The Westerly-Pawcatuck Region of the AACA turned 50 years old in 2016. Unfortunately our members are just so busy that nobody noticed. That is until 2018. At the suggestion of our president, Bob DeGoursey, we performed an equipment inventory. One of the items unearthed was a plaque celebrating our acceptance as an AACA chartered club in February of 1966. Whoops! We missed our golden anniversary.

​This did not deter Bob. He and the executive committee agreed on making plans for, as Charlie Nash called it, a “50+” anniversary celebration. The first order of business was to form an anniversary committee. President Bob DeGoursey, vice president Charlie Nash, and secretary Ken Carr volunteered and got things started. The three members would enjoy some half dozen planning meetings during the 2018 old car season. When we met at Bob’s house he treated us to a 4-course home cooked meal and about 5 different brands of craft beer. At Charlie’s home we were treated with a plethora of snacks (all vegan-approved) and exotic beers, served by his wife Michele, in chilled glasses. We also met at two different local pubs that featured; you guessed it, stout on tap.


One of the first agenda items was advertising. We wanted our members and the general public to know about our longevity and good health. To this end Michele designed a large two-sided sign that could be displayed at all of the car shows that the club attended.
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​Figure 1                   50+ Celebration sign designed by Michele Nash

Charlie arranged to have it professionally printed and mounted. The sign went to many of the 2018 -2019 shows that the club attended. Likewise, our inventory turned up a great wood sign and a banner that most people did not even remember seeing before. These were taken out of retirement and put to good use also.

​Figure 2                      Elaborate Club Sign designed & built by George Coon

​The committee, at Bob’s suggestion, proposed that we interview several of the longtime members who were still in the club. The only remaining original charter member was Malcolm Stinson Jr. It was difficult to do an interview with him because he now resides in Arizona (our club serves southern Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut). We decided to interview four current and local members who had each been in the club for over 25 years. Bob DeGoursey and Ken Carr visited the senior four at their homes. It took a full year to compile all the notes and create narratives for each of our chosen old timers. We interviewed Jim Varas, Bob Burdick, Phil Panciera, and Merrill Moone. These were not just people who ‘put in their time’. All four of them are also former club presidents. The interviews revealed many stories about past events and members. We learned about shows that the club regularly put on, the whereabouts of meeting places that changed frequently and funny stories about breakdowns and the antics of various past club members. We even found out that Sergio Franchi, the world famous tenor, was a member of our club back in the 1980’s. We will be forever grateful to our past presidents who agreed to share their memories with us. 

The committee also wanted to involve our all of our members in the celebration as much as possible. To this end we planned a number of special guest speakers to address our club at regular meeting nights. Over a two-year period we were all entertained by the following experts in the automotive collecting field:
 

• Steven Rossi, experienced automotive engineer and writer for Antique Automobile and other publications
• David & Nancy Cardone of Cardone & Daughter, owners of a highly professional vintage and modern car repair and restoration business in Old Saybrook, CT.
• Tom Laferriere, owner of the fabulous Laferriere Classic Cars in Greenville, RI
• Pat Foster, columnist for Hemmings Classic Car and author of numerous books about orphaned car makes

 
One of the best anniversary surprises arrived in my mailbox soon after I put out a call to the members for any nostalgic club memorabilia that they might want to contribute to the production of a book about the club. The fat manila envelope was from Malcolm Stinson Jr.  It contained a copy of the very first club newsletter, The Old Wheel, dated June, 1967. It was also full of old photographs and a club history written by Malcolm. What a treasure trove! At this same time we asked all club members to submit stories about their old cars. We passed out forms at a meeting and instructed the members to return them in person or by mail (email or USPS mail). We also required that photos be submitted. The response was excellent. Many of our members enjoy writing about their antique vehicles and all of them were interested in knowing more about the treasures driven by their fellow members.

