MCHinson

The small series still had wooden framed bodies in 1936. The large series still had wooden framed bodies in 1937 too. The small series body was all metal in 1937 and the large series body was all metal in 1938.

There are different types of tours and different clubs tend to do things differently. For example, on 36-38 Buick Club tours the groups on the tour are smaller and all of the cars are similar and people all tend to stay together in a group and go everywhere together as a group. Only the lead car driver really needs to know the route because everybody else just follows along. At the venues, everybody stays until the slowest one is finished and then all go on to the next venue as a group. That took me a while to get used to since I was used to AACA touring. In AACA Touring, everybody has a set of directions. Everybody is encouraged to go on your own at your own pace. In my experience, there are multiple purposes or benefits of touring. First is to enjoy the drive or ride in your car on a scenic route. The route is not expected to be a race from point A to point B. It is a drive to be enjoyed. Second, is to enjoy what the various venues have to offer. Third, is to enjoy meeting old friends and enjoying time together at venues and at meals. And last, to enjoy time with both old and new friend back at the host hotel. Many conversations, happen in the hotel lobby, around the pool, in the parking lot looking at cars, while tinkering on cars, and while just admiring the various cars that others brought to the tour. The social aspect of the tour, both formal and informal cannot be overstated.

With the economy being what it is at the moment, I think that 10-20% reduction on just about any non-mandatory purchase is probably to be expected. The prices on Prewar cars is certainly down a bit, but that 1938 Buick sale price was influenced by the poor condition of the interior and the clearly visible modifications and repairs that are obvious that have been neglected over a significant period of time. The exterior photos look nice, but as soon as you look closely at the other photos, you will see many problems with that particular car.

On the 2008 Sentimental Tour, I received the youngest driver award and I was also driving the oldest car on the tour. I was driving a 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton. The Sentimental Tour is open to cars from 1928 to 1958. I had a great time on the tour, although the 90 plus degree weather was a bit hot for a guy in a Model A Ford. My wife's disability has progressed to the point that I have not been able to tour as much as I would like in recent years. As the folks that do a lot of touring tend to get older, a lot of them no longer want to trailer their cars so many of them are buying "newer" antique cars that they can drive to tour locations and then tour with. In my experience, most of the AACA touring enthusiasts have a great time together, no matter what year of cars they are driving. They are friendly and I have never felt like the year of car that I was driving was a problem. I have hosted a couple of AACA tours as well as some 36-38 Buick Club tours. The last AACA tour that I hosted was probably my last tour that I hosted that will be open to all ages of cars. Our local traffic has just become too congested for some of the older less powerful cars to enjoy driving in this area. We had one very early Buick on the last AACA tour that I hosted and the driver told me that there were two points on the tour that they did not enjoy. One was a metal bridge grating that was not very well suited to their skinny tires, and one was a highway ramp that was difficult to get a break in traffic at their slow speeds. Both of those roadway elements were unavoidable in the tour planning, being in a small coastal county located between a river and a beach. I think that the traffic in some areas might be a problem for some years of car, and that might make people uncomfortable, but the spread of the years of cars on a particular tour should not really be that much of a problem, as long as the tour routes are chosen to be appropriate for the earlier cars. I think that if early car driver's don't enjoy a tour, it is not because of newer cars participating but that the routes were not designed properly for those early cars.

If you looked closely at the interior photos, the steering wheel, and a few other photos, you will see why that car sold that cheaply. It was a decent deal, but my estimate is that the buyer will have about $20,000 total in the car if they want to make the interior look any where as good as that exterior photo makes the car appear. For further discussion of that car's condition check out:

The 37 is the same. Simply pull down on the outer edge of the metal ring to pop it off. A small thin tool inserted under the outer edge of the metal ring makes it easy to pull it off.

I owned a number of 1979-1985 Rivieras as daily drivers. In 1986, I bought one of the new downsized Rivieras. While it was totally different from the earlier Rivieras, I loved it. I have always been a bit of a technology geek, so I really liked the 1986 Riviera with its Graphic Control Center. The technology was many years ahead of its time. Unfortunately, Buick had not really perfected the technology for the Graphic Control Center before the 1986 rollout. While the car was under warranty, Buick replaced the Graphic Control Center CRT 3 times. At the time I was told that the CRT was a $2000 part. As a young police officer, I could not afford to own the car out of warranty, so before the warranty ran out, I traded the car in on a Park Avenue Coupe. That was a nice car too, but I did enjoy the 1986 Riviera enough that I have bought a few similar ones over the years. The ones that I have found in the past couple of decades were both well worn 1989 models. I fixed both of them up a bit and sold them because they were just not in good enough condition for me to be happy with them long term. The later rear end sheet metal made the car look perhaps better than the 1986's vertical tail section, but I still sort of like the 1986/87 rear end styling too. Recently I have tried to find a 1986 Riviera in good condition, but they are very difficult to find these days. I have made a verbal deal to buy one with about 55,000 miles, that is not currently running, but the jury is still out on if the owner will be able to actually deliver the car as promised. Hopefully, one way or the other, I will own one again soon.

I can try to check my 1937 tomorrow, but what I checked was a spare 1938 dome light assembly that I think is the same. You don't pull down on the plastic. Pull down gently on the outside of the metal trim ring and the entire plastic lens and metal trim ring should pull off as it is just a friction fit that holds it in place. (The plastic and metal trim ring don't need to be separated, they come off together.)

It ended at $12,877. With the cost to redo the interior, and make the other clearly needed repairs, I think it sold for about what it is worth. Assuming the buyer is close by and does not spend too much to ship it, they will have a decent 1938 Century for somewhere around $20,000.

Yes, that is a 1937 Buick.

