Great low-mileage '41 Buick on Ebay -- Not mine

[neil morse]

This car looks great.  Claimed 33,000 original miles, and it looks it.  The original dash panels and gauges are among the nicest unrestored ones I have ever seen.  Price is bit high at $24,900.00 for a Special 4-door, but they're only original once!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1941-Buick-Sedanette-Special/333297685545?hash=item4d9a171429:g:11cAAOSwVvBdVWga

 

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by neil morse
forgot link. (see edit history)

[CarNucopia]

This car was on BaT this week and was only bid to $12K. BaT is certainly the wrong venue for a car like this, but I also think the weak bidding is a sign of how soft the market for these cars is getting.

Edited August 16, 2019 by Buick64C (see edit history)

[mercer09]

actually the condition of this car is amazing. I think the price is right, but yes, the mkt is soft.

[auburnseeker]

Maybe sedans aren't as hot as some want us to believe.  I would hazard a guess if this was a sportier version especially a convertible there would be alot more interest.  I know I might even be in the game.  While it's very nice One has lots of options if they aren't picky about an exact year or model to choose from once you start hitting the 20G plus mark.  Maybe not as nice an original,  but then again I have even seen some of those and posted a comparable 58 Buick Special 2 door hardtop that wasn't selling in the high teens. 

As a buyer I have a very wide set of parameters I'm willing to consider from the early 60's back to the teens and most makes and models.  Like everyone,  I want a deal as well and have no problem with a little sweat equity.  I actually like the part of resurrecting a dormant car more than buying a show piece and driving it.  

Very nice car,  it will eventually probably drop a little in price and find a home.  

Another thread indicated that the strong dollar is hurting exporting cars so maybe that's why it hasn't found a foreign buyer yet. 

[TerryB]

12v conversion and some add on electrical mods are easily visible.  Looks good but the market for this era car seems to have more sellers than buyers right now.

[B Jake Moran]

4 hours ago, mercer09 said:

actually the condition of this car is amazing. I think the price is right, but yes, the mkt is soft.

Please explain WHY you think the price is right?  Because "you can't restore one for that price?" is no longer a valid argument.  There was a very nice 1938 Cadillac 60 Special on the Cadillac LaSalle Club forum offered for $8900 that sold for less than that price.    This is a market correction.  Thankfully and finally.  

 

Obviously I am an anti-greed person.  If I have one of these, and I spent an honest $15,000 to buy it, I am not going to ask $25K for it, which is what this seller is essentially doing. We can haggle over what he did pay, meh, I might be $2000 off +/- but the bottom line is the culture that we always make money on old cars, is hopefully, coming to an end.  Enjoy the cars, sell them for market value.  Please.

[B Jake Moran]

From the "auction" -->

 

This 1941 Buick 41 is a fastback sedan example that was acquired by us three months ago from a family who had reportedly purchased the car from its owner of approximately 50 years(1). Finished in Carlsbad Black over a tan fabric interior, the car is powered by a 248ci straight-eight driving the rear wheels through a column-shifted 3-speed manual transmission. Work under previous ownership included updates to the electrical and fuel systems, while recent maintenance is said to have consisted of an oil change performed in preparation for the sale. This Buick is offered by the selling dealer (1) with period documentation and maintenance logs, recent records, and a clean North Carolina title.

 

In addition to its fastback rear end design, additional features included an updated grille and Buick’s single-panel two-way hood to provide engine access from either side. This example is finished in Carlsbad Black (560) and features evidence of prior touchups.  Factory 16″ wheels are equipped with polished hub caps and trim rings and are fitted with a set of Firestone whitewall tires.

 

Trimmed from the factory with Tan & Blue Bedford Cord upholstery (900), the seats were redone in matching fabric in the early 2000s. Electrics were converted to 12V in 2004, and a battery kill switch was installed at the same time. Art Deco gauges, woodgrain trim, and a Sonomatic AM radio are retained and shown further in the gallery below. The five-digit odometer shows approximately 34k miles.

