Nice looking car. Love the factory oil can under the hood and check out the exhaust manifold it exits at the front of the engine! https://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-car...ar/1357241218?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
Lots of similarities to the 1921 Buick Touring I just bought at Mecum Indy. Engine bay looks very similar. Mine should arrive in Fort Worth next weekend by Mecum Transport. It would be fun to have both of these side by side in the garage but no space, too many cars now, and divorce for sure!
Isn't it a bit odd that the 1919 had wire wheels and the later '21 has wooden wheels? I would have thought the wire wheels would have been an advancement over wood wheels. Was it a question of options?
Valid question and I have yet to really research the 1921 Buick details since I am so busy getting the 67 GS400 Convertible ready for the BCA Meet in Denver this coming week.
Both wheels were available these years and years after. There was a solid wheel disk wheel also available various years.
Also, is that an updraft carb located below the oil can? I would guess that would be typical back in the early 1900's?! Cool car....
My 1932 Buick had a choice of wire wheels or wood spokes. Photo below is of a wheel on the 32 and the spokes painted and pin striped as done at factory. I can tell you my wheels got a whole lot more attention than the wheels at the factor every did. There were hundreds of man hours restoring 6 of these wood wheels, stripping, priming, sanding, priming, sanding and final paint and striping and the end result is adds to the car's classic look.
I know very little about these years, but if you connect the dots, that big cylindrical can with all the plumbing, must be a fuel pump of some type and the carb seems to hang from the intake, so I guess that makes it an updraft carb. I'm still in a steep learning curve on my '68 Wildcat and know little about these early years.
From what I understand about those cars is that the cylindrical can with all the plumbing into it was like a vacuum pot; you pumped it up and it then siphoned gas from the tank. you had to pump it up every morning to get it started cold, afterwards the car would start pretty much without having to prime it up. I believe they did things that way up until 1930, the first AC fuel pumps didn't come into being until the early 30s. There was also a mixture and a spark advance lever on the wheel. The driver spent more time trying to manage the engine than he did driving. These are not easy cars to drive, at least that's what I'm told, I don't even fit in one to try. The carb was lower, so gravity helped; not the most efficient way to run, but it worked. The updraft carb works on the same principles as the downdraft, except that it sucks from the bottom. I think they didn't flood out as easy as a downdraft carb does.
Thanks for the tutorial on the fuel system! Explains why that cylindrical can is so big compared to a conventional fuel pump.
Chuck, I definitely believe the man-hours into the wheels. My T wooden wheels (12 spokes) take about 45 hours each and there's no striping.
