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We attended a local car show at a retirement center. A bunch of our Inland Northwest Chapter folks with their blue national meet t-shirts were there. We drove our '60 Invicta and Jerry drove his '50 Super Riviera, Grant drove his '31 Model 67 and Jim drove his '36 Century sedan. It was a nice day for a car show.

JohnD1956, It was a pleasure to have you and all of the BCA attendees at the 50th National Meet in Spokane Valley! I followed you all the way to the Pacific, then all the way across country to the Empire State! What a thrill that was! It was good to have you on the judging team for the 1948s-1956s! We sat at the same table for lunch afterward and you told me some specific things about '56s under the hood! I was grateful for your input! Lee the Spokanite

It's been a long time, but I'm back! I'm serving on the steering committee for the 2023 BCA Nationals in Spokane. We are well into the process of preparing for the meet to be held at the MirabeauPark Hotel and Convention Center on July 12-15, 2023. All of the information about registering and hotel reservations are in the Bugle. July is a great summer month in Spokane. Getting here from North, South, East or West is always a joy because there is so much to look at. Our chapter has members from as far west as the Columbia River, as far south as Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities, and Lewiston, and into Idaho on the east. We have a member that lives just north of the boundary in Canada. Our regional chapter friends from the Puget Sound, North Cascades and Portland area are going to be really helpful as we put this all together. Local car clubs are about as excited as we are to host this once-in-a-lifetime event! Just getting here is part of the fun!

We took our '60 Invicta our for a drive around the south side of the city this afternoon. A nice summer afternoon and a great time to take a ride. We simply enjoy our '60, and have for years. :

I started and drove my '60 yesterday, got it warmed up good. It ran fine, and I ran out of time to do much. This afternoon, I washed it and waxed both the body and the chrome. Have to admit that it looks good. Beautiful day here in eastern Washington, but the Ponderosa Pine trees are starting to pollinate...that means depending on how much yellow dust we have, how much I'll just have to wait to do it again. That's ok...

Letmesee... '41 Special four door, '53 Special two door sedan, '60 Invicta, '73 Century two door, '77 Century Custom, '81 Skylark Custom 4 door, '83 Skylark Custom Coupe, '87 Park Avenue, '90 Regal coupe, '01 LeSabre, '06 Lucerne CXL, and a '13 Enclave. I did not mention the '79 Opel Isuzu for some reason or another...

Looking at the frame of the vent window and the crest, I think it's a '59 or '60 Mercury. That's not the vent frame of a '59-'60 GM brand, IMHO.

Our '13 Enclave was one of the cars in the display only parking area. We parked in our designated row, and it was simply there for folks to look at. I've been a member of the BCA since '73 and made it to two meets, Bellevue and Portland. I enjoy seeing the Buicks that people bring, especially '70 and earlier years. The Bugle is top notch, full color throughout, great color, crossovers on pages fit, and I told Pete Phillips how I felt. I'll simply continue to be around...I'm a Buick man.

It's amazing how you can make people laugh starting a Buick that's '60 or earlier. When I got my '60, I had to push way down on the gas to engage the starter. I took the switch apart and the piston has a place for shims inside. I had to make some shims and made it so that the starter would engage earlier on the pedal travel. The system works well. I'm not sure, but I think Packard the same idea for a while.

Man Alive, I've been reading and posting once in a while, and never introduced myself! I'm Lee, and I have a '60 Invicta 4-door hardtop, Cordovan over Tahitian Beige, a 2006 Lucerne CXL that's my wife's daily driver, and a 2013 Enclave that I displayed at the National in Portland a few weeks ago. I've been a member of the BCA since late 1972 or early 1973. I have an associate degree in auto mechanics from 1968. Worked as a pressman in printing for 38 years, and am now retired. I live in eastern Washington, and enjoy the BCA Bugle and this forum. I appreciate all that those who volunteer their time and talent to make the BCA what it is!

I thoroughly enjoyed logging on and following you along on your trip from the National Meet in Portland! Thanks for sharing your commentary, your pictures, and be assured that many of us enjoyed just riding along "in the back seat" and enjoying the sights! LeeB BCA 2204

Thank you for the link, Ed! I wonder if it could be a sequential number of some sort...just guessing.

Saturday, I took my '60 out for a drive and was reading about engine production codes. It's easy to find them on the 401, and mine is clean enough to read. The motor number matches the VIN number of the car, and that's a good thing. The engine production code reads: "4G I (or 1)03020. Just curious if it means anything significant. So I guess it could read 4GI03020 or 4G103020. It's a Kansas City built Buick, I know that to be true, and it was sold new in Pendleton, Oregon. I gave the original license plate frames to the Centurion, he's riden in this '60. I enjoy reading this forum, the stories and tech advice is great!

