I went for a little spin......

[TC Chris]

The only car I've ever had with power windows is the Mustang, and it only has two (one of which works poorly). My Dad always figured they were just something to stop working. The Mustang has them because I bought it used and the original owner had every option on it. Including the air that doesn't work either. Dad was right....

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

I don't meant this to sound haughty or big-headed, but it's been so long since I owned a car with crank windows, I really don't remember.

By the way, it didn't sound arrogant at all. I'm always amused by the people who write to Dear Abby to explain how insulted they were by somebody else's offhand remark. Or maybe I'm just too unsophisticated and naive to now when somebody is talking down to me. Ignorance is bliss.... In any event, no apologies are needed.

I forgot to add before that you should look at my name on the subject of crank vs electric. What you don't know is that on my Dad's side, the other family names are Murrray and Sinclair, a whole line of Scots, and we're all honoring the stereotype of Scottish frugality. Mom's side was mostly English but Granny had to pawn her wedding rings from time to time during the Depression so she knew a bit about frugality too. The good thing about being raised by parents and grandparents who survived the Depression is that they learned the difference between what you want and what you need (cue the Rolling Stones here).

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Grandpa didn't load up his Buicks until he got the '56 Century. Grandma was on him about "being showy" when he got his three-tone '55 Century. Grandpa worked for Buick, so he could get a car cheaper than most anybody else. And he liked showing the different features of new Buicks, so he might sell someone a new Buick. He decided to load up the '56 Century. It had just about every option except air conditioning. And, it had some "engineering options" not seen on production cars. It has a "window" distributor like the '57's had. And it had an aluminum bellhousing on the Dynaflow, a feature of most of the later '56 Century models. IT had a Carter AFB carburetor, an exclusive of the '56 Century models in the Buick line. Grandpa's next new Buick was a '60 Electra 225 flat top sedan, Lido Lavender with Raven Black on the roof and the top of the trunk lid, following the chrome strip to the front of the front doors. It had all the options, plus it had air conditioning. Grandpa wouldn't have been caught dead driving a '57, '58 or '59 Buick. Buick didn't build cars in those years to grandpa's way of thinking. He thought they were horrible cars. Grandpa's '62 Electra was all black, a four door, four window hardtop, with leather bucket seat interior. Ditto on the '63, except it was a two-door. That was grandpa's last new Buick. He started buying Oldsmobiles after he retired and he couldn't get his discount. Grandma drove her '52 PAckard Patrician until she passed away in 1984. She thought Buicks were beneath her, as all her family drove Packards. She would ride in a Buick with grandpa, but she never drove grandpa's Buicks.

My dad drove tan, bottom of the line, el-cheapo six cylinder "Shevalays" with three on the tree, radio and heater and that was it. Dad never owned or drove a car with power windows or a V-8 engine. He did get Powerglide in his new '67 Biscayne. He drove that car 100,000 miles and never changed the oil in it. When dad traded in his old Chevy, Bill Hare called the junk man. Nobody would want one of dad's used cars. Dad would have walked before he drove my Buick. When I got my drivers license, dad bought me a nice blue and white '54 Belair hardtop, with power steering, kind of rare for a Chevy. I wouldn't even sit in it. No way was I going to drive a Chevrolet. I wanted a Packard. I got a '51 Roadmaster with a bum Dynaflow. I drove it for a year with no reverse. Beautiful old car. Black with gray whipcord interior.

[walyfd]

Manual vents are clockwise to close and ccw to open just like the door windows.

I like your grandmother... stuck with her Packard all those years!!! Like I REFUSE to get another fwd Cadillac. One was enough. My Brougham will lead my funeral procession.

[electra225]

The insurance company wanted a current picture of the Buick. So...I had to go to the storage unit, start the car, back it out, untarp it, uncover it and take a picture. I figured I'd share. If I resized it right......

[TC Chris]

Elegant car! Hope you drove around some to get things all warmed up!

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Today was another good day for taking a spin in the old Buick. Perfect weather, sunny, high 73 degrees. The right front tire was really low, so my first stop was at Discount Tire to have the tires inflated. There were several old cars out today that I saw. A '56 Chevy Bel-Air post, a '56 Ford pickup with loud exhaust, a '65-'66 Mustang convertible with the top down, and an old Harley with a side car. I ran a couple errands and drove 56 miles in total. At 10 mpg and with gas $3.65 a gallon, that little spin cost ten or twelve dollars. By the time you pay $25 or $30 to register for a car show, then buy your gas, that is getting to be fairly spendy to my way of thinking. The guy who owns the car gets to pay all the expenses and people get to look for free. Something about that doesn't make much sense to me anymore. I have a friend with a 2012 Malibu who just paid $700 to have brakes put on it. No rotors, no master cylinder or hydraulic parts, just pads, labor and turn the rotors. Boy, that sounds spendy to me.

