What is the Year and Model of YOUR Classic Buick

56 Suicide Buick

Hey Mike;

Thanks for Posting the Pictures. You do good work. Your Project is starting to shape up nice. I see you are getting rid of the gas tank door? Where do you plan to put the filler? Behind a Taillight? How do you plan to Enginneer that? That's another pretty sweet modification. Fill me in when You get a chance. :TU: :TU: :3gears: :beer

Tom Gallagher

 

Thanks Mike,
That's a super-sweet ride you have, yourself! :beer
I'm in Vacaville, between San Francisco and Sacramento, not really near you. However I'm not opposed to travelling for a good show. If there are any big events in your neck of the woods, drop me a line!
Travis

 

RE: Zach's 55 Buick

Hey Zack;

That's a Real Nice Paint Job on that double nickel Buick of Yours. I like the Apricot Color. True Mid-Fifty's Vintage. I don't know if that color is a 55 only color. In another post someone mentioned the Pink color which was called Tahiti Coral. Another Distinctive Mid-Fifty's color. The color was only offered one year in 1956. I like the Wide Whites they are just the right width. Are Those 80's vintage wire wheel covers? I personally think that they L@@K pretty fine. I like the original optional 40 Spoke Kelsey-Hayes Wire Wheels. They will be the final touch on my project car, but at 2 grand a set it will be a while. I think your wheel set-up is pretty classy treatment and is a nice alternative and is within the budget. Are You Re-Chroming Also?
All in All, I think you project is comming along nicely. :TU: :TU: :3gears: :beer

Tom Gallagher

 

Gas filler neck relocation

Tom,
Thank you for the compliments, but I can't take all the credit, I have had alot of help in getting the car to it's current state. I plan on shaving the fuel door, which we have already begun the process, and the gas filler neck will be behind the taillight on the drivers side of the car. To access the gas cap we have engineered some hardware that will enable the whole taillight assembly to pull out and rotate counter clockwise, the gas cap will be located back there somewhere, we are still working out all the details as we go. Now, in order to pull the taillight out in the first place was quite a production on its own, so what we are going to do is lathe a spike out of metal, kind of like how a table leg is made with all the different grooves and variations and depth to it, the spike will look similar to the ones on the tops of the motor cycle helmet, it's hard to explain it. After the spike is made it will be inserted into the taillight were the red reflector is, and it will actually take the place of the reflector, a matching one will be in the same place on the taillight on the pasenger side, and to finish it all off we are going to make a third spike, a little differeent then the other two, and that will be inserted into the key hole on the trunk lid, this spike will actually be functional and it will open the trunk. I will take pictures of the whole setup when it is finished, and post them soon after. Talk to you later.
Mike

 

Travis in Vacaville

Travis,
thanks alot for your respose and compliments as well. Your right, you are quite a ways from me. We just had the Route 66 rendezvous this last weekend in San Bernardino, I was not able to make it down there though, over 600,000 people showed up over the three day event. I only live about 45 minutes away from San Bernardino too, I really wanted to go, there's always next year, my car should be completely done by then, they never are done though, you always find something else to modify or change. In January or February every year there is a big car run in Paso Robles, California, I am about 2-3 hours from there, hopefully you can make it out there, you can check out pics of this years show that they had at the beginning of the year, as well as previous years. Talk to you later,
Mike

 

I live in Dallas, Ga. just west of Marietta. Near Atlanta. And one cool thing about that Apricot color is that it is almost pink and my daughter's favorite color is pink. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!--Zach-

 

