JoelsBuicks

I have learned the hard way to never blindly duplicate pattern wood - no matter how solid it is. After 80 years, wood warps and twists, shrinks and cracks, and rots. The pics below show the old wood pieces for the tops of the doors. Three of the four sides of this wood are curved to fit the door metal. Each side has a different curve. To get the correct curve, I like to use pieces of thin paneling to make patterns. With a hand plane, it doesn't take long to get the right subtle curve on the panelling and use it for marking the blanks. Again, I carpet tape the blanks together so that I can make mirror image pieces for each side of the car. When it comes to making those finger joints at the ends of the boards, the important thing is to get them to fit the other piece of wood - not to duplicate the original. The rear doors have a short vertical section that will also hold the three hinges (1936 rear doors only have two hinges). The cross section of this piece is also tapered but not visible in the pics. The mortise allows for that middle horizontal piece that goes across the door - just below the window. I'm making progress but still a long way from done. Thanks, Joel

The woodworking continues. Shop time seems pretty rare thesedays; I'll take what I can get and try to make the most of it. I thought I'd try something and create a pictorial of the replacement of door wood. I'm sure I'll have to skip over many steps but hopefully there will be enough to follow along. The wood I'm using is cypress; stable and strong, rot resistant, lightweight and easy to work. I'd call it a bit too soft in my opinion - it better hold screws or I'm hosed. I cannot imagine doing this without having some old wood to look at. Precious and few are the moments when I get a complete piece of old wood to work with. (Just noticed that some pics are sideways - sorry about that). Each door has a main vertical post that is on the latch side of the door. These posts are tapered through their thickness and hopefully you'll see that in the pics. From a blank, I sawed the taper first but I cannot throw away the cutaway waste because it is immediately carpet taped back together so that the matching door curvature can be cut on the bandsaw. It might all seem a bit rediculous but I have learned that getting the cut sequence right and preserving flat sides of boards for as long as possible can really payoff. In the pics you'll see that I also carpet tape together two posts as a mirror image. This is all to ensure that I make the same mistakes at least twice! My other related hobby is woodworking and I have an old circular sawmill that I use to saw logs into lumber. It is not uncommon to saw through bullets, escpecially lead shot. Here is a brass jacketed bullet that I sawed through on my table saw. I'd guess it to be something like an old .30 cal. I appreciate all the comments - there's more to come. Joel

My 36 90 doesn't have the word Limited on it anywhere.

I have a question about this swap meet. If I can make it there early Friday, will the sellers still be there? I am unable to get there on Thursday. It seems I recall that they start rolling up the sidewalks pretty early. Thanks Joel

I was hoping someone would comment on that ink stamp and provide some interesting history and details and you did. Thank you for sharing that - it made me wonder just how much was good ol made in America stuff that is now long gone. I too have thought that it's too bad the stamp will be covered with paint; but then again there is perhaps no better way to preserve the stamp than to paint over it. After all, paint protected it for 84 years! Thank you again for sharing your knowledge. joel

Bud, you're right - lot's of front end disassembly to get to the nuts on the back side of the grill emblem. If I wanted to get to those badly enough, before I start taking a bunch of things apart, I would fashion a 'throwaway' socket (3/8" I believe) onto the end of something like an 1/8" brazing rod and fish it through from the side of the radiator. Put a 90 degree bend on one end to facilitate turning. Getting it off this way would probably be easier than getting back it on because you'd have to square up the nuts so that they'd not cross thread. One word of warning for rechroming your emblem, be sure to tell the plater that the red part is essentially fired glass. Before the nickel dip, the plater will buff the copper and this will create much heat. The heat will chip the red glass and ruin the piece. It happended to me.

