My 4th Buick

[Sixty8panther]

So I bought my fourth Buick last night.

I waited years to own a Buick after owning dozens of GM cars.

My theory was that I was going for broke, my first Buick was

going to be a '59 or nothing.

Just two months after I brought my '59 LeSabre I had THREE

Buicks in my driveway... the second being a '76 LeSabre four

door hardtop powered by a 455 (later sold to FlyBrian) and an

LT1 powered '94 Roadmaster Estate, now also long sold.

While I loved my LT1 powered Estate I always wanted a steel

roof sedan, esp. in a dark color, green, burgundy, black or

gun-metal gray...

Well last night I bougt (for $hort money even by my standards)

a steel roof sedan. It's a 1992 M.Y. so NO, it's not the super

desirable LT1 but who cares? It's still got a 5.7 liter V8, RWD

and a slew of luxury. There's no such thing as a bad SBC 350.

And there's no such thing as a bad '91-'96 B-body.

Here's a few photos:

[balthazar]

I just cannot get into these late-model B-Bodies, growing up surrounded by old '60s Bs & Cs.

Spent some scant moments in a '96 Brougham a few years ago, but could not warm up to it much, tho it was super comfortable. Good luck with it, S.

[vonVeezelsnider]

Very Nice!

Always wanted a Roadmaster Sedan or Estate. What's the Mileage? Maybe you could use some factory wire wheelcovers on that baby.

[Oracle of Delphi]

Well, well, well the Arlington Assembly plant, which made your car and the 1st GM site I worked at. Where else would a boy from Texas start? Here is a visual present for you Sixty Eight. Don't say i never gave you anything.

[knightfan26917]

NICE, Sixty8 ... congrats!!!!

Cort:34swm."Mr Monte Carlo.Mr Road Trip".pig valve&pacemaker

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Got a lead foot down on my accelerator" ... Jodee Messina ... 'Bye Bye Bye'

[Robert Hall]

Nice...by the way, what did you replace the diesel Merc with?

[Drew Dowdell]

Whattya say we all chip in and buy 68 some Westley's Bleach White for the white walls on both his Buicks....

[Camino LS6]

Congrats on the upgrade, 68.

... and I have to agree about the whitewalls.

[z28luvr01]

She's a beauty, but those Wal-Mart wheel covers have got to go. Might I suggest using them for skeet shooting practice?

[Sixty8panther]

Yeah the car is filthy... that's the way it goes here in New England

in the month of January. I dragged her home after dropping in

the side-post NAPA battery out of the Datsun and putting in a few

gallons of fresh 93-octane, a car wash was not high priority.

Those Wal*Mart hubcaps are hideous, I'll be replacing them with a

set form some old '77 LeSabre or '68 Electra as soon as I can.

I just cannot get into these late-model B-Bodies, growing up surrounded by old '60s Bs & Cs.

Spent some scant moments in a '96 Brougham a few years ago, but could not warm up to it much, tho it was super comfortable. Good luck with it, S.

But you see where I'm coming from, right Balthazar?

Look at the alternatives? If you want a cheap car from the 1990s

that will run forever, a real tank with a REAL frame, RWD & good

comfort & decent fuel economy it's either a B-body or the uglier,

cheaper Crown Vic/G.Marq/Towncar... or you really give up and

buy one of the other "luxury cars" from GM that have FWD, look

like gel-tablets with sideways mounted motors and don't ride

anything as nice.... not to mention the joys of FWD ownership &

the many FUBARs that entails come maintenance time.

Back in he early 1990s when the restyled B-body hit the streets

I thought they looked goofy, now in hindsight it's even cooler

looking than the F-bodys of the same era... at least to me.

Knowing that underneath that tired old paint and dented up

sheetmetal are basically the mechanicals of a full size truck with

a bulletproof motor, trans. & structure is what makes the 1990s

B-body the coolest product from GM.

They're trully the LAST of their kind. Even the new Zeta cars will

probably have a tough time living in the shaddow of the B-body.

I absolutely LOVE this car.... it's in need of about $400 worth of

interior cosmetice and could benefit from a paintob but it runs

and drives like a dream. I'll be sinking a few hundred bucks into

it to make it more presentable but the purchase price was $200

and that's only $50 more than the junkyard gave me for the

non-running '92 SAAB 900 that I donated to them after a friend

of a friend gave it to me for free.

The only real imediate issue with this Roadm@nster is the rotted

out right rear floorboard, that needs to be welded up ASAP.

The milage is 111,950 which is not too bad at all for a $200

winter beater, esp. since it's about half the money of the typical

going price around here for a '92 Caprice with 200+K miles and

a tired old 305. I think this is one of the best deals I've ever

gotten, and that's saying a LOT!

