The interior will be red, Dick.
—John
Figured I’d update this..
Quarter panel medallions back from the chrome shop, painted the centers, and re-assembled them. Next was to swage the taillight sockets back in the redone housings, reassemble, install, and test all lighting.
Been installing weatherseals, very time consuming. Now on to the wing windows. They were both heavily pitted and cracked, so the entire assembly needed to be taken apart for repairs and re-chroming. They came out nice! Now time to reassemble, using non rusted pieces. A difficult job, as everything is held in place by tiny rivets. I am using a brake riveter from the thirties to assist with this chore.
John - Magnificent, envy, envy, envy. Are you going to buy a new trailer for her? She deserves one. Another beauty saved.
Dicck.
Oh, buy the way, if you advertized you have a riveter you could make a fortune, I know you could in south Florida.
Dick.
Thanks, Dick!!
I’m trying my best to have it completed to drive back to Carlisle [3,000 miles]
—John
Oooooooooooooooooh! I hope, I hope! I’d love to see it…
Dan
Even if you don’t get it finished, bring it on a trailer! We would love to see you and it in person.
Tom Fox
I’m giving it my best shot to have roadworthy and go for the Looooong test drive!! Hope to see you there, Dan and Tom!!
I fitted the carpeting, and assembled the front swivel seat. Re-padded the steering wheel center and installed the recast steering wheel. Now that I have the car registered, I was able to go for a maiden voyage, just around town, though. There were several things that needed to be addressed, the upshifts were too late, and a brake line was seeping, among them. I fixed these issues, then went for the first longer ride, 50 miles to Marysville where I dropped the car off to have the convertible top installed.
My, My… Lookin’ pretty, John! Are the prospects getting better, that we might actually see it at Carlisle?
Dan
Beautiful John - Hope you make it in time for Carlisle. It seems like the last 10 things that need to be done turn into 20 real fast, but with your extraordinary talent I’m betting you make it in time. Just sorry I can’t be there myself.
Dick.
We’re going, regardless if there are things that I run out of time for.
—John
I’ve now put over ten thousand miles on the car since last June. I was having fuel percolation problems, especially driving through the Midwest where Ethanol is used more heavily, tried using a phenolic spacer under the carb that I put in while at Carlisle, it helped some, but on a real hot day, after shutting the car off, it would act as though flooded. I ended up removing the intake manifold and blocking off the exhaust crossover ports in it, and the trouble is cured. I developed a vibration on the last leg of the trip, and found the trunnion boot on the driveline had turned to dust [E-bay trunnion rebuild kit, avoid them!] and scored the housing. I just installed a driveline with a slip joint, so the problem should be gone for good.
—John
Thanks to you for the tip a while ago!
I ordered and mounted one of those gaskets with the ports blocked on mine.
Post some pics of your car when you can. Still an amazing car and a fantastic journey
Thanks, Matthew!
I’ll post some recent pics up when I have a moment, still have a few things to finish up on it as well.
—John
For the few that are on this site there is A L O T of talent!! I hang on another site as well BCA (Buick club) way more members ( about 7,000) but nothing like this one. You have age(SORRY DICK), experience, web master to keep things going,and “across the pond as well”. Looks great John!! Love it. Mark
That’s what all the ladies say these days (SORRY DICK).
Dick
I’ve now put 11,000 miles on this car since completion.
Just south of us there is a big car show just before Halloween every year, it usually draws 300 hot rods and classics, but this year rain was forecast and many stayed home. It was clear on the drive there, and rain didn’t hit until a couple hours into the show, so people had time to look the cars over. Small crowd, just 60 or so cars. A few even left when the rain started!
I was surprised to be awarded People’s choice award, meaning that the '59 will be on all next year’s T-shirts at the show.
