All I can say is #$%*&!!!

[electra225]

There is a man in Swartz, Mi that is one of the head honchos in the '37-'38 Division of the Buick Club. I don't know if he still does cars or not. It depends on what you want done. A good local body shop could handle the body and paint. Most upholstery shops who have been in business for awhile can handle the interior, again, depending on what you want done. I know a guy who does the wood graining on the mouldings, if you'd like that done. The radio would be fairly straightforward. The antenna is in the running board. You can do a dual-voltage electrical system, since the '38 is the first year for the battery being under the hood. You use two six-volt Optima batteries. Connected properly, you'll have 12-volt lights and ignition, and can still use the 6-volt accessories, radio, blower motors, gauges, that kind of thing. I'd recommend an electric fuel pump, hidden by the fuel tank, for those times you want to start it hot, or when it has set for a time. That work can be done by you if you don't mind a little mechanical work. Leave the starter 6 volts. Have the generator case make into a "genernator". You can go up to 60 amps using the original generator case and pulley. The only thing tricky on a '38 would involve the torque tube. You need to know what you're doing to seal it properly. And the parts are getting spendy.

[TC Chris]

That's BCA? We used to have a '37-'38 Buick Club and had a couple meets near Flint. Later the group fizzled. I should probably join BCA if they have a '37-'38 group.

My car is a Michigan car. That's a polite way of saying "rusty." I bought it in '66 and found some new fenders for it in Hemmings, straight from the AZ desert. I put new rings in it, fiddled with bearing shims, and cleaned the solid crud out of the rocker arm shaft so oil could reach them. Iwas a dumb kid and a local engineer said t=it would be OK to use copper tubing for the rusted brake lines so I made up single-flared copper brake lines. (They did work, but maybe luck was on my side). Then college and the rest of life intervened and the car has been sitting since about '69.

Two years ago I pushed it out of the garage and had a local body shop guy take a look. Like most, he makes more money on insurance jobs. He declined this one. Good sense says "haul it to the junk yard and buy a restored car." But it has been titled in my name for 55 years now and that creates some sort of obligation.

My idea is to get a good but not perfect restoration. None of that factory-correct grease-pencil-mark stuff, just a car that would run. I'd settle for adequate if it would get the car on the road.

Mine was delivered without radio. I bought a radio for it from Hemming 20 years ago and have not restored that either.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have the factory literature on how to install a radio and antenna in a '38 Buick. I believe it also has service literature for repairing the radio as well. You could have a copy if that would help.

[TC Chris]

I have the factory literature on how to install a radio and antenna in a '38 Buick. I believe it also has service literature for repairing the radio as well. You could have a copy if that would help.

I've got the shop manual for the car but as I recall the info on the radio was spotty. A copy of the radio details would be helpful.

It would likely be a winter project. Most summers are for sailing. This summer my mother at age 98 is gradually fading out under the devoted care of my sister with help from my younger retired brother. My job is handling the estate matters. Mom was a collector--it must be genetic; all my siblings collect stuff too as I do in the radio dept. (and boats, and cars, and anything else interesting). Closing things up will be a challenge. Monday I donated some 1950s-era LPs to the local used record store. They had been "background music"for my Dad's office, played on the V-M 1225GE changer, Bogen DB-115 amp, and ceiling-mount GE 8" speakers (still have 'em all). I picked out the interesting discs but the Mantovani and such were donated. Most had the sticker for Lucky's Record Shop, the big local record shop that had a most impressive mono hi-fi preview system. Everything sounded good on their system.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

A lot of my records came from Walmart in Moberly, MO. There was a tractor supply place next to this tiny (by nowadays standards) Walmart store. This was in the late 1960's when Walmart mostly sold seconds and over-runs of merchandise. Their store was like a huge swap meet. If you saw an item you were interested in, you'd better buy it right then. You might not get a second chance. But, I digress.....

Dad would go next door to the tractor supply place to get whatever he needed, and I'd go to see Bob in the record department at Walmart. If there was a record that came out that I wanted, I would wait until Bob got it in at Walmart. Most record stores charged $4.95 for a recent release, but Walmart only charged $2.57. I'd have to wait a couple months after the record came out for Walmart to get it in. Bob had a Newcomb school player there that you could test the record you wanted out on before you bought it. He played it nice and loud, too. Bob was a country music fan and knew all the latest releases, and when others were coming into the store. He had the stereo records separate from the mono ones. I thought that was a nice touch. I got a few from Lefferson's in Bloomington, IN and some from LS Ayres in Indianapolis. There was a fancy record shop in Indy, Duchess Record Shop, that sponsored Bouncin' Bill Baker in the mornings on WIBC. They had EVERYTHING, but they were spendy. They wouldn't let me play the records first, either. "Bouncin' Bill Baker brought to you by the Duchess Record Shop, 809 North Delaware, right here in Indianapolis". Ahhh, the good old days.