Did You Ever Screw Up Real Bad? Or Almost? Well Maybe!

[Guest Moepar]

Glad you made it home safley. I'm glad to hear that the car in fact runs, & if you feel good about this, that is ALL that matters.

Now, get out to that garage & let the fun begin!

[Mike Dube]

Hello Bill.

Yes, that's him, a great guy! He and I worked for an oilfield supply company in NW Houston in the early 80's. Guess that made us both "oilfield trash". As a matter of fact, my later boss at the same company lived in Katy.

When you see Tom, tell him I said hello. He could probably scare up a picture of the wife and I with the Auburn.

[Brooks in Dallas]

Wow, this was an awesome story! If I had seen it ahead of time, I would have begged to ride along and driven to Houston to meet you. In October, I drove from Dallas to San Francisco to get Imperial parts for the '63 Crown Convertible that I bought 4 years ago completely in boxes. As long as it was this close, I'm going ahead and do a body-off (the only thing left was (a) remove the windshield; ( remove the dashboard; © remove the front clip; (d) remove the body bolts. As long as it was that far, I just thought hell, keep goin'. (:-D)

Mine won't be a trailer queen, either. I believe in driving the things and not being afraid to get them dirty / scratched / whatever. I hope to take it on the Great Race in 2008, if I can get it finished up by then.

You unquestionably did the right thing in getting the car you wanted.

--Brooks in Dallas

[Dynaflash8]

Mike, just wondering....were those compression rings? And do you think the ether caused it?

[Dynaflash8]

Wow! Your truck is newer than Wayne's!!! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Dynaflash8]

Hello Gunny,

I enjoyed your story and respect your way of thinking. One thing though, a "show car" can be a driver. I've got a Grand National First 39 Buick that is also a driver. It has appeared on the cover of ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE, but it is still a "driver." It has ridden in a trailer when circumstances made that sensible, but it is still a "driver". It has been on numerous tours, and recently completed the first AACA Sentimental Tour as a "driver." So, don't be confused and think that you can't enjoy your car as a "show car" and also drive it. Too many confuse DRIVER with MODIFIED. It is absolutely UNNECESSARY to modify a straight 8 Buick built from 1936 forward and think you can't drive it anywhere you want, and as fast as the law allows.

Once you've got your Buick where you want it, you can enjoy many beautiful, long and smooth drives with that old straight 8. I find nothing as enjoyable as the sound of an old Buick straight 8 as it is run through the gears, listening to the familiar whine that first and second make. It is a sound that takes me back to a different and better time when each morning I would awake to the sound of my Dad leaving for work in his old 39 Buick.

If you home restore or fix up your car and then display it at a car show, it is a "show car", make no mistake about that. It is a misnomer to think it has to be an undriven, 400 point restoration at the cost of a millionaire's ransom to qualify as a "show car". When you take that old 37 Buick to a show, stand by, and listen to the comments of the people who come by and enjoy just seeing it. Listen to every one of them as they reminisce about parents or grandparents, aunts or uncles who had such a car. That makes it a "show car". If you DO NOT modify the car, you can be proud of it and at the same time enjoy the time warp that will come when you drive it anywhere you want to go.

Unfortunately, even the most "modest" home resotoration or "fix up" today is extremely expensive. Rubber weatherstripping and gaskets will astound you with their price. And then, PAINT, is simply out of control. I recently bought a very dilapidated, but solid old 39 Buick sedan like my Dad's, to fix up "for fun". Some of the fun began draining out when I had to pay $119 a gallon for black acryllic lacquer, $45 a gallon for "cheap" Nassan primer (Dupont was $99 a gallon) and $98 for five gallons of lacquer thinner---these prices are what my body shop owner friend had to pay. But, percerverance is what it takes. Chrome is expensive but can be diverted until another time, but it takes a certain amount of paint and rubber to get a car just "stabilized" when it is really down around the ears. Luckily I had a lot of parts for the car, some new, some used from my other cars...taken off years ago and saved after I improved on what I had. But, like you, I knew I had to save this car. Nobody else would except a modifyer. It's just like Dad's car. And, the fun of finding and fixing, digging and discovering parts, is worth more than I could ever get from catching a fish, or getting a hole in one.

(QUOTE) FROM GUNNY'S POST: "The Buick Odessey is now complete and done. That 1937 Buick now sets and rests in my garage. It was a heck of a trip for sure and for certain. I am out one unused Harley and now own one Buick. In the end when I got to Milton Fl and actually saw that old Buick I simply feel in love. I was sadly not able to look at it in an objective way, it was love at first site. It needs a lot of work, but not more than I am willing to do. It does in fact run very well and will not take much to make it a real driver. It will never be a 200 point show car NEVER. It simply is not in the cards for this Buick. For one thing it has the wrong owner, and the second thing is it would take a lot and I mean I lot of work to get it to that point. That never was my intention really. making a show car out of it, it was always my wish to have a driver. One that I was not afraid to get a scratch or a little dent now and then on. This old Buick now enters into another life of service, it will bve driven and driven a lot, I feel that is what it was for." (UNQUOTE)

PS: And one more thing Gunny, if MONEY is the only answer, I've SCREWED UP everytime I've bought an old car and I'm proud of it, because money isn't everything, it's the love for that old car that is what is important! Good luck to you, and I enjoyed your "trip report". Hope those Shingles are gone by now too! President AACA 2004

[Mike Dube]

Dyna,

Yes, they were the compression rings. I'm not the world's most knowledgeable wrench, but I figured that the ether (in combo with a car that had hibernated for a couple of years) could have been a factor. We got it started, and I drove it a bit on my first visit, then went back a second time to pick it up. The seller had changed the oil for me as he knew I was going to drive her home (Western NY to Akron OH isn't all that bad). Because of this, I didn't see the ring pieces in the oil until late fall, when I changed it again for winter. Oil consumption was a tad high, but she actually drove pretty well.

What does anyone else think?

[Dynaflash8]

Just wondered. My 39 Buick was always hard starting when it was hot, following a full rebuild in 1965. About 10 years ago somebody told me about ether and I bought a can. When the car was really hot in the summer and wouldn't turn over fast enough to start, I'd give it a shot and it would start. Recently it developed a miss on medium acceleration that wouldn't go away. Changed everything, but couldn't fix it. My favorite mechanic came over and tried again with no luck. It is using some oil and dripping out the lower breather. He said it likely had a cracked compression ring. Since it was bored in '65, another friend mechanic said he guessed the rings were stuck. A compression check showed low cold compression on all cylinders, but high with introduction of Rislone in the spark plug holes. A iron mechanic told me to treat it with one ounce of Rislone each week for four weeks and see what happens. The medicine is now complete and next week we'll start it up again and drive it around to see if we had any luck. I've been wondering if the ether was the culprit, or just not enough driving over the last 35 years. God knows, I don't want to have to re-ring this car. It's a Grand National Senior.