Terry Wiegand

Have any of you guys ever seen this Buick ornament? I had totally forgotten that I had this until I was looking for something else the other day. Barbara got this for me in 2001 and told me that I had to have it since it was a Buick. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas aka Doo Dah Ville

Larry, do you think that you could post a few photos of your '16? The correct plugs for this car are the AC Titans with the big 1.125" hex and .875" threads. These old plugs are on the absolutely unobtainable list. If you can find them, Autolite 3077 or Champion W-18 plugs will work. Has anyone spoken with you about the 1915/1918 Buick McLaughlin Newsletter that Dean Tryon puts out? You really need to be getting this newsletter if you have a 1916 Buick. Contact me privately for the newsletter information. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas terrywiegand@prodigy.net

It's that time of the year again. The Chickasha Pre-War Swap Meet in Chickasha, Oklahoma will be held on March 17th and 18th. As always the Pre-War Buick enthusiasts meet at high noon on Thursday at Steve Hammatt's space(s). ALL Buick enthusiasts are welcome to meet and swap Buick stories, tell a few lies and make new friends. Pete Phillips will be there for a group photo. As that old saying goes, "Be There or Be Square". Don't miss this gathering. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Mike, I can definitely relate to what you are saying about the other idiots on the road with you. We live in a fairly small town out in Doo Dah, Kansas and I personally live for days when the sun is bright, not a cloud in the sky for a thousand miles and it is a Sunday afternoon to get the Buick(s) out on the streets for a fun time. My biggest fear is crossing paths with a 17 year old twit driving a 500 dollar tokyomobile with a cell phone stuck in her ear. Don't laugh, that almost could have happened to me on several occasions. It doesn't make any difference if you have two wheel brakes or four wheel brakes, you have to drive 2 - 3 blocks ahead of everything else on the road and prepare for the worst to happen. This is sad but it is just the way it is. In my humble opinion I would hate to see you cobble up your original car trying to feel safer when in reality it won't help you at all. One has to drive their car and the next bozo's car to have some semblance of safety on the streets. An '18 Buick sure is a fun car to drive. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas down Doo Dah Way

My friend, the late Dave Chambers, had this letterhead that he graciously let me laser copy for my Buick memorabilia collection. I will pass it on for everyone to enjoy. It is so very fitting since we have a 100 year old touring car as of today. Seeing that touring in that setting just makes the old heart beat a little faster I am here to tell you. Hope you all got the New Year welcomed in safe and sound. The pup got us up at 9:30 this morning needing to go out. The new year slipped in and we didn't even know it. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Barbara and I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and we especially want to wish our '16 D-45 a Very Happy 100th Birthday. The old gal is 100 model years old on January 1st. Don't think I'll make it that long but I'm gonna have fun along the way tryin' Terry and Barbara Wiegand From down Doo Dah Way

Cindy, don't you think that it would be a good idea to put a note in the Bugle stating just what you said about the production process of the magazine so that the entire membership would know exactly what is going on and why? It think it is fair to say that a very small portion of club members frequent these forums. I will also say that I was beginning to wonder WHY the Bugle was not posted online already and then my copy showed up in the mailbox. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Dennis, thanks for your input here. I did call the folks the other day after reading the initial posting. I spoke with a fellow named Mike and I was very impressed with his knowledge of what I was asking about. I have a 1916, 1920, and a 1922 Buick and all have the 6-cylinder engine. The '16 and '20 use the same Delco distributor cap and rotor. I have been gathering ignition parts for over 20 years for these cars and there are just a few items that I feel like I really need to get. I have 5 NOS Delco caps for the '16 and '20 plus what is currently on the engines. I have 2 NOS caps for the '22. I have boxes of NOS starter and generator brushes for all of the cars and several dozens of the BIG headlight bulbs for the '16 and '20. The '16 and '20 use a coil that sets atop the starter/generator units and is referred to as a 'mailbox' coil. As everyone knows these coils are exposed to repeated cycles of heating and cooling and over time will gradually fade in strength. I spoke with Mike about the possibility of them rebuilding and/or rewinding these units for me. He assured me that they can do this as this same style of Delco coil was used on Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the same time frame. I am a huge fan of originality on the Buicks and finding someone to help with this area of the ignition system has me feeling almost giddy as they say. I think a lot of folks simply do not realize the critical aspect of obtaining these early ignition parts. One could have a completely restored automobile and go absolutely nowhere with it simply because it cannot be made to run for the lack 2 small parts - a cap and rotor. Well, that's my story anyway. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Mr. Capone, could you please tell us what vehicle you purchased the coil/starter switch for? Would you mind giving us a ballpark price of what you paid? You see I'm looking at one of their condensers for one of my Buicks. I'm not filthy stinkin' rich, however, when a person has two options - NOTHING and a HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT, the decision gets narrowed down pretty quick. Several folks have said that they have dealt with this company and the thing that just blows me away is that NOT ONE of these people have complained about the quality of what they got. In my opinion that speaks volumes. Every day that the sun comes up ignition/electrical parts for the vehicles of the teens and early twenties is just that much harder to find. I know of two NOS, Delco, threaded post distributor caps that sold for $900.00 to one person last year. If a person needed one of those caps to just make the engine run it would have been cheap at twice the price. I want to make the decision of what some may consider 'pricey' for myself. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Lamar, you find one that has Doo Dah on it and I will be all over that one! My war department would be hangin' me out to dry if I spent that kind of money on a license plate frame. Barbara and I want to wish you and all of the other Buick enthusiasts that frequent these forum postings a Very Happy New Year. For the last few years I have driven one of the Buicks on New Year's Day at high noon - sort of an official welcome to the new year. It won't happen this time because we still have some snow on the ground and we simply cannot have any salt residue on the tires and drag that stuff inside the trailer. We are going out to the Airport Steakhouse for a very early evening dinner and heading back to the house before the crazies get out on the roads and we will be fast asleep when the clock hits midnight. Happy New Year to you all!! Terry and Barbara Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas that's Doo Dah to youse all

