Projects Winter Project:1956 Buick Hardtop TONS OF PICS

The car:
1956 Buick Special 2 door hardtop
322 Buick nailhead
All stock
New aftermarket (stock) interior.

The players:
Me (Nick)
My dad (Nick)
My 12 year old cousin Michael
My lovely mother Peggy
and maybe some other faces here and there

Location:
A little town in Illinois

The Plan:
Body work
Sub frame with 64 Riviera front stub (the 56 front end will cost alot more to rebuild and the 64 should ride better)
64 Rivi rear end with new rear suspension
Lower
Clean up engine, paint, and re-install
GM Automatic transmission via A-dapter-kit (as the man in black would say)
Power Steering
Stereo
Primer for now but nice paint is definately the plan (with a cool panel and flake job on the roof)

The Goal:
April 1st drive the car and work out the bugs so we can have a NICE cruisin Buick to drive to the Lonestar Round Up in Texas on April 15th. (that gives us 2 months!!!!!)


The Story:
November 2008 rolls around and my dad and I realize we don't have a single running car for the summer of 2009. The "wedding car" model A is still sitting in back under a tarp and we both know that we won't have time to finish it. That is when I start looking for a 50's car. We figured "hey maybe we'll find something for cheap that we'll be able to get goin for the summer" We weren't looking to seriously but I came across an old craigslist ad for a 1956 Buick. Described as such "Runs good, 1 owner, new interior needs paint" We contacted the owner via email and it ended up being a lady whos parents bought the car brand new. It was in a town about an hour away from us. Coincidentally my cousins live in the same town and drive past it (sitting on the side of the road) every single day. So my mom, dad, and I hopped in ma's daily and rode up there to look at the car and visit my cousins.

We looked the car over with flashlights and we were ready to buy it. We had cash and were about to strike up a deal with the lady and then the husband got home......not a good scene. Thats when he found out she was selling the car. By the look on his face I thought the ol' lady was gonna drop dead. He took over the deal and wouldnt take the cash that we had. We had a nice visit with my cousins and on the way home my dad said "Oh well.................She'll call back, you just wait and see"

Sure enough she called back a couple weeks later and we finally got the car on November 13. We drove it up and down the street a few times and then let it sit through the holidays.

Where it came from

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In our driveway


Interior


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On December 31st we pulled the car in the garage and ripped out the motor. We arranged for my cousin Michael (12) to come help us work on the car for the weekend. His parents are not really DIYers but he is VERY mechanically inclined. We thought he deserved to wrench on the car since hes been seeing it nearly everyday for his entire life. That weekend we got the nailhead pulled and the rear suspension yanked out as well as getting it up on jack stands and ready for some hard work.


Me Pulling the engine




Michael unbolting the rear suspension


Three Stooges


My ma even lent a hand!

 

January 16 2009

We are waiting on our donor Rivi so my dad decided to investigate the funny looking paint spots in the rear quarters (Upper and lower), rockers, and fender.

This is what he found. Looks like somebody did a "nice" job with some fiberglass. haha







Both sides were almost exactly the same


My dad




My dad had the local sheet metal shop roll a piece of 22 gauge steel to match the curvature of the rocker (which is essentially the same exact curve as the lower to mid part of the rear quarter/fender) They curved it a little too much because its easier to pull it back a little bit than it is to curve it more. My dad cut the sheets to fit and he did a pretty damn good job.



He fit them both in next.



When he cut the old metal out he left the inner structure so he had the perfect place to attach the new panel to.



After these where all tacked in we started to build the corner of the door jamb because they where rusted out too.







When you weld in panels on sheet metal you have to be extremely carefull about creating too much heat so as not to warp your panels. Not only with welding but with grinding your welds too. My dad has been a body man for 30 years and he still had warping. You just hammer out what you can and mud the rest (or if your especially masochistic, metal finish haha)

 

nice project

 

That's one hell of a nice start to a project.

 

Holy Crap this place moves fast! Page 8 already? I guess i better be super lame and bring it back to the top. haha

 

cool car...love them buicks

 

my brother had a similiar rot spot in the middle of the quarter panel like that on his 55 buick

 

Yeah its strange. It was really weird being that there was one in the exact same spot on each side. Part of the window channel ends right at that spot so Im thinking it leaked down in there and just sat.

 

nice start, good luck, can't wait to see more updates.

 

nice project! good luck and keep us updated!

 

That's a neat car.

 

nice project man, looks like you got some great help. Would be fun having a family project like that! nice story also

 

Man, i wish my chrome looked that good. Nice find. My 56 also had hidden gems under the paint. Good looking repair.Have you checked under the carpet? My front floors were pretty bad. Keep us updated.

 

I better contact Drewfus on Monday to get him to check out his 55 for that rust spot. looked like it was a nice clean daily to start off with! what are your floors like? Drewfus's car looked good and he tells me that the floors are toast. Putting it down to the heater under the seat- stupid place to put a heater really, but given how shallow the dash is I guess that is why it got stuck there.

 

Seems rust and 'questionable' repairs seem to be a Buick common link I'm finding...

Look forward to watching your build.

Thanks, lucky to be inside out of heat for a moment...

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

nice job, but cover the glass or all that grinding will ruin them.

 

we lifted up the carpet and there is some rust. I think we are gonna ignore it for now. Its not that bad but it will need to be fixed eventually.

John, dont worry we cover the glass with our welding blanket everytime we are grinding or welding.

Hopefully ill have some time to post more updates and pictures tomorrow.

 

Nice work! I really like these cars and I can't wait to see more of your build.

 

The before pics looked so clean! That huge fiberglass chunk is hilarious. I hope you saved it. Metalwork looks good so far, keep it up.

 

I've always liked those Buicks - Great looking car, Nick! See you guys in Austin for sure...




Malcolm

 

that is a cool cruiser ya got there. Should be a nice to the round-up.

Jeff

 

good start on a cool ride

 

Nice to see another Buick being brought back, keep us updated.

 

Hey Nick and Nick cool stuff ,nice pics of rust repair maybe you could help out with my convert!!

 

The interior looks good in these photos. Looks like you made good progress on the quarter panel.

 

Nice entry! Thanks!

 

Thanks for all the good words guy. Im gonna try my best to get some updates ASAP. So busy!

 

Smoothing things out




Ready to be smoothed out.


Primed and block sanding

 

Lookin' like some very clean repairs, especially considering those lower panels were homemade. I look forward to seeing this one done. What are the colors going to be?