Late 1920's Auto - Maybe a Buick?

[Steve Hagy]

Hi,

 

Trying to get this identified for a friend.  Seeking my standard info of year, make and model.  Only 1 week to identify this before we sleep for 3 days after eating way too much turkey...

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

[Leif Holmberg]

1930 or 1931 hard to say but it seems to be a Century ser 60 extended to 155 wb.? The head light looks to be from a 1932 but it can be an illusion?

[nzcarnerd]

2 hours ago, Leif Holmberg said:

1930 or 1931 hard to say but it seems to be a Century ser 60 extended to 155 wb.? The head light looks to be from a 1932 but it can be an illusion?

The distinguishing feature which differentiates the 1931 from the 1930 Buicks is the radiator cap with an 8 on it. Unfortunately it is not visible here.

 

Buick didn't use the term Century until the 1936 model year.

 

The car looks to be a stretched Buick chassis, more likely from 1930 I think, but whether it is a Series 50 or 60 is hard to say. They both used the big 331 cid six. and both were on 6.50 x 19 tyres.

[30sclassics]

The 1930 Buick radiator cap was flat, as shown in the first photo; the 1931 cap had a winged 8 on top.  1931 outer bumper guards had less of a taper on the sides, vs. the 1930 guards which tapered almost to a point.  I believe this is a 1930.

[58L-Y8]

Buick built a 155" wheelbase Series 60 commercial chassis which were used by Flxible and other hearse/ambulance professional car coachbuilders.  Mostly likely this chassis was part of that production but bought by a fire truck/crew car body maker to build a lower-priced fire truck for smaller cities with modest budgets. 

Edited November 19, 2022 by 58L-Y8 (see edit history)

[Steve Hagy]

As always, thank you for your comments.