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Driving my 63 Buick Special Wagon


roadmaster29

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Do to unforeseen problems I am driving my 1963 Buick Station Wagon to work for awhile. I had to take off the Historical plates and when I went to the court house to get the new plates the guy that was helping me said wait a minute and he returned a minute later with these.  These are organizational plates and there is room to put a BCA sticker on the left side also which would be pretty nice with the other end having 63 on it 

plate.jpg

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Very rare little car! I like it! Standard shift in one of these is really rare! Any time you want to do a write-up with photos of that car for the Buick Bugle magazine, I will give you all the space you need. Almost never see these! I don't care if it isn't in perfect condition, it is worthy of an article in the magazine.

Pete Phillips, Editor

The Buick Bugle

Leonard, Texas

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I agree with Pete! I love manual shift later Buicks.👍

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My first car was a '63 Buick Special station wagon.  It had the small aluminum V-8 and it was beige.  It was a former GM executive vehicle so it had almost every option including factory A/C.  Nice car, but it did like the gas.  It only got about 14-15 MPG regardless how I drove it.  I really liked the car except for the fuel economy.  Tough on a student income.  Sold it and bought a '68 Opel Kadett station wagon.  Almost doubled my average fuel economy.  I did miss the A/C though.

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Pete I  would to do a write up on the car. I am not sure how to get good enough pictures for the Bugle. It is an interesting car that I bought from the second owner in Helena Montana. I actually drove to Helena in my Kia Soul on a Thanksgiving weekend and drove it home. I have always wanted to come down in the spring for the northern Texas Chapters get together. Is that called Blue Bells and Buicks maybe someone there can take some pictures. 

 

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By the way I'm afraid that here in Sioux Falls they do use salt but I am washing the car and undercarriage regularly and it is not being driven every day. Being a long haul truck driver I'm an gone for 6 to 10 days at a time and it's only about 5 miles from where I live to where I park. 

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8 hours ago, roadmaster29 said:

Pete I  would to do a write up on the car. I am not sure how to get good enough pictures for the Bugle. It is an interesting car that I bought from the second owner in Helena Montana. I actually drove to Helena in my Kia Soul on a Thanksgiving weekend and drove it home. I have always wanted to come down in the spring for the northern Texas Chapters get together. Is that called Blue Bells and Buicks maybe someone there can take some pictures. 

 

Just take some digital photos with a good camera and send me the flash drive or whatever the camera puts them on. I'll return it when done if you want it back. Or send the photos by email, but warn me before they come, so I can be sure my in-box is not overflowing. 

The "Buicks and Bluebonnets" regional meet is put together by the Houston chapter, usually on an April weekend. It's not a large meet because our chapters down here are getting pretty small, but the weather is usually nice in April. I'll take the photos if you bring the car to that meet.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Leonard, Texas

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1 minute ago, roadmaster29 said:

How many Buicks were made with 4 bolt wheels. That what this has on it. I don't think I have ever seen that on a Buick before.

Every single 1961, 1962, and 1963 Buick Special and Skylark has 4-bolt wheels. These are considered the "compact Buicks". After 1963, they got larger, became intermediate size cars, and went to 5-bolt wheels just like all the other Buicks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

One good thing about getting the cars out and driving them is fixing the little things I put off for later. The car always idled a bit rough and smelled a bit rich. I know that the V6 has a reputation for running a bit rough but this seemed more that I was comfortable with. So off to the parts store and new vacuum hoses and the roughness went away and grab the screw driver and adjust the idle on the one barrel carb and it just purrs like a new engine. Got rid of a most of the smell. Even when its cold I have to roll down the window when I take off from a stop just to hear it purr. I've been tinkering with other things also. The weather has been nice and the other day I took it to a car wash and cleaned all the dirt and salt off. I am almost tempted to just keep it as my daily driver as much as I enjoy driving it. I do look forward to writing the article because this car is so much of a survivor. It has AAA decals on it and the original Buick dealers metal plate as well as the original key that has never had the center punched out and the original owners manual. Also seatbelts that I believe were put in when the car was new, a period correct altimeter and compass and a CB radio box that will let you listen to the CB over the radio. 

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8 hours ago, roadmaster29 said:

adjust the idle on the one barrel carb

 

???  stock should have been a 2 barrel, the Rochester 2GC.😉

 

Great to hear it runs well.

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As far as the 58 I purchased that from the original owners grandson. When purchased it was in storage in Fort Collins Colorado and it was still titled in the original owners name. The car was purchased new from the Buick dealer in Guymon Oklahoma and spent almost all of its life in Liberal Kansas. It only has around 55,000 miles on it and is pretty odd for a Special because it has factory A/C, power steering, power brakes and speedminder. I think the car was repainted and had some of the of the interior redone because it sat outside in the hot sun. the one thing about this car is there is no rust anywhere and I have been under it several times and looked. The A/C doesn't work and it needs an A/C pump. I am putting a few pictures of the 1957 Crown camper I bought last summer that I plan to pull behind the station wagon a nd the 58. 

camper1.jpg

camper2.jpg

camper4.png

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  • 7 months later...

Well it's back on the road with my Station Wagon. My son and his wife just gave me my first grandchild (baby boy) and his pickup blew a head gasket and her car has other problems. I really don't want them driving something unreliable with the new baby so I'm letting them use my pickup until they get al least one fixed. In the meantime I will enjoy using my wagon. 

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  • 9 months later...
On 5/31/2021 at 9:14 AM, Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel said:

I'm trying to purchase this 63 for my collection.  

Looks like a cool hauler, 3 on the tree, 215.  Unknown if it is a 2 or 4bbl.

I've aspired to having a 215 powered car, this may be it!

 

 


Hope to see another ‘63 Special on the Forum. These have been sitting under the radar for so long to be almost ignored. The 215 seems to be a nice engine and in the lighter Buick, still gives enough performance with some economy. Hope this post keeps going. There is also a f/b pace dedicated to ‘61-63 Special and Skylark that is worth a look. 
Rodney 😀😀😀😀😀

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On 5/30/2021 at 7:44 PM, Ted "Wildcat65" Nagel said:

I'm trying to purchase this 63 for my collection.  

Looks like a cool hauler, 3 on the tree, 215.  Unknown if it is a 2 or 4bbl.

I've aspired to having a 215 powered car, this may be it!

00e0e_3Dysrg1vAaiz_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg

00c0c_dX27mQzXUoFz_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg

Ted, wasn't the 4 bbl only available on Skylark?

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  • 4 months later...

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