​Figure 4   Richard Brustolon reading his club book at anniversary picnic

​We now had sufficient material to write a club anniversary book. I compiled all of the information submitted, including select historical photos from our club photo albums (discovered during inventory), and created a club book. The cover came from one of the past issues of faux magazine covers that are regularly posted on our website. Bob and I visited our local Staples and brokered a deal for publication. The completed books arrived after several weeks of editing. The quality of the finished product exceeded our expectations! Every member who attended the Anniversary Picnic at Bob and Laura DeGoursey’s home was presented with the club book when they arrived. But that wasn’t all the members took home from the picnic.  Our treasurer, Dave Calabrese, struck a bargain with a local T-shirt vendor and managed to create T-shirts from the cover image of our first newsletter, the one submitted by Malcolm. The T-shirts were ready for the picnic and Dave passed them out to all who had placed orders. They were very well received! (We mailed one to Malcom ).

​Figure 5   President Bob DeGoursey sporting new Club T-Shirt modeled after first newsletter. Four current and former club presidents are in this picture. Counterclockwise beginning with Bob DeGoursey standing to the left: Bob DeGoursey, Merrill Moone, Jim Varas, and Bob Burdick

Finally, the anniversary committee agreed to Bob DeGoursey’s suggestion that the club celebrate our 50+ years by setting up an informational tent at the fall car show in Brooklyn, CT that is hosted by the Yankee Yesteryear car club.
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​Figure 6       Celebrating 50+ Years at Yankee Yesteryear Show, Sept., 2019

Bob first set up a tent with numerous photos and artifacts at the picnic held at his home. Then everything, including Bob’s antique travel trailer, were set up again weeks later at the Brooklyn show. We had a good showing of members who also brought their old cars (it was a 50 mile ride for most folks) and generated lots of interest among show attendees.
The celebration may be over but our members are reinvigorated and ready to create more history and fellowship as we continue a tradition that began back in 1966.

​Figure 7  The cover of our 50th Anniversary book given to all members. The book is also available online in the Members Only section of our website.

 
I went to this show with a little hesitant attitude.  I wasn’t sure how big a crowd the show would draw because the admission prices were so steep.  The total program lasted from Thursday to Sunday.  Jay Leno was the featured host and other car notables like Donald Osborne were in attendance.  There was a cocktail party Thursday, a dinner Friday, car displays in front of Bellevue Ave. Mansions, a drive over the Newport bridge and around Aquidneck island, manufactures displays from Aston Martin, seminars and a look at the new mid-engine 2020 Corvette, a Ford F40 race car and much more.
 
So, what would all this cost you to see?  A ticket for all events went for $1,200 with about 80% of that amount going as a donation to the Audrain museum.  I got the cheapest ticket I could find, $50 for a seminar moderated by jay Leno and Donald Osborne on Sat. Afternoon.  The subject was about auto styling today with the current head of the GM design studio as part of the panel.
 
For me, the best part of the day was unexpected.  All of the cars that would be in the concours show the next day (Sun) had driven over the bridge and around the island Saturday morning.  At the end of the drive they were all parked in front of the museum and the Tennis Hall of Fame on Bellevue Avenue and then they blocked off the street.  This was not mentioned in the program AND anybody could see them.  You didn’t even need a ticket.  For me this was Heaven because I could get within 6 inches of a Bugatti 57C, gull wing Mercedes, Rolls, Cord, Bentley, and Packard.  If keys had been in the ignitions I was sorely tempted to try and take a spin.
 
As for the show, I was pleasantly impressed with the turnout.  There were small crowds everywhere and lots of folks walking around with hand tag badges.  How many of them were paying customers and how many industry guests I couldn’t tell but it sure looks like the show will return next year.  Now, if I can just figure out how to get in while still keeping an arm and a leg it’ll be perfect.
 
Gerry Lynn

Below are a few photos of the event. Additional photos are to be found in our Gallery section.

​The AAA driver brought a flatbed but before loading the Buick he tried some banging and clanking and the engine started.  Wow that was luck and for the rest of the ride home the engine had to stay running.  We drove through many small towns that made for a much cooler ride than the highway would have on a hot day. Luckily the ’57 had a good ride except for the pesky wasp I had to swat while driving. Now it was becoming close to dinner. So, I stopped for us to rest and while keeping the Buick engine running we had ice cream for dinner LOL! After driving through a few more towns we finally arrived home at 5:00PM. The Buick has an appointment for a new starter and the new cables just arrived…after all, the old ones were only about 55 years old. We hope you will try the Waterbury, VT car show next year and we plan not to need any jumper cables!

