Old, but new guy

[hotrod1940]

Old lifelong car guy, and I recently purchased a 1953 Skylark and need to get acquainted here to gather your knowledge and perhaps add some comic relief to your proceedings.

The Skylark I bought is the subject of this thread and should provide a few laughs for you guys.

http://forums.aaca.org/f115/1953-1954-buick-skylark-convertible-prototype-287785.html

I recently took an old Bonneville racer, the Frank Morawski 27 T roadster that went 176 MPHJ in 1951, to Pebble Beach. They honored 9 racers from that era this year.

My brother and I call this stuff our bucket list and went to Laguna Sega races and Pebble this year. We are both in our seventies, so we need to hurry.

Anyhow I am going to save this old Buick and will no doubt require your help and knowledge.

Hotrod1940

[Mark Shaw]

Bob,

Welcome to the group!

I am sure you will find Mr. Earl and others very helpful... (And Lamar keeps us all laughing too!)

I can only hope to be as ambitious as you when I get to my 70s...

[Dandy Dave]

Welcome Aboard Matey. Great Crusty Critters :eek: She sure is rough, but I believe it is worth fixing. :cool: Dandy Dave!

[Guest my3buicks]

Welcome Bob, Have you been able to decipher any of the oddities on this car as being customzed or being a possible styling horse for the 54 Skylsrks? Would love to be able to see you get the last laugh on that issue.

[stealthbob]

Welcome Bob, Have you been able to decipher any of the oddities on this car as being customzed or being a possible styling horse for the 54 Skylsrks? Would love to be able to see you get the last laugh on that issue.

I second this comment!!!

Nice to see someone with....ummm....errr....ahhhh experience get this car, I would hate an amateur start it and botch it all up and then leave it in ruins or even worse Rat Rod it :eek:.

I will for sure keep an eye to this project.

[hotrod1940]

Welcome Bob, Have you been able to decipher any of the oddities on this car as being customzed or being a possible styling horse for the 54 Skylsrks? Would love to be able to see you get the last laugh on that issue.

First, thanks for the welcomes. As to the questions about heritage, I don't think the questions will ever be answered, unless we find a real old guy that worked in the customs shop at GM.

My opinion is that the rear fin customization was a amateur customization done in the early days. It is a moot point now, as I cut the fins off in the first week that I had the car. Poorly done and probably 500 pounds of lead. I am back to a basic tub in the rear.

I bought the car because it was a no brainer. It was, after all the talk, a 1953 Buick Skylark for a cheap price. I have done this work all my life and I guessed that the rear fins were easy to fix. It had so much lead that the car has air shocks to support it. It would need a diesel to move that much lead.

Now, as to the windshield, the mystery still remains as to the factory connection. My opinion is, It definitely was NOT a prototype as it came to late in the year and makes no sense. I lean towards a custom built in the factory shop for someone in the company. There are precedents for this, like the hardtop Skylark and others. The windshield is professionally done and the color of the cowl matches the rest of the car. No sign of sectioning to replace the whole cowl. The likelyhood that two wrecked Skylarks were used to make one is highly unlikely, and there would be signs of the joining.

My guess again is that someone at the factory took a tub a matched it to a wraparound windshield. They had to have windshields from a Buick, Olds, or Caddy that were available and probably laying there in storage. I sincerely doubt that someone would later custom fit a 53 dash to the wraparound windshield.

The one thing that convinces me of the factory connection is the trunk lid.

It has letters like the 54 Skylark and there is no sign that the 53 emblem was leaded in to added just these letters. Where else could you find a deck lid that had no holes in it. It had to be at the factory.

I think I will end it here and wait for the guys to tell me I am crazy.

The car will be restored to stock 1953 Skylark configuration with the exception of the windshield, it stays.

Edited January 6, 2011 by hotrod1940 (see edit history)

[stealthbob]

You have it first hand right in your face and you obviously sound like you know your way around a car restoration...your account of what it was is most likely I would think.

I love your plan to keep it 53 Skylark with the 54 window...do you plan on posting progress pics for all of us to drool over?

