ME & MY === 1958 Buick, 1958 Buick, 1958 Buick and……..

[dei]

On 10/4/2020 at 11:04 AM, JohnD1956 said:

@dei  Sending good thoughts for you today with the truck.  And don't worry about the off topic posts request.  It does not seem to apply to anything to do with posts about our collections. 

 

Thanks John.

I wasn't really worrying about it but... I do tend to go so...

 

Therefore,

Having had a week of being quite busy and after my road trip to deliver the axle doesn't my one son need the trailer last weekend and say he is concerned about the tires on it. 

Sure enough if there isn't a slight tear in the passenger side sidewall and the other side is showing check lines.

Went to my local tire shop guy and says "Those are car snow tires which are old".

Booked an appointment to get good used trailer tires (6 ply) and a spare tire w/rim which I never had before.

 

 

Naturally the spare wheel was about as clean as the rims on the trailer went at it with a wire wheel on my cheapo drill.

Found my big can of silver Tremclad paint and brushed away.

 

Now. what to do with a spare?

 

Leaving it loose is a recipe for theft so decided to hang it on the passenger side at the back.

 

All the while the Special is sitting there calling me to pay her some much needed attention too...

 

Sorry dear, I have to finish the other rim next.

 

 

[dei]

This is our Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada so to all our Canadian Buick members, may you all have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

 

We have had a wonderful week weather wise here but sadly it is at the expense of the folks dealing with the hurricane (again). Normally they pump both warm air and rain to us but this time the rain has remained south of us so took advantage and opened up the garage door at home to dig into my parts collection.

I had purchased some large industrial sized totes labelling them for the Special, Roadmaster and Limited parts for easier identification and finding what I will need as I get into the cars again.

The fact I have to clear the back wall to install the new garage door is a big motivating factor!

 

There was no way I could move the dash from the Limited parts car by myself so conscripted my son to lend a hand after I had to help him pick up a cement mixer and deliver to his place for a project he is starting.

Even with the two of us it was a bit of a struggle but it is safe again.

 

Clearing more off the shelf to be taken down I came across a re-chromed bumper end that most likely will be for the Roadmaster and will label as such.

I just had to hang it on the back of the Limited for a picture.

 

Unfortunately the chrome jobber ground out the detail on the end but it does shine.

 

Will put in a few more hours today in hopes of filling at least two totes and take them out to storage while the construction is going on.

Lots more to do before that happens...

[95Cardinal]

Happy Thanksgiving, Doug!

Hope you had a great day.

Joe

[dei]

10 hours ago, 95Cardinal said:

Happy Thanksgiving, Doug!

Hope you had a great day.

Joe

 

Appreciate the thoughts Joe!

 

With the Province dealing with a possible second wave of the virus trying to not shut us down again, we kept our dinner to just four of us but my other boy came in with coffee for us (and to have some pumpkin pie). 

Boys being boys they started to reminisce. At their age now they thought they could share some of their more questionable exploits with mom & me which when they started to laugh about it, had us all in stitches since no one got hurt.

My comment to all this was that I hoped their children blessed them with all the joy and happiness that they blessed their mother and me with.

 

It was a fun family evening. 

 

I actually had three great days.

While being pushed a bit from the contractor to get things prepped for him to start, it is still good for me to get more organised with things and mentally getting a plan together for next year with the cars. 

Of course finding things I've forgotten about, cleaning them up some and being surrounded by all that chrome is almost as good as a fine craft beer! (almost...)  LOL

 

Came across another NOS side view mirror late last night before calling it quits which means I will have decent mirrors for all three cars now.

 

Was able to unearth the motor from the Limited which has been sitting covered with oily blankets to help keep rust down. It is going to be totally rebuilt (at some point) since it is original to the car.

 

 

The objective this week will be to clear things off of the shelves, take them down off the wall and store away till the new door is in place.

It's about that saying, How do you eat an elephant?

I'm not a fast eater but it's coming along.

