Tyler that is not wood veneer I believe. It is painted on with graining tools. The trade as such is still practiced by a few restoration guys. A real art form when done properly.

I used to watch a guy from florida do it. Much better than factory but it was tedious. The widow garnishes where also usually woodgrained as well. I have refinished my wood in both the 250c coupes I have. This does not require the same skill level at all. Using modern finish materials the durability is far superior.

I also guess the large roadmaster engine of 320 ci used in the century and roadmaster was not installed in the super like yours. I only drove one but it pulled like no tomorrow. As I said earlier it was also used in a large bus.

Interesting. It seems to have worn like a veneer though. Now that I think about it that makes sense. Maybe my dash was painted on a Friday afternoon.

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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Buick seemed to enter into a quality problem over time that was not ended until perhaps 1936 or 1937. From then on for many years they had integrity as a car builder.

This division of general motors tried to eventually compete with cadillac until the corporation told them to stop it. Buick is about the only gm car I would consider over the past few years.

They delayed installing v8 engines a little too long and their automatics had too much slippage designed in. Buicks dynaflow automatics, especially the earlier versions with the single stage torque converters where really slippage oriented.

I will look up the production figures and any other relavent information tomorrow and post it for your year and model.

Preservation is the only way to go with a car like this. I have seen barn finds sell for more than restored cars lately. I think this is a really excellent trend. Just keep it roadworthy and enjoy it.

Is it a dynaflow? (dynaslow...heh). The old Buicks are lovely cars. I would prefer a stick but who could resist such a lovely car? Also it is the same year (IIRC) as the buick used in Casablanca!

For casual driving the unleaded gas should not be an issue on valve seats. It is more volatile though than the fuel the car was designed for though and a lot of these lovely old cars benefit from having a booster fuel pump back by the tank to avoid vapor lock in hot weather. I put them on all my early fifties caddies back when I was "the Cadillac Man". With the Caddies the fuel pump was up on top of the motor and the fuel line passed within inches of the exhaust manifold so vapor lock was guaranteed on a warm summer day without them.

I just tapped and screwed them to the side of the frame and ran a wire to the ignition side of the distributor so whenever you turned on the key the pump would come on. Then you just turned the key on and waited while the pump filled the carb (blub blub blub). When the fuel pump slowed then stopped you knew the carb bowl was full. Then a couple of pumps of the gas pedal and it would start right up.

My 59 Ferrari had one too. ....( there is nothing quite like the sinkng feeling one gets when the blub blubbing goes on too long and you realize you have been overflowing a carb into a cylinder for the last thirty seconds.)

Yikes!

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Hey Tyler how's the ride? Suspension wise

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

As Tom said above, unleaded gas should be fine. Many people, myself included, use Marvel Mystery Oil, mixed 4oz. to 10 gal. gas. Just dump it in the tank. It's a top cylinder lubricant and cleaner, so they say. I was told it would help in combating vapor lock. The only time I experienced vapor lock was when I rebuilt a fuel pump and didn't put an important seal in it because it wasn't in the pump when I took it apart. Eventually figured out what that "extra" seal was for. So, does it work? MY experience would be yes.

It also is supposed to keep your valves and piston tops carbon free. After logging many miles on a flathead, 6cyl. Mopar I decided to rebuild the engine and the top end was absent any carbon deposits. Did MMO cause a carbon free top end? I can't say for sure but after using it on that engine for years the top end looked like MMO said it should, thats all I know.

Coolest find yet, Tyler. It looks like a great driver. And I'll just parrot the leave it alone and enjoy it crowd. You can't replicate that patina!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

If it was mine, I would just inspect it from a perspective of safety and reliability (ensure that the brakes, including emergency brake, are properly adjusted, brake hoses and lines ok, tires, front end ok, rear diff oil at proper level, wiring insulation intact, radiator and radiator/heater hoses ok, non-leaking exhaust, etc.) then just let it be.

I also assume that you're using the battery cut-off when it's parked, especially indoors.

Overdrives-or two speed rear ends were avalable for these, I think with little networking you could get one from another buick or caddy to put in for the hiway mileage - if you made any change that would be the one.

Buick 1941 super Sports coupe 19,603 produced. It was model #56S. There also was a model# 56SX. It too was called a sports coupe and only 273 where recorded as produced.

I do not curently know he differences unless I dig into the literature farther perhaps. Total buick production in the usa for 1941 was 316,251. Canadian production was just an additional 3,098 units.

