unimogjohn

Your cowl tag will tell us for sure. But here is the write-up on the Country Club Coupe. "Slightly more popular than the 2-passenger coupe was the Standard Six Country Club Coupe, Model 28-26-S. Buick built 13,211, all for domestic sales. The car cost $1,275, weighed 3,300 pounds, and was available on in rumble seat form. Attractive features included the rumble seat arm rests, dummy landau irons, padded rear quarter panels, and golf club access door."

It is Friday, April 8th. Got some special automotive epoxy weld/glue to hopefully fix the broken plastic panel that holds the grille assembly and headlights in place on the deer damaged trailblazer. The panel is not that expensive, but the labor involved to replace is about a days work. So decided to see if this special epoxy will weld it back together. It is only damaged on one side. Will take pics when I start. But Greg is making significant progress now to getting his Avanti back on the road. Here is his report. "My first triip to the gas pump, and I just made it......under the four dollar a gallon deadline I set for myself. Otherwise tonight was spent doing small and invisible things, except for buffing and installing the windshield wiper arms and blades."

Willy, sold the Unimog about eight months ago. Had it for about eleven years. A sad day to see her drive from the farm. Looks like you have the standard coupe. Here is the write-up from the book, 70 Years of Buick. "Designed for the businessman was the Standard Six 2-passenger Coupe, Model 28-26, which was available only with a trunk. It cost $1,195 and weighed 3,215 pounds. Buick built 12,417, all for domestic sales. The dummy landau irons were standard equipment. This was the last year that Buick would use the old style wood-rimmed steering wheel." My 28-29 looked in worse shape than yours. See what a little cleaning, polishing, re-connecting will do? I did have to repaint the fenders and the hood. The paint had disappeared just like your car. Here is a pic of mine.

It is Thursday evening. Just received a note from Paul. He is getting the 1923 Buick back on the road again. Looks like he is successful. I have asked Paul for more pictures also. And I ordered the push rods for the Kohler engine. Ordered four, just in case. Total cost including shipping was $11. I then took off the rocker arms and cleaned everything. I am ready to install the push rods when they arrive. Hope to have her running early next week, just in time to put the mower unit back on. Here is a pic of the cylinder head ready for the push rod. Here is Paul's report. "Our 23 Buick is doing great. I went through all of the fluids and greased the chassis (lots of fittings. I was wondering, many cars of that time period had little caps on the alimite fittings. Should the 23 Buick have these caps? I have seen them available from Restoration Supply and other companies. I then removed the front wheels and bearings, washed all of the old grease out and re-packed the bearings and adjusted. I was able also to get all of the lights working. I also noted that there was never any brake light! I believe I will install one for safety sake, but with out modifying the car. I plan to install it using the existing tag bracket and wire in a Ford Model A stop light switch. We put about 10 miles on her this weekend, all round trips! Seems to run extremely well. Next week we plan to work with sewing in new clear plastic into side curtains."

Willy, Bob's carries the most new parts around, but there are other folks that have parts for the 28s. There is a group on Yahoo.com called 1927 Buick that is really active on the net. Join Yahoo and then go to groups and sign up. They will always help with finding parts. Another source is EBay. With that said, the guy with the most used or NOS parts is Fred Rawlings. He seems to have lots of stuff like push rods, etc. His email is fred.rawling@live.com Olson's Gaskets in WA has all the gaskets you need at very reasonable prices. Olson's Gaskets List on this forum what you are looking for and we will try to point you in the right direction. And it helps if you post pics of your car also. What model do you have?

It is Thursday, April 7th. Heading out today to see if I can find the push rods locally, if not will order them. While I have been busy with the tractor, Greg is pushing ahead on his Avanti. Here is his report. "OK. Some movement here. Trimacar, the seatbelts arrived. You shortened the wrong one! Just kidding. Nice job! The front belts are in and off the list. Called Nostalgic and got that door handle coming. In the meantime I installed the driver's outside handle and new striker. The door closes and latches reasonably well. The handle locks with the new key. I also managed to get the headlamp covers on. When the rubber gaskets come without the holes for the mounting screws, makes life a little more difficult. With screw hole locations marked with masking tape and marker, I finally stabbed the holes with an ice pick. Turned out fine. No blood, no scratched paint, not broken chrome rings. Success story. Speaking of the headlight covers, coming from one who owns both the round light and the square kind.....I'm like them both, but partial to the round ones."

