like, and if GM doesn't shape up, it won't be long before whatever we like is not a GM product. We have been driving the Reatta now for a few weeks. While it doesn't run perfectly, and there are some quirks / issues to work out, we are enjoying it, and the first tank of city driving showed a significant improvement in fuel consumption compared to the Rainier. If I recall, it was about 18 mpIg. If nothing else, with Suzanne driving it to work, she is getting used to the idea of driving without the ride height of an SUV, so getting her into a newer car may become easier.

Well, aside from all the other good ideas, when I built the oversize double garage here, I had them fashion an anchor embedded into the concrete. This allows a come-along to be connected if there is a car to pull in. The garage is on the alley, so there is an incline to get it into the garage, so having some mechanical advantage is handy. If cost is an issue, there are some things that can be done in stages, such as insulation.

Thanks Paul. I guess about 1100 or so miles total. Some days it is tough being about 450 miles from the nearest BCA event. The solution is to create your own event.

I love the Gull Gray Roadmaster at about 1:28. As to the question of can it be done, I wonder how many different '54s have been registered at national meets over the last 5 or 10 years. That may give an idea about how many have been actively shown by BCA members in recent history. Of course, generating additional interest can wind up in some additional unexpected ones. Then again, MrEarl could step up to the plate and bring about 10% of the goal himself....

Photos from Sunday. We finished the day at one of the local cruise nights. One local BCA member joined us for the entire weekend with his '52 Custom (Canadian version of Special). Another joined us Saturday morning with his '38 McLaughlin-Buick. Another member, who I'd not had the pleasure to previously meet, joined us for lunch on Sunday. He is nearing completion of a restoration on a '36 40 series car. At the cruise night we met a '66 Wildcat convertible and its owner. That made for a photo opportunity and some good conversation. The cars lined up left to right are Donna's '84 Riviera T-type, Suzanne's '88 Reatta, John's 1938 41, El's '52 Custom, Frank's '96 Roadmaster Estate Wagon, and Fred's '69 Sportwagon. The other crew photo is on arrival at Lower Fort Garry and includes everyone along at that point except me (taking the photo).

Well, I don't want to spoil everything since my daughter is putting together an article to submit for the Bugle and the Gopher State's Porthole. We had seven visitors from MN this weekend in four cars (three Buicks and one other). On Saturday, we took in a local museum in St. Pierre-Jolys. We were told about the maple syrup process as they tap about 200 trees throughout the town. There was a pioneer log frame home on site and the main museum was a former convent. Following this, we drove to Steinbach where we visited the Mennonite Heritage Village. After having a traditional lunch (ask Paul about the vereniki), we toured the grounds. I did see some bags of flour leaving the gift shop - they grind it on site via the windmill. To kill some time, we went to a hobby shop in a Benjamin Moore paint store with a significant collection of die cast automobiles. They also have games there, and Suzanne made a substantial purchase. Joseph found an AMT '66 Wildcat and Paul helped by finding a can of paint that closely matches our Wildcat...why do so many want to spend my money? Then it was back to Winnipeg to check into the hotel. I dropped the family at home so the dogs got some free time and returned to have supper with our guests. We went to a buffet and all ate and we chatted for a while. Sunday morning had us travel north from Winnipeg to first visit Lower Fort Garry, a former Hudson Bay Company fur trading post. It is a significant collection of stone building. Staff in period attire set the scene of 1851 for us. From there, we crossed the St. Andrews Lock and Dam to have lunch at the Half Moon drive in. After lunch, we took the opportunity to drive the cars down to the banks of the Red River for a photo opportunity with the lock and dam in the background. The St. Andrews Lock and Dam was constructed in 1909 and is one of the largest curtain dams in the world. After lunch we drove to Selkirk to visit the Marine Museum of Manitoba. At one time, there was significant shipping on Lake Winnipeg and the Red River, as well as government vessels and dance / party boats. Included in the photos is one of the diesel engines retrofitted to the CGS Bradbury. It was originally a steam powered ice breaker. The diesel engines are 5 cylinder Kalenburg making 250 hp and weighing 20 tons. Here are some photos from the event.

According to the Standard Catalog of Buick, the Wildcat GS was available on coupe or convertible, standard or Custom trim and included chrome-plated air cleaner, cast aluminum rocker arm covers, dual exhaust, HD front & rear suspension, positive traction axle and GS identification plates front and rear. I would need to check additional information and photos as to where the badging went. It seems to me the front GS badge is in the grill since there is no fender ornamentation generally. It seems to me GS was placed under the Wildcat on the quarter panels and / or trunk lid, but that is strictly from a foggy memory.