NOTE: A few sample photos of cars that attended the event are displayed above. Below you will find a complete gallery of photos provided by John.

With spirits boosted after seeing excellent compression numbers, I resumed removing, cleaning, & refurbishing engine components.
 
A leaking crankshaft oil seal in the the timing chain cover was fixed first. Generally not a difficult operation but all hoses and the radiator had to come off first. Complicating matters was the worn shaft on the harmonic balancer where the oil seal rides. Because of that, simply installing a new oil seal would have done little to cure the leak. Fortunately I found a NOS harmonic balancer on Ebay for $70. After a nice coat of paint, she found a warm home on the front of my engine.
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​I also found a NOS timing chain for $39 however it proved to be slightly too long to be any improvement, so I reinstalled the serviceable original timing chain.
 
Next removed was the dirty, greasy 6v generator. It was fully disassembled, cleaned, the bearings packed, and the armature shined up with fine sandpaper. The brushes were good so it was put back together and painted gloss black.
 
The exhaust/intake manifold was back from the machine shop after being resurfaced back to true. It was warped quite badly but there was enough material to make it better than factory specs. We left the assembly bolted together since it was risky to try to separate them just for a gasket that seemed okay anyway. Also, the shop welded a new plate into an area of the heat riser that blew out due to excessive heat from the stuck riser.  This is all cast iron and not easy to weld but the shop’s welder was well qualified.
 
After a new bi-metal coil spring was installed, she was given a new paint job, regular enamel for the intake and high temp enamel for the exhaust side.

​I reinstalled the manifold using  high tech flexible graphite exhaust gasket from a company called Remflex in Washington state. They withstand high temps and have 50% crush built in, won’t shrink or harden. We’ll see ! Originally these Buick straight 8s had no exhaust gaskets, just some graphite/kero concoction they slapped on at the factory.

​Of course my engine temp gauge stopped working so I managed to find a temporary universal replacement from a local NAPA (Never Any Parts Available :-) store for $24.00. I couldn’t believe the sensor bulb and fitting fit perfectly into the original hole in the cylinder head. Someday I’ll send my original out to be restored.
 
Having had enough fun poking around inside the engine bay, I turned my attention to the braking system. Thinking  I might as well have the car stop, not just go forward, I decided to undertake a full brake system rebuild.
 
Debating between a dual/power assist modern arrangement versus a stock original single master cylinder design, I decided on the latter. With minimal fabricating skills and my desire to stay original, I went with a simple replacement of original components. I installed a new reproduction master and wheel cylinders, all new steel brake lines pre-formed from factory patterns (In-Line Tube, Shelby Township, MI), new shoe linings and drums turned by Palmer Spring Co, Providence, RI.
 
Most importantly, I replaced ALL inner and outer axle bearing seals, and front wheel ease seals. Almost every one of these seals had varying degrees of failure, resulting in grease reaching the brake linings. It was not obvious at first but upon close examination, the grease had worked its way onto the lining surface.
 
This was a very dangerous condition that probably was very hard to detect by the previous owner as it occurred slowly over years of infrequent driving.
 
Seal replacement was not an easy job. The rear axles had to come out, which means removing internal parts of the rear differential and then grinding off the inner bearing races from the axle shaft in order to press on new races. Luckily, all the new oil / grease seals are fairly easy to find. Knowing which way the seals go in is very important as well.

Also obtained were 2 original radio static suppressors thanks to the generosity of one Bob Degoursey, our in-house oddball parts collector. These ingenious devices live inside the front wheel dust caps and help eliminate stray IR radio interference on the AM band. I’ve heard they also ward off evil spirits.
If anyone wants to learn more how these things work, reach out to member Ken Carr. He’ll set you straight.
​

Finally I bled the entire brake system of air, adjusted the shoes, and took her out for her first road test.
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​She stopped great but the engine died after about a mile. It turned out the carburetor had  flooded. Managing to restart it, I limped home and later removed the carb. Again, after a quick disassembly, we noticed some whitish particles inside and blocking the float chamber valve.
 