Dale, sometimes if I did not have bad luck, I would not have any luck at all. Actually, it has been kinda fun finding out the problem. And here is what I found out about Kohler engines. Who knew. This is from a small engine forum. Re: Kohler Engines? Do you know what causes bent push rods? Every time I've seen a bent push rod, I asked the owner does he choke the engine everytime on start up.....They all say yes! It is a little known fact that the choke should not be pulled "UNTIL" the engine begins to spin. The over choking causes a over compression condition that forces the valves to not open therefore bending the weakest part of the valve train, "the push rods". I would try less choke, and a cleaner air filter to allow better air flow. As for a broken Governor....check your Governor spring, or carb. throttle valve, or even for a vacum leak before you ship it off for more repairs.

Thanks guys, passed on the information to Greg. Decided to install my newly cleaned carb on the Club Cadet. It was not dirty inside, but took the opportunity to clean it up and blow out the passages. Here are a couple of pics of it. Tried to start it, no change. I am about at my wits end, could it be an internal problem like a sheared cam gear? The background is that I have been working on my new to me Club Cadet with a Kohler 23 hp OHV twin motor. Only 60 hours on it. Had been working great. Three weeks ago it was running on only one cylinder, then it coughed and quit. Would not restart. So checked spark, saw spark; drained out all the old fuel and put new in with new filter, no change; pulled flywheel, key, OK; checked all the wiring, looked fine; fuel pump, pumps OK; carb issue, cleaned and no change. On a lark and because they are right there in front of me, took off the valve covers. This is what I found. Now what could cause this? Bad gas? Guess I better run to the parts house tomorrow. At least I found the problem. Everything else looks fine in the valve assembly, but will look more closely tomorrow.

Bernie, there are quite a few to choose from on Ebay. Here is an example for eight. 8 NOS Primer Cups Packard Auburn Studebaker Nash Reo - eBay (item 400206554738 end time Apr-07-11 17:45:01 PDT)

It is Wednesday, April 6th. Off this morning to get the oil changed in the Passat. Takes 9 qts of special VW oil so it is cheaper to have the dealer do it. But here is Greg's report. Only had one set of keys for the Avanti, so I tried locally to get another set cut. No such luck. Called the locksmith in Winchester and he said that he had a few of the key blanks left, so I caught him before his quitting time. Got a couple sets made. Stopped by the storage garage to look for another exterior door handle assembly , should be a couple there somewhere. As you can see by the photo, one of mine had been broken, even though functional. I couldn't find any. The broken handle appears to be some sort of zinc die cast, so doubt I can weld on a repair. Guess I'll have to start a search. Did make a major find while there. Stumbled across my secret hiding place for my genuine New Old Stock cardboard headliners, and a used set as well. Color me happy about that. The car had a good (although slightly saggy) set in it....until I took out the rear liner for safekeeping and the landlady folded it up and threw it away for trash. I've assembled the driver's door handle while I determine what to do about the broken one. I also stopped by Phil's . Dropped off a random assortment of carpets. They might be of help in getting another set made up for his '63. I had a nice chat with his son John about distributors, camshafts , etc and picked up the flyweights and springs to build up another distributor. He wasn't there, so hey Phil, bill me! I think that's all the automotive news to report tonight.

It is Tuesday, April 5th. 88 degrees yesterday, and 53 today. A quick spring. Here is Greg's report from last night. Followed the instructions in the service manual for aiming the headlights. Next to clean the glass covers, chrome bezels and hopefully the rubber gaskets fit and all will be installed.

It is Monday evening. Here is a note from Greg. Autoweek article on the death of Billy Thompson, White Post Restorations W. R. ‘Billy' Thompson, owner of White Post Restorations, dies at 72 - AutoWeek Magazine

