Raise your hand if you drove at least one old Buick this weekend

[38Buick 80C]

Ben First-born Bruce and his 50 with the setting sun in Denver.

Driven from TX.

Edited June 22, 2018 by 38Buick 80C (see edit history)

[Thriller]

Finally got a car out this year.  On Sunday, attempting to keep up with the grass in the country, Suzanne asked what the odds were of bringing the Skyhawk back to the city with us.

 

We didn’t get all the grass cut.

 

Tomorrow or next week it may be used in a movie shoot.  If that pans out, I’ll definitely try to get some photos and information to share.

 

 

 

[Paul White]

12 hours ago, 38Buick 80C said:

Ben First-born Bruce and his 50 with the setting sun in Denver.

Driven from TX.

I was lucky enough to meet Ben yesterday for a chat at the swap meet

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Thank you for posting that, Brian.  

 Lucky enough to meet ME?  Well, I don't know about that, Paul, but I am most happy to have shook your hand.

 

  Ben

[Buicknutty]

 Today's plan was to move the 41 Roadmaster to its new home. Though the weather was dull first thing this morning, I ddecided to go ahead with the drive as Sunday generally has the least traffic, and few transport trucks, and as I was going to be driving in their lane quite a bit I felt that was important.

 Just about as soon as I started to pull it out of the city garage, it started raining lightly. Once we were under way, it started pouring. It rained the whole trip. Thinking about Larry Schram's post last year about driving for some time in his open Buick truck, I can say that I was glad that I had a roof, windsheild, and side windows, even though they were all fogged up!

 Even though Sunday should be a quiet day, some folks managed to have an accident on a major expressway we were travelling on through Toronto. A long, 20 min+ delay, though which it ran like a top, more than I can say about later though. At just under the halfway point, we encountered another, much more minor slowdown, and she completely died on me. I coasted over to the shoulder of the highway, and then it restarted without too much trouble. This happened about 3-4 times, and only after driving at speed for some time. I had issues with fuel starvation last year, and I'm thinking that they are back to haunt me again, as I also started losing power on the hills.

 So, after a stop at Tim Horton's, we finally made it to the new place, and now my two Roadmasters are parked beside each other. Funny how my nice seemly big garage is now quite full with 4 Buicks!

 Keith

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by Buicknutty (see edit history)

[avgwarhawk]

Local cruise in:

 

[raugusti]

Made it up to and back from the BCA meet in Denver on Sat.  Finished up the torque ball seal et al. about 11pm the night before.

Met Father Buick and several others while wandering the show and swap meet.  Stopped at the end of the driveway an took this.

Scott

[Pete Phillips]

Made it home from the Denver meet today. 780 miles each way. Stopped in the small Texas town of Chillicothe to snap this photo of an abandoned gas station. Car ran fine on the trip home--no vapor lock.

[Thriller]

Friday and Saturday, I drove the Skyhawk about a mile to downtown for the movie shoot. 1978 was the newest they would accept, based on the timeline for the movie. The Skyhawk and a Cutlass were the only cars actually from the 1970s. Overall I’d say the group of cars was too old. That said, they didn’t actually do any shooting with the cars. Filming wraps up this week so they may be requesting the Skyhawk again. 

 

We we were somewhat sworn to secrecy so that’s about all I’ll say for now. Overall, we were treated quite well, paid in cash, and a couple owners were on standby as drivers / extras so got paid more. 

 

[jackofalltrades70]

At a British car club shown on Sunday and yesterday at the state park. 

[Larry Schramm]

I took the truck out for a drive yesterday with some friends.

 

Heading out today for another day of driving.

[Dynaflash8]

Well, I drove my 39 Buick sedan 16 miles to get REAL gas yesterday in 88 degree heat with no vapor locks.  It's the only station in the area to sell real gas and it's for sale.  Then what?

[J.H.Boland]

Had the '25 for it's longest run yet.We stopped at our church for the Monday morning coffee hour.The pastor snapped this photo of two old geezers under the canopy.I know the thread says weekend drives,but I'm retired so my weekend stretches to seven days !

 

Jim

[jackofalltrades70]

7 hours ago, Dynaflash8 said:

Well, I drove my 39 Buick sedan 16 miles to get REAL gas yesterday in 88 degree heat with no vapor locks.  It's the only station in the area to sell real gas and it's for sale.  Then what?