I too would like to know more about this company. They show certain condensers that look like what is used in one of my Buicks. If anyone knows about this company, please let us know on here. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

And they have waited over 12 years to try and do something about this? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Mark, could you show us the back side of the fob please? As Larry said, that is very nice indeed. And do this for all of us guys out there - spend as much time with your Dad as you can. You will lose him all too soon someday. Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Terry Wiegand

The first Buick I owned was a 1959 LeSabre 2-Door Hardtop. It had an Arctic White top with the body being what was called Tawny Rose. The car was bought new in Ogden, Utah and traded in at our local Chevrolet dealer on a new 1966 Chevelle Super Sport Coupe. This car was somewhat unusual in the fact that it came from the factory with the 401 cubic inch engine in it. It was special ordered that way and I was the second owner. I spoke with the man who ordered it new and he told me about special ordering the car with the big engine because he really liked fast cars. I was talking with a guy at the Rochester, Minnesota meet in 2006 about this car because he was there with a '59 LeSabre Sport Coupe. His car had the 364 inch engine in it and he very politely told me that I was wrong, that my car had the 364 in it because it was a LeSabre. I politely told him back, no, sir, YOU are wrong, I owned the car and I know what it had in it for an engine. There was another fellow standing close by and he told the fellow that I was probably right and that a dealer could have ordered just about anything the way they wanted back in those days if they knew how to work the ordering codes. It was the 401 inch engine in that car and I am here to tell people that that car was damn fast. I buried that red line speedometer past 120 mph on numerous occasions and it was still climbing. That car would run faster than I had guts to drive it. I outrun the cop in my high school town of Nickerson, Kansas with it and the 1962 Ford they had then. It was fast! Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

I had the Buick out this afternoon and put about 6 - 8 miles on it. It settled down and ran real well. Did not want to overdue it all at once since it had sat for a long spell without being driven. The adjustments on the carburetor have the engine running very well. Mr. Cole has set the value on the car as a $20,000 asking price. He can be reached at (620) 259-7303. I want to add some more photos in the next day or so. The engine runs strong, the body and wheels are very solid, and this would make someone a very nice, fun tour car. Mr. Cole has the ORIGINAL check that his Great Uncle wrote for the car in July of 1918 to The Reno Buick Company of Hutchinson, Kansas. This Buick has been in the same family for going on 98 years this coming summer. That fact in itself is absolutely amazing. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

There are two 'separate' photos in my post alright. What I wanted to say and it didn't come out that way was there was supposed to be two 'different' photos in the post. I'm going to try it again this morning and see if that helps any.