And to answer the last question this will probably become the

replacement for the Mercedes once that sells and I'll buy myself

a certain Buick that I've had my eye on... more on that later,

first I gotta fix up this old tired girl for Julie so I can sell the

Mercedes, and I will once again have an ALL GM fleet.

[Sixty8panther]

Thanks PCS, that makes me drooooooool, someday I gotta step up to an LT-1 Fleetwood Brougham!

[SuperSport623]

my mom had a 92 Roadmaster sedan, blue on blue... she inherited it from my grandfather when he died in 97, and kept it until about 04... man that thing was a TANK! definition of a land yacht, it was solid..,..

when i get my B-Body, im getting 96 Impy SS!

congrats on the new buick!

[balthazar]

Yeah, I know what your saying, S, I don't disagree with you on the specs, but I do not see the advantages of going '1990s' in the least- it's just not neccessary in my book.

All the plastic and... and plastic- blech. I hate it, I really do. Cars used to be primarily elemental: wood, steel, iron, rubber, glass... now they are primarily chemical: plastics.

Then again, I was in a circa 8000-car junkyard today, a real good one; so my viewpoint is even more heavily skewed than normal.

[american_revolution_2005]

Nice. I always loved the B-bodies. Have you considered Impala SS replica rims? They look extremely nice and there is a site that sells the set of four for cheap.

Edited January 11, 2008 by american_revolution_2005

[daves87rs]

Very cool choice.

I would love an Impy SS..I loved those cars...

My buddy has a 91 Caprice as a winter car....it's fun to be in...and fun to drive....

[Sixty8panther]

I know EXACTLY what you're saying Balthazar... but one of the

reasons it sucks living in the 21st century is that gas is tripple

what is was, while wages haven't gone up hardly at all, & even

the most basic of the carburated BIG cars gets somewhat

expensive to drive when you're delivering chinese food in a

poor town where people give you a $1.50 tip to drive 14 miles

round trip.

That, and a beat up and crappy example of a pre-plastic-orgy

car such as a B-body from the late 60s or early 70s would set

me back a cool grand for an example far less reliable & much

more rusted/beat.

In a perfect world I'd deliver chinese food in THIS:

1936 Buick Limited Series 90 Limousine!

http://boston.craigslist.org/nos/car/532244537.html

13,500 for a grogeous, rare, PRE-WAR classic!

How cool would it be to drive the wheels off that car and justify it as "I'm working..." ?

---

Too bad this car is in need of $5,000 of work to be roadworthy, I've seen it before.

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/car/534543292.html

$2100 for a '60 Bel Air two door HARDTOP:

---

or if I had three.five K$ I'd buy this puppy and call it Clifford.

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/car/535023467.html

1977 Buick Electra TWO DOOR

---

This one looks cool, but $2800 for a lowly Skylark?

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/car/534550749.html

1977 Skylark ---->

---

That being said I had a hard enough of a time convincing my wife that a big V8

tank with the looks of a Grampa car was a good choice for our next vehicle

when she's thinkning "maximum fuel economy" as in... if my balls were in her

purse like so many guys today I'd be driving a VW Golf or perhaps something

even more horrific like a Hyundai hatch!

So you see this is MY version of a modern car... this is about as modern as I

want to go right now, given lower gas prices I;d be rocking a beater '61 Caddy

bubbletop or perhaps a late '60s Cutlass hardtop.

BUT.....

Here's the kicker, I'm trying to get Julie to warm up to the Roadmaster and I'll

be installiung an MP3-compatible CD in it to that end, so that I can buy a car

off craigslist that has been making me drool for two weeks now.

I'll give you TWO hints:

- I consider this one to the THE 2nd coolest post-WWII Buick design (B-59 being the first)

- It's barelly younger than my LeSabre

- Metal Dash, chrome bumpers

- Gets almost as good fuel economy as the Roadmaster if not possibly better

- NOT a body on frame car

- Uses one of Buick's oldest & most endearing names

- when new it was MT's car of the year

That's about as easy as trivia gets, stay tunned because as soon as the Mercedes sells

there's a very good chance that we will have an ALL Buick fleet.

[Drew Dowdell]

Well isn't that Special.

[Oracle of Delphi]

my mom had a 92 Roadmaster sedan, blue on blue... she inherited it from my grandfather when he died in 97, and kept it until about 04... man that thing was a TANK! definition of a land yacht, it was solid..,..

when i get my B-Body, im getting 96 Impy SS!

congrats on the new buick!

Hmmm, I saw one one of those today parked at McDonalds, it was painted Power Ranger Pink.

[Sixty8panther]

Well isn't that Special.

yup.... a 1962 Buick Special four-door-sedan, V6 powered.

I was focusing on buying a two or four door hardtop but

this thing popped up for $1000 firm. It runs, drives, stops,

has a mostly complete interior and the rust is supposedly

not serious. I need to go take a look at it but if the

description was honest in a couple weeks I just might buy

a cute little surfboard-fendered baby sister for my angry

fifty-nine. That's a WIN/WIN scenario, a real gorgeous

classic car & decent fuel economy.

