Fred Zwicker

In stripping the the deck lid of my 1954 Buick Special 2dr. Hard Top, came upon this small flat clip that is about 1/2" wde x about 1" long (estimated). It seems to be held in place with 2 small bolts, or possibly the 2 small hex nuts attached to the bolts are to hold something in place. There are four (4) of these on the underside of the deck lid at the perimeter - one on each side and two equally spaced on the rear of the trunk (near rear bumper). One theory is that these clips are to hold the gasket in place, but gasket seemed to be glued in place when it was removed. Any ideas? Pictures attached. Fred

There appear to be two different trunk materials for the 1954 Buicks - Most have the standard rope pattern, but the Roadmaster has a checker type pattern and may be a thicker material, per pictures from Mr. Earl. Yesterday I ordered 3 yards of the rope material for my '54 Buick Special from CARS in NJ and noticed that they listed both types. Attached is a picture taken from from their catalog. Fred

I stopped at Pep Boys yesterday and picked up some of their inexpensive smooth beige carpet (they call it carpet, but it is actually a lightweight backing of sorts) to be used as a backer for the Buick chain-link trunk material. I will paint the spare tire well and bracket in red oxide, as you suggested. Looking at the picture you posted, cannot tell how far into the spare tire well that the material extends. I would think so as not to have a cut edge showing, it would be cut to size and folded back (either glued as the fold-back or sewn?). Would this finished edge be fit to the exact opening (flat), or turned down and into the opening for about an inch or so? Sorry for all the questions, but I am trying to think ahead, as will be working on this area in about a week or two. Fred

I don't know and did the same thing that you did (not enough pictures). Hoping that someone comes up with some help on this. My engine is out for rebuilding, but my chassis is ready, so will need information soon. Fred

Thanks much Mr. Earl, I saved these for future reference and printed copies for our records. Fred

As soon as Mr. Earl sends me the dimensitons and/or pattern for the bumper jack pouch, I intend to make one, as don't want the jack bouncing around between the spare tire and the cardboard. No wonder we cannot find any good original trunk cardboard! Does everyone agree that the edging of the trunk pouch appears to be a medium gray color with a pattern in the bag itself that is undoubtedly no longer available (looking at the picture previously posted). While I still like to go all the way on originality, and as a result, try to prepare for judging, doubt if I will have my '54 Riviera Special 2 dr H.T. judged at any major Buick events, unless something comes up in our area of NE Ohio. We have a car museum at work and display our cars to the public, which is a lot easier to do than hauling a car around in a trailer, or driving many miles for judging. I also drive my cars. I have been driving my 1947 Ford Convertible this spring and this weekend parked that car in our museum and brought home my 1958 Continental 2dr H.T., which I will be driving for a few weeks. Later may be driving my wife's 1957 Buick Super if I can get the brakes to cooperate. The only thing we did not yet check was the vacuum tank, as the car needs something to make it safe to drive. Attached are pictures of her Buick. Fred

Thanks for the ideas Mike, I am at home so can't get a closeup picture until Tuesday, but all I saw on my car was a heavy metal bracket of some type that was at the top right hand side of the tire well - It seemed to be a heavy metal support for the tire to lean against. It was welded into place and seemed to be on a slight angle (not sure if it got bent or if angle is correct, but is all I have to go with). Below is a cropped version of what we are talking about, showing this heavy metal bracket in top yellow square and what appears to be a threaded rod to hold the tire into place. I did not see a spring to hold the longer part of the jack behind the tire, or elsewhere if that is the case. We will be painting this bracket (once we figure out if the correct angle) and the tire mounting stud in primer, or should this stud be black? Is there a small flat bracket that holds against the spare tire at the outside of the spare tire (towards center of trunk), or is the base of the jack used for this? If it has a small flat bracket, mine is missing. If such a part, imagine that it should be black? I see no signs of a spring, which I assume would be on the inside of the spare tire towards fender?? Fred