These are the two main boards that fasten to the frame. There's quite a bit more left to do to these - seat mounting, center post and front door post mortising, and attaching to the cowl. There's also a groove to be cut in one side to accomodate a wire servicing the interior light. The old wood is pretty much rotten but very useful as a pattern. Joel

I have to replace all of the wood, there was not one salvageable piece of wood and three or four pieces (lower rear body) that are completely gone. The best pieces were the door wood that holds the handles, latch and window regulator. Thank you, Joel

The woodwork is well on its way. I started with some complex pieces - but there is some rhyme and reason to the order. I have to "work into" a couple pieces whose originals were completely rotted away. This is time consuming work; the cuts happen quickly but the measuring and marking and figuring the correct sequence eats my time. I got plenty of surface rust spots to remove and lots of primer coating to do before the wood goes in permanently. -Joel

Thank you all very much. I've bought from McMaster-Carr before and even have an old catalogue; they just didn't come to mind for this. Some of the thinner pads would probably make good sound absorbing patches inside the doors. Thanks again, Joel

Where do I find this stuff or what is a good substitute? The fiberous material shown in the picture is about 1" thick by about 2" wide and is used in a couple places on my '31 - for noise or dust control or air flow - I haven't figured that out yet. This is acutally more dense than you'd first guess, you can only compress this 1" thick stuff to about 1/2". Thanks for your help, -Joel

In 1962 a 33 year old mother places an ad in the newspaper asking for someone who wants to sell their 1936 Buick Roadmaster. It was an attempt to replace the one they lost in a barn fire. Wanda, now 85, gave me the yellowed ad just before I left with the car that they managed to find in far northeast Texas. I held the ad and after listening to her stories I knew why she kept it and the car for so long. No doubt her attachment was a connection to meaningful memories. I also knew why she gave the ad to me; a subtle but unmistakeable transfer of responsibility for the car and its future. Less than a year after suddenly losing her son, who was "always going to fix that car," Wanda knew it needed a chance. I don't normally name my cars but before I left, I asked if I could name the car Miss Wanda - a tearful nod was all I got but that was good enough. While I could write a novel about what appeals to me about these Buick cars, I would struggle telling anyone why. I get the question all the time and nowadays I just shrug my shoulders. Here, I think people understand. This car is in remarkable condition but my starting standards are pretty low. Afterall, for a good and solid restoration, don't they all need engine work, wood work, wiring, upholstery, glass, paint, and chrome work to name a few? The things I really value is the minimal rust-through and completeness (aka time & money). This car lacks only a couple things that I've found so far, both sidemount mounting plates are missing (although I have both locks) and one of those fancy tail light lens - but not to worry, I have an extra! I have five of the six original artillery wheels - elusive comes to mind. The hood ornament is complete but broke, as is the grill at a few places. I have successfully used that Muggy Weld stuff for pot metal and so I should be able to fix both of those. I have a spare spark plug cover that will be needed. As far as rust goes, there is one hole in one spare wheel well, besides the one that is supposed to be there. There is one dime size hole at the bottom of one of the back doors. And, there is rust-through on the bottom of the headlight bucket (I have one somewhere in my stock). No rust-through at all on floors or trunk or bottom of truck lid - Amazing! Of course there is only pattern quality wood left in the car. I have one '36 RM rewooding already under my belt and I'm counting on number two being much easier. Miss Wanda has a second chance. I'll keep you posted of her progress but it won't be anytime soon. If slow and steady wins the race, then she should be alright! -Joel

My parts are back from the plastic media blaster. I am happy with the way they turned out. The parts were all blasted on both sides and in case the pics don't tell the story, here is the long and short of plastic blasting. It does a great job of removing all of the old paint. It leaves no marks on the metal and doesn't generate enough heat to threaten warping. It does not remove rust but it will remove loose rust like what you find in pits or the light colored surface rust. I was fortunate to have very little rust on this car but nonetheless, there is a bit more work to do. The cost of the blasting was one grand, I'm looking to do more of this kind of outsourcing as it saves me lots of time. My plan now is to work out all dents, sand and lightly sand blast rust areas, clean and prime with SPI black epoxy primer. The plastic blasting revealed an interesting ink stamping in the driver's door - maybe it was the beginning or end of a roll of new sheet metal. Next up will be some pics of the progress of the re-wooding. Note to Mr. John De Fiore: Here are your questions from two years ago and my answers - I am sorry to be so slow in response. The header metal over the windshield, how is it attached to the metal headers running down the side of the car? Or is it attached? Is the seam just filled with lead? That header has a fairly heavy guage piece of metal on each side that will screw into the wood that is the top of the hinge post. Then, the seam is filled with lead. And the rear windows, is this the same type of construction, ie; leaded seams? No leaded seams back there - the metal is stamped and the rear hinge post is wood with metal covers nailed on. The wood comes out easily after removing all the nails and bolts and screws and roller mechanism and top wood support and bottom circular wood....Okay, the wood doesn't come out easily! Are the door jambs on the body also covered with metal, or is thw wood exposed here where the hinges for the doors attach. The only place where any wood will show on this car is the top jamb of the doors themselves. All hinge posts are covered with nailed on metal pieces. The hinges screw into the wood.