Curiosity caused me to split open the new fuel filter I installed last winter. Sure enough, a piece of internal plastic had broken off and had come to rest clogging the float bowl. Beware of cheap foreign made fuel filters ! This week I bought and installed a traditional glass bowl type filter. She now runs fine and looks more like a 50s car to boot.

​Another heart stopping moment on this ill fated road test was the clattering of the hydraulic lifters. Darn infernal modern things !
 
I didn’t panic and start tearing the engine apart but reached out to a few seasoned car club members.  Their consensus was to add some Marvel Mystery Oil® down the push rods and a quart to the crankcase oil. After about 20 minutes of fast idling, she quieted right down. Perhaps the MMO broke up some dislodged crud and made the lifters happy once again. It made me happy anyway.
 
 I celebrated by taking a swig of MMO for myself. That’s my story and I’m “sticking” to it !
 
By the way, she performed well on the 2nd road test, especially after I released the parking brake about a 1/4 mile into the drive (oops).  Man, she took off like a F-14 Tomcat after that !
 
Afterburner backup lights???  What a great idea !

It's almost done! 
The project that started in the fall of 2018 is finally almost done.  A few details, final touches and road checks are all that remain to be done.

Starting with Photo 17 thru 23, with the first test drive Video, #18, the final 2 months are documented.
Special thanks to Ralph DeCaprio for all his wood working skills in making the WOODY a reality.
​
Yes, Tom and I are still speaking to each other, and both have had a great time building this Beach Limo.  We are actually talking about the next project.  Take a gander at the photos and video, and hopefully we will see you at cruise nights and shows with the Limo.
 
Dave Calabrese

THE TEST DRIVE

​It was late summer 2018, and my neighbor’s daughter came running over to tell me that the neighbor down the street was selling his limousine golf cart.  I had always liked it when I saw it driving around the neighborhood, and Pat thought it would be great for going to the beach.  I drove down the street in my 1969 Harley golf cart and stopped to look at the limo cart on their front yard.  The owner, Al had always been interested in my car projects, so I asked if he was in town.  The family was packing up the house as it had been sold.  Al had suffered a minor injury and was still in NY, but his daughter and I were able to work out an amicable agreement, and a half hour later I was driving the cart home.
It needed a little mechanical work and I proceeded to do the necessary repairs to make it a good driver.  At the WPRAACA Car Club picnic, Tom Link was surveying the Limo Golf Cart, and suggested that what it really needed was a VW chassis underneath instead of the Club Car drive train.  Tom and I were talking casually about building a Rat Rod over the winter, and so we decided that merging a VW Beetle with the Limo would be a good undertaking. 
We took a lot of measurements and looked up all the dimensions on a Beetle.  It appeared that the 2 vehicles were close enough that we could pursue finding an air cooled VW Bug. 
Limo golf cart dimensions VS VW Bug
 
Golf cart                                                     VW Bug
 
Rear Width – 65 inches                            60.5 inches
Rear WB – 39 inches                                approximate 50.5 inches
Wheelbase Length – 105 inches             94.5 inches
Front WB – 33 inches                               approximate 50.5 inches
Vehicle OAL – 150 inches                        160 inches
 
And so the search began for a suitable VW donor car.  We wanted something that had a good pan.  We were not overly concerned about the body condition, as we were not going to need the shell.  We looked at a few on line and even made a full day trip to Vermont to look at a Type II station wagon.  Tom, Dave Peterson and I towed my car trailer up and finally found the car.  We found that the car was not as presented, and had to pass on the purchase and drive home with an empty trailer.
We located a BAHA project that someone had started, and wanted to sell, just before we went to Hershey.  Over the week, I communicated with the seller and was able to set up an appointment to look at it when we returned.  Tom & I inspected the 1967 Beetle and found the condition to be more than acceptable for the price.  We brought it home, and the restoration work began.

​The engine was out of the vehicle and a second core of an engine was provided.  Research indicated that the partial engine was probably the original 1967 engine, and the complete engine was a 1963.   The engine would not turn over when we started, so we went about slowly using all Tom’s Techniques to slowly get the engine to turn over.  We were able to do a compression check, and three of the cylinders were pretty good, but the fourth only showed 20#.  We purchased a bracket to start the engine on the bench, a new starter and proceeded to get the engine ready to start.