[Robert Hall]

Delivering Chinese? I thought you worked at UPS, 68..

[Sixty8panther]

Delivering Chinese? I thought you worked at UPS, 68..

Most days I work at UPS 3am - 9am, go home, shower, change & go deliver Chinese food for 4, 6 or 8 hours.

Sleep, repeat.

[Robert Hall]

Most days I work at UPS 3am - 9am, go home, shower, change & go deliver Chinese food for 4, 6 or 8 hours.

Sleep, repeat.

Sounds exhausting.

[Sixty8panther]

yeah.... most days it is. As soon as I work my way up the UPS ladder I hope to get back to just one job.

[Robert Hall]

Driving back from Boulder this afternoon, I thought of you, '68...I saw a sharp gold late '70s-early '80s Merc CE turbodiesel 2dr ht..don't see those very often.

[Sixty8panther]

Holy cow, that's more rare than seeing a UNIMOG here in the USA.

Just the other day I was saying that I'd love to buy an early 1990s

Mercedes 300CE and do a engine/trans swap out of a 300TD and

then eventually a grease-car.com veggie conversion. And why stop

there, right? Then I'd change over the interior to white with a candy

apple red exterior... (like I have that kind of money )

[Robert Hall]

Holy cow, that's more rare than seeing a UNIMOG here in the USA.

Just the other day I was saying that I'd love to buy an early 1990s

Mercedes 300CE and do a engine/trans swap out of a 300TD and

then eventually a grease-car.com veggie conversion. And why stop

there, right? Then I'd change over the interior to white with a candy

apple red exterior... (like I have that kind of money )

I think I've seen that W123 diesel coupe around a few times, there can't be very many gold diesel coupes like that in the metro area..

The early '90s C124-platform 300CEs are sweet cars...my sister loves her '91...bright red, black leather interior. Only has 115k miles, compared to the 175k miles of her V126 '84 500SEL.

Edited January 13, 2008 by moltar

[Sixty8panther]

If I could ever get a diesel motor into a 560SEC or 300CE I can't imagine I'd ever sell it.

That would be the ULTIMATE "modern" daily driver.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Could put a Duramax in one or both of the old cars.

[Sixty8panther]

Yup.... I've been toying with the idea of selling off a lot of my $h!, buying a

'61 Cadillac two door hardtop and throwing in a turbo-diesel of some sort...

At this point I'd probably go with a diesel inline-six-turbo mercedes motor.

[Intrepidation]

I love Sixty8's radical thinking. This is what happened when we attempted to take the B59 to Tulsa. He wanted to change the water pump, put new tires on it, replace the rear suspension...all in 2 days while driving down there. The car would have none of of it though

[Sixty8panther]

It was all a money issue in the end.

If I had just not been so damn frugal in May and bought a new H20

pump off ebay for $275 instead of the used one for $75 we would

have been "good to go"... then I would have had the time & money

& energy to put those radial tires on so baby would have had a new

pair of shoes for her trip to Tulsa.

Sometimes my constant "stretching of $0.50 to make a dollar" ends

up bitting me in the a$$. What was it that Tupac said...?

[Intrepidation]

It was all a money issue in the end.

If I had just not been so damn frugal in May and bought a new H20

pump off ebay for $275 instead of the used one for $75 we would

have been "good to go"... then I would have had the time & money

& energy to put those radial tires on so baby would have had a new

pair of shoes for her trip to Tulsa.

Sometimes my constant "stretching of $0.50 to make a dollar" ends

up bitting me in the a$$. What was it that Tupac said...?

It all worked out in the end, and we saved an assload of money on gas too

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Sixty-eight. I have learned through the years with the 4 B-bodies is not to be too cheap when it comes to buying parts for them.

[Sixty8panther]

Good advice. But Good parts are cheap for BOF cars powered by SBC V8s, so why be stingy!?

There's plenty of them in the junkyards unfortunately... when it comes to non-wearable items.

So far I've driven about 1600 miles in the Roadmaster and I've spent the following:

$7.00 to fix a broken gas tank strap... (800lbs. chain did the trick)

$15.00 on three tires from the junkyard this am* 80% tread, good sidewalls!

$18.00 on an oil change

$4.00 for a couple of light bulbs

* every last sat. of the month is $5.00 tire day at Holland's junkyard in Billerica...

$5 a tire including the rim, so long as it's a cheap steel rim of less than 16"

wire, aluminum, or other alloy wheels + tires are $35

[Ravenfreak13]

you can always buy my electra if you want *nudge nudge*

[Sixty8panther]

Your Electra is a great example of a classic Buick, I still do not understand why

you are giving up on it after one failed attempt at bodywork repair.