I suspect that auction will end at a much higher price than what it is at currently. Personally, I don't like the sealed beam conversion. These cars just don't look right to me without the original headlight lenses. I also dislike the incorrect (and bent) external antenna. The interior looks rough. The steering wheel is rough and missing the horn ring. If they added an external horn button instead of repairing the original one, I wonder what else has been poorly maintained. If someone wants a good driver quality Buick Sedan of this era, I have a 1937 Century that is a great driver with a much nicer interior than that one but has a an old lacquer paint job that makes it a 10 footer or 20 footer that I am interested in passing along to another hobbyist since I don't drive it that often now that I also own a 1937 Buick Roadmaster Convertible Phaeton.

Keep posting and you will soon have sufficient posts that you can then send private messages. Until then, you can publicly comment on another member's post(s) to tell them what you want to tell them.

I think the 1937 and 1938 are the same. I just checked an extra one that I had left over from a 1938 restoration and confirmed that you simply pull down on the metal ring around the plastic lens. A small screwdriver or hook like tool should work. The metal ring is a friction fit on the lamp assembly. The ring and lens simply pull away from the assembly, no need to turn it.

Sorry for your loss.

That is the frame number of your car. Another name for it would be the serial number. Back in the day, some cars were titled with the frame number and some were titled with the engine number. Your title should have one of those two numbers.

The 2023 Fall Rummage Box is now online: https://aaca.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023_Fall_Rummage_Box.pdf

Sorry, but I can't help. I am no longer a moderator.

I seldom think about updating this thread but in the past month, I drove the 80C to our local Cars and Coffee, a display at a local retirement home, a car show in Carolina Beach, about a 40 mile round trip, another car show which was a little bit over a 20 mile round trip, and yesterday a car show in Downtown Southport NC, along the Cape Fear River, which was about a 60 mile round trip.

Yesterday, I drove about 60 miles round trip to a car show in Southport NC.

https://www.businessinsider.com/auto-executives-coming-clean-evs-arent-working-2023-10

I personally prefer 4 doors but that one does appear to be in very nice condition. For some reason, that body style is highly sought by some people. I think his asking price is a little bit high, but I expect that he will get closer to his asking price for that particular body style in California than you think.

Wayne, I don't know if I can suggest a quick fix, but I do have an idea about how to combat that sort of thing... it just takes time. For the short term, I would see if another current officer was willing to step up and be President, perhaps obtainable if the current President was willing to serve as Vice President for a year to support them. Maybe not ideal for the current President, but probably better than seeing the club fold. Our Chapter is active. The important thing is that you need to attract new members constantly. We have members who attend the local Cars and Coffee and other local non-AACA car club shows and typically sign up a new member or more every month. That keeps new blood coming into the Chapter. Driving your old cars, and being willing to speak to other potential new members about their car and about AACA, and having a packet of the forms needed to sign up a new member available when you "sell" them on joining, makes it easy to sign up new members. The second part of the issue that you are bringing up is a bit more difficult but still can be improved if you have a plan in place. What officers does your Region or Chapter have? In our Chapter, we have an executive board that is comprised of the Elected President, Elected Vice President, Elected Secretary, Elected Treasurer, Elected Member at Large, and the Ex-Officio, who is the immediate Past President. Having the Ex-officio on the board helps with continuity from year to year, in case of a large number of new board members happen to be nominated and elected in a particular year. The real key to long term sucession planning is the Member at Large position. For that position, the nominating committee typically trys to seek out a relatively new member who has shown himself or herself to be enthusiastic about the Club. In a perfect world, the Member at Large has been in the club a year or two when approached to run for the position. In addition to being on the board and taking part in other board decisions, the primary "job" of the member at large position is to sell 50/50 tickets at our club meeetings. This gets the Member at Large exposure to all of the club members. He or she gets to know the members through selling them tickets every month. After a year or two as Member at Large, it is often easy to get that individual to consider running for Secretary or Treasurer, and then perhaps in another year or two, they can likely run for Vice President or President. It does not always work out that way, but that is the general idea of developing members to run for leadership positions in a local club. Having one person be President for more than about 2 years is typically a warning sign that the club has become stagnant. It is time to get some new blood into the leadership, but you have to develop your members so that they feel comfortable in being a leader. You are unlikely to find a new member who wants to jump into being a President or Vice President of a club shortly after they become a member, and it would probably not be a good thing if you could.

You asked this question yesterday in a different forum. Here is what I replied to that post... Remove the screws to remove the garnish moulding around the window. You will then have to search for the small screws holding the window assembly in the opening. Remove those screws and the assembly can be lifted out. if you search the forum for Gary Wheeler's 1937 Buick restoration story or my 1938 Buick Century restoration story, you will be able to find photos and more description that will help. It has been a few years since I did the 1938, so Gary's story or mine will be more reliable to help you locate where the screws are than my memory will be.

Remove the screws to remove the garnish moulding around the window. You will then have to search for the small screws holding the window assembly in the opening. Remove those screws and the assembly can be lifted out. if you search the forum for Gary Wheeler's 1937 Buick restoration story or my 1938 Buick Century restoration story, you will be able to find photos and more description that will help. It has been a few years since I did the 1938, so Gary's story or mine will be more reliable to help you locate where the screws are than my memory will be.

The 37-38 Buick Club folded in 2006. The 36-38 Buick Club was formed by some of the members of the former 37-38 Buick Club in 2008. If you have not seen the Torque Tube II, newsletter of the 36-38 Buick Club, you have missed a good opportunity to learn quite a bit about your 248 engine that you are rebuilding. You should also check out Gary Wheeler's 1937 Buick Special restoration story here on the AACA discussion forum. It gives you basically a step by step guide with photos of how to rebuild that engine. If you send me a private message with your email address, I will be happy to email you a sample .pdf copy of a recent Torque Tube II.