Correction to the above. The X in the model designation was used on all buick cars exported until 1949. So I suspect no basic difference unless a right hand drive for some that went to England especially. Again I really do not know but again suspect that the english export cars may have been produced in Canada. The ties between Great Britain and Canada where very strong back then.

The American list price of your example was 1,113 dollars plus a radio as about the only additional option I can think of other than whitewall tires This was the first year compound carboration was used as well. It was improved substantially in 1942 but production was limited as buick shifted over to wartime production.

They built the hellcat I think a tracked tank destroyer If I remember as soon as all the automotive production equipment not required was moved to storage. Just 16,601 1942 buick cars where produced in total. It is pretty evident they could really get things done fast in those days.

Buicks principal fame during world war two was the production of the pratt and whitney aircraft engines. Buick started with orders of five hundred aircraft engines per month eventually escallating to 4400 per month. Incidemtally as a side note each aircraft engine was run for 6 hours driving a large alternator and tore down for inspection before going out the door.

Buick saved 80,000 dollars per month by utilizing the power produced by these engines under test at the factory and even selling some. That was a fair hunk of change back then. I do not know what it would be in todays dollars. The savings where probably somewhat offset by the cost of fuel to keep many aircraft engines under test at the same time.

If anyone wants me to dig out some more detail on Tylers new car Let me know as some of it is past history to many on site and occured even before many of you existed. Buick was built under licence in Canada by the way. Eventually GM brought the licence holder out. He built a better buick basically.

David Dunbar Buick the originator and producer of buicks in the early years. Plus Crappo Durant who put general motors together basically both eventually died broke.

Was the bodyshell on Tyler's model shared with Chevrolet?

I think some small company produced them in modern times as well. May still do so for all I know. I never heard of it offered as a factory option on buick but do not know everything.

Ford was the largest producer of two speed rear ends I believe.They switched to overdive transmissions still an option in 1949 or therabouts.

When you let your foot off the gas those overdrive unit transmissions went into free wheeling. That was if you had previously put the car into overdrive. Loss of the engines compression backload to help the car reduce speed was substantial.

You had to be careful as super brakes had not come along the pike yet. Even power brakes where still in the future but not far away. Power steering plus power brakes where an option rather than standard equipment like today. The early power assists where very sensitive compared to today as well when they finally appeared in general.

Not that I can think of as the buick coupes always where longer. Also the different divisions basically protected their own brands turf and it took a corporate order to transfer technology. Seldom occured if originating inside of any one car label division.

Sub divisions like ac delco of course provided spark plugs,generators and starters etc for all the divisions. But each divisions units where not interchangeable.

They really knew how to make money back then. You brought a buick you needed buick parts no matter which sub division produced them. Buicks division got the profit on replacement parts they purchased from delco. A chev dealer for instance would have no access to buick parts at true wholesale.

Remember back then a gm label dealer really meant wealth for the outlets owner.By the nineteen fifties it was equivilent to a licence to steal.

Both the chev and buick bodies sheet metals where pressed by a division of Gm called fisher bodies. Both cars had a plaque like my 39 buick proclaiming body by fisher. Of course the bodies where assembled on the buick or chevrolet brands assembley lines.

The basic stripped core passenger shell may have arrived complete to a division. This I have never heard one way or another but it would make sense. Remember there where no unibodies either until decades later at GM.

This cross sharing of technology and the sharing of components was still a long way in the future in 1941.Direct competition between the divisions of GM was a fact. To run a division back then you could not fake it or hide behind joint decisions. You got decent renumeration but where personally accountable. You also had to prove you where really fit for the job before you got it.

The management style changes may be what was primarily responsible for what was once the wealthiest corporation mankind had ever known hitting the skids. Management by concentious is a great way to carry deadwood. No individual is held responsible for a given bad decision. You just keep patting each other on the back and stuffing money in your pocket as the ship sinks under the dead weight.

Perhaps the best way for gm of today to save itself is to revert to past methods of management. It is obviously a slam dunk that the so called progressive central overall management system replacing it failed totally.

Also hiring the american firm that taught the japanese how to make cars. Gm refused to years ago. That was again a joint corporate decision. By then a divisions manager no longer had the power to do so themselves. It really was americans who taught the japanese how to build a better car. It turned out to be a real disaster for the big three north american auto producers for them to be so short sighted. Our cars could have been vastly superior to the japanese. At it's time that 41 buick was certainly amoungst the best cars in the world. Plus it was good value for the money.

Barry123400, nice to see somebody else here who understands what caused GM's downfall. Thanks for the history refresher.

IIRc the buicks have torque tube rear ends which would make fitting an od or two speed rear axle problematic.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.