Buy it!

[Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel]

yes, did some car washing and drove the 65 around a bit.

[Larry Schramm]

Well another day of going out for ice cream with the group.  Driving these hills in Western Pennsylvania can be tough on a vehicle. Thank goodness we have a first gear.  That and second gear was used today for both going up and down the steep hills.  Some were about 13% grades a couple of miles long.  A number of cars had smoking brakes because of the steep hills.  I was told that ours got fairly hot also but we continued to have brakes.  We kept driving and still put 90 miles on today.    

 

Only had a flat tire when we were getting ready to head out.  Changed it and the rest of the day was great.

 

We have been told that tomorrow will be a short day of only about 60 miles.

 

Edited June 27, 2018 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[Dynaflash8]

jackofalltrades70 you say Buy it, huh.  I assume you mean the one and only gas station.  Uh huh.  Well now, my hand is out, palm up, how about you putting the money in it for me. Then I'll buy it.

 

[JZRIV]

9 hours ago, Larry Schramm said:

Well another day of going out for ice cream with the group.  Driving these hills in Western Pennsylvania can be tough on a vehicle. Thank goodness we have a first gear.  That and second gear was used today for both going up and down the steep hills.  Some were about 13% grades a couple of miles long.  A number of cars had smoking brakes because of the steep hills.  I was told that ours got fairly hot also but we continued to have brakes.  We kept driving and still put 90 miles on today.    

 

Only had a flat tire when we were getting ready to head out.  Changed it and the rest of the day was great.

 

We have been told that tomorrow will be a short day of only about 60 miles.

 

Larry,

Yes we have some pretty good ascents and descents around here. I stopped in yesterday evening at Ramada but you were out on the town or so said Art Moore. Little rainy starting today. May try to stop again Thursday but not sure if I can get out of work in time. A couple friends on Indian motorcycles are planning on stopping in as well one of which has a 1919 Buick.

[Larry Schramm]

Getting ready to head out in the rain for the day.  Nothing but a drive in the rain for the hearty.

[Brian_Heil]

My wife and I are here with Larry and Joyce Schramm as well. 

 

Here’s our Buick peeking out from behind the trees as we are at the top of the Horseshoe Curve. 

[Buicknutty]

 I took the Electra to the local cruise in last night, big crowd, over 100 cars, which is good for this venue. Beautiful night too, but not so today!

 Here's a quick shot of it.

 Keith

[Larry Schramm]

Well yesterday , Wednesday, day three it was raining like crazy.  Still Joyce and I set out on the tour route.   After driving about a half dozen miles in a hard rain, slippery roads and damp brakes we threw in the preverbal towel.  That decision occurred after sliding down a hill and through the stop sign TWICE at the bottom of the hill.  We determined that it was just too dangerous to continue the tour.

 

You can see the first picture when we were putting the truck back in the trailer.  The second one is the Garmin where you can see the rain on the face of it.    It was definitely a fun way to get wet.  

 

Went out to get the truck ready for todays, Thursdays tour route and it had developed a noise that I did not like so we rode with friends for the day.

 

Obtained the venerable ........Drive it, Break it, Fix it, Repeat, repeat, repeat.  Now to find out the noise when I get home so a possible $100.00 repair does not turn into $2,5000.00 repair or more as it has happened in the past.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[NC-car-guy]

Harbor freight  run with @Pinhead63

[MCHinson]

I took my 1937 Century out this morning to allow a fellow enthusiast to drive it. He contacted me after seeing a photo of the car in an issue of the NC Region News. He is 82 years old and is looking for an identical 1937 Model 61. He drove a 1937 Century Model 61 as his first car when he was in high school. He is looking for another one since he never got over his father selling the car in 1952. I told him that I am not interested in selling mine, but he was welcome to come visit me and drive it. We arranged a visit and after riding in it and driving it he told me that "You made an old man happy." I think his expression says it all.   

[Brian_Heil]

Home safe and sound from the VMCCA NickelTour in Ligonier, PA. Just a tad over 500 touring miles for the week. 

 

Happy to report the Buick ran well and I only had to raise the hood to check the oil. All tools stayed stowed under the seat. 

 

The Flight 93 National Monument was very special and very moving.  Calling it a highlight seems inappropriate so I will call it the most memorable venue for the week. 