It is Monday, April 4th. Going from 50 degrees yesterday to over 80 degrees today. Did I miss spring? I cleaned up the mud from the 23 MLB so she is ready for her next run. Other than that I have not been doing much on the old cars. Just too much other stuff going on. I have a new to me Club Cadet tractor that decided not to run anymore. Have tried about everything to including pulling the flywheel to check for a broken key. No luck so far. Pulled the carb yesterday and will try to find the time to look at it today. Also on Saturday, we headed home from town after dinner, and we got run into by a deer. Did not see it. The Trailblazer took a hit, but all plastic parts. Ordered some grille parts and glue. So another project to do. But Greg is busy as usual. Here is his weekend report. "Got in a little Studebaker time. Same old story. Still doing everything twice. I ordered new seat belts. Punctured the new carpets for the seat belt anchors, was hooking up the new belts and guess what? They sent me one proper belt, the other seems to be for XXL or Hefty. It is absolute hell for me to go through the paces to get something mailed out. So I talked to Trimacar and it was decided that we'd just shorten it in the method it was assembled. I also spent a little time putting on two more emblems. The repro STUDEBAKER for the trunk was a problem. They cast the mounting studs too small. Too small for the stamped palnuts to grip. I applied electrical shrink tubing to the studs and that allows the nuts to secure it to the trunk lid. Sunday saw a road trip to work on the Dayton a bit. Tightened all the plugs, added oil and water so that I could try running it enough to test the new old oil pressure regulator. Mostly good news. The regulator works too well. What used to be too much oil pressure is now barely any. That means success is just a proper spring away. But this weekend's true highlight was a staff "class reunion" at White Post Restorations. The first ever, we had an outstanding turnout. We walked through the shop looking over the projects, but it was also a tour down a restoration memory lane. Rob Burchill took a few minutes to remind us of who had started the operation, and how he enriched our lives and had left his mark on the entire antique car world. Then the stories started and David "Trimacar" Coco kept them going. Some food, some drinks, and time with old friends. We'd all spent time together in the trenches of the war against rust and rot. And I was so glad to be in the company of so many who have worked their way to the top of their field. Craig Naff for his world famous ability of metal forming, David Carte, top of the pile in the world of Ferraris, Talbot Lagos, etc., Paul Rose cranking out the restoration under his own shingle, Ham Dyer who knows no limits, I can't name them all. I wonder just how many hundred years of restoration experience was in attendance. The current crew is as enthusiatic as ever. Under the leadership of Billy's son WR who has remained in the trenches all these years, and his son Billy Ray who really impresses us with his desire to keep WPR a leader in the restoration industry. We forsee a fresh direction and another generation or two in a very difficult business. Otherwise, my cell phone laid down on me, but I cleaned the battery and battery box and now it's back on the air. That's all for now, signing off.

Landman, re the dashpot. Since it is run off of vacuum you can suck on it to see if it functions. And if you can hold your breath long enough, you can sense it leaking. But for a better way, I use a little Mighty Vacuum pump. You have to be careful that you do not give it too much vacuum or you might burst the rubber inside the dashpot. I just pull enough to get a reading and then let it sit and watch the needle. If it goes to zero then I would suspect that it is bad. If it holds the vacuum, then you are good to go.

It is Thursday, March 31st. Another cold day, snow expected. We were able to pick up both cars on Wednesday morning. Had a nice talk with the owner of the farm and he took us to his garage. There inside was a 1937 Ford sedan and a 1955 T Bird with 22K miles. The Bird was his mother's car. It is stored in a garage with the top off. It was quite dirty and there was some rust forming on the motor parts. But all in all, it was a great looking car. Just needed a little TLC to be perfect. Here is Greg's report from yesterday. No pics, bummer. "As if things around here weren't hard enough... someone hacked my email and sent out a Viagra commercial. Sorry about that. Now I (a computer illiterate) need to find a solution for the intrusion, or a new email account. Otherwise, a busy couple days without a lot of auto accomplishment. Last night I drove to Rob's where I not only dialed in another distributor, but got in some Stoddard quality time. I got the oil pressure relief plumbing secured, and we put up the oil pan. Next trip I'll fill it with oil and try out the system. Tonight I was late getting in from a field trip, caught in the DC rush hour traffic and finding this email problem cost me the evening. Not enough hours in the day."

Lee, looking forward to your adventure. Give us the history of the car and how you came to own it. Looks pretty solid and well preserved. Is it? Running and driving?

Dave, I met agent Fisk, aka Lea Coco, on the set yesterday. He was in the shoot for most of the day. And he came up to me and introduced himself. Great young man. And here is my report from yesterday. Started work at 8 AM just got home at 11 PM. It was an all day shoot at Belvoir farm in The Plains, which was cast as the Lindbergh farm; and then some more scenes shot down the road in a garage that was suppose to be the garage of Lindbergh's farm. We had a great time both days, and they used our cars for all the shoots. Shooting at the farm was much better to see everything going on as it was not open to the public. We started work at very early and did not get done until about 10 PM. We had to leave both our cars at the farm as it was too dark to drive or load them. So we will go back tomorrow AM to get them, hopefully before the snow comes. We saw a lot of Clint and Leo; and all the other actors. The film crew was great and treated us like we were apart of the crew. They really liked the cars and were in almost every shot as background. The 28 is directly behind Hoover's car as it pulls up to the farm; exciting. I was even personally directed by Clint Eastwood too. The Ford staff car would not start on cue. It was carrying Hoover from the scene. So with a flick of his wrist, Clint directed several us "lookie loos" to come over and pull the car from scene with a black rope. Both cars were used in both places. But the 28 was placed directly behind Hoover's staff car so it will be in the scene where the car pulls up to the house. The 23 was behind it, and it might make the scene too. Have to head out this morning and pick up the cars. It was pitch black and we did not want to risk load and driving back to the farm. We went home, picked up a couple of blue tarps and covered them up. We did not get home until midnight. But what a great day.

