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1918 McLaughlin


Steve Braverman

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Guest imported_Thriller

It was about 1918 that the change was made from McLaughlin to McLaughlin-Buick. From 1908 to 1918 (ten year contract), McLaughlin built the bodies on Buick chassis and driveline. When that contract came up, Sam McLaughlin sold to form GM of Canada, with Sam at its helm. At that point, the name of the marque changed and they were more closely aligned with Buick, although there were still differences, primarily in trim and other smaller items, while the bodies and underpinnings were effectively the same.

So, if your car has McLaughlin badging and not McLaughlin-Buick, then it is either at the end of the McLaughlin run or perhaps they carried over leftover badging that they had.

I'm working from memory of what I read in August at the Canadian Automobile Museum in Oshawa...it is quite possible my memory leaks like a Dynaflow, so take this with a grain of salt.

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I think I am going to pass on this McLaughlin, but the car appears to be very different from the 1919 Buick I looked at last week. It has conventional semi-elliptic springs in back, and the engine has a separate starter and generator.

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Steve,

It was common for McLaughlin Buicks to have components from the year before or after the year of manufacture. Many believe that Buick USA would export chassis with whatever they had on hand during the month it was exported. This seems true for mid-year model changes too.

So, it is not uncommon for an export car to have features from newer models or left-overs from a previous model year.

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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: sfair</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If it a "Light Six", it will have a seperate generator and starter. This particular model was badged "Mclaughlin" only and had virtually no Buick parts used. Was a hodgepodge of assembled parts. </div></div>

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. After looking at photos of this thing, it does not really look anything like a Buick.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay, I found another McLaughlin for sale. This time it's a 1927 Standard Six. Is this one basically identical to an American Buick? I don't even see any McLauglin badges on it, but the seller is advertising it as a McLaughlin-Buick.

I'm not looking for a McLaughlin per se, but they keep turning up.

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Guest imported_Thriller

By 1927, it should essentially be a Buick, but with McLaughlin-Buick badging...hub caps, radiator badge for sure. There might be some other slight differences, but it would be essentially the same.

One thing about a McLaughlin-Buick is that if you have it judged, any minor differences can be chalked up as Canadian versus American cars. That doesn't work in the BCA without documentation, but that's pretty scarce these days.

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  • 1 year later...

Twhile this is largely a dead topic the drive train on the light six is the same as Oakland model 34B in 1919. the mclaughlin model for 1919 was H63.. i think 1918 was E 63

At the time it was said to be lb for lb the fastest production car on the road said to go 55 mph.... There is always a side stroy about the whiskey 6 used by the rum runners in western Canada... it is unclear to me if they were talking about the little 6 or the big six but to me it seems to make more sense that the little six was the car of choice... there were a good number of both in western Canada

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I have a 1921 McLaughlin and a 1921 Buick, both tourings, so I can tell you that the dashes are the most significant and noticable difference of the two cars. It is really neat to show them side by side. I have learned many stories from the old timers about the MsLaughlins and how Buick resented them at the early American auto shows. Jerry D

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I`ve only had a ride in one 1919 light 6 and mine isn`t running yet. the one I did ride in sounded fine. The long stroke and the lack of oil rings in the original engine would seem to be significant issues. I`ll keep everyone posted when mine is running but if you have copies of anything in print from the time to support any sorting out of these two engines it would be appreciated

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I`ve only had a ride in one 1919 light 6 and mine isn`t running yet. the one I did ride in sounded fine. The long stroke and the lack of oil rings in the original engine would seem to be significant issues.

Stand in front or to the side of the engine with it running... you will hear it.

Edited by sfair (see edit history)
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I`ve only had a ride in one 1919 light 6 and mine isn`t running yet. the one I did ride in sounded fine. The long stroke and the lack of oil rings in the original engine would seem to be significant issues. I`ll keep everyone posted when mine is running but if you have copies of anything in print from the time to support any sorting out of these two engines it would be appreciated

Two places I can think of to check would be the Buick Heritage Alliance and GM of Canada archives. The archivist wouldn't have specifics, but they may be able to supply some information. A lot of the early records are at Queen's University in Kingston, ON. Dave Corbin has visited there and would be able to give a better idea of what they have there. Have you tried online searches? There are a couple of sites working toward scanning a variety of old literature, but I can't speak to how much McLaughlin information they would have.

Good luck.

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I`ve only had a ride in one 1919 light 6 and mine isn`t running yet. the one I did ride in sounded fine. The long stroke and the lack of oil rings in the original engine would seem to be significant issues. I`ll keep everyone posted when mine is running but if you have copies of anything in print from the time to support any sorting out of these two engines it would be appreciated

What "two" engines are you talking about?

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Stand in front or to the side of the engine with it running... you will hear it.

Did your engine have the stamped steel oil splash guard between the crank and pistons? Does it have 2 or 3 bolts holding down the rocker arm shafts?

The engine has stamped steel splash guards but I thought they were below the crank shaft but the engine is in a very cold place just now...

The rocker arm bases are held in place by 2 bolts. both shafts and the rockers themselves have been bored and sleeved.

The push rod bases have 3 maybe 4 bolts holding them in place... they weren`t handy to look at

why do you ask??

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So, is this going to turn into an Eskimos / Stampeders or Oilers / Flames thing? :D They're all better than the Blue Bumblers

Blue Bumblers

Gee go easy on my team. While the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are presently not in the same 'league' as the stampeders, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have taken to honour as making the dumbest play ever, and giving the victory in the championship game away with a too many men on the field call, on the last play of the game, to give the opponents a second chance to make a missed field goal, and give up the game, with no time left on the clock. Forever taking the crown!

Go Riders!

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