This is my all Buick, Buick. Currently has a 430 from a '69 Riv. Also the T400 from the same car. Tilt steering and front and rear clips from an early 70's full size Buick w/ Power Steering and Power Disc Brakes. The Tranny was rebuilt a couple of summers ago after it grenaded on a long road trip. (Luckily not the farthest point from home, but close.) Currently have a '70 455 SF engine sitting on an engine stand ready to go in as soon as I find the time to do it. The 455 will eventually get air conditioning compressor to give me some cool breezes on those long trips. Also will get a Holley 870 Street Avenger on a B4B Edelbrock. Plan to have Dave redo the Distrib. to Hei. Oh by the way the 455 has been balanced and blueprinted. All the oiling mods done to the block and it has a bunch of TA parts like pressure regulator on the oil pump, grooved cam bearing, Stainless Stage 1 valves. It will also get a set of TA shorty headers. Hope to get the engine in before the end of April. Then I can begin the many other projects that I have planned for it and can't forget that I will probably put over 5000 miles on it this season.
Love the new forum Jim!! Good goin'Jim it's nice to see some of the older Buick Iron as I really dig the 55 and 56's .I hope one day after I get my Skylark done to find one of these and give it the g-machine look !Thanks again for adding the new forum.:TU:
Cool ride.. Love the screaming red paint! Question for you.. I have a customer with a 49 Roadmaster, and is thinking about us possibly putting a early 70's big car frame and running gear under it. Any reason that you clipped the car, instead of using the entire frame, modified accordingly? JW
Dukec - Really cool looking car!!!! I have always loved that front end!!!:TU: :TU: Any more pics?? Hoping to see some side shots too.:grin: Jim - You might also consider using something like a 91-96 Caprice cop car frame/suspension. With the right donor, you'd get the 12" rotors for good stopping and an 8.5" rear. You might even stumble on a 94-96 Impala SS rear disk brake setup!! I've heard of some other street rod guys using a similar setup.:bglasses:
BTW, love the new addition of this forum!!:bglasses: We should see some super cool looking rides in here!!:TU:
Sweet Ride Hi Dukec, Just wanted to say nice car, love the paint. Also, I see you're from WA, what part, Vancouver? Always nice to see local Buick enthusiasts in the area. Hope I didn't reveal any info you didn't want to share. We're also pretty personable, we all sign our threads, whats yer name? Aaron
Thanks to all for the comments and a big thanks to Jim W. for putting this section up. There are many great older Buicks out there. I have been a long time member of this forum and really appreciate everything that goes on here. Jim W. - The car was as you see it when I purchased it 3 years ago. The guy that built it used clips because that's what he knew how to do. I might not have done it that way. I have changed the whole car in the 3 years since I have had it. It just looks the same. Now it is extremely reliable and when I head out on a cruise, I know I will be able to get home again. Couldn't do that when I got it. I do live in Vancouver, Washington and strangely enough my mane is Duke. This car has cruise the Northwest extensively since I have had it. Both NW Goodguys events, Run to the End of the World and 2 going on 3 Cruise Oregon events(1000+ miles and 150+ cars). I will be writting an article in a couple of weeks for Buickstreet. Watch for it there. dukec
Color Phil Sorry to take so long to reply. Been out of town. It was painted this color when I got it. However I have been told that it is very close to Porsche Guards Red. dukec
Hi Duke I have a '49 which has been done up like yours with a Trans Am front clip and a '96 Caprice rear suspension and discs. My favourite Buicks have always been the '48 & '49 and yours really looks great. You will probably have to weld some extra frame supports to handle the torque from the 455 you are building. A friend of mine used the stock '49 frame and really twisted the frame and body on a tire burning start up with 5 people on board. His problem was too much traction that transferred the torque to the body instead of burning the tires. He had to spend a lot of money to fix it and it never looked quite right from the rear again and the doors never fitted right after that either. I've had several extra cross braces added just to make sure after I bought mine. Let me know if I can give you any pointers during your resto. If you come up to the "real" Vancouver in BC give me a call and we can cruise the two beasts. There is an anniversary parade for the 100th Buick year at a local dealer coming up in July in case you want to join in. You might want to contact Bill at www.Buickstreet.com and get your car featured. Best of luck Barry B
Availability of parts for older Classic Buicks I was wondering how easy/difficult it is to find parts for those older Buicks. I've been looking for one to buy for some time now and I got to thinking about the parts issue. Is it pretty difficult, are they extremely rare and hard to buy parts for? Aaron
Actually it is not all that bad. I have troubles since I have a Roadmaster and from 48 - 51 there was some sort of embargo on them and Caddy Fleetwoods into Canada. I have been able to searchout parts through the internet including EBAY and there are a lot of total cars available on various Internet sites in all kinds of states of repair. Like our 455 cult here, there are similar Buick followers for the other models and they similarly help each other out in finding parts and tips on restoration. I doubt I could have finished our Roadmonster without the Internet and the related sites.
Agree I would have to agree. If not for the internet, parts would be hard to find. I have never wanted for anything as far as parts go that I couldn't eventually find on the internet. As long as I am willing to spend the money. You also learn thru talking to and dealing with other people where the good and bad suppliers are. I see that you have a Riv by your avatar. You also have probably experienced difficulties finding parts. But if you talk to enough people, let enough other people know what you are looking for and just plan surf the sites you will eventually find what you need. dukec
