1913 Roadster

[ROD W]

On all other 1913,s  I have seen  (Photo,s )  the hand brake and gear lever come up higher than the door.   You would not think  somebody would have cut them shorter in a previous restoration.   Has anybody seen a car with these shorter levers.

[Mark Shaw]

Nope...

[Larry Schramm]

I have never seen one like that either.

[ROD W]

Also the front fender only comes to the front of the cowl  where as on the factory drawing it comes to the centre of the cowl.  Maybe tourer fenders are shorter than the roadster fenders.  Looking at the top photo,  it looks like the steering wheel is too far forward.

Edited December 2, 2016 by ROD W (see edit history)

[ROD W]

The engine is the 201cu inch.  The top engine I know is a 13 tourer but the steering box looks further back than the roadster engine.   I,m wondering if this car was made up from a couple of cars,  It might just be the angle of the photo,s.  

Edited December 2, 2016 by ROD W (see edit history)

[dibarlaw]

As nice as this car looks. (Interpretive restoration looks like it was well done.) I was concerned about some of the things Rod pointed out. After looking at 5 different 1913-31s you start noticing differences. It looks like the clutch is stuck (in) as the 1913-31 I inspected near me in PA. (Now in England) The top seems to be a quality job. But of course these cars did not have the "Gypsy" sides on the top. It has been my opinion that if you are asking top dollar for a car that it should be running/driving. It appears to be ready to run.

[ROD W]

Some more pic,s of the little roadster.   I hope somebody buys it so I don,t have to make a decision,  There seem to be a number of things that are not factory correct,  but I could probably live with them.  Did 1913 have a round radiator badge.

Edited December 3, 2016 by ROD W (see edit history)

[dibarlaw]

Rod: The round badge could be a 1912 hold over. Mark Shaw's 13 has a square BUCK badge

as does Gary's

and the one I tried to get.(now in England)  

Roger's 13 has no badge but does have the nickeled script on the core.

On Rogers car it felt as if there was a plastic coating on the radiator shell as it felt as if it were about to peel off.

 

I associate the round badge with 1911 and 1912 Cars. The 1910-10 that I tried to buy in Manassas had a round badge. From what I saw it  looked to be a compilation of a variety of years. A nice looking, fun car with obvious originality issues, I searched many sources and only see 1910-10s with a round /tubular front axle, but the owner wanted to start at $20,000 and dicker up! I could not even point out the issues as they were convinced he had restored it to strict, correct originality. It seemed that they were just looking for offers. From what I know the son still has the car as the parents have both passed since. He was afraid that someone will "Hot Rod" the car.

[Mark Shaw]

I agree that the tubular front axle and round badge indicate it is a 1912 Buick. 

 

My 1912 Model 34 has both.

[hmmca]

Thanks all, enjoying following this.  Do you all feel that the car is not original or correct?  Is it not worth as much as others?  

[ROD W]

hmmca,   Its always hard to tell from photo,s.  It does not appear to be exactly factory correct for a 1913,  such as the points myself and Dibarlaw mentioned,  but you will find when looking at older restorations,   that no two cars are exactly the same.   Mechanically it has the 201 cu inch engine,  which is correct  for the Model 30.    It should be 108 inch wheelbase,  which  I did not get the owner to measure.   My understanding  is that the early 1913,s had acetylene headlights where as the later had electric.  The windscreen is incorrect,  it should be mounted at the back of the cowl,  not in the middle.  ( 1912 had the windscreen at the front of the cowl and 1913 at the back ).  It looks like  very nice paint for an older restoration,  Buicks did not come out in those colours.   Price is completely determined by what the buyer is prepared to pay,  and the seller prepared to sell at  and what the buyer wants out of the car.   This was the reply I received from the owner.    My grandfather got it when I was 7 years old,  the whole thing was a basket case painted in Barn White paint,  I think it took him about 15 years to restore,  its been sitting 25 not started,  been inside antique warehouse.  does turn over real nice so imagine new gas some cleanup will fire right up.    I would love to buy the car but I would have to add at least another 15K  to get it to Australia.