Finding a hundred-year-old anything is notable, but a car? One hundred and three, to be exact; well, that’s over the top! But that’s the case with this 1923 Buick Tourer. I believe this is a model 23-Six-45, but I don’t know that with certainty. Mother Nature appears to be working on a takeover, though the seller does state, “car runs and drives. No, you cannot drive it home.” OK, let’s take a closer look and see if there’s anything viable still here. Timbo, Arkansas, is where you’ll find this bit of Flint antiquity, and it’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for $3,000. Terry gets the nod for this discovery!
Trying to drill this model down is a challenge, as Buick offered several similar models along with the usual array of roadsters and sedans in two and four-door form. Assuming I called this one correctly, it retailed for $1,195, and it’s one of at least 45K assembled. Of course, if anyone has a better fix on this model’s ID, please let me know via the comments. Anyway, it has been sitting a long while, certainly long enough to have a garden sprouting up through its missing floorboards. Really, it appears more like a parts car than anything else. And speaking of parts, the seller adds, “(It) comes with another grand touring car, same year, that is in pieces and a whole bunch of other boxes of parts. It is a 1923 Buick, same as this one that’s in 5 million pieces, should be able to take two cars and make at least one good car, and have a whole bunch of parts left.” So, if one wreck is not enough, a second is available!
The engine is an undersquare 242 CI, in-line six that does feature overhead valves. I know the seller claims it runs, but this image doesn’t really project a running prowess. The transmission is a three-speed manual sliding gear unit.
As for the interior, what interior? Sure, parts of the seats are still present, but that’s about it. The steering wheel has been reduced to splinters, the gauges are missing, the folding top is in shreds, and as stated previously, there doesn’t appear to be much of a floor remaining.
Oh boy, what to do here. Yes, we always want to save them all, but this one looks like it’s too far around the bend! There are no included images of the other car or the available parts, so a detailed inquiry would need to be made to ascertain exactly what your $3,000 is getting you. So, what’s your thought: a worthy project, one that absolutely needs to be saved, or a pig in a poke?
Ah, the 242 Iris motor!
Looks like it would make a good Beverly Hillbillies clone for those of you that know what that refers to.
Y’all Come Back Now Here…
Or Chitti Chitti bang bang
Let me tell you about a man named Jed poor mountaineer barley kept his family fed then one day while shooting for some food up from the ground come a bubbling crude oil that is Texas T well the first thing you now old Jed is millionaire so the kin folk said you got to move away from there so the loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly hills that is swimming pools and movie stars. That is close for 66 YO how i can remember that and not a thing my wife tells me is a great mystery.
Well, J.O, I am looking for a Buick, but this is pushing it. For 1923, this was really a modern car. Research shows, I believe this is a 1923 Model 55 Sport Touring, or 1923 Buick Model 23-Six-55 Master Six Sport Touring, to be exact, the disc wheels are the clue. Buicks claim then was speed. This car could do almost 60 mph, unheard of then, but with only 2 wheel rear mechanical brakes, stopping was another matter. Some early OHV engines had exposed valves, but on this, the cover is missing. While this will never be restored, the parts are unobtainable today. I think/hope someone would want it for that.
Thx Howard.
JO
Jennings Motor Sports could have that running/driving in no time. Look him up on You Tube. The kid is amazing what he can get running!
Might be worth 3k in parts, but that’s dismantled over a looong period of time and even then there will be a lot going to the dump. Best to let it go to someone needing a parts vehicle or someone that can make it run and drive for fun, let it go for a grand or less. Not enough to restore and I’d hate to see it restomoded.
The generation that would restore this sadly long gone..its rat rod material now.
I like him too Dan! Especially the
sayings he has like *rattus giganticous” or some of the others he uses in his videos. What a show it would be if he teamed up with Derek Biere at Vice Grip Garage! It’s a real treat to watch him work on this car. And if you can’t, or don’t want to
restore both cars, they could be
tastefully done as restomods with either old school GM sixes
(235-292) or later V-6s like the
3800 units mated to 700R4 auto
trannys. Under no circumstances
should these cars be crushed. Restore them if you can, and restomod the rest. That’s what true hobbyists did nearly 60 years ago and it still holds true today.
Far too many times, a project is judged on just how long it will take to get it safe and drivable and may overlook buying a builder for something more turn
key and ready to drive. If I had the time, space, and money, I think I might take on a project like
this just for something to do in my old age. But I can’t, so I won’t,
but maybe if I tell enough stories,
I might be able to get our young
people interested in getting their
hands dirty. Or, what about that
university I’ve seen on YouTube?
Those kids actually earn college
credits for restoring old cars! If they had something like that when we were all kids, there just
might’ve been more of them that
could’ve entered the hobby. Just
imagine getting a PHd in auto restoration! Sounds like a lot of fun.
If you have the money to put into a restoration, I say “go for it.”
To get a few years newer this could be made to replicate the Van Halen “ hot for teacher” yellow hot rod video car !
I do hope it gets brought back from the field as a hot rod or original restoration.
Where’s Jed?
That is a serious yard art collection for travel by land, water and air! I like the Buick, but wish I could see more of that C cab truck.
It wasn’t all that long ago that collectors were restoring relics they found outside on rock piles before the barn finds started coming out. I would say the condition of this Buick is much better condition than the ones that started life again off a rock pile.
In my machine-shop days we had a regular customer who brought us his 1920 Buick for some work. A wrist pin had come loose and so I had to put sleeves in the block which was cast iron and bolted to an aluminum crankcase. Look closely at the bottom of the valve spring seats. See the notches in the circular device there? The cylinder head is not removable and is integral with the cylinder assembly. The valves, springs and the valve seats make up an assembly (12 total in this 6 cylinder) and they screw in from the top.
Sorry to say it but the quality of the machine work on that engine was very poor as compared to other antique engines (mainly Ford) we worked on. That surprised me for a Buick, just one step behind Cadillac in the GM product portfolio.
McPherson College in McPherson Ks offers the nation’s only four-year bachelor’s degree in Automotive Restoration Technology, setting it apart from traditional trade schools that focus on short-term certifications for modern vehicle repair.
You can also see the buffalo at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge while you are there.
I sound like a broken record but we see these old cars in this condition they are not worth restoring
Restoration car or parts car?? A good question!!! Body, frame and power train is all there, except for the dash. If his parts car has those parts it would make a great restoration for someone who loves their Buicks.. Apparently the owner is a GM man as those both look like 40’s era GM trucks in the background. Personally I would take the 6 wheeler without the boat on the back.
‘Runs and drives”??
make a rat rod out of it, there’s no interest in restored cars of that vintage anymore.
The link says Craigslist but it’s for Facebook and alas I don’t do FB so I can’t see the other car, but if somebody had a big enough garage and the seller would throw in the two trucks it might be a fun project, or three of them possibly.
It is on Facebook Marketlpace; I’ve updated the link. Thanks for pointing that out.
JO
It CERTAINLY would be restorable for someone with a THICK ENOUGH CHECKBOOK. Especially since there is a second car AND PARTS !