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February
22, 2003
A Visit to Buick Heaven!
After having no success removing my kingpins (I ultimately
bent two hardened drift punches and then bent the pushrod on my 12-ton press trying to get
the retaining pins out), I decided to call in the pros. I called Doug Seybold for help,
and went to his shop today. This was my second visit to his place, and I took my father
who had heard about Doug and his cars from me and was as anxious as I was to see them. So
we trucked out to his place and had a look around.
Doug spent nearly two hours with us, answering questions and
talking Buicks, a subject about which he is clearly very passionate. While I took pictures
of the details on the cars (I burned through two discs on my digital camera--somewhere
around 100 photos), Doug and my father talked about the Buicks my father once owned. My
father was actually as excited about the visit as I was and I was really glad he was
there. I think he's got some new enthusiasm for my project, so I think I'll call on him
for help more often.
Anyway, here's just some of what we saw at Doug's place:
Heartbreakingly gorgeous '41 Roadmaster convertible coupe,
model 76C in Sequoia Cream with a red leather interior. It is an AACA
first place winner at last year's Hershey car show. My father fell in love
with this car--what's not to love? If I could have just one old Buick, this
would probably be it.
The fully detailed engine compartment was as
spotless as the
rest of the car. It has all the original tags and markings on it, and
I took about 50 shots from all angles to make sure mine is as
accurate and correct. Interestingly, this car has both the breather
oil cap and the tube feeding the air cleaner, kind of an early
version of a PCV valve. The tubes were original, but the
oil fumes tended to coke in the carburetors, so they sold a
retrofit kit to remove the tube and use a standard breather.
However, Doug says having both is also correct, which is good,
because that's how my car is. Interesting...
The interior of the yellow car was equally amazing.
The red leather
Doug uses is an exact duplicate of original factory patterns. It has
a black speckled pattern in the tanning, giving it a very textured
appearance, though it is smooth. It's quite different in feel from
the modern leathers in today's cars--somewhat stiffer and shinier,
which is accurate to the period. Also note that convertibles have
painted, not woodgrained, dashboards and chrome window bezels.
Doug also does his own engine-turning on the dashboards, which
produces that dazzling jewel-like finish on the instrument cluster.
Then Doug took us to his storage area where he keeps
his personal
collection of Buicks. First in the line is a '38 Series 90 Limited
limousine--an absolutely HUGE car. It doesn't look that big
in this shot, but it was nearly six feet tall and 20 feet long!
This is a '40 Century convertible coupe (model 66C)
in 100%
original condition, which isn't surprising since it is a
ONE OWNER CAR! Holy cow! Doug picked it up at the estate
sale of the original owner, whose parents bought it for him
when he graduated from high school in 1940. It's amazingly well
preserved and probably too nice to restore. This is an incredible car!
Previous Restoration Day
Page Two of Our Trip to Seybold's
E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net
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Last modified on 02/06/2005
Thanks, Fidget!
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