I appreciate RivNut's post on the operation of the torque converter in the Dynaflow/Turbine Drive Buicks. It's simply true that when they are in Drive, there is a direct clutch that locks the planetary gearset in the transmission in direct drive, and the torque converter takes care of the drive. In Low Range, the low "front" band is applied to a unit in the planetary gearset that creates a reduction. In Reverse, the reverse "rear" band is applied to a different unit in the planetary gearset causing the output shaft to rotate in the opposite direction of drive/low. I went to auto mechanics school 45+ years ago, but only worked in the trade about five months. I spent the rest of my working life in the offset printing industry. I'm always careful about placing my '60 Invicta in low or reverse on fast idle. It's really tough on the anchors of the low and reverse bands. Drive is a multiplate clutch pack, it stops the planetary transmission unit. You may notice a whine at twenty or so miles per hour, that is the planetary gearset in the torque converter which is different from the one in the transmission. It was used to increase the pickup from a stop and began in about 1953. It speeded up the pump significantly for quicker getaway from the stop lights. My '53 Special whined just like my '60 Invicta does. That's a normal occurrence. Just my two cents worth. I'll be in Portland next summer! See You There!

My heartfelt condolences Brian in the loss of your father. I'm thankful that he was able to be with you at the centennial celebration of Baker City Motors. Thank you for posting the pictures of the local businesses, and I'm thankful that your Centurion performed so well on your trip to eastern Oregon and back home again.

Brian, what a great group of pictures from the Baker City Celebration! Thanks for posting these, it must have been a great time for everyone involved!

We had a neighbor that bought a new '64 Wildcat four door hardtop with the 425/340 horsepower engine. It had the new Super Turbine 400 three speed transmission. I believe the two speed was called the Super Turbine 300.

Welcome aboard Dave, just checked my email and there was Centurion's heads up. Winter seems to have pretty much missed us here in the inland northwest this year! Last year we had a record near 100 inches of snow, this year less than 13 at a half an inch at a time! Looks like you have a Invicta with great possibilities! Keep us posted as to what's happening! LeeB

It was in August of 1963 and it was my folks '49 Buick Super model 51, or a 4 door sedan. Passed the first time!

My dad was from Bloomington Indiana. He ended up at Geiger Field after WWII began just west of Spokane, met my mother and the rest is family. He was a construction engineer in an aviation battalion in the Aleutians and later in Okinawa, Saipan and Tinian. After the war, dad worked construction for a while, then went to work for a Buick dealer in a small farming community in eastern Washington. He worked as a Buick mechanic from '48 to '57. I learned to love Buicks because of my dad, we always had one. Jump to '68, I was drafted, went to Vietnam as a groundpounder, somehow made it back home in one piece. My best buddy was from a place called the Bronx. He still lives there, not far from Westchester Bay. We've been there twice. Up I-95 to Connecticut, Rhode Island and the Narragansett Bridge, Newport, Westerly. Stood in the plaza at the World Trade Center and looked up with my mouth hanging open like any tourist would do... Next trip up to Vermont and New Hampshire in the fall,what beautiful colors... on to Montreal and Ottawa, back to the states, crossed at Cornwall, Malone, Lake Placid, down the interstate past Albany and over to the parkway past places like Mount Kisko and Pawling coming back to the "city". They've been west twice, the Oregon Coast, Washington Coast and Cascades, Canadian Rockies. Wherever we went, we were always looking for old Buicks. Saw one in Vietnam in '69, it was a '55 Special two door sedan black and red, in a little handmade hooch on highway 15 between Bien Hoa and Phuoc Le....couldn't believe my eyes. Saw a beautiful blue '37 four door on the street going to the Circular Quay from the Hotel Sydney in Sydney Australia when I was there in '69 on R'n R... oh those Buicks...it's fun to travel and watch for 'em, where ever you are!

I had to take the hoses off of the pump on my '60 to pull the intake manifold and replace the soft plug on the underside of the manifold. After getting everything together, I've had to try and find out where the leak is in the connections on the backside of the pump. Is there an o-ring inside the hose connection on the pressure side where the hose screws on? Maybe I should replace the low side hose and clamps, they look to be really old. Just wonderin' where I should start since fall's a comin'. Thanks. LeeB

I received my Bugle yesterday as well, Centurion. Enjoyed all of the Bugle, had to take it to work to show everyone that our '60 was there. The full color pages, the great articles, and the way it's layed out make it the fine magazine that it is. Always look forward to the Bugle. LeeB

We just finished a trip in our Lucerne V6 of 1023 miles. We drove to Long Beach on the Washington coast via White Pass and down to Cannon Beach and Tillamook Oregon. It was a short vacation that brought us back home through Portland and up the Columbia and back to eastern Washington. Lots of short trip driving and sightseeing, etc. Our best mileage I think was our fastest from the Dalles Oregon to Spokane. As soon as we crossed the Columbia, I drove a touch over 70 and still got 27.7. Our trunk was full as usual. It's a fine car for trips like we took last week. LeeB

I've had my new May Bugle for a couple of days now, and I agree, it's top notch! The new four color section adds a lot to an already great publication. LeeB

We bought our Lucerne in March of 06. It's a great car. My wife drives it most of the time. Only had two problems with it, one was the passenger air bag warning light came on and the dealer fixed that, and there was an issue with the rack and pinion steering that was fixed as well. Our Lucerne is a CXL and has been from the Oregon Coast to the Canadian Rockies. I love to drive the car on long trips, it's a comfortable traveler. I think the mileage on our '02 LeSabre was just a touch better overall, but the Lucerne has a better drive to it, it's tighter to the road. Ours has about 16000 miles on it. I'd get another one when the time comes. LeeB