 

Decoding the Fisher body tag reveals the following:

• 1941 Mod 41 – 1941 4-door sedan (fastback)
• Body G 60260 – 60260th style 4409 built in Flint, Michigan
• Trim 900 – Tan & Blue Bedford Cord interior
• Paint 560 – Carlsbad Black exterior

Paired with a column-shifted 3-speed manual transmission, the 248ci straight-eight was equipped with “Compound Carburetion” for the 1941 model year, featuring two twin barrel carbs, with one unit operating all the time, the other engaged under hard acceleration. Additional materials accompanying the sale include period brochures and manuals, receipts of the car’s purchase by the second owner in 1942, and a maintenance logbook chronicling maintenance from 1942 through 1958. 

 

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(1)  Should have added - we paid bottom dollar from the estate in order to flip it for more than double what we paid for it. 

 

[Matt Harwood]

That's a lot for a Special sedan, no matter how nice. In my opinion, a good original car is desirable but not more valuable, if that's a difference without distinction. To me, a good original car will make me overlook flaws that would be unacceptable on a restored car for a comparable price, but I do not assign a massive premium to an original car unless it has a significant pedigree to go with it (like the 0-owner 1970 Plymouth Superbird I have with 28,000 original miles--the selling dealer's name is still on the title). 

 

I'm not entirely convinced that's an original car, either. The interior plastics are way too nice, the engine bay is too hodge-podge, and while it's tough to judge in photos, that paint just looks too good to be nearly 80-year-old lacquer. The paint on my Limited is only 30 years old and it's visibly worse, even in photos.

 

Any small-series Buick 4-door can be had for under $20K all day long. It makes me sad to say it, but it's fact. There are too many alternatives to drive the price any higher. Is this one notable better than the other one for $14,000? Maybe. But $10,000 better? Probably not--you can buy a lot of fixing up for $10,000.

 

This is a nice car. The bid on Bring-A-NitPicker was too light, but not by 100%. 

[neil morse]

Whatever issues there are about the marketing of this car, I was just struck as a '41 owner myself by the quality of that dash.  I'm going to disagree with Matt (rare occurrence) and say it looks original to me.  The "engine-turned" panels are definitely original (and in amazing shape), so it seems unlikely to me that anyone has pulled the gauges out and done anything to them.  In my experience, the original plastic -- if well-preserved -- looks better than any reproduction.  Of course, my opinion may be influenced by the fact that I'm in the middle of working on the dash and gauges of my own car, so I naturally start drooling when I see something like this one! 😉

[Matt Harwood]

Agreed--the dash is gorgeous! That is surely original and very well preserved. I don't doubt the mileage, either, but I do think that it has had quite a bit of work over the years. A true survivor should be completely untouched, but that valve cover, for example, looks to have been repainted. Maybe it's just because it's on top and easy to clean that it looks so much brighter, but between that and the air cleaner, it looks a little fluffed to my eye. Plastics are often tough to call, but my experience says that no matter how well preserved, time kills that primitive plastic no matter what you do. I have an NOS steering wheel that is chalky. Not ruined, not cracked, but certainly not shiny and smooth, either. It has been wrapped up in waxed paper for 80 years and has probably never seen sunlight. But time does a number on it just the same. Plastics are the #1 item I look at on cars of this vintage to determine originality simply because there's almost nothing you can do to keep it from unwinding, even just a little bit. 

 

Either way, it's a nice car. It would be an ideal pre-war piece for someone who wants one to drive that's still fairly competent and modern-feeling. But at that price, you can probably get into a Century or perhaps even a Roadmaster sedan. Maybe not as nice, but I'd trade a bit of nice for a bigger motor 10 times out of 10...

[neil morse]

And I agree that things don't look so good under the hood.  Notice the stains on the radiator?  Maybe that's why the "gorgeous" temperature gauge is almost pegged at 220! It's too expensive, for sure.  But that dash ... 😜

[mercer09]

Please explain WHY you think the price is right?  Because "you can't restore one for that price?

 

 

so you think you can buy these cars for under 8900 and that is fair value?

 

good luck with that...........................