​On the day we started the engine, it fired up fairly quickly, and we were sprayed with all the bedding material the mice had been using while living in the engine.  Surprisingly, once all the stuff blew out the engine began to run pretty smoothly.  We redid the compression check, and now all the cylinders were around 120#.  After a few more trial runs, we decided the engine would be ok to run and started to tear it down, clean and repaint.  We adjusted the valves, but did not remove the heads.  New gaskets, clutch, and alternator were the final major components and the engine was ready. 

​The next project was to remove the body and inspect the pan. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the pan was in better condition than we thought and only had a few pin hole rust spots in the Battery area. The rest of the pan was very solid, and we were able to sand, wire brush and paint the chassis and transaxle fairly easily.
At this point I started taking videos of the progress and the photos and videos that are included in this blog are pretty self-explanatory. The videos will show the progress I have described and the last few months of merging the vehicles together.

You can watch the entire video (20 minutes) by clicking on the first screen below. You can also watch just part of it and return later and pick up at any point by dragging the red button that appears on the video. If you want to view it full screen just click on the little TV screen icon in the lower right of the video.

It quickly became obvious to me that just because a car has low original mileage, doesn’t mean most of its systems don’t need refreshing. The following narrative bears this out.
    
In keeping with my goal of ending up with a dependable driver while retaining originality, I now began to inspect, disassemble, and repair all engine components. The straight 8, 263 cu.in engine so far has been fairly easy to work on, thanks to its large engine bay. No stripped bolts, no broken off studs, no lacerated fingers. So far anyway.
 
Firstly, a nearly severed fuel line was replaced before anything bad happened. A local auto parts store provided the needed hose and connectors. The introductory photo shows the new flexible portion of the fuel line as seen from the floor looking up.

Second was the reinstallation of the engine crankcase breather components previously removed, cleaned, and painted. Both the Buick and I can now breathe easier.
Next I decided to drain all coolant preparatory to inspect the cooling system. The coolant came out fairly clean but belied what I later found, moderate to severe corrosion and blockage in various areas. Here’s a picture of the thermostat as it came out, stuck fast in the open position. A once pretty brass baffle affair, it was probably original. A new ugly but functioning 160 degree thermostat is now in place.​

I jumped next to the stressful project of removing the intake/exhaust/heat riser manifold assembly without cracking it. Should it happen, I’d be looking at an expensive replacement ($700.00). It would be a real lonely Buick then :(
 
At the risk of incurring the wrath of one of our venerable club members (he’ll remain nameless but I think he has a ’48 Plymouth or something) I disregarded his advice to “leave the darn thing alone and just drive the car”.
​However, since it had a a frozen heat riser and failing, leaking gaskets I decided to pull it off.
 Providence was with me. I gingerly loosened each bolt a little at a time until she gently broke loose. Because I work alone I rigged up in advance my shop crane in a manner that evenly supported the manifold.
 

She had severe warping and a cracked heater box, not critical, but will be welded back by a competent welder at the shop.
 
Before it left, a friend and I managed to break free the frozen heat riser valve that was unmovable even after a month of squirting daily with penetrant.
 
I tried one last time heating the valve body with a propane torch while the shaft was beaten on by my Bosch hammer drill while being doused with penetrant. ​

That did it ! It freed up and after repeated turning, it actually worked. Simulating a running engine, the torch heat allowed the old rusty coil thermostat to expand and contract as the torch was held close then removed to permit cooling.

Next came the job of replacing a leaking engine block freeze plug. Technically it’s a casting plug, a term used when engine blocks are forged and workers need a way to remove the sand when the process is over. The plug apparently has no role in freeze protection contrary to popular belief.
​Good luck was with me as my retired master mechanic neighbor happened to wander over as he often likes to “supervise” my work. Seeing that I was having no luck banging on the plug with hammers, screwdrivers, chisels to remove the plug he suggested I stop before I destroy the block while he thought about a solution.
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He went home and returned with his MIG welder in a golf cart. After handing me a fire extinguisher, he ran a bead around the plug’s rim. Immediately quenching it with water the cooling effect caused the plug to shrink away from the block. It then easily and almost magically was pried out without very little force. (and no damage).
By the way, the fire extinguisher, he later explained, was in case his hair caught fire, not the barn. 