 

After a small job today will be taking two containers out to storage and dig into those shelves.

To be continued... 

Edited October 13, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

A bit more effort made yesterday after work.

Before taking out for storage I listed things and put the sheet in a sheet protector to avoid having to dig into the container again. I then marked the lids for each car.

It should help the boys some day...

 

Made a trip for those big containers and a few other things I'm going to sell at a yard sale over at the Special garage.

 

It's coming along. At least my wife knows where I am (for the most part).

 

Maybe by next weekend I can call the contractor and have him inspect the situation to get a starting date...

Edited October 14, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Attacked a mess on one shelf first of something that leaked and was quite sticky and second, found these computer boxes that were there when I bought the place in 1983.

 

Knowing the previous owner worked at the Chrysler plant here imagine they are of 1982 vintage and miraculously walked out the gate to his then garage.

By the looks of them imagine people collecting/restoring 80's Chrysler products are going to have a hard time finding these in good condition.

Those were tough years with the Lean Burn systems acting up a lot (ask me how I know).

 

Anybody think these books would be of any value to anyone?

There is lots of detail and part numbers in them.

 

 

There are 12 books the oldest being 1975 to 1982 some covering Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth,Ford, Merc, Lincoln & International besides the grouping you see on the book I posted.

Would appreciate feed back on these otherwise they are going to the recycle bin.

 

 

With another night I might be ready to pull the white shelf off the wall and remove the red lower on to my shed till ready to put back in place.

[lancemb]

Looks like a good cleaning and organizing is overdue.  I did a similar project this summer and am happy I did.  It's good to know what you have! 

[dei]

8 hours ago, lancemb said:

Looks like a good cleaning and orcarsganizing is overdue.  I did a similar project this summer and am happy I did.  It's good to know what you have! 

 

Yes on both counts!

 

History is repeating itself as my dad did the same thing with his collection/cars.

Guess it's the seed not falling too far from the tree theory...

[JohnD1956]

11 hours ago, dei said:

There are 12 books the oldest being 1975 to 1982 some covering Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth,Ford, Merc, Lincoln & International besides the grouping you see on the book I posted.

Would appreciate feed back on these otherwise they are going to the recycle bin.

I find it difficult to throw away any reference material with part numbers. Maybe you don't need these but I would suggest running them on e bay for two months. Then if no one wants them...well then the people have spoken.

[Buicknutty]

 I could potentially be interested if any of them cover the '68 and '69 full size Buicks? Those illustrations and part numbers might be useful.

 Keith

[dei]

9 hours ago, Buicknutty said:

 I could potentially be interested if any of them cover the '68 and '69 full size Buicks? Those illustrations and part numbers might be useful.

 Keith

 

Sorry Keith,  the oldest one I have shows 1975 and then only about 8 pages of mixed models.

 

Believe me when I say I'd be happy to give one to you for postage if I had it or use that as an excuse for a road trip to come up and visit but...

[dei]

Just ending a late night but happy with the progress.

I managed to clear and sort items from the upper shelf and some things on the lower one identifying and placing in the appropriate bins. 

 

Was able to make a trip out to the storage container before supper and went back at it after dinner till now. With the shelf down it was a process to deal with the lower shelf items but have a few bins yet that can be used.

 

Just a sneak preview of some of the things locked safely in the tool box.

 

Moving along...

[dei]

Today marks a bit of a milestone seeing this morning my thread has reached 95,000 views.

I guess there has been enough interest to at least entertain you. It has helped a lot by posting words and pictures to keep me moving forward and want to thank everyone that has been following along.

 

With the drastic changes having taken place over the years with our local Car Club, these Forums have truly been a wonderful support. Thank you so much BCA and AACA for all your hard work keeping this available to us. 👍

Doug 

[Buicknutty]

 Thanks Doug, and congratulations on all those views!

 Keith

[dei]

While my plan this weekend was to spend every minute in the garage sorting, packing and taking bins out to the storage well, that went south in a hurry.

