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1931 BUICK 8-96S COUNTRY CLUB COUPE - SOLD


midman

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After lots of thought I decided to put my 1931 8-96S Country Club Coupe up for sale. I am selling since my interest in the Buick has faded as I finished everything needed on it (sort of a sickness I know).
 
I bought this car about 10 years ago at Fall Carlisle. It was the typical story of sitting untouched for decades. This one was special for a couple of reasons. First, I could not find rust or body damage, and second it came with a treasure trove of blueprints and drawings collected by a Buick engineer, who was the owner that had sat on it for years. It ran and drove but it was tired and had a quicky repaint over the original paint. He had redone the interior upholstery and the top but that was about it. It showed about 56,000 miles at the time.
 
Here is what I’ve done over the years with the objective of having a nice driver.
Repaint in the original colors. This is a good paint job but not great. I had the fenders, running board aprons,  and other parts I could disassemble hot dipped, and sanded everything else to bare metal. I had a local guy do the paint. There are some small blemishes but overall it is nice. The wheels should be body color but I had them powder coated  before the car was done and the shade is wrong. The body wood is solid. I had some soft spots above the windshield which I injected with liquid epoxy and I patched one spot at the very rear of the car.
I had some parts rechromed or renickeled, headlight shells, shifter, brake lever and some other small parts. The headlight bar is a repop. The radiator shell is not replated but not bad, same with the bumpers.
I rebuilt all the brakes and mounted all new tires, including the sidemounts. I replaced all the wheel bearings.
New wiring harness and added a turn signal assembly of the correct vintage. I also added an electric fuel pump for easier starts after sitting, and a master electric shutoff.
I resealed the shocks, steering box and transmission (though the trans still leaks some).
I had the rumble seat reupholstered in a black leatherette . I redid the wood graining on the interior. I replaced all the handles with stainless repops. The windshield raising crank assembly is starting to slip sometimes. The rest of the interior is what was done in the 1960’s and is still very nice
I rebuilt the motor with new aluminum pistons.  The machining, babbit work  and cylinder head were done by Reeves in NY.  I rebuilt the carb and fuel pump and retubed the heat riser. I blocked off the heat transfer at the carb and replaced the exhaust. Newly rebuilt generator and starter.
I have an overdrive modified torque tube someone made years ago that will go along. I never installed it.
I also have a fitted car cover that will go with the car.
 
I eventually donated the drawings to the Buick Heritage Assoc, but I’ll send along digital copies. I have history on the car going back to about 1955. I will also send along all photos I took during restoration and use of the car.
Sold as is.
Asking $30,000
I'll add more pictures as requested and a video of the car running after first start this year.
Located near Carlisle PA. PM me if interested or if you want to inspect. Please post any questions here.

 

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Edited by midman
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50 minutes ago, alsancle said:

Nice.   Try to get a good side shot of the car.   All of your photos are at angle.

 

Should make a great car for someone.

Alsancle,

As requested, this was a couple of years ago before I dropped in the side mount tires. Notice there is lots of room in the rumble seat.

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It pains me greatly to lose midman as a Mason-Dixon member and his lovely Buick. (Of which I still had never rode in!) I accompanied him on the trip to retrieve the engine from Reeve's shop. He has been a great help to me in my work as MD director and with my car. I do not believe you will find a nicer example any where near the cost.

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I'm restoring the small brother of this car, a 31 model 8-66S and just wanted to say Midman has been a huge help in my restoration effort.  The drawings he happily supplied were invaluable and he sold me a few parts at great prices as well.  Recently He told me he would soon list his 8-96S for sale to pursue other car and motorcycle interests.  I inquired about the legendary big box of drawings not knowing he had donated them to the AACA library which I think is the fitting place for these to reside.   But he did keep electronic copies of the drawings and offered to send them to me on a thumb drive which I very gratefully accepted.    The drawings are mostly chassis and powertrain related and in many cases 80/90 series specific but some drawings such as the electrical drawings have other models tabulated on the drawings.  I don't want to get into the business of loading thumb drives and mailing them back and forth but if someone needs a drawing and wants to PM me their E-mail address I will see if I have the drawing and if so send it.   

 

The other AACA forum member that has been really helpful with my car is Dave39MD who has an unrestored, unmolested example of the same model car I am working on.  I have asked him to take pictures of details of his original car to shape my approach to restoring parts of my car that I know required him to crawl under the dash or or lay on the floor to get the pictures.  He has never turned me down and I can't thank him enough for that.

 

Dave...  

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • midman changed the title to 1931 BUICK 8-96S COUNTRY CLUB COUPE - SOLD
  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/21/2021 at 10:24 AM, dibarlaw said:

Congratulations. But I am a little more than sad for you.....

 Please let me know where the car is going as we like to keep track of these cars.

Larry,

It’s going to the Somerset area, so not too far away.

Chuck

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And unbelievably excited. Mr Midman is a wonderful gentleman. I’ve met Mr Dibarlaw long ago at an auction of a 14 Buick. ( that auctioneer was ——- different)  My wife and I will probably take this to the Glidden this year. Rather than our 29 m75 Chrysler. 
 

when i was in JR high, best class I had was with the home room teacher ( Wayne Freidhoff) - the ‘math’ of cars. He brought his 31 series 50. We learned wheel base, displacement, acceleration, ignition, stopping distance, that car became a grand national winner. Can still feel the drool on my chin. 

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Tom:

 So glad you are the new caretaker!

 That auction was for the over the top re-restoration of a 1924 Buick model 45.

 We had nice conversations during the auction. And to say the auctioneers many rules were quite strange was an understatement. When the car came up only then was there stated a reserve. They stated the family would not accept less than $40,000. I ended up being the only bidder as the auctioneer finally allowed an opening bid. I bid $20,000. Then he raised my own bid to $21K! Of course no sale. Later talking with the brother of former owner they said they would accept $36K.

No one was allowed to evaluate the car by driving it or even start it. The fellow who drove the car out of the garage did not have a clue how to even move it without coaching. He looked petrified trying to drive it 25 feet.  The auctioneer stopped the auction many times to chastise the audience for having conversations and to accuse some of us being in collusion on parts bidding.

fi1.jpg.c514158af5fe8bfa5d83ca9eb87c7de4.jpg    DSCF1838.JPG.bf19e875b0325ed7a76c32eafe180315.JPG It did have some nice accessories like the rear windshield. But the rest of them as my friend described .. " he went through PEP BOYS with a magnet".

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fi10.jpg.04a31d32be94f14dbd1ef6a8deaad764.jpg  Engine was extremely modified.

 Local friend bought the trailer full of spare parts. Included was a new fitted tonneau cover for the unsold car.

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Photo of the car after it's first restoration.

 But now I will have to visit you if I wish to have a drive in your new BUICK!

 Below photos I took when Midman first acquired the car.

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As some are aware…….been having some very difficult family problems up north. Had to cut off the new owner of the Buick the other day while on the phone……very sorry…….can you please call me back? Thanks, Ed. 
 

PS- will be on an airplane till tomorrow……

Edited by edinmass (see edit history)
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