 

Downhill stop signs in the rain will keep you in second gear and your brakes well adjusted. 

 

Getting a first hand account of the BCA National Meet from new Director Larry Schramm was disappointing.  Terry Wiegand and Mark Shaw have assisted me more times than I can count.  Our Club is a better one than the way both were treated. 

Edited July 1, 2018 by Brian_Heil (see edit history)

[RivNut]

Two long distance awards were given at the recent Riviera Owners Assn. meet this past week.  Both recipients drove 1963 Rivieras.  One came from Saskatchewan, Canada and the other came from Ely, Nevada.  Both drove over 1200 miles one way getting to the meet.. Plus they still have to go home.  Sorry that I don't have their names to add to the post.  Not bad for a couple of 55 year old cars.  The one gentleman drove the same 1963 from Ely, NV to Williamsburg, VA when the ROA held its meet there in 2016.  That was over 2400 miles one way. ?

[60FlatTop]

Just got home and parked the '60 in front of the garage. What a treat.

 

I had the garage built in 1988. Being a nature lover and a bit sentimental, I had no problem leaving the big Spruce in a awkward, but not terribly difficult location in front of the garage.

I was 40 then and my Riviera was the only runner in the bunch. Anything else was mostly non-running projects or just passing through.

 

Thirty years later, I'm older and all the cars run (today, no telling what will come). I had to buy a new door trim strip a couple weeks ago becuase of squeezing the Electra against the garage door frame. Yesterday the 60 year old tree came down.

 

No more pine needles dropping off tires on the floor. No more sap dripping or needles in cowl vents. AND no more jockeying fins around the tree trunk. Now the heated concrete begins to move toward the house.

Benefits of becoming old and intolerant, should have done it long ago.

Bernie

Edited July 1, 2018 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[dibarlaw]

Finally did a long day with our 1937 to the Mason-Dixon Buick show at the Hershey Museum. Our trip home from the nationals last year caused some problem in # 8 cylinder hammering the spark plug electrode closed.  Many short drives later and no difference in the new plug we did 140 mile round trip with no issues. Unfortunately that cylinder is down to around 60# while the rest are 90-95#. The car still runs strong keeping between 55 and 60 on I 81. The temp gage did not go above 180 on the drive home as the outside temp here was around 100.

 We had a great car show with 57 cars registered for this very hot day.

Not my car below but a very original 1937-61 that drove up from Lancaster. Our musical guests "The Werner Family Band."

 When we arrived at 7:00 AM to set up for the show I asked if I could ride in our "Adopted Car" a 1910 Model 10 Surrey when they brought it up from storage. The volunteers said it was not running well and they would probably tow it up. They said we could try to start it. After finding out that the dry cell battery needed to be connected I started it with a single pull of the crank. It seemed to run ok and I had to remind the volunteer what controlled what. He said he had not driven that particular car in 6 or 7 years. We made it half way up the side driveway when it stalled and refused to go again. We still had to be towed.

The ID placard on the stand states that it is a 1910 Model 10 Surrey. Also acknowledges that it was adopted by the Mason-Dixon Chapter BCA. But the detailed description after the title is for a BRUSH. No mention of the Buick Motor Company. Later another volunteer chastised me for touching the car while pointing out some of it's features to some spectators. I had felt empowered to do so because of my early morning working with the other men to get the car running. My error, and I did apologize. (He indicated that he had paperwork to fill out any time someone touched the cars). I still wish we could have driven it around under it's own power.

 

[NC-car-guy]

Parked alongside some modern cars....

[avgwarhawk]

Attended the Mason/Dixon Buick Show at the AACA Museum Hershey.   Some beautiful Buicks!  Enjoyed the museum.   Great day!   Drove round trip 200 miles from Baltimore.  No one hick up.  90 plus degrees.  No over heat or vapor lock.   Buick's Best. 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2018 by avgwarhawk (see edit history)

[Jack Welch]

Missed getting it out his weekend, but the '38 and I just returned from a 40 mile trip on a 90 deg day. Not sure if I had some vapor lock issues or not, the car kept running, but sputtered a few times. Good news is that the temp gauge never went over 180 deg F and we arrived home with issue. The summer is too short here in New England .

[Centurion]

Have just returned from a thousand mile 4-day cruise in the 1959 Buick Electra, leading ten friends on a driving tour to my old Oregon hometown.  I loved every moment of our time on the road.