 

this isnt 1929.

[kingrudy]

Normally I would not post on this as some people get their feelings hurt, but here is my take on this. I own a '40 Buick and when it is restored, I believe it will be worth about $20,000. I wouldn't sell my car for that, as I really like my car. I once read that a car is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for and I don't think that is very realistic. Nice looking '41, but I would be surprised is he sells it for the asking price. Best of luck.

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Gentlemen, please forgive my question asked out of ignorance -- Isn't the issue that makes 40 series Buicks truly less valuable is their limited freeway speed? 

[Matt Harwood]

16 hours ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Gentlemen, please forgive my question asked out of ignorance -- Isn't the issue that makes 40 series Buicks truly less valuable is their limited freeway speed? 

 

That's certainly a big part of it. They're a bit limited simply because of gear ratios and changing to a taller gear can hurt driveability because the 248 doesn't have the same torque as the 320. There's also the consideration that the Specials are particularly plentiful--they made more than 100,000 of these sedans while they only made about 12,000 Century versions (I don't have the exact number but it's an order of magnitude fewer). The nice thing is that the small series cars are very easy to drive with great steering and brakes and a big car feel going down the road. If you don't need the highway driving and don't go on long trips, it's a complete non-issue and a small series car can be delightful. I desperately miss my 56C Super convertible, which was wonderful around town and even Melanie loved driving it. Yes, at about 55 MPH it was a little busy-sounding and stressful, but it probably wasn't hurting the engine--it's largely psychosomatic.

 

Those are the two primary factors keeping values down on Specials. It's probably similar for any 4-door sedans of the vintage and it's a universal truth throughout the hobby that bigger engines tend to be more valuable. But at the same time, I don't think the Buick's performance suffers compared to any other marque--they were built for the time in which they lived--that's not a defect. It does, however, reduce interest today where everyone wants easy and fast. Case in point, I just got back from the Woodward Dream Cruise where the #1 most popular cars were late-model Mustangs, followed closely by C5/C6/C7 Corvettes, followed by late-model Challengers. Fast, easy to drive, no hassles. We've gotten shockingly soft as a race, this Buick is just one example of it waaaay out on the fringes of the hobby.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[Ed Luddy]

37 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

That's certainly a big part of it. They're a bit more limited simply because of gear ratios and changing to a taller gear can hurt driveability because the 248 doesn't have the same torque as the 320. There's also the consideration that the Specials are particularly plentiful--they made more than 100,000 of these sedans while they only made about 12,000 Century versions (I don't have the exact number but it's an order of magnitude fewer). The nice thing is that the small series cars are very easy to drive with great steering and brakes and a big car feel going down the road. If you don't need the highway driving and don't go on long trips, it's a complete non-issue and a small series car can be delightful. I desperately miss my 56C Super convertible, which was wonderful around town and even Melanie loved driving it. Yes, at about 55 MPH it was a little busy-sounding and stressful, but it probably wasn't hurting the engine--it's largely psychosomatic.

 

Those are the two primary factors keeping values down on Specials. It's probably similar for any 4-door sedans of the vintage and it's a universal truth throughout the hobby that bigger engines tend to be more valuable. But at the same time, I don't think the Buick's performance suffers compared to any other marque--they were built for the time in which they lived--that's not a defect. It does, however, reduce interest today where everyone wants easy and fast. Case in point, I just got back from the Woodward Dream Cruise where the #1 most popular cars were late-model Mustangs, followed closely by C5/C6/C7 Corvettes, followed by late-model Challengers. Fast, easy to drive, no hassles. We've gotten shockingly soft as a race, this Buick is just one example of it waaaay out on the fringes of the hobby.

Haven't been to Woodward for a few years, but last time the late model stuff (Mustangs) outnumbered or evened up with vintage Mustangs. I prefer the older stuff, BUT,,, instead of driving a 66 Pontiac with no A/C or my 06 Charger Daytona that I bought new with Climate control A/C, nav, and the best seats ever in a Mopar I chose new . Coming over from Ontario Canada and dealing with heat and humidity I fully understand NEW VS OLD. But I would still rather have my 1969 Charger R/T that I sold in the 70's. 