[RICK YOUNG]

WELCOME HOTROD,

Remember the National will be in MASS. in 2011 and closer to you in Charlotte in 2012. Would love to see it in person

[hotrod1940]

You have it first hand right in your face and you obviously sound like you know your way around a car restoration...your account of what it was is most likely I would think.

I love your plan to keep it 53 Skylark with the 54 window...do you plan on posting progress pics for all of us to drool over?

I lean more to the thought that the windshield would be from a 53 El Dorado or Olds Fiesta rather than a 54 Buick. I think it was pieces that they had left over from the 1953 model year run.

[stealthbob]

I admit I had to Google image those 53's and yes I missed the fact that there is no extra dip on the side bottom edges....it goes straight around.

Thanks for clearing that up for me...makes perfect sense

[Mark Shaw]

Mr Earl, where are you????

I just can't believe he has not "chimed in" on this yet....

[RICK YOUNG]

Lamar is lurking, I mean salivating, I mean watching patiently out there some where over the rainbow.

[hotrod1940]

This is the number that I found on the frame I7146070 and that might tell us whether this was assembled late in the model run in 1953. This is the only ID numbers I can find. The previous owner gave me the ID # V2425907 for the engine but that doesn't match the number on the head. Maybe a number that I am missing.

I am almost down to taking the body off the frame.

[buick5563]

That won't match the number on the head. The block number is between the Number 4 and 6 cylinder just above the exhaust manifold.

The first number (even though it looks like an I ) is a 1 implying it was built in Flint. The weird part is that the frame number you gave is after my 55.

[NTX5467]

Dave Corbin probably could answer the frame number question.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[hotrod1940]

Thank you, I will contact him. If any of you have Skylark parts, or are working on one, I would enjoy corresponding.

[MrEarl]

Yaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnnn, man, I must have fallen asleep and been dreamin about 54 Buicks for the last 2 weeks. Where did this thread come from.

Hello Bob, look forward to following this project. So where in the "Georgia mountains" are you. I'm just outside of Athens.

Not sure why the previous owner didn't fill you in on all the info Dave Corbin and I provided him on the car. Indeed Dave is the Buick Numbers Man and is the one to ask for help with the numbers. Here is some of what he has already provided to the previous owner. I merely acted as middleman.

Vin# is 17146070 engine # V2425907

Dear Mr. E:

The engine is a late September 1953 engine for the 1953 year. Frame number is 1953 model year, mid-October 1953 build date.

The last 1953's were built in November 1953. There were also 1954's built in November 1953.

Dear Mr. E:

I don't know if the frame numbers of Skylarks were separately recorded. Based on what I've seen, I doubt if that information exists. The only other person who might know is Terry Dunham.

All is not lost however. The key item here would be the body data plate and it's numbers. If it's a conversion from a 1953 Skylark (non-factory job). it would show 1953 Model 76X amd a very high body number like 1675 (There were 1690 built.). The plate will have 1953 paint and trim codes on it.

If it's really a prototype, the body plate will read 1954 Model 76X and have a very low body number (like 1 or 2). Also, the paint and trim codes will either be for a 1954 or will be stamped "spec" or some other odd notation. It probably should also have a plate showing a job number from Engineering, which is where this type of stuff was done. (Buick put a job number on ALL engineering oddballs to record the expense correctly.)

Keep me in the loop on this one.

Regards, Dave Corbin

Dear "Mr. Earl":

The last 1953's were built in November 1953. There were also 1954's built in November 1953.

Regards, Dave Corbin

Dear Mr. Earl:

I did some more looking in the Buick monthly production records.

Production of 1953 76X's was: September - 141, October - 12, later none.

Production of 1954 100's was: November 1953 thru Janruary 1954 - 0, Febuary - 5.

A mid October frame number would be very close to the last one built! This set of data would allow 3 months for Engineering to alter a car on an experimental basis. The data plate on the body is the WHOLE story!! The presence of that Buick Engineering job number plate would be sufficient documentation as to prototype status.

Regards, Dave Corbin

See there, told ya Dave Corbin is the Buick numbers guy. This is pretty much where it ended. Never heard back from the owner. Glad to see you are posting and sharing the car with us. How about some updated photos.