Hey, Tom! As far as I can tell, the Apricot color was a '56 color, and also a '57 Buick color. The reason I chose it is that I purchased a right front door for my car from a local junkyard, and it was '56 that wss originally white on the roof, Apricot on the main body, and Laurel green (a metallic color) on the bottom. I loved the Apricot because of it's uniqueness, and my wife liked it too. And my Daughter Sarah's favorite color is pink, and so she liked the color too. I was going to copy the '56 Special's paint job (the one in the salvage yard), but decided to go with black on the roof, and below the spear, to balance the overall effect with something "masculine"--black. I plan on driving the car a lot, as i usually do all my old cars. Yes, those are mid 80's Caprice hubcaps, and I even incorporated the original locking towers. For some reason, with those Coker radial wide whites, I was losing hubcaps. I can't afford the Kelsey-Hayes wheels, so I got as close as I could. I would preferr real wire wheels, truth be known. That Tahiti Coral color is nice, but very similar to a '55 Chevy color, if not the same. I think Chevy called it "Island Coral". Thanks for the compliments! I'll post more pix when she's done!--Zach.

 

I own a 55 2DR hardtop Super (56R). Two-tone black and white with WWW tires and red wheels. Original 322V-8 engine with Dynaflow transmission.

I bought the car in Philadelphia and drove it home to Arlington, VA. Was running hot so I kept water in the trunk. This summer I rebuilt the engine and replaced everything including rebuilding the carb. Had the cylinders bored 0.030 over. Installed Pertronix ignition and electric choke on carb, recored the radiator and installed electric wiper motor.

KEN

 

I moved from woodstock about 1 year ago, really nice area

 

Zach
The Apricot and Bittersweat colors where introduced in late 56 they were called Fall Colors. The colors may have carried over to 57 as the Dover white on my roof is a 55 color carried over to 56. You can see the difference in the original Apricot color in the door jam and the fender that I believe is Tahiti Coral ( not much ) in this shot durring my paint job.
Judd

 

Work in Progress

Judd,

That is quite a realistic picture of a work in progress. Thank's for shareing that with us. Previously We have seen the Fabulous Finished Product, but now we see the work that got You There. It is quite interesting to see Your car, being a Tri-Color, in different stages of the Final Finishing Process. It isn't often we see a car in the cacoon stage. we see the before and the after. You provided us with the middle. What really got my attention is that I see a tide tread mark 30 inches to the rear when sanded. Then the car was moved forward, along with the plastic on the seats. Nice Job!!!

Tom Gallagher

 

Favorite Buick

1955 Buick Model 46R Special 2dr hardtop

 

Re: Electric Wiper Motors

Hi Ken,

Other than the Cooling problems which the recored radiator took car of how did the Super run from Pilly to home? how many miles?

How difficult was it to install electric Wipers?

Tom Gallagher

 

Where to draw the line on what's Classic

Is this the pre- 50's, 60's, 70's or more? Does it include muscle cars? Does it include special interest cars? o No:
Thinking it includes pre sixty fives, our baby is a 56 Super, model 56 R. It's not restored, and it's not a purist's original. I would call it maintained with all 56 era parts or current parts designed for the 56. :bglasses: And very satisfying to drive.

 

wow :shock: , that's a nice car :TU:

 

Thanks. It's not as nice as it appears, and certainly not as nice as some of the others in this thread. But it has grown on us since we've had her for roughly 30 years at this point.

We treated it to the wheels in 2003, for the centenial show, and the best part is they have managed to detract most people from looking at the defects in the paint...

 

John
Great looking Super!

 

Thanks

Thanks for the compliment...

I love all these 56's here... You certainly don't see many 56's anymore at the local cruise in's. I was afraid they had become somewhat undesireable at this point...But it looks like many are alive and being kicked back into high gear here..and not a moment too soon I might add. :eek2:

 

John
I think 56 was a boom year for Buick production I think only Chevy (and maybe Ford) out sold them so there should be a few out there still. I just hope they don't get real popular like the Chevies so we can't aford them! LOL. It looks like the 49 to 50 Buicks are getting hot with the hot rod crowds now, they have been putting the grilles and side trim on the Mercs for years about time the got wise and used the real thing.

 

1956 popularity

You'r eprobably right. There were tons of 55,6,7's at the Buick Centenial

Interestingly, the meet organizers lumped 54 and 55 together and then 56, 57, and 58/59/60.

Anyway, there were a lot of 56's there, but locally, I never see any.