1918 E44 Roadster

[50jetback]

A friend of mine runs a second hand machinery/bric-a-brac yard and often asks me to try and identify old car parts which find there way into his yard from time to time.

He rang and asked me to have a look at the remains of what he thought was a pretty old car.

I had a look and to my surprise he has the chassis, mudguards ( fenders ) and most of the body for a 1918 E44 Roadster.

The chassis number is intact, 417861 and my books indicate this should be a 1918 manufacture.

There are a couple of body-less 1918 Buicks around Perth so hopefully this body will hook up with one of those.

I'll post a couple of pics I took today.

[50jetback]

1918 Roadster

[50jetback]

Looks like you will all be disappointed, for some reason my photos aren't loading. Will have to try later.

[Guest DaveCorbin]

Dear Stuart:

The frame number of 417861 that you gave was issued by Buick to a 1918 E45 X. Approximate engine number in this frame would be between 418752 and 426556. This is directly from Buick's factory records compiled in 1943 at the factory. I hope this helps.

Regards, Dave Corbin

[50jetback]

Thanks for the info Dave.

This is where we get into difficult areas!!

I'll try to post the photos again, but this roadster body would appear to have always been with this chassis which would make it an E44.

Can you tell from your records if this was exported as a running chassis and would have a locally built body or would it have been exported as a complete vehicle?

[50jetback]

Okay, looks like my photos are attaching today so I'll post some more.

[50jetback]

1918 E44 or E45?

[50jetback]

Buick 1918

[50jetback]

Dash

[50jetback]

1918 Buick

[Guest DaveCorbin]

Dear Stuart:

The pictures of the body are definitely an E44, since an E45 is a 5 passenger touring. The car may have been shipped without a body, which would allow an E44 body to be mounted out in your part of the world, as the frames are the same.

Is it RHD or LHD?

Regards, Dave Corbin

[50jetback]

Dave,

Have had a look at some reference books dealing with Holden ( Australian body builder which later became General Motors Australia ) which suggests the first bodies Holden built for GM Chassis were 1918 Buick models in Roadster ( E-6-44 ) and tourer ( E-6-45 ) form.

Even though we always claim the body to be Australian built it seems the exported chassis came complete with mudguards ( fenders ) and body work completed to the cowl. As far as I can see the Australian component was from the firewall or cowl back.

In this case the rear mudguards are very different and not interchangeable between the Roadster E44 and Tourer E45 so maybe Buick supplied chassis all designated as tourers to Australia and supplied pairs of rear mudguards to enable Holden to build some roadsters? It seems they also supplied detailed drawings to Holden as the body appears to be identical to the Buick built counterpart.

The car is right hand drive.

[Pete Phillips]

The upcoming March issue of the Buick Bugle will have an article on the history of Holden body building in Australia, so you will want to get your hands on a copy if you are not already a BCA member.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Editor, Buick Bugle

[50jetback]

Pete,

That will be the March copy I get via France which arrives in mid April??

I'll look forward to reading the article. Always a controversial subject down here about just how much of the body was built by Holden. My 1930 model 47 sedan for instance has the holes in the floor board for LHD steering column but this is covered by a welded plate and the RHD floor board has the hole to accomodate the RHD steering column.

1934 rear mudguards have the inner support complete with the holes to take the rear tailight stalk yet on the Holden 34/35 sedan bodies the tailights are on a stalk which mounts on the side of the boot ( trunk ), indicating that the mudguards are Buick USA built and shipped with the chassis and not manufactured here.

Hopefully the Bugle article will explain all these mysteries!!!!