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Eating Two Elephants: A Pair Of 1918 Buick Tourings

How do you eat an elephant?  How do you eat two elephants?  The answer is simple: one bite at a time.  In restorations, things aren’t quite this simple, but a lot of cars end up completed if the owner sticks to a steady schedule of restoring one part at a time.  Little by little, rusty, faded, and worn out parts become new again, and the light at the tunnel eventually appears.  For these 1918 Buick touring cars being sold on EBay for the buy it now price of $8,500 or a best offer, your tunnel will be pretty long.  In fact, it will start where these cars are now in Sullivan, Illinois, wind through your bank lobby a number of times, and, maybe, end up on the field at a major antique automobile meet if your patience and wallet hold out.

To start with, there are two different cars for sale, but only one in these pictures.  One is being kept together as a pattern, and one is in pieces.  They are both 1918 Buick Model E49 touring sedans.  While both seem to be in the same rough condition, the one pictured has good wood in the body.  The one in pieces has poor wood, but the owner is 50% through replacing it.  He will also throw in the kiln dried wood you need to finish that car.  To make your decision easier, he has provided a Flickr account link that lays out the condition of these cars better than I can provide for you here.  As you can see from perusing the website, restoring these two is going to be a difficult undertaking.  The owner has made some progress though, and he claims that he has been raiding the annual Hershey, Pennsylvania AACA swap meet and car show for years in search of 1918 Buick parts.  If you’ve ever been to Hershey, you know that the swap meet is filled with all manner of rare and unusual parts.  If you have never attended a Hershey meet, it needs to be on your bucket list.  It is amazing in its size and scope.

Its a good thing that the owner has been collecting parts for some time, as you won’t find much for these cars at the local Auto Zone.  There are, however, many craftsmen who are still tooling around that you could farm out the more difficult parts to.  For example, the wooden wheels you see on these cars, called artillery wheels, are probably so dried out that replacement will be your only option.  Luckily, Coker Tire has gotten into this field and has begun hand making wheels for cars of this era in their Chattanooga, Tennessee shop.  I am sure they would be happy to provide you with two complete sets of wheels and tires, and even two separate spares for the rear.  All you need to do is give them your Gold Visa Card number and then proceed down to Mexico to sell a kidney or two to pay off the card.  Maybe a kidney and an eye, leaving you with enough parts to get by until the restoration is complete.  Maybe.

Inside, you are in a bit of luck.  It looks like there is enough of the old material for an upholsterer to make a pattern.  The jump seats and the rear seat springs are there and in useable condition, and the floor is made of wood.  Maybe early Ford Mustangs should have floors made of wood.  Seems like a good idea in hindsight.  At any rate, black leather shouldn’t be too hard to come by, and restoring the interior should be easy.  My other question would concern the side curtains.  Where are they?  Hopefully, at least the remnants are there to make a pattern with.

The dash doesn’t look too difficult either, as long as you farm out the rebuilding of the instruments.  It won’t be cheap, but how could you have any other choice?  On the plus side, the dash and the rest of the parts and pieces are made of steel, so restoring them should mean some time with the blast cabinet, then primer and paint.  Plastic was still a few more years away, thank goodness.  Remember!  One piece at a time…

This is the part where you begin to pray that there is no major engine damage.  The inline six in these cars is pretty primitive by modern standards.  When was the last time you saw exposed valve gear at your local Buick dealer?  While it looks intimidating, these engines can be brought back to life fairly easily.  The metallurgy and machining exhibited back then will make you stand in awe that they could do such things in the days before CNC machining.  If the engine is not frozen up, or hadn’t suffered any major abuse, I’d bet that it would fire up with a little work on the fuel system.  They sound neat, and they are mesmerizing to watch when they are running.

In the next two pictures, we find the biggest problems in both of these cars.  The back ends of the front fenders are almost completely rusted away.  If the owner has roamed Hershey for years looking for parts, and has not come up with a set of fenders, then there are likely no useable ones out there.  Add to that problem the cobbled together plywood running boards with homeowner stainless trim, and you are going to need a fabricator.  If I purchased these cars, I’d be combing the hot rod shows in search of a car with hand sculpted metal work.  Then, I’d beg the owner for the fabricator’s name and number.  It would take a talented and experienced craftsman to fabricate new patch panels for these fenders and to weld them in seamlessly.  You might get away with making up some running boards with a large sheet metal brake, but the fenders are a big problem to overcome.  Thank goodness the rest of the body panels are in useable condition.

To his credit, the owner has got a lot of work done on the other car, as you can see from his Flikr account.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of work left to complete.  Finishing both of these cars would be a labor of love.  Touring cars of this era are neat to see and hear running, and there are a number of people in the CCCA and the AACA that tour great distances in them.  While they are captivating in their ability to take you back in time, the market has been flat and small for cars such as this for a great many years.  Outside of a few full classics, these cars don’t have enough fans to make the costs of a full on restoration a good investment.  If you are buying them because you want something fun to drive and work on from this era, then they might be the ticket for you.  We have all poured money down the drain on things far less worthy than these cars, and I hope someone is out there that sees the value and fun in restoring them.

Comments

  1. Avatar Mark

    How does engine top stay lubricated?

    Like 0
    • Avatar hujatg kilm

      Oil can, once every 100 miles

      Like 0
  2. Avatar Charlie
  3. Avatar Mountainwoodie

    What an awesome project. Jay Leno could get it done.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Magnus Bloodhammer

    A 100 year old bastion of American engineering prowess and no wealthy historical philanthropist will step up and save this classic Buick? Shame on you, sirs! Shame!

    Like 0

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