[Ravenfreak13]

I don't have the money or time or know how to fix up or even maintain the car.

[Sixty8panther]

Six years ago when I bought my '68 Camaro I knew next to NOTHING about

fixing up cars, old or new... but I started learning, and FAST. Little by little I

bought some basic tools and my know-how increased exponentially.

[trinacriabob]

Nice. I am sure I have your vehicle in the same brochure as my 1992 Regal (yes...yuck...I know...W-body). However, those are nice sleds. Still, my favorite in full-size GM rear-drive cars are the 1975 or 1976 Bonneville Brougham or Grand Ville Brougham in 2-doors with the oversized opera window, a landau top and rally wheels. I know you like them, too.

Question: what does the SBC in 350 mean? I take it you have an all cast-iron 350 small block V8, but which division made it for Buick in that year? I'm sure it will do well.

Isn't it cool to lift a hood to see this V-8 sitting in there PROPORTIONATELY and toward the rear near the firewall, facing you, and hopefully with all the spark plugs which can be reached with your bare hands? I will say this RWD makes the engine compartment LOOK and FUNCTION way better.

[Sixty8panther]

Isn't it cool to lift a hood to see this V-8 sitting in there PROPORTIONATELY and toward the rear near the firewall, facing you, and hopefully with all the spark plugs which can be reached with your bare hands? I will say this RWD makes the engine compartment LOOK and FUNCTION way better.

You're speaknig MY language!

The last FWD car I bought was my 1997 Cadillac STS.

I bought it for Marcia (now my ex) the STS was her

dream car. I still have a soft spot for the '92-'98 STS

but I will never own another. I've already walked

down that plank into financially disasterous waters.

I parted out as much as I could of the STS last year

and sent the still running/driving shell to the junkyard.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Spark plugs can be reached with bare hands? I dont think I can see the plugs on the Bonneville much less touch them. The Caprice is almost as bad.

[Sixty8panther]

It's called a spark plug wrench...

Point is the firewall, windshield, radiator support,

fan-shroud, intake or cowl are not it the way.

[Cory Wolfe]

Point is the firewall, windshield, radiator support,

fan-shroud, intake or cowl are not it the way.

My Millenia's engine is easier to get at than the Cutlass's. Much easier to work on, too.

Nice Roadmaster, though.

[Sixty8panther]

Thanks BV...

from what I've seen at the junkyards, those miller cycle sixes are not exactly

accessible. Certainly it can not be hard to get at the spark plugs in the Olds

though, Cadillacs with their more packed engine bays full of air-pumps, big

AC compressors and bulky wiring harnesses are a bit more hassle but I'd

much rather deal with that than the average FWD car with a V-motor....

[Cory Wolfe]

Thanks BV...

from what I've seen at the junkyards, those miller cycle sixes are not exactly

accessible. Certainly it can not be hard to get at the spark plugs in the Olds

though, Cadillacs with their more packed engine bays full of air-pumps, big

AC compressors and bulky wiring harnesses are a bit more hassle but I'd

much rather deal with that than the average FWD car with a V-motor....

Well, it's not the Miller Cycle. That one has a supercharger to get around. Mine doesn't. Changing the spark plugs takes about 10 minutes with my Millenia. It took me nearly an hour in the Cutlass. Everything is in the way and they're down on the sides. Plus, there's about two inches of clearance to get at the last two plugs on the right side due all the A/C and heater crap. With my Millenia, their right on top. The back ones have the intake to deal with, but it's not in the way.

VS

[Sixty8panther]

I see your point about the clunky AC compressor.

The B/D body's larger engine bay lends itself better to maintenance I guess...

Still on the average, if you take off that air-cleaner, fan shroud and if need be

some of those heatercore/radiator/emissions hoses and you're ready to get

down to brass tacks. Still go back just ONE decade (pre-74 esp.) & you've got

yourself HALF the crap & needless complication in an average RWD, midsize

car, with a more spaceous and better thought out engine bay.

The 1980s were so ridiculous, between all the smog equiptment like emissions

hoses, charcoal canisters & other snake-oil "theoretical" band-aid technology

it's a wonder that cars ran at all. I read a book once about GM where they

interviewed an engineer who openly admitted that much of the 1980s devices

intended to control emissions were far fetched and mostly theoretical, when

all else failed they used educated guesses and pretty much just about any

random jimmy-rig so that the end would justify the means.

Gotta love the EPA & the green Nazis.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

I have quite often looked at the 2 B-bodies and wondered what all the hoses were for. Seems the schematics in the repair manuals show only about half of it. Was tempted when I was having the trouble with the carburetor on the Bonneville to just take it ALL out and start over. Maybe holley fuel injection. But they were able to make it work pretty well so I never pursued that. The Caprice runs very well so I never thought about it for that.