Hello, I'm fairly new to Buicks, and the proud owner of a 1969 Buick Wildcat (1970 455 engine) I purchased two years ago and it seems as though I've finally ironed out all the problems left over from the previous owners. I've replaced the bushings/balljoints in front, u-joints in the drive trains, and the engine which came (unbeknownst to me) with a warped intake manifold and no thermostat. Apparently it used to have some profound overheating issues. After a few months of abuse from the local mechanic (who we originally thought was trustworthy) with low-quality rebuilds, work, and parts , we finally got fed up and installed and sealed up the engine ourselves, making sure to replace the timing cover unlike our former mechanics. It's starting to behave like a normal car these days. I've put 10,000 miles on the engine since the last rebuild, finally my lifter tap is gone, and it seems like a pretty smooth machine. I was wondering If you guys had any maintenance schedules/suggestions for the young Buick Wildcat owner on a budget? Any oil additives you'd suggest, any tricks, etc? I've spent most of my life working on cars with my father, so I can do almost anything external to the workings of the engine. Going to university as a engineer here in California, there's a cult of modernity that insists upon the superiority/reliability of foreign cars. The phrase "american car" is a dirty phrase in these parts, and coming from a family of people who worked on the assembly-lines of both Ford and General Motors plants back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's, I think it'd be fun to prove these people wrong. I sometimes feel like I'm in some sort of echoing chamber, all these people regurgitate these beliefs regarding older American cars without any real foundation, based mostly off of what they've read from some car magazine or internet forum. Those comments are always so vague, like "drum brakes suck" or "they handle like ****". 7/8th of these people don't even work on their own car. It drives me crazy. I want them to eat their words. Whenever I see people so universally and uncritically accept some platitude like that, it's in my nature to provide something to the contrary. I partially apologize for the rant, It's a lonely world out here for the big block buick owner in college. So in keeping with that last paragraph, I was wondering if you guys would be willing the post some reliability stories regarding your full-sized Buicks? What's the most miles you've ever put on a transmission/big block/front end/body?
Hi Edgar. Anyone who compares a new jelly-bean, fuel injected modern car to an ANTIQUE car is a total moron. Let them have their say. You are driving a car someone WANTS 40 YEARS after it was made. NOBODY will want the cars those kids have in as little as 5 years. And certainly NEVER in 40. Our cars were state-of-the-art for their time (for the most part - remember, the bean counters still had some say so compromises were made). And our cars were not designed to be canyon carvers. They were designed to provide a smooth ride on back roads and highways. New cars don't ride nearly as smoothly as our old cars. They aren't designed to. They are designed to be nimble. Ours were designed to cradle the occupents. Big difference. Your wildcat probably rides like a dream. Many members here have driven their cars many miles. But remember, the engines weren't designed to go 200,000 miles like almost any car today can. IMO I think the girth of the rotating assembly has something to do with it. Anyway, I drive my car 9 hours to Ohio every August with the AC on and stereo blasting. Beat on it for 3 days then drive it home. And EVERYBODY looks at my car everywhere I go. Who ever gives a new car a second look?
Bought my car off C/L with only a few pictures and the owners imput to judge condition. It hadnt been driven for nealy 20 years before I flew from Florida to Chicago on a cold January day. Not only did it start and idle smootly once a new battery and gas was put in, but drove 1500 miles without a hitch to her new home. Ive never owned a personal daily driver newer than 1973 model cars. I've had many work trucks that were new and not nearly as relable.