Great pictures and glad that you posted. I am thinking that I will be ordering the chain link 54 Buick trunk material and glueing it to a lightweight firm fabric backing (eliminates wrinkles and makes it lay nice and flat), installing it and then fitting my beige cardboard trunk lining to see how it fits and looks. If all is OK, I will then paint the cardboard with a satin vinyl paint to try to match the color of the chain link fabric trunk material - probably the color of the links in the fabric, as from my experience, if trying to match, it is always better to be a little on the dark side as light. Lots of help here on something that is probably overlooked by many. Oh by the way, did you cover the spare tire? I assume no pouch for the jack, which I plan on making in as close a match as possible. It will be some time before I get to this, but when I do so, will post plenty of pictures. Attached are two pictures of the trunk area as of last week. Since then, the inside of the trunk area is down to bare metal in most areas, but have about one more day to go on this area. Thanks, Fred

Regarding the jack case, I have the proper sewing/tailoring machines to make up a jack case and think I still have the machine to install the round snap on the cover. So it is not necessary to ship this - but a print of the exact size (or paper pattern) would be a good place for me to start. Looking at the attached pictures (I think Mr. Earl sent these), it looks as if the jack case had a gray (??) vinyl welt edging and black snap. I feel I can duplicate this, except for the pattern in a similar (no pattern) material itself, which is probably vinyl. I have some nuagahyde material at work in some nice tans that might work, but none have a pattern. Even without a pattern, it seems as if a jack case would be a good thing, as opposed to either no jack case, or a worn-out case. Comments will be appreciated. I think the reason that there was no problem with CARS shipping the cardboard trunk kit is that they had to special order the kit from their supplier, so this meant that it was not rolled up in a box for long. Upon receipt I opened it immediately and layed the pieces flat with weights on top. They are now perfectly flat. I imagine CARS does this to save on shipping costs, as UPS now prices most everything "dimensional" and anything oversize is very expensive to ship. Many of us do not realize this and are now getting some "surprises" at the cost of shipping. Not all supplier have figured this out as yet, but will soon do so. The days of inexpensive shipping are fast disappearing. I am not sure of how difficult (or expensive) it might be to have a silk screener duplicate cardboard with the correct pattern for the trunk panels, but I will try to find out, once I receive a sample from Mr. Earl. While Buick did not glue the trunk material on the side trunk panels in 1954, LaSalle did so in 1939, which I was able to duplicate and the trunk interior is one of the highlights of the car. See the finished product in my 3 picturres in one of my earlier posts. So my question is this: If it becomes impossible or impractical to have the cardboard silk screned, which of each choice below would result in a charge (if any) of how many points (?), if trunk cardboard is made of: a) Standard color cardboard as sold to me by CARS (beige), unpainted. (Also was available in brown, but I did not order, so do not know the shade of brown). Standard color cardboard painted to match the trunk carpet material (brown/tan). c) Cardboard sections covered with same rope pattern trunk material as will be used on trunk floor that will be glued without any wrinkles or bubbles, similar to my LaSalle. d) No side cardboard (ouch), or plain carpet in a matching color (eek). e) Any other ideas? I plan to look into silk screening, but doubt if it will be possible or practical at anything close to a reasonable cost. I am doing everything possible to make this car original, as I always do, but seldom show my cars, so sometimes will make a few compromises. The nice think about this is that the side cardboard panels can be changed any time in the future that something better comes along. My car is a 2-door Riviera Special (not a convertible) and the cost factor does not justify putting mega Buick Bucks into the trunk does it? Whatever I do will be done professionally. Fred