[Matt Harwood]

Please don't take it the wrong way, Ed, but you just made my point for me. If we want to know what's really killing the old car hobby, it's the OEMs cranking out all these ersatz "collector cars" that are comfortable, fast, and easy to drive. You don't need to work or bleed or sweat for this hobby anymore, you can merely lease it at the new car dealer.

[Hudsy Wudsy]

Matt, thank you for sharing your thoughts on the 40 series Buicks. I think that some of the Specials, like this one, are particularly handsome. I've endured, however, the sound of engines cranking at higher RPM than I'd like so often before, that just wouldn't own another vintage car that wasn't capable of freeway speed with ease. I'm sure that many folks don't have to travel at that speed as frequently as I do. I live in the Twin Cities and while they are far from being large, they have more than their share of freeways in, around, through and between them. In short, it's difficult to get anywhere without spending time on a freeway. Speaking of Melanie, did you ever get her station wagon sorted out to your satisfaction? What was it again -- a '56 Chrysler?

[kingrudy]

Just a brief comment on the freeway topic. I lived in Southern California for many years and living in the valley (population 1.75 million) there was no need to travel the freeways. There was a car show or some kind of event all spring, summer and fall going on. I now live in Asheville, North Carolina (population 400,000) also no need to travel freeways. I would much prefer a leisurely drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, especially in the spring or fall.  

[Matt Harwood]

6 hours ago, Hudsy Wudsy said:

Matt, thank you for sharing your thoughts on the 40 series Buicks. I think that some of the Specials, like this one, are particularly handsome. I've endured, however, the sound of engines cranking at higher RPM than I'd like so often before, that just wouldn't own another vintage car that wasn't capable of freeway speed with ease. I'm sure that many folks don't have to travel at that speed as frequently as I do. I live in the Twin Cities and while they are far from being large, they have more than their share of freeways in, around, through and between them. In short, it's difficult to get anywhere without spending time on a freeway. Speaking of Melanie, did you ever get her station wagon sorted out to your satisfaction? What was it again -- a '56 Chrysler?

 

I don't think it's quite right to say the '41 Specials are unsuited to today's world, but they don't run at 70 MPH, either. However, even a big series '41 Buick will get a little busy at 70 MPH. My Limited will run pretty happily at 60 or 65, more than that it starts to get busy. Overdrives are a good solution and there's a friend on this board (Lawrence Helfand) who has added an overdrive to his '41 Century; that car should run at 75-80 MPH without effort, although you need to remember that it still has 1941 brakes and suspension.

 

My father drove his 1941 Super business coupe with a 248 to work daily in the 1970s and 80s--more than six years of daily use, including highway trips, before it was unceremoniously totaled by a drunk driver. I recall that we drove it to Flint from Cleveland for the 75th anniversary of Buick, all highway, some 300 miles each way, completely without incident. I don't recall how fast we were running, but I don't recall us feeling overwhelmed by the journey or that we were a rolling roadblock.

 

Anyway, the small series cars are wonderful up to about 55 MPH and then start to feel a little stressed. Still not bad for 80 year old tech. I find that traffic seems to manage working with old car on the highway. Sure, they go roaring past, but modern drivers all seem to manage without an any ill effects. I think the danger of an old car on the highway is more perception than reality. I have run my '29 Cadillac at 55 MPH on long highway trips and never really felt vulnerable, albeit it's a bit stressful to worry about the machine at those speeds.

 

As for the '56 Chrysler, we do still have it and it's a fantastic car. We've done quite a bit of sorting, but whomever owned it before us did a lot of quality work so it hasn't needed anything significant beyond brakes, U-joints, and some electrical repairs. I also added Imperial wire wheels supplied by a fellow board member. In fact, we just drove it up to Detroit last Wednesday and got home last night. That car runs 70-75 MPH without effort, but obviously it's 15 years more modern with twice as much horsepower. Even compared to my Limited, the Chrysler is vastly more comfortable--it was kind of disheartening to take a long trip in it as a passenger simply because it was so good. Quieter, better airflow management in the cabin so it's much cooler without being loud and windy, and superior ride and handling. It's not even a fair fight. It was pretty much a modern car, sans A/C (which we're going to add next winter). Here are some shots from the Walter P. Chrysler Club national meet and our drive up there.

