1930s Buicks and Oldsmobiles

[Guest]

I have a few questions on these cars

1. How good are they as daily drivers?

2. Any reliability issues?

3. what about parts?

[Guest]

A few general comments...

There's a fair difference between early '30s and late '30s cars; around 1935-'36, just about every major marque adopted hydraulic brakes and all-steel bodies, both of which are important safety improvements.

Also, by about 1937, most cars were riding on a least 6.00 x 16 rubber, as opposed to 4.75 or 5.00 wide tires.

Both Buick and Olds were up-scale marques in the GM stable, and were generally nicely appointed and fairly comfortable cars for their time.

The Buick having a better-breathing OHV engine would probably have a bit better performance, however either car would probably object to being driven @ speeds over 60 mph for any legnth of time. (ie; driving one on the Interstate every day would probably beat it up fairly quickly.)

For a tour car, they're probably pretty durable, as long as speed is kept within reasonable limits.

Generally, these cars had rear-end ratios between 3.9:1 to 4.5 :1, so they're not geared to run @ 65-70 mph on the Beltway. Buicks all had touque-tubes, so fitting an overdrive would be challenging.

Parts? You're probably not very likely to find much stuff available from local jobbers in the way of mechanicals & tune-up parts, unless it's shared with a Chevrolet (and even Chevy parts are getting hard to find at your neighborhood store!), so your going to be relying on "specialists' like Kanter, or jobbers who will rebuild your water pump or lever-shocks etc, plus turn-around time.

So, your car might be laid-up a little bit while you wait for parts.

(Carrying spares such as fuel pumps, carb kit, tune-up kits, hoses etc. is a good idea.)

If you were to find and drive such a car in good repair, it would probably treat you well, I would suggest "allowing more time", for both travel and repair accordingly.

If you wind-up in a '38 or '39 Olds with an automatic transmission, that may bring its own special set of issues....

I'm sure some folks out there will disagree with some of my assessments here, but having driven both pre and post WWII cars as daily drivers for the last 10-15 years, I"ve become acquainted with some of the practical limitations of vintage cars in modern service.

But, on the other hand, if Hollywood is to be believed, it seems a lot of Police depts. favored Buicks in the '30s....

OK; someone else's turn....

De Soto Frank

[critterpainter]

It is better to go with late 30's rather than early for the reasons merc-o-matic stated.

the late 30's Buicks have engines that interchange up to the early 50's so engine parts are not a big issue. Also rear end gears will interchange up to the early 50s fairly easily so you can re-gear it for higher speed.

Bill

[The Old Guy]

Buick rear end gears interchange from 1940--1955,as long as you use the whole center pig The earlier Buicks would need a complete rear axle swap, and 36and 37 still had semi elliptic springa, so you need to make spring perches.

[Guest]

you seam like a car guy, so I think you know the basics.

the daily driver for a normal commute is a bit of a joke.....

these cars don't "wind up" fast enough for our late model friends on today road. So, if you can stand the gear changes, binds spots, heat, motor stink, and poor gas mileage, then you will not have a problem.

Our "four wheel disc brake" friends on the road today, will not be happy with you.

It's a romantic idea to "press an old wagon" back into full time service, but unless, your out in the country, I think it's cruel to expose your "old wagon" to the "boom bass" Honda's on a daily bases.

But, I do recommend club tours on nice weekends!

[Guest]

Tommy '27,

I like your prose; it's a pretty succinct description of driving here in the N.E. US & A.

People's driving habits these days make me wish there was still a commuter train between Scranton & Wilkes-Barre so I didn't have to fight the speed demons on I-81.

(The local electric inter-urban railway, the "Laurel Line", stopped passenger service in 1950, due to (you guessed it) declining ridership due to increased automobile traffic.)

I love cars, it's the people driving them I sometimes hate!

De Soto Frank