Thanks Mr. Earl, Yes, a picture (closeup) of the material on the trunk floor to show the direction of the pattern would be appreciated. I expected that the side panels (cardboard) would be another issue, but if you have a small sample of the original pattern, I may have our artist take a look. If not, will either spray paint per your specs, or cover with more material (not sure which way to go,since neither would be as original). On my '39 LaSalle the entire trunk originally had material out of similar stuff but different pattern. I did the entire job myself and every line of every pattern lines up vertically or horizontally (better than factory I am sure). See pictures (not a Buick, but LaSalle is similar in many ways). After working on this trunk for 2 or 3 weeks, my knees will never be the same! Good news: In my office I have a very large desk and some weights, so placed the curved pieces of the material face down and put weights on top. Within one day it is dead flat - now to see how they fit later. We are now cleaning up the trunk to bare metal - still no rust, other than a small hole at left front corner of trunk - not a big deal for us to weld in a patch. What about the spare tire cover ? Also one of your photos showed a tool bag that was made out of what type of material? I will want to duplicate that bag as closely as possible. Thank you, Fred '54 Special progress report for this week: More block sanding and epoxy primer on the fenders, doors, hood and deck lid and some on the body. Have body on a rotissierie and almost finished the entire bottom. Got started inside the trunk. Not the most pleasant job, but will be worth it. Next week is a Holiday Week, so not sure if we will get too far, but will continue with the project. We work non-stop on our restorations until completed, barring unforseen complications that usually come up before it is all over.

Great pictures Mr. Earl, but I need some addtiional information if possible. I bought a kit in pebble beige of the cardboard parts (sides and rear) from CARS for about $59 and have it at work laying flat to level out from being rolled for shipping. It looks good so far, although have not tried to fit it yet. So I have some questions: a) Should the cardboard be covered with the original tan/brown rope pattern material for the trunk? This could easily be glued in place. If not covered, should the cardboard be painted another color? I ordered this kit in pebble beige to get as close as possible to the tan/brown original rope pattern trunk lining material, figuring I could glue that material over top of the cardboard if necessary. If not to be covered, any idea of what the pattern looks like (painted or printed pattern?). If this pattern cannot be duplicated, would it be better to leave the cardboard sides, or cover the sides with the tan/brown rope pattern for a nicer look? I assume that the original tan/brown rope pattern material should be used for the bottom of the trunk and up the back ledge as shown in Mr. Earl's picture? When I do this, I usually attach a light backing material to the trunk material, so that it has a smoother look and will lay nice and flat. c) Was there a cover for the spare tire on the '54 Buick Special (either as with car as purchased, or as an option? If so, need to know if this cover was made of the same tan/brown rope pattern material, or possibly nuagahyde or something else? My car currently has a nice spare tire cover made of red/black nuagahyde to match the interior of the car and black carpet in the trunk area, which looked great, but as I am going for original, would like to do it right. d) So for all of the components mentioned above, need the direction of the pattern (vertical, horizontal, or at random??) for the tan/brown rope material. This material is available from CARS or Jenkins at about $50-$60 per yard and is in stock. Once if figure out where this material is to fit and the direction of the pattern, I will order in some yardage. Jenkins sells a complete kit, but I normally prefer to do my own carpets, trunk and most upholstery myself. Thanks for whatever help anyone can offer. Fred

Thanks Howard and Dennis and others, I bought this car at the Glenmoor Auction last September, and at the time, admired the car but knew that it was not sitting right (too high in the front). Indirectly this may have accounted for being able to win the auction at a reasonable price of $28,000 plus 8% buyer's premium - more than a bargain for this car in my opinion, even in today's market. I mentioned it to the auctioneer who said that the car was equipped with heavier suspensions for the roads in China. However, at the time I discounted this as being normal auctioneer talk, especially since it was high in the front and not in the rear (if heavier suspension would have expected it be evenly high). I later obtained the sales order dated May 25, 1947 for this car (to be shipped to Shanghai) and just checked it again. It calls for a new Ford V-8 convertible coupe from the Edgewater, NJ assembly plant, with Radio and Heater installed, with delivery required on or about July 24, 1947 with a statement on bottom of form stating, "Price covers factory equipment as per catalogue". Price is shown as follows: "Delivered at Retail List at time of delivery". There is no mention of any type of heavy-duty suspenson or any other add-ons. Attached are three pictures just taken, showing a 1-1/4" thick book laying flat on the front tire. The top of the front tire is exactly 3-1/4" below the bottom of the center of the inner front part of the fender. It actually looks a little higher, due to the camera angle, but measures exactly 3-1/4" higher than the tire. I am thinking this to be 1.5" to 2" too high. Perhaps "sgoisen" who started this thread might measure his car for comparison. We haven't heard from him as yet, but need his input. Also am thinking that if the car has set that high since new, would have expected damage to the ring and pinion gears from the angle (??). I just added another picture of the car from the side, which shows the car high in front, but if the front was lower, the rear would level out nicely. So my next move is to do as Bob suggested and that is to disconnect all four shocks and go from there. Others say that the rear spring might need re-arched to bring the rear up, but the car seems to sit OK in the rear. Our shop is tied up for a couple of weeks, but plan to do this later and will report back to this post. Fred