 

  

 

  

 

Ultimately, if you like the looks of '41 Buicks and this fastback styling, but need more performance, Century Model 61 sedans use the exact same body on a longer chassis with the big engine. And they are not notably more expensive than the asking price of this Special for a decent one.

[neil morse]

Just another thought on the 248 equipped Buicks.  I believe the standard rear end for the Special was 4.4.  For the Super, the standard was 4.1, which would be a little better for high speed cruising.  However, a 3.9 rear end was an option for both the Special and Super.  My Super has the 3.9, and it cruises very comfortably at 60 to 65, which keeps up adequately with freeway traffic and is about as fast as I want to go anyway.  Matt, I wonder if your Dad's Super might have had the 3.9 rear end?

 

(PS: I love your Chrysler wagon!  The white over pink is the perfect color scheme for that era.)

[Matt Harwood]

11 minutes ago, neil morse said:

Just another thought on the 248 equipped Buicks.  I believe the standard rear end for the Special was 4.4.  For the Super, the standard was 4.1, which would be a little better for high speed cruising.  However, a 3.9 rear end was an option for both the Special and Super.  My Super has the 3.9, and it cruises very comfortably at 60 to 65, which keeps up adequately with freeway traffic and is about as fast as I want to go anyway.  Matt, I wonder if your Dad's Super might have had the 3.9 rear end?

 

3.9 really should have been standard across the board. I guess the shorter gears made around-town driving easier and there were no highways at the time, but it really transforms the way the car works. My Limited has 4.20 (really 4.18) gears but with the taller tires, it works out to about the same as a 3.9 on the road. I arbitrarily keep it to about 60 MPH, but it does creep up on me sometimes. I don't know what my father's Super would have had and I don't really recall that much about how it drove--I was only 8 years old at the time. We traveled to Flint in a convoy with a '36 Roadmaster convertible sedan, a 56 Buick convertible of some kind, and a boat-tail Riviera from the early '70s. I don't recall doing anything special to accommodate the older cars, although 1978 was a different time in terms of traffic and overall speeds.

 

14 minutes ago, neil morse said:

(PS: I love your Chrysler wagon!  The white over pink is the perfect color scheme for that era.)

 

Thanks! I talked to a lot of people about it at the Chrysler meet--everyone loved it. In fact, we would not have purchased it if it weren't pink. Melanie absolutely loves it and while I've seen green ones and blue ones and white ones, none of those are as appealing. If you're going to have a '50s car, you may as well go with a pastel, right? The problem is that most "manly" men won't even consider driving a pink car, so we were able to pick this one up very reasonably after it sat on the market for more than two years. It will be one of the last we sell if it ever comes to that. It's just a great car. 

 

The one thing I learn as I spend more time in this hobby is that the unusual attracts more attention even though most people push away and run towards the common. Nobody wants pink, they want red or black. But this pink car attracted more attention at the show and at the Woodward Dream Cruise than most of the other cars. In the same way, everyone wants perfection while the cars that seem to attract the most attention are the survivors that are a little scruffy. Yet everyone spends all their money and effort trying to make red and black cars perfect instead of enjoying slightly scruffy and slightly unusual cars. It's like they can't quite make themselves believe what they're seeing--like the first time you jump out of an airplane with a parachute or something.

 

What were we talking about again?

[oldIHtruck]

that original address...8757 Marquette, Chicago ( Chi-Raq). Pretty rough side of town after the nearby steel mills closed in the 1960's & 1970's...

[neil morse]

2 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

The problem is that most "manly" men won't even consider driving a pink car ...