Drunk with success, we went on to remove all large plugs on that side. A good thing too. Two were rusted paper thin and ready to fail sooner than later.

 I purchased an installation tool that insured they went in even without
distortion. A little Aviation sealant was applied to the mating surfaces first.
 Nothing like a magnet to extract those loose pieces of scale…
​

 
The above projects took me most of January. It was not all fun especially in a partially heated barn. The monthly highlight was in the engine cylinder compression test numbers.​ The shop manual calls for 118 psi per cylinder with a 10-15% acceptable variation between cylinders.
 Here’s my readings. They exceed OEM. A head modification in the ’51 production year or gauge discrepancies, methodology, I don’t know, but I’m leaving this one alone !!

​She first saw it arrayed on the computer screen from a dealer’s website in nearby Massachusetts—Shown alongside the overtly slick models of pretty much every sports car and barely street legal muscle car that lures the imagination of most antique car enthusiasts these days- the Buick’s age, color, price and condition (though really quite good)  made her a ‘standout’ for those reasons against all the other more flashy and expensive cars....a dreamy looking big ol’ gal looking for the right dreamer to come along to share some more fun memories with her again.
 
The Buick's story was an all too familiar one but one that never fails to pull at one’s heartstrings.  A cherished car from an elderly owner that reluctantly had to part with it due to declining health, declining use, and increased cost of ‘admission’ to an assisted living facility.  Her son had the sad job of finding a new owner for his Mother’s car—a situation that is also all too familiar to most of us.
 
“Awwww, look.......”   
And so they found each other and we found ourselves driving to Massachusetts to the dealership.
 
After just recently having completed an engine rebuild -along with the many other “rebuilds” to my 1932 Chevy Confederate, I was in no mindset to take on any additional large- and thus largely expensive- repair projects to this car if we acquired her.  
 
But I had laid down some rules with my wife and I was at least going to try to stick with them.  If the Buick looked in any way like it would need an expensive rebuild on ANYTHING we would not be falling for her tempting looks. 
 
At the dealership, other than some of the usual issues with a car that has been sitting idle, and some that I had already been made aware of,  I saw nothing major to turn us away.  Her price was definitely fair and I saw no reason why we should not purchase her.

   So here we are. I am merely the mechanic and maintenance person. While her interest in these cars certainly surprised me, who am I to question the acquisition of anything old and rusty ?!?
 

​In advance of any engine diagnosis, my first priority was the replacement of all fluids since the car sat for many years. The above photo shows what the oil pan looked like. I’m sure it was never off the car.
 
And of course the Dynaflow transmission pan was just as foul but check out the almost unidentifiable filter screen. It took 2 days of soaking in a carburetor cleaner to actually see the brass filter element. The poor Dynaflow was not getting any flow- or very little.

This above view of the transmission is from below looking up.

This is how the transmission appeared after hours of cleaning.

​With these 2 projects done, I moved onto degreasing the front end. Unless I could see everything, most importantly the numerous grease fittings, no real inspection could be made. This effort was taxing, lying on a cold concrete floor for 2 weeks while destroying a few shirts and pants in the process.
Fortunately, there was very little rust with most components looking solid and tight. In keeping with original factory look, many parts were not painted so I used clear lacquer to prevent rust.

​So that’s it for now. Next on the agenda is some light engine work and start-up diagnosis.

Car Fans: Check out the photo below. These are assorted parts that I removed from the Buick.  How many of these can you identify? Meet the challenge and put your answers in the 'Comments' area.
​Thanks!

Very few club members share with our group the story of how they acquired their old car(s).
Even fewer (I would venture none) have written a poem that expresses their pleasure in riding through town and putting smiles on the faces of pedestrians and other motorists.
We are fortunate that Barbara Coon has shared her memories with us in the following article. The story is told in the first person from the point of view of the 1937 Ford that we all know so well.
                                               Editor
​

------- Lost in the woods at Saranac Lake, New York until George found me. Hoisted me up on a tow truck and took me to my new home in Connecticut.
 