It is Tuesday morning, March 29th. Up early again and have to get the cars ready again. Left the 23 on the trailer, drained all the water out due to the freezing weather, put a space heater next to the engine and put on the battery tender. All I have to do is put water in the radiator this morning. Going to leave on the mud from the shoot yesterday. Should be every interesting today as there will be no public viewing. And here is Greg's report from last night. "Another busy day. I'm working up another distributor for the car, so I called in an order for more points and condenser. While downtown, we hiked up the hill to Main Street to see how Feser was coming. He's involved with the making of an Eastwood film and he brought a couple of his cars. Saw his cars but no John. After reading his AACA forum post, I realize that I missed an opportunity to throw mud on his cars. Then the call came from Jason to come fetch the Studebaker. He worked out a sag on the front fender and readjusted the doors for me."

It is Monday, March 28th. Off to make a movie. We arrived at 9AM, well before the scheduled time of 10AM. Glad we did as we were able to meet the other car owners as they rolled in. In total there were about twelve cars. A few ended up not being used as they a few too many. We got the 23 off the trailer and was directed off to the side; the 28 was parked inside the shoot area, but off to the side. To my surprise they told me that the 28 was to be in the movie as a driver, and I was directed to wardrobe and make-up. I did not get any make-up, but I did get a haircut for the period and all decked out in period garb. I was directed to move the 23 to a spot in front of the court house. She was to be one of three cars in the front with all the actors. I did as I was told and the prop folks promptly came over and put on 1932 NJ plates and then sprayed down the car with mud. They wanted to make it look like it had been driven to the court house. Clint Eastwood, the director, arrived to screams and much clapping of the crowd. For the next two hours all the actors rehearsed and then filmed the scenes. They nixed the old car driving by, so I did not get in the movie, but both cars did. Here are some pics. We had a great time, people loved the cars, and we let anyone sit in them and take pictures. There must have been 500 or more watching the filming. We have been invited to take both cars to another shoot tomorrow at the "Lindbergh" farm. That should be fun as Leonardo DiCaprio will be acting there.

Nice piece. It looks to fit a late teen or early car. If it has a 2 inch opening it would fit my 23. My 28 opening is much larger. Based on what I would pay, I think that it would be in the $125 to $150 range on an Ebay auction. But if a couple of folks really wanted it, it could go higher.

It is Friday, March 25th. Finally tore into the carb of the 1928 Buick. I knew a month ago that one of the two metering tubes had clogged again. So off it came. As I suspected, one tube was plugged with just a little debris. It does not take much. So cleaned everything up and put it back on the engine. Fired right up, yep, that fixed the problem; but oh, look at all the fuel pouring out the top of the carb. I did not get the needle valve in correctly and it stuck open. So that took another hour to redo. Oh well. Runs great now. And I did drain out all the oil fuel in the tank, and will put in five fresh gallons tomorrow. Here are a few pics, and one of the offending tubes. Then I spent the afternoon washing both the 23 and 28. Going to be freezing tomorrow so today was the day to do it. I will do some detailing tomorrow, but not much. Here are a couple of pics. They are now all ready for their movie shoot on Monday. That should be a great day. Here are a couple of pics of the clean cars. Oh, snow on Sunday, three or more inches. Will winter ever end?

