I've been lurking around for a little while and thought I'd drop in to say 'hello'. In the way of an intro, my name's Bob and I'm from Rochester, NY. I've been married for 36 years, have a boy (age 33) and a girl (age 35) and 5 grandaughters. I took advantage of an early retirement a year & a half ago and have been enjoying every single day since. I have a 1955 model 48 that I've "enhanced" a little bit. I took the car to the Buick Nationals in Boston back in 1997 (or was it '98??) and took a "Gold" with it as a stock Buick and decided then, that I didn't care for car shows and would rather just drive it. The following summer, the original 264 was seeming pretty anemic, which is where the "enhancement" parts comes in. I found, rebuilt & installed a '63 401 .030" over with a Poston cam (lumpy, of course!), Offy 2x4 intake and dual 500cfm Carters and Dynomax side pipes. Since I couldn't use the stock tranny, a Borg-Warner Super T-10 four speed with a Hurst shifter went in behind the motor. I had an open driveshaft fabricated, dumped the torque tube and used the stock rear axle (3.36 gears) and kept the axle where it should be with ladder bars. The stock wheels were re-shoed with radial tires. I liked the car before, but I LOVE it now !! I hope my updates don't offend any purists on the board and I'm looking forward to learning all I can from you guys & gals. I've been playing with cars all my life, but there's always something new to learn. If I can add anything, I'll do my best, otherwise I'll just shut up and soak up your knowledge!! :Smarty: A couple of pics (sorry for the lousy quality....camera's good, photographer isn't !!):
Coooll looking ride, what type of wheel covers are those? COLOR COMBO IS GREAT, motor looks fine, I believe you have found a home for your buick! Welcome Bruce
Thats a real sweet ride Bob.I passed up a 56 a few years ago that a neighbor had and missed out on that deal.He wanted 400 bucks for and couldn't give it away.I remember he had a switch on the floor that when you floored the gas pedal the switch cranked the motor.Wish I would have been a little brighter then. Pat:TU:
I'll trade you a ... a.... well.... I'll trade you SOMEthing for it! LOL That is a mighty sweet ride!
Thanks for the welcome, everyone - it's much appreciated. bignastytoyota: It's amazing that the Buicks don't bring bigger bucks, but everyone, it seems, wants a Chevy or Ford. I started out looking for a '55 Chevy, but the ones I could afford, were real junk. I picked up the Buick at a fraction of the cost of a similar '55 Chevy and it's twice the car. One of my better decisions! Bruce: The wheel covers are aftermarket street rod covers from Speedway Motors. I just bought a set of '61 Buick covers on Ebay to replace 'em. They should be here next week. :grin: I'm also think I'm going to ditch the side pipes and run duals out the back as soon as I figure out where to route them. Anybody added duals to a '55? Would sure appreciate any sggestions. Again, thanks for the warm reception. -Bob
just admiring the ride I think if more people could see a buick as sharp as your `55 more would rather have one than a chevy or ford. For myself I didn't know what I was missing really because there is such a saturation for other makers. Anyways, im new as well just had to comment on the ride.
Beautiful! I love it. I have always been a big fan of the 55-57 Buicks. Would love to find a '56 post car to prostreet. Great job on your car.
:TU: Real nice! Must be a load of fun to take to the cruises. It looks like you did an excellent job on her already. Best of luck and welcome aboard. Rick Martinez
Thanks once again for the kind words and friendly welcome. I just got and put on some '61 Buick spinner wheel covers to replace the 4-bars that are on it in the pic above and I like 'em a lot better (always 'tweeking"). My goal was to have a car that I would have had back in my high school days (early 60's - yeah, I'm OLD !!), if I had had the money back then. I do as much of my own work, as possible, especially the mechanical work, to try & contain costs. Certainly not a show car, but I'm having a ball with it !! Thanks again for letting me join the discussions!! -Bob
