Restoring a 1937 Buick clock for $1.50

[BuicksBuicks]

     The guarantee for my Buick clock was good for one year and after that it would “be put in new condition for $1.50 plus return postage” according to the little card found in the glove box. The clock was in my 1937 Buick and the year was 1967.

     For owners of 1937 and possibly other Buicks of the era you might want to look at what’s in your glove box. That’s what I did fifty years ago and sent my Buick clock back to Buick along with $3, the extra $1.50 for postage; that was when I was just out of the Navy in 1967. Buick kept their word on the guarantee and had the clock put in new condition twenty nine years after the guarantee expired.

     Buick released the story to the Associated Press and from there it was broadcast on several major news stations. I also had a phone interview with the then Newark Star Ledger who printed a nice article about it.

     Buick didn’t actually manufacture the clock but a company that had been acquired by Amphenol. It was Amphenol who did the full restoration of the clock including the water damaged reverse painting on the glass dial face. They truly did put it in new condition.  Amphenol wrote up the story along with photos in their company news magazine.

     For owners of General Motors cars from the ‘30’s, check your glove boxes; you may just have the same guarantee card. In my “new” ’37 Buick that I bought several months ago the guarantee card was also there. This current clock is now eighty years old and the guarantee expired seventy nine years ago. Do I dare do this stunt once more?  No, I think I’ll just let it go by, after all the clock does work at times. Nor do I recommend that hundreds of antique car owners send their clocks to Buick.

[Bhigdog]

I would certainly pursue the issue with Buick. They did leave themselves an out by saying the clock would be "put in new condition by the manufacturer". ..........Bob