 

Well, Matt, I did notice that you are very quick to identify the Chrysler as "Melanie's car" every time you mention it! 😉😜

[Matt Harwood]

1 hour ago, neil morse said:

 

Well, Matt, I did notice that you are very quick to identify the Chrysler as "Melanie's car" every time you mention it! 😉😜

 

It really is Melanie's car. I wouldn't have bought it for myself, but she's absolutely in love with it and drives it daily in the summer. In fact, she's racked up more than 1600 miles since April in it, including this trip. It really is her car. I have driven it a few times, mostly to test repairs or shake it down, and I really enjoy it and don't mind being seen in a pink car. I took it for gas in Detroit in a neighborhood that many might consider "questionable" but the guys at that gas station were excited to see it and talk about it. I didn't feel awkward in the least driving a pink station wagon in a place where most of the guys probably knew someone who had a bullet hole in him.

But it really is Melanie's car, not mine. I'm OK with that, too.

[mercer09]

But it really is Melanie's car, not mine. I'm OK with that, too.

 

if you repeat it enough, you will eventually believe it...................

 

[neil morse]

2 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

It really is Melanie's car. ... It really is her car. .. But it really is Melanie's car, not mine. I'm OK with that, too.

 

 

Haha -- Good to see that you're comfortable owning a pink car!  🤣

[Marty Roth]

  2 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

It really is Melanie's car. ... It really is her car. .. But it really is Melanie's car, not mine. I'm OK with that, too

 

So, whose name is on the title?

[Matt Harwood]

Melanie's name is on the title and she is always very particular when she registers it for shows that it be under her name. It's hard for us as privileged white men to understand what it's like, but she's in a man's business and the number of guys who treat her like an idiot or ignore her altogether at shows and in our offices would astound you. When someone asks about the car and she answers them, they are as likely as not to say, "Did your husband tell you to say all that?" It's beyond offensive and in our business, you're taking a big risk to dismiss her. Anyone who blows her off as just a secretary just gravely reduced their chances of getting the car they want, never mind a deal on it. Our business looks like it does not because of me (I just talk about cars) but because of her. Think about it.

 

So while it seems like I'm trying to cover for a pink car but what I'm really trying to say is that it is her car and she's an equal. She knows as much about the car as I do, maybe more, and it's a mistake to pat her on the head and wait for a man to explain things to you instead. 

 

Go ahead and watch conversations in the hobby where there's a woman involved. In fact, watch yourselves because you surely do it without even knowing it. If you're really paying attention, you'll be surprised (and hopefully dismayed) by how easily women are dismissed by men in this hobby. 

 

THAT is my point.

[TerryB]

Buick? What Buick?  O yes, we started on Buick and then went to Detroit.  The comments here on the Buick are very informative, it seems you need to be up on your market values today.  And Pink Chrysler’s are cool no matter who owns it.  I looked at Hemmings and saw a similar Buick at $15k.  

[Marty Roth]

56 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

Melanie's name is on the title 

 

Go ahead and watch conversations in the hobby where there's a woman involved.  

 

THAT is my point.

 

Good response, Matt,

 

... and my wife Dale has for years had her AACA Senior Master Judge status

[trimacar]

8 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

It's not even a fair fight. It was pretty much a modern car,

A good friend has a mid-50's Mopar, and that's the same impression I got riding with him.  Feels like cheating, here's an old car, yet it's fast, nimble, comfortable, great visibility, so drivable it hurts.....What's the fun in that?  Well, actually quite a bit.....

[Marty Roth]

Just now, trimacar said:

A good friend has a mid-50's Mopar, and that's the same impression I got riding with him.  Feels like cheating, here's an old car, yet it's fast, nimble, comfortable, great visibility, so drivable it hurts.....What's the fun in that?  Well, actually quite a bit.....

 

Actually, we get that same feeling with our 1941 Cadillac convertible coupe (cabriolet?),

Easy to drive,

Fast,

Relatively nimble for her size and weight,

Handle any highway for hours at a time (did this last September when tow rig went down),

Comfortable,

Reasonable visibility - except rear quarters,

Fun? - Absolutely !