Got a text Friday evening saying I had to cut the property Saturday as it had been held off for two weeks. that was five and a half hours taken out of that day but is was fairly nice temperature wise.

Came home and did what I could in the hour and a half before having to clean up to go out for dinner with the neighbours. Was told to "winter up" as reservations were for the patio at Applebees... I get the distancing thing but the heaters were not on!

Came back to the neighbours for a night cap (and too warm up) then called it a night.

 

Sunday morning again was going to spend all day and... get a call from a fellow repairing my lawnmower asking if I could pick it up because he was clearing up jobs in his garage and wanted the space for snow blowers he promised to have ready for customers.

Not a big issue as he is two blocks away. I straightened up and loaded it in the trailer then proceeded on to the garage where the Special is to drop it and the trailer off for my son to use for cleanup to the dump on Monday.

Not long after making a turn I hear and feel a rumbling from the truck. Pulled over and the right rear tire is FLAT!

Since I was close to my mechanic and figured his paved lot was safer to jack the truck up I threw on the 4 ways and took my time.

 

What the HEY?

 

Trying to upload pictures and received this.

 

Sorry, an unknown server error occurred when uploading this file.

Please contact us for assistance.

• OK

[dei]

Trying again...

 

The day sucked weather wise but being Sunday, did what I had to do.

 

It was a total fiasco and will spare the details but three hours later managed to put a plug in and on the road again...

The culprit was this big screw fortunately in the tread of the tire allowing a plug to be used.

 

The point of this was that I lost that time getting parts bins labelled and out to the storage in hopes to get the garage cleaned up enough to remove panelling for the contractor to start the new garage door.

 

Since then (being it is now Tuesday) I have all but two containers out in storage and pulled the panelling off where the door will go.

 

 

I will have to disconnect and relocate that wall plug and wire which I can do myself and then will remove the plastic and insulation, saving for later use out back.

 

 

[dei]

Some happy news today!

As of 3:45 am this morning, my oldest son and his wife presented my wife and I with a 7 lb 11 ounce boy. 

The world being what it is we won't actually get to see him till they come home hopefully this Friday but we've waited this long, I guess we can wait a few more days to say Hi, we are your grandparents.

[dmfconsult]

Congrats Grandpa!

[JohnD1956]

Happy news indeed.  Now you have to train him about collectible Buicks. 

[Buicknutty]

Congratulations, Doug! Now you can spoil him rotten when he gets older. Particularly with old Buicks!

Keith

[dei]

Thanks gang for the congrats!

 

We are both excited to meet and hold our grandson.

Yes I'm going to lead him down the BUICK PATH as best I can. Will have to figure out how to bolt a proper seat belt set up in the Special at some point... precious cargo you know.

 

 

We are amazed what a flood of memories are coming back to light so want to not rush things too much and enjoy the new moments.

Even my soon to be 93 year old mother is getting caught up in this as it is her 1st great-grandchild. My nephew and his wife are expecting very soon also so gives Mom even more reason to be around when those rainy dull days start to get to her.

 

Meantime,

More to do in the garage...

Edited October 22, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Not having planned on a back door in the first place I hung a board from the ceiling for some wood and trim that would be up out of the way and off a shelf but after doing some measuring found it was too low and going to interfere with the opened door and hardware so...

 

Sort, throw out and discover was fun. Especially finding a mouse or two had chewed up some of that styrofoam!

 

A pleasant surprise was finding the rocker panels.

 

Unfortunately out of all you see there I will only have one good set that will go on the Limited. There is one decent one that will be marked for the Roadmaster but the rest have holes where someone (not me) drilled out and put screws into the body rather than replace the clips that hold them onto the body.

Not sure if they can be welding up and polished or not but worst case I'll temporarily use the best one I have to use on the Roadmaster. (It's going to awhile down the road for her anyway...)

 

Once things were out I took apart the brackets and reattached the plastic with tape first as the staples were occasionally pulling through with the weight of the insulation.