I used to drive a vintage Buick as a daily driver year-round up until about 5 years ago. Rule of thumb is keep the oil changed, keep the points and plugs reasonably clean and gapped properly, and watch what kind of gas you put into it. Use ZDDP in the oil, and if you have to run ethanol, make sure the fuel pump and the carb parts are new and modern. And then don't drive it like you stole it. do the regular maintenance on the car at required intervals and it'll conceivably last for another 100,000 miles. Also; keep an eye on your timing chain, - allow it to wear out, and it usually sets the whole deterioration process in motion. Keep it tight and the gears in good shape, and the engine will respond. Transmission wise, filter changes and fluid changes go a long way, - providing your tranny is in good shape to begin with. Those big-blocks have a nasty habit of torquing out converters. And finally, the big-block's Achilles heel is the oil pump; - never, ever start the car in below zero weather without using some type of pre-heat like a block heater. The cold oil tearing through that pump when it's dead cold will take out the clearances, it was the biggest killer of Buicks up here. And even though the SAE people believe that cars shouldn't be warmed up, it's been my experience that they should be warmed up at least 2-5 minutes depending how cold it is. I drove vintage Buicks for 25 years, and never had to rebuild one. (Okay, I did rebuild some of them before I started driving them.) I don't expect to go into my convertible's engine again for as long as I own that car, and it gets about 3000 miles put on it a year, usually in one large cross country trip. I'd probably still be using one as a daily driver if it weren't for the funny looks one gets during the winter, and to tell the truth, I got lazy and didn't want to do the maintenance anymore. Modern cookie-cutter cars are so much easier, get in one and drive, and then when it quits, get rid of it, because usually it's too expensive to fix it. End rant...:Smarty:
I drive my skylark everyday in the summer. Check the fluids and lube everything up, change when required. I tend to not drive it like I stole it. I love the looks I get driving it, get alot of thumbs up and honks (not bad for just a 4-dr :Brow I keep it as light as I can and I manage to get about the same MPG as my truck, so add in the fun factor of driving it and it's a no brainer! It's currently going on about 80k miles on the engine and trans and about 100k on the body. (I'll point out I have a 340 in an A-body, not a BBB in a full size car but taking care of the car is the same)
Congratulations to you for standing up to the mindless platitudes about import auto superiority. My parents purchased the 1971 Buick Centurion (455) new, and the car now has over 160,000-miles. Neither the engine nor transmission have ever been rebuilt. Heads have never been off the engine, and I would be willing to drive it across the USA without worry regarding reliability. My friend, Gary, drives his original 1972 Buick Electra 225 (455) with over 230,000-miles on a daily basis. No rebuilds ever required, and it runs and looks great. We are aware of a fellow in Oregon who has driven his 1972 Buick Electra 225 (455) well over 400,000-miles without rebuild.
There was never anything wrong with a big Buick except that most people figured they were "old-man-cars". The biggest reason I gravitated to them was that they were easy and cheap to purchase and they generally had good first-owner maintenance. I've owned over 25 of them over the years in all sorts of condition, from rescued bush buggies to fully restored garage queens. I have to say though, the more original they are the better, because a rebuild is just never quite the same. The only thing that prevents me from owning a vintage daily driver is the fact that they are actually disappearing. There aren't many original rusty sedans left, and in our climate, it would be a sin to drive a nice restored car in the snow and salt. My last driver was a bondo-buggy of a 67 Le Sabre 4 door sedan, and even then, I got speeches from people who actually complained that I was wrecking a piece of history by driving it in the winter. Those old cars were tough too. I rear-ended a Hyundai once, and I remember thinking "this is going to cost me" when I saw his trunk-lid rising in the shape of a crumpled W with "BUICK" stamped in reverse on it. There was no noticeable damage to my car, and his was a write-off. As the cop said, I won. I'll have to say the modern fuel injected cars are much nicer than having to try and kick a carburetted car to life when it's brutally cold out. Other than that, I'd probably still be driving that LeSabre.
Ask those geniuses to compare a 1969 Riviera to a 1969 Toyota or Honda anything. What a joke! Those cars were the biggest pieces of crap ever built! Remember, those idiots are comparing their MODERN cars to our ANTIQUE cars! Dude, 40 freaking year old cars!!!!!!!!! Now, in the late 70's to early 90's American auto manufacturers produced only ONE decent car, the Grand National. All the rest were real pieces of garbage. So yeah, at that time the imports were doing a better job at designing smaller cars with higher quality control. But for the last 15 years neither American cars nor imports can brag about "being better than the other". Both have proven to be reliable and decent performing vehicles. Also remember: the 60's and 70's American cars were being stamped out using the same damn machines that built airplanes and trucks during the second freaking world war! The imports were using all new machinery to punch out their cars. Once US manufacturers finally invested in new presses the quality gap closed very quickly. And finally, remember that arguing with morons is impossible because they are too stupid to UNDERSTAND what they are arguing about.
In 1986 I had a '70 Coupe de ville as my winter beater. Sitting at a red light and a guy in a Honda Accord rear ends me. (I felt this soft nudge ) His whole front header panel was toast. All the happened to the Caddy was one taillight lens was cracked, and the trim dented.
My Roadmaster weighs 5300 lbs. Its got factory spec (1955) drum brakes. I live on the side of a hill with a 600 feet long 20% grade. I never have experienced any brake fade or brake failure. And, up hill is very fun with the High torque 4barrel V8 engine with variable pitch stator torque converter one speed Dynaflow transmission (the original CVT transmission) with torque tube enclosed propeller shaft drive. Tell THAT to your engineer friends!!
Ask u'r student friends, what a part cost for their car, and what they think is repairable with all those electronic junk inside. And why their cars look so gay And loose value every day! Buicks, also Olds and Caddies were good quality cars back then.
