Go resto-rod! Leave the body appear stock and add modern underpinnings, cool wheels and a BBB. :grin:
Graham, Are you considering selling the car? If so, please let us know. Thanks Harvey (A neighbor to the West ):grin:
Graham, I am with Dan, I'd put the Daddy (but fully streetable i.e. NO overheating) TA Performance motor in that super cool stock body, and lurk around the "shady" parts of town looking for a sucker :Brow: Very nice find, which ever way you go with it, there will be many who appreciate it. As my friends try and hammerer into my head (ok, so I'm a little hard headed :shock: ) it comes down to this........ It is your car, your money, and your decision. No matter WHAT you do, there will be those who would tell you THEY would have handled it differently. But you know what? It IS your car and you should do (talking to myself here also) what ever you darn well please. Just don't forget to send us the pictures. :laugh: Good luck which ever route you take, beautiful ride.
Contact "the old guy" on this board. He has a beautiful coupe/ resto rod. Hey Joe can you post some pics of "the grape?"
Now I'm all about big blocks and hot rods BUT disagree with all but one person here. I think you have an amazing find. Sure anyone can make a streetrod using unoriginal parts and raping a car of it's originality. That's fine if you've bought a shell or an incomplete car. YOU have what appears to be a complete steel car that not only is original, but potentially a historically significant automobile - a highway patrol car. Yeah, NADA may show thousands in the production numbers, but who has an original '30's cop car? I think this is one of those nice intact examples that deserves to stay that way. If you want to be like everyone else, get a fiberglass project - who'll know the difference anyway? Every car show in the land has brightly paimted streetrods with a small block and aftermarket wheels. Aren't those the ones we always walk past? Not being a jerk here - sorry, just my opinion. Good luck with it either way! :beer
was just thinking, how about some split manifolds, a re-ground cam, and a few othr old-time goodies. I bet "The Old Guy" could help out with some ideas. My pop said they used to make the straight-8's run pretty good in the old days. And you would still preserve the car. Certainly not stage-1 beating performance, but it sure would be F-U-N.
Straight 8 in 1941 and 42 they ran dual 2bbl (progressive) and a split exhaust front 3-2-1 rear 3-2-1 then 2 into one. I don't know for sure if this stuff fits the smaller motors.
I must say I agree with this opinion, only because it appears to be a Highway Patrol car. Otherwise, if it's true there were tens of thousands made, it would be no big deal to rod it. I do think, however, that this car could be very tastefully "upgraded" :Brow: performance wise and still have very excellent historical value to most collectors/people.
Have you figured out yet whether it is a Century or not?? If it is, you can put the 1941 Dual carbs on it and the exhaust for that system is just like cast iron headers. I have the exhaust manifolds on my 40 Convert, and all my friends thought I put in a V8 over the winter. Some of the old cam grinders Lunati, Isky, Crane) will grind you a cam, and you will have a one of a kind Buick. People will crawl over the small block Chev powered Fords to look at yours! I have a 37 Buick Special coupe with a 455, and it gets LOTS of looks. My Buick was an old rod from the 60s, and it was too tough to restore. :beer :beer
as far as value, the value of a street rod is mostly in the quality of the work. For the super high prices you're thinking of, the work has to be pretty much flawless. The average street rod selling prices are usually much much lower ... in this case, somewhere on the order of what it's worth restored. But that also assumes a very good restoration. Me? I'd feel guilty cutting it up for a plain ol' street rod, but a cop car street rod is not a stretch by any means. There's a guy that shows up to NSRA's Springfield meet in a cop car that he did a kind of resto-rod treatment to it, same as has been suggested here.
Here's my 2 cents. If everything is there, it would be a shame to modify it. Restore it and you'll never regret it. Rod it and someday you will have second thoughts. Whatever you decide, it is your decision and nobody should say jack to you about "your" choice. If you rod it, for god's sake rechrome the grille and bumper, don't paint it. The chrome/stainless trim on old Buicks is one of the things that make them special, and will make it stand out. For me, nothing is worse than a nice old car that is restored and then the chrome/stainless painted. Some people like it but I personally think it cheapens the look. Best of luck, whatever you decide.
I would do nothing irreversible. Get a hot cam for it, bolt on stuff like htat, but leave EVERYTHING stock and restore it to look like a cop car.
Graham: I have a 36 3 window as well and I think it too was a police car as it still has the hole in the body where the spot light was mounted.The Mclaoghlin was manufactured in Canada for Buick.The wheel base on my car is 122 inches center front wheel to center rear wheel.My 36 only has 5 stud wheels that are on a 5 and one half inch bolt pattern and 15 inch dia.The larger cars used 16 inch wheels on a 6 inch bolt pattern.I have 4 of the 16 inch wheels and Iam willing to sell or trade.Where in B.C. are you as Iam in Prince George B.C.I paid $2000. for the car 2 years ago.It only had a front bumper and only 1 tail light,every thing else was on the car. Dale.
Hi Dale, You now own my old car as pictured in the beginning of this post. I sold the car to Jerry from Wembley, Ab. Jerry told me a while back that it ended up in PG. Thats a cool car that needs to be resurrected into a bad ass BBB rod. PM me if you like and we can discuss the history of the car further. I still have photos and info that may be of value to you. I'm located out by Burns Lake and pass thru PG fairly often.:beer
Wow, that's the oldest thread I ever saw that was actually responded to by the original poster! :laugh: :laugh:
McLaughlin is Canadian. My Great Grandfather was Chief of the Birmingham (Alabama) Fire Dept in 1936. His Fire dept car was a 1936 Buick Century Coupe. 1936 was the first year for the Century. It was named Century because it was THE FIRST PRODUCTION CAR TO GO 100 MPH !:Smarty: Before the Buick Century, one had to spend big$$$ to go fast i.e. Auburn Speedster or Dusenburg.
Thats a hard decision on complete vintage iron. I too came by the same decision as yourself with my 1928 Hupmobile Century 6 Model A, which was originally my great-grandparents car. After discovering the engine block was cracked and the fact that parts are extremely hard to come by, I decided to build it into a rod. So now three years later, I have a shell of a car collecting dust in the corner of my garage. Maybe one day.
