1937 Special - Preservation of Features?

[70sWagoneers]

Hello, Im rebuilding the engine in my newly acquired 1937 Buick Special trunk-back with the 248c.i. straight eight. The car is mostly original with great patina and character. The interior is in great shape. The chassis and underbody are rust free. The paint is cracking and falling off with some patches of surface rust, but Im trying to keep it this way for now. I believe you lose the original charcter when you restore some cars and I dont have the time or money anyways! The motor had a horrible knock and Ive totally torn it down and am about ready to send it to the machine shop. So my concern is with the finish of the motor. Ive got this thoroughly patina'ed car and Im concerned about putting a shiny, newly painted engine back in the bay. Should I rebuild the engine without painting it? I dont entirely understate the rules concerning H.P.O.F (historic preservation of features) but I like the idea. I can even see how a shiny engine could hurt the value of a survivor car. I would hate to leave the rust after all the work Ive done but I dont want to hurt the character of the car or its inherent value. So what do you guys think? Do I preserve or re-paint.

 

Thanks

James C.

 

[Bhigdog]

The problem is ..........the block should be boiled out if you are rebuilding and that removes the paint. You could rebuild without boiling but that's not a complete rebuild IMO because the water jacket and oil galleys are not cleaned out as well as they should. If you decide not to boil then leave it as is.

OTOH you could boil just the block/heads and hand clean all the sheet metal then after painting the cast iron you can "age" it. Of course that leaves the problem of matching the paints.

It's NEVER easy ..........Bob

[JohnD1956]

I do not know about the HPOF rules for the AACA.  But the BCA rules for the archival class indicates that condition is not considered.  Being original to the vehicle is what's important.  That would indicate that the original engine is more valuable than the paint it is clad in. So if you are going to rebuild it, I would paint it the original color it was supposed to be.

 

Additionally, I believe your engine has already been painted.  Unless my PC monitor is way off it looks like someone painted it Buick Green, from the 50's and I do not believe that is the original color for the 37. 

[DonMicheletti]

The engine color is wrong ant the decal is gone from the valve cover, so by repainting you wouldnt really loose anything. It has been worked on and repainted before.

However... more then one total restoration began when someone rebuilt an engine and when they saw the pretty engine in the grungy chassis... "the camel was in the tent"

[MCHinson]

I am convinced that your engine has already been painted once, so it is too late to save the original engine paint so for HPOF purposes. I don't think it really matters but I would probably lean towards repainting it in the original darker 1937 engine paint color, but if I intended to keep it in HPOF I might try to preserve the character a bit more by distressing the paint so that it does not look like a nice fresh perfect paint job. There is no perfect answer since the engine appears that it has already been rebuilt and repainted once before.

 

I have seen a lot of 1937 engines in that lighter color but everthing I have seen leads me to think that rebuilt engines were simply being painted with a later Buick engine color as a general practice, probably in the 50s or 60s.

 

I would be remiss if I did not invite you to join the 36-38 Buick Club.  You can download an application from the membership page of the club website at : http://www.3638buickclub.org/membership.html 

 

[jscheib]

I agree with the above comments, but I think the 70sWagonners should raise the question on HPOF (which is the AACA designation) rather  than the Buick Club Forum which has been noted uses a different criteria for judging on cars that are not fully restored.  You can review the BCA judging manual on this forum.

 

John

Edited May 15, 2016 by jscheib (see edit history)

[70sWagoneers]

Yes, I forgot, somebody had sprayed over the engine with an incorrect, lighter color. But, much to my suprise, with pressure washing, all the lighter paint came off the block and head and revealed the original green paint in "decent" condition. The valve cover is way off. It is probably a factory replacement because it has a black basecoat. Ill have to research the HPOF rules a bit more. Im probably going to paint it.... too much work not to do it right!

Thanks

James C.

[60FlatTop]

I don't like doing repairs and refinishing a part or area of the car to look dramatically better than the rest. Val Spar satin black polyurethane looks very natural on frame and chassis components. Years ago I put a new water pump and cleaned the radiator on my '60 Electra. I used the Val Spar on the crossmember, radiator brackets and fan shroud. They look untouched. Radiator shops sometimes use a heat conductive paint that is real glossy. The shop painted my brackets separately and soldered them to the painted core. It's a minor thing but made me happy.

When you paint the engine try a few drops of gray primer mixed in. It tones the color down. I use the Hirsch paints and they flow to a glossy shine. Experiment with a little lacquer or high speed thinner to speed up the flash off. I did that with my new water pump.

 

Once you get everything cleaned there is a tendency for small rust and dust spots to show. I like to take a paper towel and WD-40 to wipe the engine compartment down on weekends. It cleans things and creates a pretty good patina. If you look under the hood of my '60 Electra everything looks quite natural but it has all been touched. The only "new" looking thing is Booster Dewey's plating job on my power brake diaphragm.

 

In the 1990's I had a daily driver that was a '56 Olds Holiday 88. Everything but the rear axle had been redone. I was asked "Are you the person who drives that Olds that nothing has been done to?". Yeah.

 

Bernie