 

Today's objective is, on this rainy day, to disconnect that wall plug, remove the power wire under the window and take out the box, placing it further to the left of the door. 

 

Will see how my day goes but might remove the insulation and put it in large industrial garbage bags. I still have room out at the storage unit which will and can be used when the addition starts.

Edited October 22, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

The next step with the garage was to cut off the plastic vapour barrier and remove the insulation. 

 

With that completed I started next on removing the outlet and the supply wire under the window after isolating the circuit.

 

We bought this place in 1983 and the garage was bare walls with an overhead light bulb and one outlet. Wanting a warm place to work on my cars I did the wiring and insulation then panelled it myself. 

I was surprised to see a price tag still on the back of this outlet.

 

I'll bet they are a bit more now.

 

I want to save the window for the back in the new addition so attempted to remove the inside trim hoping to save it but naturally it cracked and split badly. New trim isn't a big deal but would have kept it looking more original.

 

 

The blue paint and tape is the approximate size of the new overhead door 9 ft wide by 7 ft high.

 

I have a bit more cleanup behind me before the contractor has sufficient room to work in side. If he stays on schedule (weather isn't co-operating..) he hopes to start on November 2nd.

Like me, he hates deadlines too!

[dei]

Spent most of the weekend between lawn work and sorting through stuff in the garage but no pictures as it was pretty boring stuff.

I did however come across this sign which I hung up as I felt it is pretty accurate.

 

 

Earlier this evening I came across a box that I realised it was one Dad had put together but I placed it in the garage after he passed.

Some of the literature I found was the monthly Bulletin's from the local Car Club he belonged to, The Historic Vehicle Society of Ontario (Windsor). 

 

He joined the Club in 1966 not owning an antique car yet but by that Fall he had purchased the 1920 Overland from a member. On my birthday the next January, at age 12 he paid for my Associate Membership as was in the By-Laws to encourage youth involvement. Needless to say there were many fun times learning about the car, adult pride, dealing with repairs and Dad always took the neighbourhood kids (and the parents) for rides whenever he could.

By 1970 the monthly Bulletin was becoming news worthy and they made room for members to write about their cars (no computers back then to post anything right?) so he put together this piece titled: You Asked For It.

 

 

I know the thread is supposed to be about my Buick's but reading this again after all these years, Dang if this isn't the roots for my interest in them and why I can't come selling the car.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Squeezed a trip out to the container today and got through things that were needing to be moved and thrown out. It's looking better now and feel like I'm finally making some progress for the first time.

 

 

Moving that card table and things under it I was able to see the bumpers for the Limited.

They needed some attention so grabbed my wonder polish and went at them both tonight what I could reach with the radio turned up.

 

 

The rear bumper is going to require more work but will see if I can't get it looking presentable with some more effort.

The garage is a far cry from what I let it get to over the years.

Moving along...

 

Anyone want an electric Organ?

Edited October 27, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Mother Nature presented a damp dull cold day so continued with more cleaning up/out.

I took the storage rack down after emptying it of the wood and such. Some is scrap and some has usefulness, again time spent sorting. 

Found a few more pieces I set aside and went back out after supper to shine things up.

 

The one on the left looked worse than the other when I started but they both cleaned up great! One will be going on the Limited and the other saved/labelled for the Roadmaster.

  

 

These both looked about the same before starting. Will have to check but believe the ones in the Limited now are good so these will be for the Roadmaster.

 

As the night got on I only did one of the seat panels as my arm was starting to ache...

Must be the dampness?

 

 

A trip to the scrapper will be on the schedule tomorrow if the rain goes away and maybe a small fire for the scrap wood too.

Edited October 28, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Started my day with a coffee and checking email then the Forums when I looked over and realised my office is starting to look like a Parts counter.

 

Those being some of my best pieces it's OK as it keeps me motivated looking at them to keep at the Buick's.

Edited October 29, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

Then....

I went out to go over to the Special and on the way drove into the closest Tim Horton's for a coffee and muffin when the phone rang while waiting in line.