Bill, you asked a question about price range for this car and I'll give you my opinion, others may see it differently and that's ok. First, the car looks to be straight and complete. I am assuming that rust is minimal and that it will run and drive with only minor attention. Interested parties will value the car for these strengths but will also see a need to invest a lot more for restoration work. The costs to do this work will easily approach and very likely exceed it's finished worth. So, market value, which is demand driven, is going to be soft. I think that a price range between $3500 and $4800 will be a place to start. To expect more, you can get her to a point where someone can hop in, start it up, and take it for a spin around the block. No doubt it can be a beautiful car.

On my '36 Roadmaster these are for holding the free end of the visors after you swing them to the side. Joel

Bill, I don't believe that the VIN number holds much detailed information about the old timer's car. You need to look at the data plate that is on the firewall on the passenger's side. If you reply back with that information, many folks here will be able to help. Also, make sure you take a pic of the data plate and include it along with the many other pics you'll be posting in your sales ad. Another suggestion that I have is to try to avoid possible conflicting statements. For example, an interior that is "original" and therefore 78 years old doesn't seem possible to be in "mint" condition. Or, a car with a new paint job with car cover damage needs more explanation because it just doesn't add up unless the owner recently put a cover on the new paint that maybe wasn't fully cured? Or, maybe the car had a new paint job 50 years ago and 50 years of being covered damaged the paint. You want to be absolutely clear with your description. Good luck with your efforts to help your friend.

I need three pieces of window garnish like the ones pictured below. These are needed for the front door of my '31 8-67. They are about 27" long. Thanks, Joel

Two years ago I posted pics of my 1931 Buick Sr 67. About six months ago, I began the process of dismantling and cleaning. One week ago, I sent all sheet metal to the plastic media blaster and I'm anxiously awaiting to see how it turns out. The car had very little rust, except on the floor pans. The pics are the sheet metal being unloaded at the blaster. More to come. - Joel

Hello Neighbor, count me as another who needs a source for the running board trim. Bob's sells an aluminum trim but is not for our '31 cars.

Thank you Dave! joel

Well look at this - a pic from Bear Creek Doc of the '31 8-66-S that he is evaluating. The plug wire retainer is right there. It has edges that are curved up to soften the contact with wires. Joel

The pic below is my '31 ignition switch. I do have a key that works and I also have the lever and electrical part in the back. My question is how do I remove the key cylinder? Somebody once told me to never poke a skunk but I'd like to take this apart for proper cleaning, lube and painting. Thanks, Joel

Thanks Mark, surely I can make one of those. Joel

Item 1. I've just started the re-wooding of my '31 and along with that the replacement of rusted metal floor pans. The old floor pan immediately in front of the back seat has these little brass stubs sticking up - I have no idea what they are for. They are about 3/8" diameter and 3/8" high. Only thing I can think of is maybe part of a snap to hold carpet. The floor carpet would turn upward at this point and so I see a need to hold it down but any other evidence of this is long gone. See Pics. Item 2. The pic below shows two screws that I am certain hold a restraint for the plug wires. Does anyone have a description or pic of what this looks like? It's probably not too sophisticated and therefore something I can make myself. I just wanted to get as close to the original look as possible. Thanks again to all for your help,

That takes me back. Time is probably 6/8 or maybe 12/8. Very interesting story. -Joel