1936 Buick Special 41 Series: A Closer look

1936 Buick Special 41

What arrived at our shop in pieces is whole once again! When we took on this project for our customer the car was disassembled and none of the parts had any labels on them. There were buckets of bolts, most of which were broken off, and random parts from other cars to add to the puzzle. Adding to the challenge was poor print quality of original handbooks and complete lack of photos or comparable vehicles as this is a one year only, exceedingly rare model and year. The entire vehicle was restored to original with a couple minor modifications including a rumble seat and custom color burl wood on the dash and interior window surrounds. 

Completed restoration of 1936 Buick Special 40

Completed restoration photo shoot underway in fall of 2020

With the interior fully wrapped in upholstery, you can hardly tell that the frame of the body and doors are wood

 

The interior trim parts, cables for throttle and choke, as well as the gauge cluster and clock were all restored to original condition...

Rebuilding the 1949 Buick 248 Straight 8 Engine

NEW PERSPECTIVE ON AN OLD ENGINE

1949 Buick 248 Straight 8 Rebuild

Most people have never seen inside a straight 8 engine. Although this isn't the first one we've re-built at Driven Restorations, we are the FIRST to dig into THIS particular ALL ORIGINAL Buick engine and the photos in this blog post let you see it first hand. 

It feels like opening a time capsule as we excavate to the depths of the engine, revealing parts that haven't seen open air since being pieced together on the assembly floor in 1948.  

RESCUED AT LAST!
The '49 Buick emerges from storage

Those very parts transported the Buick's family all over Oklahoma, coating her undercarriage in layers of clay and speckling her body with dings along the way. We've been told a few stories hinting that there may have been some shenanigans resulting in a couple of LARGER dings and one particular joy ride ended in her engine to running low on oil (was it low or empty?). The Buick's original 248 never ran the same again. It seemed her fate was to remain shoved, nose first, in the storage garage. 

Lucky for us, she was rescued.

 It's hard to believe, but members of the very same family who enjoyed this Buick for decades not only kept the car, but they've decided to honor her with a frame off restoration at our shop!

She will be GLORIOUS 

In the photos that follow, we take you from tear down through a fresh coat of paint as we meticulously re-constructed the heart of the '49 Buick, it's original 248 Straight 8. 

A closer look at the 1949 Buick Special Series 41 Sedan

There are numerous unique characteristics of every vehicle whether it's a classic car or your daily driver. It's not until decades later that any of these design details become very interesting. 

• Power windows: Once an innovative luxury item and the reason your kids/grandkids don't know what "roll up the window" means. 
• 2 sun visors: That was once an extra feature
• Power steering: Now the only reason anyone can park in a city thanks to the design of the seemingly shrunken parking lots.
• Turn signals: Can you imagine using hand signals on congested roads? Ouch!

Seems like a pretty basic list right? At first glance, it definitely is B.A.S.I.C. Things get's more complicated when replicating the early versions of these "options". Digging into the wire routing, mounting brackets, bulbs, wiring, wiper blades, specialty hardware, trim clips....well you understand. It's a different ballgame altogether when attempting to create a classic automotive time capsule that looks better than show room new. Oh and there's that minor detail of ensuring the old technology can safely carry people on today's busy roads.

Meet our latest challenge: 

1949 Buick Special Series 41, straight 8, 248 CI, 4 door sedan

The hood latches double as decorative trim on either side of the hood. The telescoping antenna has a knob above the rear view mirror to turn it from it's resting position, laying on the center strip of the windshield, to it's "on" position, upright and 4 ft tall!

We thought the interior of the car was tan. It appears to be tan. Even the headliner is tan! However, the body tag(discussed later on this post) and the smallest parts of the interior that escaped sun exposure tell us that the interior was in fact gray wool broadcloth with a dark gray metallic dash. The seat foam was so rodent damaged that the blankets on the seat are in place to cover the springs and the door panels are nearly missing all together. 

For the passengers, each seat has it's own ash tray and the glove box has a large clock front and center. Perhaps to allow well timed nagging of "are we there yet?" Sliding rear windows are a unique style and include a drain tube in the structure of the car to direct the rainwater from the window well , over the rear inner fender and to the ground through the rocker.