Thanks Mr. Earl - nice pictures, which leads me to another question: In your picures, the oval center section (near the lock assembly) in my car has none of the brown waffle material, so assume it was removed at one time. One of your pictures shows that this section seems to have the waffle material, but hard to see in your picture, due to the angle of he deck lid. I am of the opinion that this center oval area shouild also have the same material. This is the area behind the Buick trunk logo chrome piece. I agree with your post and pictures and feel that this is what happened at the factory: The painter was probably not laying on a very heavy coat on the inside of the deck lid anyhow, and certainly would have attempted to paint the metal only, with some overspary hitting the waffle material, but soaking into it (as you said), so as not to be noticeable. I noticed that the waffle material in my car was painted by the previous owner and has some damage, so will need to be replaced. CARS, Inc. in NJ sells a 27" x 36" section of this material for $24.50 each: Their description: "Sound Deadening Mateial - used under floor matting, on inside of outer sheet metal panels, beween trunk inner panels, etc." "Waffle pattern, Dark Brown, more paper type. SD-301 27"x36" $24.50 each" According to my measurements, this is enough to do the entire deck lid openings. According to my painter, it is impossible to squeeze in new material now, as this was done at the time that the trunk outer deck lid was stamped and pressed over the inner deck lid. Many restorers paint these waffle areas later (usually with flat black, as doubt if they can easily find flat brown paint). Since my material is damaged, I plan to try to cut out the old material with a razor knife and then carefully cut the new material to fit - then glue it into place. Since I have an option of doing this either before or after painting the inside of the deck lid, I will probably remove the material first, paint the deck lid and glue in the sections later, which I will pre-cut. It might be harder than I think to get this material out, depending on the glue used back in 1954, but am hoping that it can be removed. I will also have to carefully make paper templates. I wish I could squeeze in the material as it came from the factory, but see no way to do so. Does anyone else have any ideas on how to handle this area? Thanks, Fred

Thank you very much for the very concise explanation of my possible problem. I printed every page of the manual and intend to keep it for reference, but after reading it, feel that this is a job for Apple Hydraulics. I plan to remove the shocks and send them for a rebuilding very soon and hope that this is the answer. Either way a new set of shocks will always be a good thing anyhow. Thanks to others who also contributed to this problem. Fred

Thank you Rusty, I am almost certain that there are two hose connections on the fuel pump. Fuel pump is at work, so don't know if each vacuum pipe connection is marked. I just had the fuel pump rebuilt by Arthur Gould, so in a pinch could always call him if information is not in my repair manual, which is also at work. Thanks for the help. Sometimes a simple thing can easily become a big problem if something is missed. Fred

Would this be any car? I am doing a restoration on a '54 Buick with vacuum on the fuel pump and think that the above would apply, but am not sure. Thanks, Fred