[Firedome]

Gorgeous car, I don't think I'd seen it before though it may have been on the old site before. That era of full-size Buick Olds and Cad were their best imo. Growing up in MD the guy across the street Mr Brown had a dark metallic brown '63 225 that he bought new, and his next door neighbor Mr Hahn bought a new '64 Sedan deVille 4 dr hardtop in white w/ blue brocade interior. That car was jewel-like and absolutely magnificent in every respect, Cadillac truly was the Standard of the World in 1964, somethng to aspire to. He was so meticulous that he wiped the engine compartment down every time he drove it and hand washed and dried it with a chamois it every week, I was 14 and I'd go over and watch him. When I visited them in the early '70s after I'd moved away for college it still looked showroom brand new. I should have begged him to sell it to me. I think in some respects the '61 to '64 era was the peak for GM as a balance of quality, tasteful style, and performance. The mid-size GMs imo peaked in '65 to 69.

There's no doubt owning a vintage car is a great responsibility and expense. I just got my '69 Cutlass Holiday sedan back from the body shop (personal friend) with a new paint job, all new rubber door, window and trunk gaskets, and new rear bumper. Will post pics in Spring when weather improves and I can take it outdoors. It's beautiful but I now have waaay more into it than is sensible, with some interior work yet to come, but I love the car and at this point it's hang the expense, it's a labor of love, my last vintage car, and some would say a sickness (my wife for one), and she may well be right. It's a very rare model and I"m just happy to be it's custodian and able to enjoy it while I can.

[electra225]

The doctor in town bought a new '64 Coupe DeVille with the 429 engine. Nobody who was fully sober would try to "top end" that '64 Cadillac. The only big cars that I couldn't handle with my Buick was the 429 Cadillac or a 440 Chrysler. I could hold my own with about any other engine in a big car. The 472's weren't nearly as quick as the 429. Why, I have no idea. Same with Ford. Their 429 was quicker than the 460. Grandpa's brother had a '63 Olds 98 Holiday hardtop with a 394 and Hydra-Matic. That was a quick car, but not as fast as the 401 Buick. His was all white with a white vinyl top and white leather bucket seat interior. The Oldsmobile 98 has prettier interior than Buick.

Not much could beat the styling of the big 1962-'63 Buicks, particularly the Electra 225. Sharp edges with not a single rounded feature anywhere. No line looked out of place. The C pillar hardtop style was fantastic. I had a '68 that ran better and was a better car than the '63, but it wasn't as nice looking. I liked the 1971 and '72 models much for the same reason. Oldsmobiles were about the same in those years, particularly '62 to '64. The '64 big Buicks styling wasn't as sharp as the two earlier years.

[TC Chris]

I'm jealous. The trusty red truck is all that gets driven in this season. You can see my Mustang in the photo I posted of my cherry console, but it's stashed away until spring. Same with the Chevy, which will get a new top when the roads dry out. The old top was fragile, if intact, so I've only had it down once since the car joined the road fleet again. Why have a convertible if you can't put the top down? And at my age, it seems more likely that my money will outlive me instead of the other way around, especially since I'm still working. Better to support the local trades and local economy than to die rich.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

If it's been awhile since you used the top mechanism, the hydraulics may need to be rebuilt. The system originally used brake fluid as hydraulic fluid. Brake fluid removes paint, which promotes rust. When the system was rebuilt, we used power steering fluid or automatic transmission fluid in it. Then if it leaked for some reason it would not remove paint. I don't know what it costs to rebuilt the top mechanism hydraulics anymore, but it cost $1000 twenty years ago. I hope yours is still in good condition so you don't have to go thru that procedure. You can spend ten grand on repairs to an old car with no problem at all.

[TC Chris]

Before the car was stored, probably more than 35 years ago, the top mechanism had started getting balky. I remembered filling the reservoir with brake fluid. My recall was that I chose it because it was the only hydraulic fluid I had on hand. And since it absorbs moisture, I was pretty sure that I had ruined the top mechanism. Then after I was working on the car again I consulted the shop manual and wow, brake fluid was what it used. My memory was frail. I had used brake fluid because it was the right stuff. And better still, the top mechanism was working just fine after sitting all that time. Maybe it would be a good idea to purge the system of the brake fluid and use ATF or whatever, something all-petroleum and not hygroscopic. But that's a worry for another day.

Chris Campbell

[danrclem]

I envy the people who live in warmer climates, at least this time of the year. It sure would be nice to be able to go to a car cruise in January.

Good lookin' Buick Greg.

[electra225]

Thanks, Danny. I was at Discount tire this morning getting the tires rotated on my car. There was a '40 Ford coupe there getting a set of Firestone maypops installed. It was an all-original restored car with the exception of a 255 Mercury engine and Offenhauser aluminum heads and three deuces. It was still all 6-volts. I was talking to the owner about a dual voltage, dual polarity electrical system. I didn't know the guy, but he seemed to know me. I don't remember seeing him before. He knew I worked on old radios........

But, but, but........

When you guys are cruising in July, we'll be hunkered down with our cars in storage, because it will be warm enough to melt the tires on the asphalt around here.

[walyfd]

I went for a spin today, too.. spinning to the grocery store in 5 degree weather and the back side of the blizzard

Here's one if the 5 bias tires that took 10 months to get and the 62 Fleetwood waiting for them to go on...

[William]

Your weather looks like what we have here in my area in Michigan. Are you getting pounded by the storm the weather guessers said were going to hit out east?

Bill

[walyfd]

We didn't get much of anything but it's been deep freeze for 2 weeks.