I've finally got a little time, money, and motivation to work with my 1955 Buick Special Riviera. Sorry for the super long post, but it will hopefully answer a lot of questions. Here's the story: This was the only car that my grandfather bought new and he was the only owner. He tried to give it to my parents about 5 -10 years before he died and they didn't want it at the time. He tried to sell it (almost did) but never got someone to bite. He passed in 2002 and my parents decided to take the car at that point. My parents divorced a few years later and finally the car came to me. The last time that the car was started was in 2003 when my parents got it. They started it and drove it up on a trailer and never started it again. At that time, the radiator already had leaks. The last time it was actually driven was some time in the 90's according to my mom. She said that her dad used to drive it into town every once in a while, but he stopped once the radiator got some leaks. He used to keep it in an over-sized barn with a decent floor for a long time, but from about 1985 til 2002, it was in basically in a small shed with a gravel floor (mice made it their home a few times). From 2003 to 2015 it sat in a storage garage, and my garage from 2015 til now. SO, that's the back story. Here's more about me and my plans: I am a teacher with limited mechanical experience. I've cleaned and rebuilt carburetors, fuel pumps, and starter pulleys with lawn mowers and outboard engines as well as some really simple electrical soldering (repairing wires, wiring a trailer), but this will be my first time really working with a car. I would like to do as much as I can by myself, but I know I'll have to rely on some professionals at some point. My intentions with this car are simple: I'm keeping it for sentimental value and want to make it a neat ride. I'm not interested in making this thing a hot rod, but I am not really interested in going all original for sake of ease and money. The attached picture shows the current state of the engine. I took off the air filter, took out the plugs, and the whole radiator, shroud, fan, and hoses since I knew there was a leak. I did just a little oiling and have been able to turn the engine over with an over sized wrench, so I know it's not seized up. I took the old radiator to get some quotes, talked with a few folks, and decided it would be better to go with an aluminum radiator since I'm not worried about being original. I've already purchased it and it's sitting in my garage. I did a quick check and it slide in nicely and lined up with the mount, shroud, and everything. I bought new radiator upper and lower hoses, new battery cables, and a new battery; that's the extent of what I've bought so far. I am going to spray some rust neutralizer on the shroud and fan to get those cleaned up, then prime and paint both and plan to do so in the next week or so. From there, I need a little guidance. As you can see, I have a ton of crud on the engine so I thought about pushing it out into the driveway to use some engine degreaser. I was going to put the plugs back in, rubber band some bags over the top of the carb and the other openings, take out the battery, then clean it up. Once I do that, I thought about taking off the water pump and cleaning that up really well and replacing the gasket, but maybe that's not necessary? I'm still worried about when I hook up the radiator that I'll end up with a bunch of crud in the new radiator since the engine has sat so long, but I can't do a flush with a running motor, right? I BELIEVE the gas tank is pretty well empty (I stuck an old fuel line with a bulb from an outboard down in the tank and squeezed but nothing came out) but I also didn't mess with the drain plug on the gas tank for fear of it breaking or leaking after re-installing. The fuel line I used has some rust on it when I pulled it out of the gas tank though, so I'm sure there is some crud down in the tank. I believe that is everything. I have been given the green light to spend some money on this thing and I'd like to get it running to the point where I can drive it down to the local store and back within the next year or two. I'd like to eventually restore completely, but I want to be able to drive it for as many years as possible even if the exterior looks a hot mess (got a few rusted through spots, but you can still tell what color it is ). I'm only 32, but I have dreamed about restoring it since I was about 12 years old. Any and all advice is welcome! Thanks!
cool that youre working on a car that belonged to your grandfather from new! is it a 2 door or a 4 door hardtop? i believe the 46r is the hardtop coupe, but im not sure try to post a few pics of the car if you can for cleaning the gas tank, you could use this idea: Easy way to clean an old dirty gas tank with a cement mixer and rocks
Interesting idea! Now if I can find somebody with a cement mixer! I'll post a few pictures when I get some time today. We were at my in-laws all weekend, so I haven't had time to do anything. But yes, it is a 2 door hardtop.
Welcome! I also have a car from my Grandfather, that he bought new. It's a 1974 Chevy Malibu. When he passed, my uncle got it, then gave it to my younger brother. When my brother passed away in 2016, I got it. I had done a lot of work on it for my brother. Sounds like a great project car. Can't wait to see more pictures! FLGS400
Sorry for not realizing I could just copy and paste the picture of the engine above. Here it is again, followed by pictures of the exterior.
farris motor company: nothing online about this dealership the owner, mr joe c farris, died in 2015: https://theviennatimes.com/2015/08/joe-c-farris-obituary/ but, the year of the car is not matching with the years farris was in business so it was not sold new in vienna, il any idea how that emblem ended up on the car?
Yeah, the rusted through spots suck. My grandparents lived on the outskirts of Vienna for the remainder of their lives, but they owned a garage and corner shop in an even smaller town/village called Simpson. He used to keep it in a covered building with a decent floor before they moved to Vienna. The shed he parked it in when they lived in Vienna was not great. My mom said that he really regretted parking it there in his final years. I don't know why the dealership doesn't show all the active years, but you can see in the obituary for Joe Farris that he owned and operated the dealership from 1963 through the mid 1980s. I called my mom about it earlier this evening and she has the bill of sale from Farris for the Buick. She knew the family personally and she said that she thought Joe's dad owned the dealership before Joe did. She also has the bill of sale for my late uncle's '77 Smoky and the Bandit Trans Am that he ordered through Farris. Vienna is a small town with a population of about 1500 these days (not sure about the 50s) and I'm not sure if the dealership was an accredited Buick dealership for all of the time they were open. Like I said though, my mom has the bill of sale from Farris and I can post a picture of that if interested. I did find out another neat fact though: both my mom and my late uncle were brought home from the hospital in this Buick! How cool is that? God knows what sort of car seat they had back in the 50s considering cars didn't even have seat belts.
So I used 2 applications of Rustoleum rust dissolver and got the shroud and fan looking much better. The fan looks looks good enough to paint, but there are still pock marks of rust on the shroud. Should I try to get it all the way down to bare metal or will a primer paint work well enough with three coats to cover and prepare for a flat black finish? Can it be just a normal high temp primer or should I get a Rustoleum filler primer? Also, should I worry about doing additional deep cleaning before I at least try to get the engine running? You can see in the picture above that the water pump looks cruddy; should I go ahead and clean it and replace gasket or should I just focus on getting it running and then take my time cleaning and restoring all the parts? Thanks in advance, experts.
you ''deep linked'' to the pictures, so they are no longer showing if the engine turns free: (make sure to to rotate a full revolution, there could be a ridge at the top of the cylinder wall) you can try to crank it with the spark plugs removed pull a valve cover and check if there is oil circulation if that goes well, put the plugs back in, make sure that you have spark and put some gas down the carb for only a short period of running the engine you dont really need the water pump to work after that you can concentrate on parts like the water pump, thermostat and fuel pump