There are supposed to be two separate photos in this posting. Trying to get this system to 'upload', 'download', or whatever they wanna call it, photos into the body of the message is like trying to pee up that proverbial rope. This new program is about 300 light years behind what we had before. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Thought you guys might like to see what I found on eBay a few weeks back. This fob is the real deal in that this was probably made in the middle to late twenties. I am always on the watch (excuse that pun here) for old, authentic Buick memorabilia. Has anyone else ever seen one of these before? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Brian, I can tell you a lot of stories behind some of your Buick signs. We had a lot of fun with them in Flint in 2003. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

THERE IS EVEN MORE JOY IN BUICKVILLE THESE DAYS!! THE 1918 E-45 IS RUNNING LIKE ANY GOOD BUICK SHOULD!! It was successfully started late this afternoon and the rebuilt Marvel carburetor was quickly adjusted to get the engine settled down and running smoothly. The next thing that I would like to do with this posting is to get Mr. Cole to set an asking price so that we can get it on here and possibly post a few more photos. This has been an aggravating experience and a ton of fun at the same time. This was my first and hopefully only time in dealing with a stuck engine. It freed up and now comes the really fun part in taking it for a drive or two or three. Christmas came a little early for me with this project. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Pete, thanks for putting that article on here and educating us about this engineering point. I certainly was not aware of this purpose. In the case of my '16, we are dealing with a slow speed and low compression engine. As time went by the compression ratios increased, engine speeds increased and inti-knock fuel came into being. It was stressed in several places in the article that by doing this it would allow for higher engine speeds. When I take my engine to the rebuilder I will talk to them about this. Maybe this is something that will not be necessary in this engine. It sure is and has been obvious to me that a person can learn a lot in playing around with these old cars. Something else that really amazes me is the degree of technical innovation that Buick employed for only being in the business of building automobiles for a little over 10 years. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

And what happens if a person doesn't get this 'offset' on the right side of the cylinder? I'm with Leif, never heard of the like before. This sounds like a setup for uneven wear in the cylinder. I want to make sure that I am understanding what I am reading here. Ben, are you telling us that Buick deliberately built their engines doing this? I am considering very seriously having the engine in my 1916 D-45 completely rebuilt. You can bet your bippy that I will go back with aluminum pistons, modern rings, and have the rotating assembly balanced. That Light Six Buick engine was a powerhouse to begin with and doing this will only increase power and smoothness. I am a huge fan of originality in restoration, but, doing what I want to do will not show and the person looking at the engine will never know that anything out of the ordinary was done internally unless I tell them. And what happens if when the engine is opened up and some cylinders are found to be tapered or out-of-round, or both. It will have to be bored to straighten things up and then God forbid, it isn't original anymore. The point I am making here is this - if certain things must be done, what is the harm in 'modernizing' the internals a bit and making the engine more dependable and trouble free. I really want to hear what the supposed purpose of a piston wrist pin offset is all about. This just doesn't make a lick of sense to me. What say you all out there? Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

Lamar, I and the other gentleman helping on this project are so close to starting the engine that it isn't even funny. I spoke with Jason Smith at Advanced Electrical Rebuilders this afternoon about the resistance unit on the coil. All of the Delco reference material that I have does not give the voltage coming out of the 'mailbox' coil. I will ask if there is anyone on here who can tell me if 4 volts going into the distributor breaker plate sounds right? I am thinking that I heard someone say once that there was something like 10,000 volts coming off the coil. Does this sound right? We do not want to do something that will destroy irreplaceable parts. We have a piece of NiChrom resistance wire that needs to be at the proper length to give between 3 and 4 volts to the distributor. Any technical help is appreciated here. Now, Lamar, the car does not belong to me so I am going along with Mr. Cole's wishes at this point. Once the engine is running smoothly and it has a few miles on it I am going to talk with him about setting a price on it and make that known on here. I believe it would be to their advantage to let folks know the asking price and go from there. This has been a tremendous learning experience for me. I had never dealt with a stuck engine before, but, I have now and I think things are going to turn out OK in the end. Just need a little technical help here. This just goes to show that a person never gets too old to learn and it has been one whale of a trip along the way! Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas down Doo Dah Way

Jeff, Bob farmed out on the very western edge of Reno County. If you take K14 south at the junction west of Arlington and go about 6 - 7 miles you will run into the Cole farmstead. You are right, this will make someone a really nice tour car. It is very solid and I honestly do not believe that there are a whole lot of miles on it. The next step is to get the engine started. Hopefully very soon. Will keep the forum posted. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas

THERE IS MUCH JOY IN BUICKVILLE THIS AFTERNOON!! The Marvel Mystery Oil did what we wanted it to do - the engine is now free. The next step is to get the engine started. It is going to take some cleaning up and then I think it will be ready to start. Will keep everyone posted as to the progress. I have said this a gazillion times - that Marvel Mystery Oil is some wonderful stuff. This just proves it again. Terry Wiegand South Hutchinson, Kansas