1929 Buick four door sedan - wooden body components

[Axial_Flow]

Hello,

 

I am thinking about purchasing the above car for a restoration project.  Car has solid metal, but needs extensive wood replacement.  I will have more details on the car Saturday as to what model the car is, but my initial question, does anyone supply a wood kit(s) or component drawings for these cars?

Kind regards,

 

Randy

[Mark Shaw]

Nope!

[Bill - 29 Buick]

Randy:

 

There are no wood kits for 29 Buicks (no picture attached so don't know what model).  People who have restored these cars may have made some drawings but they are few and far between.  Often someone with the same model will let you come and take photos and measurements.

 

If  you buy it, let me know and I'll send you a Welcome Package for the 29 Buick Club.

 

Bill McLaughlin

1929 Silver Anniversary Buick Club / Newsletter

<Bill@29buick.ca>

[jps]

Hi Randy,

 

The best information generally available for the wood is in the Fisher body manual for late 20's - early 30's Buicks.  There are lots of pictures and lots of descriptions, but no dimensions.

 

You own several cars already so you know what you are doing, but unless you really like that sedan a lot, I think you are better off buying one without wood issues.  You should be able to get a driving 1927-29 Buick sedan without wood problems for under 10K-12K, and a non-driving one for a lot less.  I have been helping only a little with the wood restoration on a 1929 Buick coupe lately, and it is a lot of work even if you have old wood to use as a pattern.  I don't think I would do it for myself unless the car was very desirable (Packard, Cadillac, Pierce Arrow, etc), and I am a woodworker.

 

A lot of the wood pieces have non-flat surfaces, and there are a a lot of odd angles and tapers.  In addition, many of the joints only work if the wood pieces are assembled together outside of the metal skin ... in other words, often you can't physically put the pieces together if you leave the good wood in the car and just try to replace the bad pieces because the joints sometimes are grooved and they have to be slid together before sheet metal is tacked on. 

One last note ... if you would consider a 1927 Master Buick 2-door coach with fewer wood problems than what you are describing, there is currently one in SW Wisconsin that you could buy for a reasonable price.  I can give you the name and phone # of the person to contact if interested.

 

John

[Axial_Flow]

I appreciate the replies and comments.

 

From what I could tell, the car is the larger (310?) engine due to the water outlet manifold above the cylinder head verses the single outlet in the front of the cylinder head.  But being a four door sedan, it is probably not worth the effort to restore due to all the wood issues.

 

I still might be a buyer since the engine is not locked up.  Might be able to part it out so another car could be saved.

 

I'll update the group after the weekend.

 

Thank you 

[Axial_Flow]

Ended up passing on the car.  Found out the engine was stuck and didn’t really want to devote enough time to moving the car and sorting through the parts and pieces since my spare time is pretty much used up right now.  Hopefully someone got it and could use it for something besides scrap.  Found a 1931 50 series locally in much better condition, I’ll start a new post if that pans out.  Thank you.
 

 

[Bill - 29 Buick]

Looks like quite a project.

 

Bill McLaughlin

1929 Silver Anniversary Buick Club