1941 Buick Special

[SAustin16]

Good afternoon gentlemen, over the weekend I purchased a 1941 Buick Special   that I believe to be numbers matching. I posted a few pictures below. The numbers on the motor are A4262238. I want to leave it as is. Thank you for your help 
 

[Matt Harwood]

Interesting to see a Model 47, which was the B-Series Special on the 118-inch wheelbase with Chevrolet bodies. Uncommon car. There is no such thing as numbers matching on these cars. The frame will have its own number, there's the serial number on the tag on the firewall, there's another tag with paint and trim codes, and there's yet another number on the engine. None of them will match and that's how it's supposed to be. Most are titled by the serial number (the small rectangular aluminum tag) but some have been titled by frame or engine number. As long as the number on the title is somewhere on the car, you're OK. But beyond that, trying to establish matching numbers is futile. The fact that your engine number starts with a 4 means that it is for a Special, so it is likely the original engine. A few members here can tell you the window of dates in which that engine might have been built to narrow it down a bit more, but that's as close as you'll get. Don't worry about "matching numbers" which is getting totally out of hand in the hobby. Just enjoy the car--'41 Buicks are excellent in all their forms (obviously I'm biased).

 

How about more photos and information?

 

Welcome and have fun!

[trini]

Some things you  must pay attention to, the wheel nut on the passenger side and the nut to hold the cradle spring are left  hand thread. The exhaust manifold prone to cracks because of design. To start the motor the gas pedal must be pushed to the floor. The engine will not crank unless the clutch pedal is pushed down. Pay attention to the brake master . It is a single cylinder  and installed inside the frame , left front. Battery is available from NAPA. The engine is most likely a Fire Ball straight 8. Check out the wires for frayed and leaking insulation    

[SAustin16]

Thank you guys so much that was very helpful. I plan to just clean her up and keep it as is. I knew all of the numbers were different just wasn’t sure if there was anywhere I could research....Mr. Hardwood I really appreciate it 

[Walt G]

21 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

Don't worry about "matching numbers" which is getting totally out of hand in the hobby. Just enjoy the car--'

Matt my friend has said it best, the whole numbers matching thing is pertaining to post war cars as far as I know, which proves(???) it hasn't been hacked up and stuff swapped around to make a car. Most pre WWII era cars , especially those made by independent manufacturers did not have matching numbers - Packard, Franklin etc

The sage words that Matt stated , and all of us should ( some of us have for decades) live by - Just enjoy the car!

[trini]

I owned one of those and was able to source parts from the Buick Club Of America. The correct radio is a Sonomatic. It is a nice driving car. Easy steering , no problem on highway speeds

[SAustin16]

[Billy Kingsley]

Beautiful car, hope it brings you many years of enjoyment.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

28 minutes ago, SAustin16 said:

Thank you guys so much that was very helpful. I plan to just clean her up and keep it as is. I knew all of the numbers were different just wasn’t sure if there was anywhere I could research....Mr. Hardwood I really appreciate it 

 

 Welcome to our BUICK world, sir.

 Matt is correct.  No "matching"  numbers.   The numbers, etc on the larger tag are fisher body numbers. They identify the BODY only.  The small rectangular one is , as Matt said, the serial number. Should match the frame number. And it was installed at the factory with screws. Someone can tell you where you should look if you want to find the frame number. I have never located it on my 1950.  They are not stamped very deep.  As Matt said the engine number first digit tells which series [  40, 50, 60, 70 , etc,]  the engine was installed in.  In 1946 post war, this moved to AFTER the serial number.  Therefore, beginning with the second digit yours reads 4,260,+++.     1941 numbers began at 4,074,+++,  1942 began  4,457,+++.  Yours falls about half way in between, so is a 1941.

 

  If you have not already done so, scroll on down to the Buick forums and perhaps start a thread in the  Me and My Buick forum. Some of the Buick guy don't frequent up here.

 

  Ben

[pont35cpe]

One thing I discovered a short time ago about my `36 Buick coupe is that the frame number is also stamped on the top of the transmission, just behind the top shifter plate. Total surprise!! So my transmission is numbers matching and original to my car..

[Jim Skelly]

My Dad's first car was the same model and body style.  His was black with a tan interior and had Compound Carburetion ((2) 2-barrel carburetors), which was optional on the Special.  

[61polara]

9 hours ago, trini said:

To start the motor the gas pedal must be pushed to the floor. The engine will not crank unless the clutch pedal is pushed down.

Both of these comments are incorrect.  The engine begins to crank as soon as the gas pedal is depressed.  Half way will set the choke and the engine will start.  There is no switch under the gas pedal, so going to the floor is not necessary.  There is no interlock switch to prevent the engine from cranking with the clutch out, so it will crank, the car jump and not start if it is in gear.  Start the car in neutral, with the clutch in.  It will crank with the clutch out, but the starter will not have to spin the clutch assemble and it is less weight for the starter to spin.

[trini]

I never said about a switch under the gas pedal. There was a switch on the linkage on the carburetor that actuated the starter motor . If I remember correctly there was an oil bath filter. Pretty neat. I liked the radio, Sonomatic made by Motorola .

[West Peterson]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:23 PM, Walt G said:

Matt my friend has said it best, the whole numbers matching thing is pertaining to post war cars as far as I know, which proves(???) it hasn't been hacked up and stuff swapped around to make a car. Most pre WWII era cars , especially those made by independent manufacturers did not have matching numbers - Packard, Franklin etc

The sage words that Matt stated , and all of us should ( some of us have for decades) live by - Just enjoy the car!

 

"Numbers Matching" does not mean that all the numbers match each other on the car. Numbers Matching usually means that all the numbers on the car match what has been recorded when the car was built. It is quite important to know if a car retains its original components, especially engine, body and chassis, when paying a premium for the car. Do your due diligence when buying a car, especially if paying top dollar for a supposedly rare model.

 

I recently heard a first-hand account of a early 1930s Cadillac roadster that was sold as being authentic. It turned out that the the 12-cylinder chassis and engine was originally built with a sedan body, and the engine number (after sanding off the paint) was clearly altered to reflect a car with a roadster body. The body number had also been altered, which was originally on a V-8 chassis. Interestingly, this would probably never have come to light except an exact same car with the same serial number showed up in the picture.