I'm not sure I can take the pressure...I was thinking about a comfortable drive in something with A/C and my '54 doesn't fit that bill. Besides, that would make two nationals in a row that the car I owned that attended was a '54...the others might get jealous. Step at a time right now...keeping busy...need to figure some things out before making a decision.

It sounds like someone is having altogether too much fun. Congrats Mark.

Congrats Alex. I hope it is a good car for you and that you get to enjoy it for a long time.

Had more to do with impatience getting someone to take a photo of me at Cheers drinking beer from a Cheers mug. BTW, George Wendt has been here this summer playing a woman in a production of Hairspray. I was going through photos a bit this week too...it seems so long ago in some respects. Oh well, only 2 weeks until I see some BCAers from MN, so life is good. Bugle and roster arrived today, so while folks ought not confuse me with an optimist, the glass is half full. Oh, and I've been driving a Reatta around this week as we finally got it home on Monday.

Another photo....

Canada used Imperial measurements into the 70s, so if Pete didn't get it, then it would either have to be an export car (X on the model) or were there any overseas plants back in '55?

Not sure I could take that...now steak and eggs for breakfast is a different story altogether.

Mmmm...beer....

Congrats Doug. Remember - a wedding is a day, a marriage is a lifetime. Keep that in mind and you can't go wrong. Of course, the other recommendation is to ensure the word "divorce" is removed from your vocabulary. I feel for the springs on the GS...it was pretty loaded down with humanity there.

I guess maybe not...it is mentioned here. There is also here - the "after" link is still with the old white top. Unfortunately, mine has developed an issue with reverse (clutch pack) in the dual path transmission, so it has been sitting for a while. I have a rebuild kit for the tranny, but haven't been able to get it loaded up and to a transmission shop yet...the way this summer is going, it may need to wait until next spring.

You found out before I did Paul, making you "not last". What I want to know is why this product never seems to find its way to national meets....

Love it. I'm almost crying though when you imply I could have seen it in person in Danvers. This wagon is almost the epitome of a great car. Having cargo capacity, it is practical, with the V6, it is unusual for the era and quite fuel efficient (granted the 215 was as well), and it is a model so rarely seen that you are always going to attract attention. Good luck with it. If you search the Me and My Buick forum, I believe there is an older thread detailing my '62 Special convertible. If I can make the time, I'll see if I can find it and link it in for you.

Caribou - the general wisdom I've encountered suggests to look after mechanical before looking at body / interior. The primary exception to that is when taking everything apart for a body off restoration as everything gets done more or less at once. For the seats have you tried Meguiars Vinyl & Rubber cleaner? It made a huge difference on the white and red seats in my '62...they aren't perfect, but did get quite a bit better. The only thing is that they felt more slippery for a while after cleaning with it. Good luck.

Great car...much more solid than my '52. It's a shame about it breaking down en route, but I'm sure you'll get everything going again before long. The Dynaflow was optional on the Special.

reatta1991 - your points 2 and (to a degree) 4 are no different with an electronic version than a hard copy. Nothing is stopping me from giving away copies of the Bugle, and has been noted, many do, not necessarily to circumvent BCA membership, but to places where they will be appreciated. At the doctor's office, when you have choice of a year old copy of SI, a 2 year old copy of Field & Stream, and a 6 month old copy of Time, wouldn't you be interested in something relatively timeless like a car magazine? To my knowledge, there is no stopping a paid membership / subscription until it runs out. I could see if a single member moves or passes away and the mail starts getting returned, but if you *gasp* sell your Buick(s) (what is that like anyway?) I'm not aware that there is a provision for stopping membership and getting a pro-rated return. Of course, I could be wrong on that. One alternative, that I don't recall if it has been discussed, would be that since the timing is really about the classified ads, that they be made available electronically to any members who want, while waiting for the hard copy Bugle to arrive. That eliminates the issue of international members looking for something not being aware of the ads until after a deal may already have been made. Most people on the paper / electronic argument still want the hard copy, unless there is a reduction in costs associated with foregoing the paper version. As I stated earlier, I had trouble with receiving the electronic version...so much has been put online to block spam / mass mailings that I wasn't getting it...it wasn't the size as the national office could send it to me fine if I asked and they e-mailed it to just me. From that perspective at least, some sort of hosted solution would be nice, although it would be nice to have an option to download an electronic version for when one is off-line (yes, that still happens). Just a few more thoughts from north of 49.

Good luck Hector. There are a few '56 owners and aficionados here. I understand there were some improvements to the Nailhead engine from prior years.