Economy? - not why we got it, but 12.5 mpg around town and 16.9 mpg @ 73 mph average (per GPS)  for last 200 miles on Idaho's I-84 

[Matt Harwood]

1 minute ago, Marty Roth said:

Economy? - not why we got it, but 12.5 mpg around town and 16.9 mpg @ 73 mph average (per GPS)  for last 200 miles on Idaho's I-84 

 

If anything, that was the Chrysler's downside. I figured we might be able to get as much as 14-15 MPG on the open highway, but after three fill-ups of 13, 13, and 11 gallons, I figure we're getting between 10 and 11 MPG in the Chrysler. That's pretty lousy, even for a big old wagon. It's not like it really matters but I was kind of hoping for a little more. The spec sheet says it has 3.73 gears, which would explain a lot of it, but it cruises like it has something more like a 3.23. I mean, the engine is dead silent at 75 MPH and if it were spinning at 3600-3800 RPM with 3.73 gears, I'm sure I'd hear it. I'm going to do some investigating this week now that we've had some highway driving.

 

My '41 60S would easily pull down 16 MPG on the highway, which was a pleasant surprise. 3.36 gears certainly help the Hydra-Matic Cadillacs!

[Marty Roth]

18 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 My '41 60S would easily pull down 16 MPG on the highway, which was a pleasant surprise. 3.36 gears certainly help the Hydra-Matic Cadillacs!

 

Our 62 Series Convertible coupe with 3-on-the-tree supposedly has the standsrd 3.77:1 differential. I would love to have the 3.36:1 ratio and the Hydra-matic's 4th gear Overdrive ratio. As I understand Matt's correction, 4th is 1:1 coming out of the 4-speed Hydra-matic in our 1954 Caddy which comes with a 3.07:1 differential ratio - a Serious Cruiser !

 

Thank you Matt for the correction. I had previously been told that Hydra 4th was an O.D.

Edited August 18, 2019 by Marty Roth
typo, and additional note (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

No, 4th gear in the Hydra-Matic is still direct drive 1:1. Hydra-Matic cars got the 3.36 rear gears because first and second are much lower than the manual transmission, plus the torque multiplication effect of the torque converter (or fluid coupling for the pedants out there). 

[30 Hupp]

4 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

Melanie's name is on the title and she is always very particular when she registers it for shows that it be under her name. It's hard for us as privileged white men to understand what it's like, but she's in a man's business and the number of guys who treat her like an idiot or ignore her altogether at shows and in our offices would astound you. When someone asks about the car and she answers them, they are as likely as not to say, "Did your husband tell you to say all that?" It's beyond offensive and in our business, you're taking a big risk to dismiss her. Anyone who blows her off as just a secretary just gravely reduced their chances of getting the car they want, never mind a deal on it. Our business looks like it does not because of me (I just talk about cars) but because of her. Think about it.

 

So while it seems like I'm trying to cover for a pink car but what I'm really trying to say is that it is her car and she's an equal. She knows as much about the car as I do, maybe more, and it's a mistake to pat her on the head and wait for a man to explain things to you instead. 

 

Go ahead and watch conversations in the hobby where there's a woman involved. In fact, watch yourselves because you surely do it without even knowing it. If you're really paying attention, you'll be surprised (and hopefully dismayed) by how easily women are dismissed by men in this hobby. 

 

THAT is my point.

Well said, Matt!

[plymouthcranbrook]

The problem is that most "manly" men won't even consider driving a pink car  " Real" Men drive whatever they darn well please and if some one doesn't like it too bad for them!

Edited August 19, 2019 by plymouthcranbrook (see edit history)

[mercer09]

to the contrary about women, my wife knows nothing about cars, wants to know nothing about cars and you'ld be smart to not ask her a thing about cars.................

 

just how it is.

[Matt Harwood]

1 hour ago, mercer09 said:

to the contrary about women, my wife knows nothing about cars, wants to know nothing about cars and you'ld be smart to not ask her a thing about cars.................

 

just how it is.

 

Regardless of the topic, I'll wager she still doesn't like being treated like an idiot or dismissed just because she's a woman.