It was a fellow car buddy a block away from the Special. He said his brother has just pulled in saying there was an accident down the block and it looked like a car hit the house of his friend on the corner so if I was close I'd better go check it out!

Thanks Larry, I was on my way anyway.

It seemed like an hour to get out of the line with 6 cars ahead of me and when I got close to my street I see a firetruck and two ambulances blocking the road!

 

The property has two driveways so pulled into the one where the Special is parked in the garage and walked over to inspect what damage was done to the house.

I'm too long winded to say what I saw but videoed this:

 

 

 

Fortunately for me the house wasn't hit but not so fortunate for the occupants in the car...

They were an older couple that were pretty shaken up and she (passenger) might possibly have a broken shoulder as she was taken out on a back board in some pain.

Every air bag in the vehicle went off so it maybe could have been worse!?

 

Since this is a corner lot and the road is busy it soon was apparent that another car ran the stop sign hitting this red car corner to corner and changed each others directions with this one ending up in my garden.

 

The car causing this was reported to be a 72 year old woman and was complaining of chest pains and hard to breath.

After impact her car went right and ended up at the back corner of the neighbours across from my house.

 

You could see after all the EMS Units left the trail of fluid loss on the road making her direction clear.

 

She came to rest at the Mail Box and clipped the Bell Box barely missing the pole.

 

All three people went to the hospital in separate ambulances and I waited till the flat bed came to remove the red car from my garden.

 

When he arrived he pulled the silver car onto the road first leaving it there and his plan of attach was to back onto the grass to be able to line the bed up with the red car to pull it out.

Why not? The lawn is wrecked anyway.

 

The whole time I'm watching this I notice the Nash staring out back there and thinking, things could have been worse so stop worrying about a bit of wrecked lawn!

 

 

 

Once everything was cleared away and I was handed an Incident Report from the young Policeman I looked around and realised I had a million pieces of plastic to rake up as the tow guy only grabbed the big pieces, throwing them into the vehicles...

 

Selfishly I will say this day was a total loss for me with regard to progress on the garage or cars.

 

 

Who says I should retire??? Don't know if I could handle a dull life.

 

Edited October 29, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[Buicknutty]

Wow, it could have been worse all around. Sounds the worst might be the Lady who was having chest pains, sure sounds like a heart attack of some kind.

 But there could of been more injuries, and more property damage. Certainly it messes you up as you have to get it all cleaned up and fixed.

 You at least are safe and sound.

 Keith

[dei]

After raking up what seemed like a million plastic pieces and then running the lawn mower over the remaining fallen leaves I decided to fire up the Special.

A neighbour had come over and asked if the car would run?

While connecting up the battery (I use a quick disconnect to prevent any drain that might occur) I crossed my fingers as she hasn't been run since the end of August and it got down to 30 degrees last night. 

With a bit of cranking over she fired up like I've come to count on.

 

 

 

 

[dei]

Today was exciting!

With coffee in hand I met the small crew that was to cut the hole in the back wall to prep it for the garage door giving access to the pad out back.

 

I stayed around lending a hand when I could but left at 9:30 to take Mom to a doctors appointment.

When I returned the progress was super.

 

I going to have to make a ramp for the difference in pad height but there is much more to be done yet.

 

[dei]

It's been a busy couple of days and the weather has been incredible!

 

Having been given a used 9X7 door from a friend with the required hardware I tacked it into place to keep the critters out for the first night. The next day I looked for the hardware and what I had was for another set of doors that went to the scrap yard and would not work for the old Stanley door... Found out parts are obsolete for it!

It was a no brainer to go out and buy a new door and get this show on the road so looking on the internet I see my local supplier showed 3 in stock and they were fully insulated for 568.00 plus our 13% tax. 

Off I went after taking another load of scrap metal (those hinges and rollers included...) to empty my trailer and bring home a new door.

Found one sitting in the isle on a cart that was opened but had a note on it, Reduce Due To Dent.

