60FlatTop

http://soundbible.com/480-Kids-Cheering.html Cheers, you did good. Bernie

I drove a Holiday 88 for my daily driver in the early 1990's. It had the Super 88 engine and what a great car to drive. Fast, smooth, and friendly to the driver. I fixed the cold grumpy's by using a 1970's vintage electric choke element from a junkyard Chevy. I wired it to the hot side of the ignition resistor block. I used to tell the people who new those cars that I could park the car across the street from a bank the night before, rob it the next morning, and still get away on a cold start. What a nice car they are. Mine may still be floating around Buffalo; turquoise and white with a '56 Buick bumper on the rear. Bernie

Here is an example of 1924 Packard folding seats that are somewhat similar. Judging from the narrow door opening and the lack of a transmission hump, this is the vintage. Yours maybe be newer, 1934-1938. Good luck. I like your charity. Bernie

I don't see much comment. I can tell you that I have a 2005 Silverado with unequal length A arm front suspension that rides great. Chevy changed to coil over front suspension on the trucks shortly after and I can feel a harshness in the newer ones. They aren't as smooth as mine. In fact, if I buy a new Chevy, I will go for one with torsion bars instead. That original suspension on the Buick is much more technically advanced that the coil overs. I wouldn't mess up the Buick if it just needs service. And my other coil sprung, arm arm cars ride nice. Bernie

I have a bunch of bolts in a drawer that I use for alignment pins. They are just 4" bolts of varying sizes with the heads cut off and a screw driver slot cut across the end with a hacksaw. They come in handy for all kinds of jobs. We used a couple when we put the rear end back in my '60. Bernie

When my son was little he opened my dresser drawer, looked for a few seconds and exclaimed "Gee, Daddy you have more socks than you have cars!" I don't have any of those socks, but I still have one of the cars. Bernie

Thanks for that build page. It makes me feel ambitious. I have always had a soft spot between the ears for the Stutz Blackhawks of the '70's and intrigued by the late model split windshield conversions. If I had not already purchased a new windshield for my '64 Riviera I may have gone that route. I bought the Packard instead and got the split windshield and the dead silent flathead straight eight as part of the package. We'll see. Bernie

Take a handful of these guys with you and look for this response: Bernie

I have a nice pneumatic draftsman's chair next to my work bench where I just sit and enjoy looking at my cars. And a folding arm chair that I put next to the overhead door. It sure would be a crumby view if the cars were covered. Bernie

Must be Italian. The numbers are Roman. Bernie

Starting with a compression reading is step one of a scientific diagnosis. I just looked up at the Mcgraw-Hill mechanic books my mother helped me buy when I was 11. It says to do that first. There is a specific itemized sequence that works great for me. "ridiculous internet diagnosis"? That was the reason I quit reading Greek mythology around the year 2000. Like #7. Bernie

I didn't see the compression readings. Bernie

In the jacking process could you have accidentally put pressure on the bottom of the oil pan? Those pans and 350 Buick pans are pretty shallow. A little oil canning and a throw could be bumping inside. With the car running and properly supported you can use two hammers to tap the both sides of the pan at the same time. As they say in the big company board rooms; we don't need to dwell on how we got here, this is our plan to move forward. Bernie

Are there any build pictures of the Blackhawk body? Every time I see it I keep thinking 1995 Riviera. Bernie

There is an old car saying that I remember from the late '50's or early '60's- "The French copy no one..... and no one copies the French." Bernie

5 PM and these two just got put away until tomorrow. No hiccups, burps, farts, or offense actions. Bernie

That's going to keep a smile on my face all day. THEY don't know any better. And how many of us will be looking at cars for sale online today? There is only one qualification for me to buy a car- I desperately want it, can't live without it, and have have it NOW. I have never NOT overpaid for a car. But I have usually sold the ones I paid the least for. Sickness, sickness, sickness. Bernie