Hope this helps.

Buickly

MrEarl

[hotrod1940]

Mr. Earl thanks for responding and giving me all this info. I live in Gainesville, not that far from you.

All of the info sure falls in place except that there are no plates at all on the car. Nothing on the firewall except two screw holes.

I guess it will all be a question mark that we will never know for sure. I still lean toward some factory involvement in the windshield, but not the fins on the back.

Here are some pictures starting with the fins that are now gone. They were tacked on then leaded.

I again thank everyone for their help and I had sent a private message to Dave Corbin, but you have brought me up to date.

Pictures below

[MrEarl]

Gainesville ain't fer at all. I would welcome an invite to drive up and see ya sometime.

It appears this was a popular thing to do to 53 Skylarks back in the 60's.

This would be an interesting magazine to buy and read as it also has an article about a 32 Ford Roadster with a 56 Buick engine.

SPEED & CUSTOM 1962 April Dodge Dart 1953 Buick 50 Merc - eBay (item 380300325963 end time Jan-16-11 14:23:21 PST)

[Guest Jim_Edwards]

Wow, if that magazine cover doesn't bring back a lot of memories to old street custom guys nothing will. The purple paint craze thanks to Barris. Adapting Lincoln quad vertical headlights to front fenders of just about anything and everything, and adding the fins from '57-'58 Caddy's to anything and everything. And who can forget all the Desoto grille "teeth" that found their way into the Shark Mouthed GM cars of the 1950s.

Gotta go now and French the headlights and taillights on something.......

Jim

Edited December 20, 2010 by Jim_Edwards (see edit history)

[hotrod1940]

There was a time I would customize anything. Now, I can't think of a more beautiful car than a stock 1953 Skylark. I have no problem updating the suspension or engine. Everything else will be bone stock.

[hotrod1940]

Holidays are over and it is time to get back to the Buick. After recieving more information, I have concluded that I MAY have the last 1953 Skylark ever produced. I welcome anyone that can come up with one later.

I am going to Detroit for the Autorama and will be picking up pieces to continue the restoration. I also welcome anyone with a Skylark to compare notes and such.

Will be building my rotisserie within the next two weeks.

Thanks

[Dandy Dave]

Glad to hear that you are putting it back to stock as you possibly can. Very cool project. :cool: Dandy Dave!

[hotrod1940]

Well, the snow has slowed me down a bit, but I have gathered the materials to build a rotisserie and also I am going to Detroit for the Autorama and will be picking up some parts there for the Skylark. Looking for an engine and Roadmaster parts for the front clip. I am learning a lot about Buicks. My uncle was head of the Buick engine division until he retired in the middle sixties. He said that the Buick nailhead was as close to a hot rod engine as you could get and still be acceptable to the public.

My great Uncle was head of security for Buick at the Flint plant in the late forties and early fifties.

[MrEarl]

Doesn't sound like this snow has slowed you down too much.

I don't have any 53 parts but if there's anything for 54 that might interchange you're welcome to come down and look.

My uncle was head of the Buick engine division until he retired in the middle sixties. He said that the Buick nailhead was as close to a hot rod engine as you could get and still be acceptable to the public.

is he still alive? That is cool (and so true) that he said that.

[stealthbob]

Doesn't sound like this snow has slowed you down too much.

I don't have any 53 parts but if there's anything for 54 that might interchange you're welcome to come down and look.

is he still alive? That is cool (and so true) that he said that.

Thought I'd add that link you had Mr Earl....great write up on the Nailhead.

Nailing Down The Buick Nailhead: Engine Builder

[hotrod1940]

Doesn't sound like this snow has slowed you down too much.

I don't have any 53 parts but if there's anything for 54 that might interchange you're welcome to come down and look.

is he still alive? That is cool (and so true) that he said that.

No, he passed away in the sixties after he retired and moved to Florida. Great old guy and he really knew his engines. He was the guy that sent nailheads out west to Max Balchowsky for his ol yeller road racers. I wish I had knew more back then so I could have asked him more.