Thanks Mr. Earl, So I think I have it figured out. We paint the underside of body and underside of rear fenders in red oxide primer, and we paint the underside of the front fenders in black (??) primer (not red oxide (??). So far, so good ?? Then we paint the body, doors and front fenders in the Gull Gray Metallic, with a possibility that some of the Gull Gray overspray gets up inside the fender wells and covers some of the primers. However, the only problem that I see in this is that we use an HVLP paint spray system that puts out almost no overspray - what about that? I guess we could force some spray up under the car to try to duplicate the original process in 1954. After the finished paint job is completed as described above, we then apply the undercoating to duplicate the original dealer-installed process. Is this correct?? Any idea if this undercoating is to be thorough and if it is to completely cover the primers and overspray areas mentioned above? It seems that the quality and coverage of the underside of a car in those days would depend on the operator of the undercoating gun - the human factor, which we cannot determine. Also is it an option to NOT undercoat the car at all, so that the above two colors of undercoating can be seen if someone looks underneath? In this case, looking at the firewall from front of car, the area in the center below the seam will show as red oxide primer. Pictures that I have of restored cars generally show this area as finished body color. The two large pans on the firewall (left and right) are all undercoated as I can determine. If this were your car, what would you do? Undercoat or no undercoat? A few more pictures are attached - doing it right piece by piece. Fred

Thanks Jim, This car is at home in my garage and I just looked at the front lever arm shocks, but until I disconnect them (in our shop at work), doubt if there is any way to check them. I did push down on the front fenders and it seemed like a rock and didn't seem to go down much, if any. Are you saying that if the shocks are stuck in the up position the car will sit higher? I feel my car is at least 2" high in the front, yet the rear looks OK. Fender skirts make it appear lower, but it still seems to be about the same rear height as other '47 Fords. Even if the front shocks are stuck (not sure at this time of course), this car rides unusually well for a Ford with buggy springs. At first I thought the front spring may have had an extra leaf, but compared to another '47 Ford, it seemed to be the same. This car has an interesting (documented) history. it was sold new in 1947 and delivered to the American Embassy in Shanghai, China, where it ran up about 30,000 kilometers. (about 18,000 miles). Upon its return to the U.S. some years later, the speedometer was replaced with a standard one in MPH and it now has a little over 11,000 miles since. This totals to about 30,000 + original combined miles. No rust, was repainted once by previous owner - not perfect, but close and after I had the coil rebuilt, added a new condensor and rebuilt the ignition switch, the car starts on the first turn. Car has great oil pressure and runs and rides great. Now if I could only get the front end to come down a bit..... The picture of the car in the Mobil Gas Station is at our car museum at work, where it spent the winter. See http://www.tpcarcollection.com for other pictures of this and other cars in our collection. Fred

CRUNCH TIME: I have the body off my '54 Buick Special 2-dr Riviera Hard Top and according to what I have pieced together from this forum and other sources, here is my plan, which I feel to be as original: a) Underside of body - Red Oxide primer with undercoating over the red oxide, starting at front firewall under the seam all the way to the rear of the car. Not sure if the undercoating was applied in such a heavy coat that the red oxide would no longershow. Some restorations leave the red oxide primer showing (no undercoating) for a neat look, but to my understanding the underside was undercoated at the factory. ?????? Underside of rear fenders - Red Oxide primer (sprayed at same time as body) then sprayed in body color (in my case 05 Gull Gray Metallic). This to be followed by undercoating, same as under side of the body. I don't understand why the necessity to spray the underside of the fenders Gull Gray if it is to be covered with undercoating, but if that is the way it was done originally, I will do so. Possibly when rear fender exteriors were spray painted, some of the overspray from the body may have settled on top of the undercoating, provided that the undercoating was applied prior to painting the fenders. ????? Or is it the other way around - gray paint applied prior to the undercoating? c) Underside of doors - since we are painting the doors off the car, the underside of the doors will be Gull Gray and will undoubtedly receive more paint than at the factory, as at the time, doors were painted while installed on the car. Someone mentioned that the door bottoms received little paint. d) Underside of front fenders - Not 100% sure, but seems as if they were painted in black primer, covered by undercoating. Possibly when fender exteriors were spray painted, some of the overspray from the body may have settled on top of the undercoating, assuming that the undercoating was applied prior to painting the fenders. ????? Or is it the other way around - gray paint applied prior to the undercoating? e) Deck Lid - we are painting the underside of the deck lid in Gull Gray. f) Hood - we are painting the underside of the hood in Gull Gray with insulation held in place by some struts that seem to be original. Am I missing anything? We will be doing some serious painting this week or next. Fred P.S. Color of the spray painting in pictures is epoxy primer, not base coat Gull Gray Metallic.