[Thriller]

The local car club was the feature club for a cruise-in Sunday evening. A thunderstorm moved through and the event was postponed to Monday. Since it was a long weekend for many with it being Canada Day on Sunday it worked out ok. Since we were going to be in the area as we were meeting my sister for dinner, I drove the Skyhawk over.  It attracted a lot of attention and I spoke with a number of people about the car.  I even won one of the hourly prize draws.

 

[jackofalltrades70]

Out for fireworks last night.  What a blast.  I popped a couple pictures, but my son took the cake with his

[Dynaflash8]

Well, I drove my #1 '39 Buick out to church last Sunday.  It was pretty hot, here in South Florida for a car without A/C.  I wondered how she would do in the heat.  I had 5 gallons of real gas and 2 gallons of ethanol plus whatever had been in the gas tank, which had been pretty low.  The car ran absolutely great.  I'm anxious to take it on a long drive in the heat to see if I have any problems, but my wife doesn't want to go with me, without A/C.  When I had a Per-Tronix in it, it wouldn't run 20 miles.  It really made a difference to put a different distributor in it with points and condenser but I want to test drive it some more before the Sentimental Tour in November.  The Per-Tronix worked great in the 71 Riviera which was, of course, 12-volt.  Several mechanics have told me it is something to do with a 6-volt system not providing enough spark and the module will overheat.  I even bought one of the Per-Tronix coils but it didn't help.

[cxgvd]

Eighth day of the current heat and humidity wave but when a task needs doing I answer.  A fellow car enthusiast passed away and his family asked for old cars to attend the funeral procession today.  He and his wife were familiar tourists in Southern Ontario and were often seen in their shoebox Ford convertible.  That is their car in the background of my photo with my 1939 Buick sedan at the funeral home.

His widow, Judy. was my fifth grade teacher.  I'm not kidding, honest, it was her first year of teaching and my first year of being in grade five.

 

Buick performed well, hot but satisfied.  Gary

 

[Jack Welch]

On 7/4/2018 at 7:32 AM, Dynaflash8 said:

Well, I drove my #1 '39 Buick out to church last Sunday.  It was pretty hot, here in South Florida for a car without A/C.  I wondered how she would do in the heat.  I had 5 gallons of real gas and 2 gallons of ethanol plus whatever had been in the gas tank, which had been pretty low.  The car ran absolutely great.  I'm anxious to take it on a long drive in the heat to see if I have any problems, but my wife doesn't want to go with me, without A/C.  When I had a Per-Tronix in it, it wouldn't run 20 miles.  It really made a difference to put a different distributor in it with points and condenser but I want to test drive it some more before the Sentimental Tour in November.  The Per-Tronix worked great in the 71 Riviera which was, of course, 12-volt.  Several mechanics have told me it is something to do with a 6-volt system not providing enough spark and the module will overheat.  I even bought one of the Per-Tronix coils but it didn't help.

I had a Petronix system in my '40 Limited and one cold morning on a tour, it would not start. No spark. I had to flat bed it home and the minute the temperature warmed up a bit it ran fine. Looks like they have a problem with both heat and cold. I switched  back to points and it runs just fine.

[Dynaflash8]

4 minutes ago, Jack Welch said:

I had a Petronix system in my '40 Limited and one cold morning on a tour, it would not start. No spark. I had to flat bed it home and the minute the temperature warmed up a bit it ran fine. Looks like they have a problem with both heat and cold. I switched  back to points and it runs just fine.

Doug Seybold had told me before I tried this experiment that I shouldn't do it.  Some people are just hard headed. ?

[Buicknutty]

 Well finally the Buick family is all together again, actually, maybe for the first time. I now have all of 5 my Buicks in one place, as I drove the '69 Electra here this evening.

 Keith

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

21 hours ago, Jack Welch said:

I had a Petronix system in my '40 Limited and one cold morning on a tour, it would not start. No spark. I had to flat bed it home and the minute the temperature warmed up a bit it ran fine. Looks like they have a problem with both heat and cold. I switched  back to points and it runs just fine.

 

 Jack, I bet your voltage was a little low. When the temp raised a little, the battery became warmer and the voltage increased slightly. Pertronix is sensitive to voltage.

 

  Ben