Of all the things I tried to teach my wife, it seems like the only thing she got was the term "buying work". Recently we were talking about the Packard I bought last year and she said "you haven't bought any work in a long time." And even that one was a hand off of work in progress. It is all hundreds of $100 jobs and a place to keep it. The key indicator is that nothing ran the bell for you. If you come home with heart palpitations and start emptying the cash from coffee cans you know you found something great. To be able to sit down and write objectively about what you saw and ask the forum......... you know they are a bunch of duds. What if you spend your money and something really great comes along next week? I have three secret cars that I've never mentioned for 10-15 years. Just breathing the names might jog someone's memory. I followed up on one last year with the proverbial $10,000 in hand. The car hobby is transitioning. Each passing of an old timer is going to leave a pool of cars like that, lots of them. The young people whom might have the interest in old cars don't have the money. The ones whom do have money are investing in their future, not our past. There are going to be increasing numbers of good deals, enough to make the real car guys, like us, some great buys. The cars mentioned, stop back in a couple of years and make a decent offer on the Buick sedan. If you buy the sedan that's one less competitor for the convertible I hope to find. Bernie

Although I haven't done the job many times, it is a good idea to RTV or Leak Lock the threads four bolts that are tapped into the water jacket. And I use 4 to 6 fine threads through the oil pan bolt holes to keep the gasket in place while I navigate it. They can stay. They don't hurt anything. Bernie

Tuesday marked 100 traffic deaths in Minnesota for 2015, and those were adult drivers. It's amazing the risk a kid will take when they don't know how dangerous adult drivers are. I probably sat on my Dad's lap and steered when I was 6, but I was 12 before I drove my own car around the back yard (key phrase: my own). Bernie

A faulty thermostat, soft lower radiator hose, or timing issues can cause that. A good plan would be to check all the home repair items; then take it for and exhaust gas sniff. I remember you had a brake issue a while back. Dragging brakes could make those symptoms happen. I knew of one old Caddy that used to boil its transmission fluid and mysteriously spit it all over the engine. The owner was at a cruise in one night and went back to his car to pull the brake pedal up by hand so the brake lights wouldn't stay on. I had to go to confession because of my comments, Irish, you know. Bernie

Cavity creep would be a Newtonian effect in the accumulator causing an equal and opposite reaction; probably the accumulator check valve. You could try sinking your teeth into that. Bernie

Please consider the source. My signature picture was taken by my only son as I approached him at 60 MPH, on a dirt road, with biased tires. I'm pretty sure I was wearing neither a belt or suspenders, certainly not both. As I age 10,000 thoughts get triggered from comments; sometimes they are entertaining. Bernie

That shielded wire could be a life saver when those boys at Fort Drum practice without a ground spotter. Bernie

I am with John on the gauges. My '60 had three on it when I bought it. I took them out. I installed three under the hood of the convertible to keep an eye on the fresh engine. I am satisfied and they will probably be removed this summer. My Riviera has a temperature gauge tie wrapped to the air conditioning line. Somewhere around the turn of the century the hot light would come on. It's a test gauge and the sensor was bad. I gotta pick up a new sensor one of these days. I don't think the term "idiot lights" refers to the lights themselves. Think about the response to a gauge indication that suddenly goes out of proper operating range; what thought will it trigger? "Oh! I'm three quarts low. I thought there were less mosquitoes this year. Or jeez, I should have replaced that 50 year old oil filter hose." Then there is "Damn, time flies. I really put those new heater hoses on in 1990?" or "I knew that fan blade shouldn't wiggle that much." True quote "once it made a horrible noise when I had to brake hard. You mean I need a radiator AND new motor mounts!"; That little bypass hose ruined the whole vacation." Then there was the Griswald's Rolls-Royce that pegged the ammeter every time the brakes were applied. Can't have too many extra tail and brake lights. Idiot lights come on too late and gauges deviate to remind one of what they forgot to do. On a dashboard under normal driving they are pretty much a throwback to the 1950's when they built cars for ALL the ex-pilots from WWII. Now there's opinion the gauge maker ain't gonna like. But anything they tell you really should be predictable. And even my wife knew Navy planes didn't run on steam. Bernie