I also have a 47 Ford convertible and the front sits too high. I do not think that the rear is too low, but it could be. I was considering adding 2" to the front shackles to lower the front end, but our shop is tied up now so cannot get to it. I do not feel that adding to the shackles is the way to go. Attached are some pictures of my car - looks like we are in the same boat. I sure could use some suggestions as well. Fred

I think you deciphered part of the data, but not all of it. If you can do so, please post it on this site so others can see what the numbers mean. Thanks. Also posting some pictures taken yesterday - spraying epoxy primer outside our shop with our HVLP spray system (almost no overspray and we were only about 5' of 6' from our outside walls). Now comes the hard part - more block sanding, more primer, more block sanding, more primer, etc. We found some red oxide primer on the underside of the car, beneath the undercoating and will be taking the underside of the body to bare metal next week, and then spraying it red oxide, as was done at the factory, according to our research. Not sure about the underside of the fenders, as feel they were probably body color, covered with undercoating. There are many more pictures of this restoration at www.facebook.com/tp tools. Click on "Wall" on left side of page, then arrow down to the '54 Buick restoration. You don't have to be a Facebook member to view this - anyone can do so. Fred

I do not know which plant, but attached is a photo of the data plate that is attached to the firewall on passenger side. Maybe someone will know more about this and how to decipher the numbers and letters. Thanks for the quick reply, Fred

I really like the look of the red oxide on the underside of your '57 Pontiac. I have a '57 Buick that looks about the same. I am now wondering about the underside of my '54 Buick Special that I am restoring - thinking it should also be red oxide, much the same as your Pontiac ??? In addition, am wondering what would be the correct color of the inside surfaces of the fenders (front and rear)? We have the frame almost ready and will be starting on the body next week, so could use some advice on the correct paints to use, both on underside of car and inside the fenders. Thanks, Fred

In addition to antique cars, I have always been interested in old oak office furniture and decor. About 15 years ago I was at a major PA antique flea market and a vendor had a really nice and very old small oak table that would have made a nice stand for a printer in our offices. He had it priced at $150 and quickly dropped the price to $125. Naturally I was hoping for a nice round number of $100 and offered it to him. He became angry and told me "not one penny less than $125", so I told him I would think about it and continued to walk the flea market. I finally decided to pay his price, when leaving for the day. All over his spaces were many signs - CASH ONLY - NO CREDIT CARDS - CASH ONLY - NO CREDIT CARDS. I like to joke around sometimes, so told him I was going to pay the $125, but asked in a serious tone if he would take a 2nd party-post dated check. (Sign didn't say anything about not taking checks). He went beserk and said the table was not for sale now. I let him rant and rave for awhile and when he calmed down, I pulled out the $125 in cash, which he accepted. Then when I asked for a receipt, he looked around on the ground and found an old book of matches, tearing off the cover and marking it: "Paid $125" and signed it "J.Cash". I still have the table somewhere at work and am glad that I made the purchase and am now sorry that I put the guy through so much mental anquish. Those who go to Hershey each year know all about bargaining and such tactics. Fred

Bdck in 1963 I ordered a new Pontiac Catalina station wagon and found something else that was included from the factory at no extra charge........ The car was great (one of my all-time favorites). However it had a strange noise when starting and stopping and sometimes going around corners. Noise seemed to be coming from the rear door on driver's side. My friend (a mechanic) finally got tired of my complaining about this noise and pulled off the inner upholstery door panel. Inside the bottom of the door were about 50 of the small chrome plated hooks for hanging a coat. We removed the hooks and that was the end of the rattles. Evidently at the end of the shift, someone just threw them into the door. I see these same hooks are being reproduced now. I don't remember if the inner door was painted in primer. Fred