Found a clerk and when he said it would be 275.00 plus tax found myself saying SOLD before I knew it! 

I then looked at the four sections and found two spots that something had likely sat on the box or was dropped on it but it isn't going to bother me as it will be on the inside and not on the front of the garage showing to the public.

 

Fortunately it isn't anything twisted that will hinder it's function and I won't have to worry about putting the first mark on it. LOL

I grabbed a can of primer for the new wood framing as it was evening and will finish the exterior wood on Saturday since it is to be near 70 all weekend.

 

 

With new hardware still to be installed yet I might ask for a hand as it took two of us to stack it being a bit heavier due to the insulation and metal skin on the inside.

With that stage of the project completed I can then finish rearranging a few things and get the Limited back inside keeping her cleaner from the dust and bit of leaves being blown under her. 

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by dei (see edit history)

[dei]

While I would have loved having the Special out for a drive with this fantastic weather, it does bring on a flurry of last minute phone calls for work because it is soooo nice!

With a commitment to a customer to maintain their commercial property I had no choice but to get up early, get it done as the last work for the season and finish with enough time to get at my own personal work.

 

Four hours later and with rag in hand checked all fluids, blew off the collected grass on the machine but especially the cutting deck and wiped it down before locking up in the container. That thing is one powerful beast and thankful it is supplied and I don't have to maintain it, hence the care to leave it in good clean condition.

 

After arriving back home I wanted to take advantage of the warm weather and put stain  on the new wood for the garage structure as wood and a framing crew are nort looking good to get finished with the garage this year...

With a supply of this stain it was suggested to get a coat on the structure to preserve it for the winter and it will be visible once enclosed and add to my idea of a man cave anyway. 

This is what it looked like when I started.

 

It is not your typical framed wall and roof build but will work for the spans and height I want to house three of my antiques.

 

I lost daylight about 5 pm and managed quite a bit but will be completing the rest today with another 70 degree day.

 

[dei]

It was another fantastic day Sunday weather wise (high 60's) perfect for staining and outside cleanup.

Finished up the wood framing and started on the now one year old fence boards.

 

This will be good practice for when I get at cleaning and painting the frame on the Limited as it is tedious work trying to cover corners and such.

Completed what I could till loosing daylight which is about 5:30 now.

I hooked up an extension cord and used two trouble lights to be able to cleanup and afterwards grabbed a chair to sit a minute and admire what will become the new home for the '28 Whippet, '20 Overland and the '52 Ford if I still have it.

 

 

To Be Cont'd....

[Buicknutty]

 Great looking work, Doug.

[dei]

19 hours ago, Buicknutty said:

 Great looking work, Doug.

 

Thanks Keith!

 

It's a far cry from what I started with way back...

 

[dei]

Continued to take advantage of the 70 degree weather again today with the staining.

It was definitely T shirt time being in the direct sunlight.

 

 

Managed to get all the back done and some of the neighbours side on the pad before darkness approached.

 

 

will tackle that area in the morning and hopefully get started on the garage door tracks so I can push the Limited back inside and give the spot back to my wife for her van again. She has been patient about this so far....

 

[GARY F]

I hope you were spraying that stain and not brushing .  My back would be killing me. Looks good.

[MrEarl]

18 hours ago, GARY F said:

I hope you were spraying that stain and not brushing .  My back would be killing me. Looks good.

 

I think I see a long handle roller Gary. 🙂

[dei]

With my height & age, using a brush would put me in traction for a long time too so a small roller on a broken tipped short extension pole did the trick. Went through a gallon and a half getting done what I did but now the weather has dipped temperature wise and have to finish the rest if we get an unusual January heat wave I guess. 

 

Went back to the garage with the Special searching through a cupboard and found strings of Xmas lights (among other things) and brought them home. Plugged them in and out of 5 strings found enough good bulbs to put up this.

 

 

If the neighbours didn't know somethings was going on before I think they will know now.