Still Thursday, and here is an exchange of email between Jim, Frank, Greg and Dave (trimacar on this forum). Years past Greg and Dave worked at White Post Restorations in VA. I know that Dave still does do some work for them on the early cars of the teens and twenties. Anyway here is the exchange. It is a good read about a very rare car. From: Jim To: Frank Subject: The Babcock Car Hi Frank: This car was restored by White Post Restoration in 1986. Ask Greg if it was one he worked on there. From: Greg Cone To: Frank Subject: FW: The Babcock Car Oh Frank, do I know that car well! Inside and out. David did the wonderful diamond tuft upholstery. Ask him about the time when installing the front seat upholstery. He drove a nail through the side, from inside out. After it had been painted and rubbed of course. The car started and ran fine. Tires were a trick. Took two sets to please me. The first set were sent back as blems. I later bought them as blems for my REO. Ask David about the day we put them on. There are only two gasoline Babcocks left as I recall. The car was returned to Watertown, NY after restoration. The owners ran the Watertown Daily Times. It broke my heart that they spent considerable money on the restoration that I thought it deserved, and yet they wouldn't let me show it for them at Hershey. They did however show me and my family a wonderful time in Watertown. A magnificent car, I've often wondered how they and the old thing is doing. Thanks for sending me the pic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David To: Greg Ah, Greg, you bring up such great memories. We did have fun working on that Babcock, though. Tack, Tack, Thunk, Greg walked over and looked at end of long tack sticking through side of body, and I said “Well, we have to go to tell Dave [the body and paint man]. It was a wide-eyed look back from Greg, “WE?” and he walks off…… The top irons are covered in leather, just like original, hand stitched along one side of each iron. Think it took me 3 or 4 days to do them all. Then Greg buys the blems as he said. Trouble was they were metric sized, and about an inch too small in diameter for his Reo wheels. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Took the two of us 9 hours, skinned knuckles and all, to mount the 4 tires. Greg told me one time later that he had a flat, was going to have to remove tire from rim, new tube, and remount. Told him I was out of town that day, sorry couldn’t help. He said, but I didn’t tell you what day I was doing this. Doesn’t matter, I’m still out of town that day……………….. Probably one of the best upholstery jobs I’ve done, tufting so deep you could stick your fist down in it…..(well, a small fist…) David

Still Thursday. Just got an update from Paul on his 1923 Buick. Here is his report. Must be getting closer to spring. Everyone is busy. "1923 Buick model 23-6-54 progress update March 24, 2011 Finally had a chance to pay attention to one of my own shoes last night. I was able to pick up the radiator for the Buick in Winchester from Dickey’s Radiator Repair (best place in town to take a leak); he was able to repair the bottom tank where some of the pin holes were. The core was in great shape and fine to continue to use. I cleaned the radiator in one of those magic solutions to remove rust. It worked better than expected. I also found there was never any paint on the radiator itself, only on the two brackets that hold the shell onto the frame rails were painted black. The radiator shell was nickel and the rivets were also un painted. I gently clean the radiator, shell and stone guard under the radiator with a wash cloth and soapy water. Allowed it to dry and applied a mist of matt finish clear coat. Looks like it did, just protected from wetness. I reinstalled the radiator and the old crusty hose clamps (thanks Mark). Fill the radiator with warm water, primed the vacuum tank, hoped and cranked. I was amazed, the old gal started and purred right before my very eyes. Thrilled with my success, I played with it until I ran my self out of the garage (can what to do that again when the smoke clears). Next will be reinstalling hoods and preparing for short test laps around the building, Yahoo! Paul"

Still Thursday. Our first movie roles. The scouts came out this morning to look at the Buicks. They said, "just what we need"; something other than a Ford. They said that they have one scene in the parking basement at the Justice Dept. Building, and they were having difficulty filling up the spaces with cars other than Fords. We won't there for that scene, but on Monday we will be taking the girls to their first movie roles at the Warrenton Court House. They said that they probably would like the 28 at a farm in The Plains, VA where a shootout is suppose to take place. To top it off they are actually paying us. Oh boy! They do not want them all polished up as they have to make them look "used". I do have to clean the carb on the 28 so it runs right so I have a few things to do before the shoot. He said that they would probably be used as static props, but the 28 could have a driving role. "J Edgar" here we come.

It is Thursday, March 24th. Have the movie guys coming out today to see if one of the 20s cars is suitable for the movie "J Edgar", which is shooting in our little town on Monday. The scene is set in 1932. Greg is actually driving his Avanti. Here is his report. "The rear seat cushion springs came back today. Out for chemical rust removal, they did a really good job. Dipping wasn't expensive, about the same price as the shipping out, about the same price as the shipping back. Next I'll epoxy prime them. I stopped by the paint shop and Jason has made room for the car. I hope to run it over to him on Friday, weather permitting. Otherwise busy day but I did find time to terrorize the neighborhood. Put about nine miles on it. Came back with the steering pump growling, so I've had about enough of it. During my lapping of the subdivision I could see that some poor fool was trailing fluid. Time to replace the pump, I guess. Hope Johnstone's Interchange works. Cone's Law #1: Restoration is not for the faint of checkbook." =