Oh my - he stripped me down, overhauled me, oiled and greased my parts while putting me back together. I looked so darn good I received several trophies at the car shows.
 
I had fun flirting with other cars and owners. My master has given me lots of loving care. I might be old but my rings and bearings still work and all my joints are well greased. My surface is well dusted and polished to a brilliant shine.
 
 Actually I'm in better shape than Barb and George! I might be old at the age of 81 but still traveling along the highways and byways.
 
Signed,  Old ‘37
​

​Driving to church one sunny summer morning in the antique car we were getting horns and hand signals and voices yelling at us ;  “Like that car!!” I got inspired and wrote my one and only poem! ~ Titled - The Antique Car.
 

The Antique Car
 A pair of antiques in an antique car
Cruising along having fun so far.
Hi there, hello there
From the antique car
You wish you were where we are
just cruising along in the antique car.

If you read part I of this story you would know that my overall goal is to make my Buick safer and better looking. It is getting there, slowly. I will try to make this episode a bit shorter than usual because as one friend has said “You use too many words”. He is right.
​
 After removing the instrument panel I just let all the gauges suspend by their very substantial wires while I addressed various issues.  The ammeter was removed with the intention of replacing it with a NOS unit that came with the car (box and all). I found that the needle on the old meter was fused to the meter face where the face had warped. Rather than mess with repairing that I decided to just put in the new one. While removing the gauges I had the battery disconnected. Each time I wanted to test something I reconnected the battery for the duration of the test only. I installed the new ammeter, again attached the battery ground lead, and tested the ammeter. It worked great! When I started the car the meter moved to the plus side indicating that it was charging. Then it slowly returned to center position as the battery was fully charged. After the test I turned off the engine and began to remove the temperature gauge. Unfortunately I forgot to disconnect the battery. As soon as I moved the instrument panel sparks flew all over the place from the area of the ammeter. I was startled so badly that my hands immediately flew upward and in the process I knocked the needle right off the new ammeter. After hours of trying to solder or glue the needle back on I gave up. I got out the old meter and pried its needle away from the face so it could move freely and then reinstalled it. At least it looked better. To my surprise I found that the old meter now worked showing a little charging on startup and quickly going back to center.
​

The speedometer was next. The old cable unscrewed easily from behind the speedometer head. Unfortunately this was not the case for the end attached to the transmission. I could not even see it, never mind remove it. As I slid under the left side of the car to get at the transmission I quickly became wedged in place before getting close to my goal. I had to jack up the car and crawl under again. I used 3 heavy duty stands and blocks under the front left wheel. This time I traced the cable with my hand and found it attached high up on the left side. ​

I put the instrument panel back in place. Rather than putting the nuts back on the studs of the panel I used small grommets. They hold it pretty good for now and will just pop off when I am ready to continue. Before putting back the radio I installed the fresh air vent and gasket. Unfortunately  I made a mess of the gasket. Bob Degoursey helped me remove the old gasket. He properly prepared and glued everything in place and used blue masking tape to hold the vent down while the seal cured. He did a great job! It is so good to have friends who know what they are doing around a car. There are plenty of them in this club!

What about the “One Thing Leads To Another” part? Well I broke one pushbutton on the radio while reinstalling it. A complete set of new knobs will cost $100 unless I can find some nice used ones. The heater hose under the dash fell apart when I moved it. I need to order that since it is a specialty item (not at your local NAPA store). Now that the instruments (except the clock) are sorted out I needed a new wiring harness.  I ordered the harness from RI Wire and received it in about 3 weeks time.  I have not installed it, though. Why? My engine compartment is looking a little messy with all that green paint worn away. The plan is to mask the engine parts and spray paint the firewall and other areas in the engine bay. That means I have to get some paint mixed and put in rattle cans (there is an auto paint shop in Coventry that will do this) and apply it in the springtime when it gets warm again. The usual morning temperature when I started this project was about 75°. Now it is 25° F.
 
I have labeled the wiring harness and have a good idea where everything goes. Springtime is going to be very busy.
 
Too many words? Oh well.
​