@@gordonborsboom7460. Used in the movie, A Christmas Story, they are from the book, In God we Trust, All other pay Cash, a series of short stories from his childhood, buy author and humorist Jean Shepard. Great reading!
Australia here. When I was a young guy, 30 years ago, there was a 6 wheel black Buick sitting in the middle of a chook yard not too far from home. I didn't know it was a Buick, it just looked really cool. I asked if the guy wanted to sell it, but he said no.He passed away some time later and the Buick was sold as scrap. What a waste.
Thanks for this one, Adam. Also notable for 1939 was the first year the grille became a full width grille, rather than something layered over the radiator that was thinner and more upright. Compare to the 1938 and the difference is striking. Thus begin the era of ever more fully integrated bodies, which only culminated in the 1950s.
Oh my gosh....you've out-done yourself with this beautiful 'mini' feature film! Excellent!! Thanks for posting! I cannot get over how beautiful these late-1930s Buicks were....almost every detail has 'class' incorporated within. Thanks again for educating those of us who weren't alive back then.
I have read many books over the years about Buick history. The front end was certainly unique but I read that the grille design caused overheating problems under certain conditions. Hopefully they solved the problem by the time the 1992 Skylark was introduced! My father told me that when he was a kid living on a farm in Wisconsin his family was poor (it was during the depression) and were visited by relatives who drove a Buick of this era. He was among a group of cousins who were playing outdoors in cold weather. The kids wanted to get out of the elements so they got into my grandparents old Ford. The wind whistled around the windows and doors and the cousins suggested that they all pile into their Buick. My father could not get over the difference. The Buick was tight and no wind blew into the car. That stuck with him his whole life.
Dad had a 38 Special business coupe. He told me that he should of weighted till 39's went on sale cause he really liked the styling. But that 38 lasted thru WW2 and into the early 50's before it was just worn out. Then he traded it in on a 52 olds
Thanks for taking a look back at cars outside the 60's to 90's period.....some truly beautiful styling in that era. Would love to see more, especially ones in colors not seen today....so tired of contemporary color palettes...(black, white, grey, silver....ugh). If you do a video on the '41 models and need photos, I'd be happy to send pics of my '41 Buick Special SSE, a maroon "torpedo back" coupe.
This is mentioned in a marque book I own (“The Buick: A Complete History”, published by Automobile Quarterly) and the author relates that some customers would actually look under cars in the showroom, to determine whether the cars were short frame cars. Very embarrassing for the salesmen. Other than the short frame, these had a very good and modern chassis, with trailing arms, coil springs, and a Panhard rod.
Howdy, just watched your feature and it made me smile ruefully. When I first had the yen to do up an old car into a nice cruiser back in the early 80's, I found a fairly good American- built 1939 Buick Special 4 door up here in northern Canada. It was minus the engine and tranny but was otherwise quite unmolested. I was told the engine had been seized for years as it had overheated and had been tossed. Once I started disassembling it, i was quite surprised to see it had no frame behind the rear end assembly but had a few braces to the back bumper and a curved piece of angle iron inside the rear bumper. I thought it was factory at the time (although kind of tacky looking) and it wasn't until years later I found out that it was one of the first 10,000 or so Buicks that were built with the short frame. It worked well enough for what I wanted to do with the car so I reinstalled all the braces once I had the car ready to go. Over 30 years since then, it's always seemed pretty solid but I really never entertained the notion of pulling a trailer and I never overloaded the trunk. This car also had the stream boards which were a sportier version of the usual running boards you saw on cars of that era. It was Buick's first attempt to get away from the obsolete concept of the running board. They looked really great and still do. The funny thing about the car is once I got it going in the mid 80;s and proudly showed it off to a few old guys at the time, the response I got was, "Oh yeah the 39 Buicks with the short frames and those air-blocking grille bars that caused engines to overheat and seize; (Ah Ha!) those were real lemons that year!") I still love mine though!
Crazy, I’ve had my 1938 Buick Special for 7 years and never knew they made that change in 1939. Glad I went with a 38! Mine as knee action shocks in the front, cartridge shocks in the rear. It is interesting Buick went back to knee action on the rear for 1939.
A very dignified and stately motor vehicle, which was common in the era, and a big reason we love these automobiles. I would love to hear someone describe how engineers of the distant past did their testing, or how they devised designs considering strength, lifespan, and the like.
I have a 1939 Buick special, its completely apart for restoration but the last pic of this video is what my car would have looked like when new. I thought the frame in this car was weird but didn't realize it was a one year only problem.
Everytime I see a '39 Buick it reminds me of some of the great Warner Brothers gangster movies with Bogie, Cagney &/or Edward G. Robinson. One of my uncles had a '39 Special sedan & loved it. He kept it until '56 & traded it in on a Special 4-door hardtop.
Our family had a 39 Buick Special back in the 80s. What a wonderful car. I miss it! Unrestored and everything worked except the "knee action" shock absorbers. They would leak out their hydro fluid quickly. Straight 8 was a breeze to drive. Let me let you in on a secret: to start the car, turn ignition on and push the gas pedal to the floor to engage the starter!
It should be adjusted so you only need to push it half-way to the floor. Otherwise you open up the automatic choke, exactly what you DON'T want to do when the motor is cold.
The style of cars in the 1930s have always looked similar to me. This '39 Buick grille looks the same as Fords to me. A video about styling of thirties and forties cars with the research you normally do would be enlightening.
5:38 Notice the T-shaped "torque tube" axle, coil springs and Panhard rod that would continue to be a Buick trademark until 1960; its tendency to transmit vibration necessitated the use of Buick's smooth Dynaflow transmission instead of Cadillac's clunky but efficient 4 speed Hydramatic.
When I was young many of those old straight 8s were around and could be got as a used car for very cheap. My oldest brothers first car was a Pontiac Str.8 he got for 50 dollars. He took me and my brothers all over the place in it. It had that Indian head on the hood that glowed when the lights were on. They were good engines easy to work on and very reliable. The old trans were many of the cars of that eras week point esp. the early autos.
What in the world were they thinking when they made that drastic of a mistake??Where in the world were their engineers?? Now that is one factoid I never would have known if it was not for Adam!!
Thank you Adam. Who knew Buick had this issue. This was interesting to learn about Buick and this issue. It was interesting to learn the meaning behind the Century name. It is in use in China today at Buick there. That had to be a costly fix. Roadmaster and Limited by have a long history with Buick as model names. You went back and it was quite interesting.
Hah! Remember discussing the "bobtailed Buicks" with a friend of my dad's who was around when those cars debuted. He said that if a 1939 Century 4 door sedan went over a set or railroad tracks at speed the rear doors would fly open. Must have been interesting for the rear seat passengers - particularly with the rear opening doors and no seat belts! Buick chief engineer Charles Chayne was ultimately in charge of the engineering snafu - the decision approved by none other than Buick's depression era savior, President (General Manager) Harlowe Curtis, who was trying to save a little money per unit. Once the reports started coming in from the field, Buick engineering devised a "band aid" in the form of a retro fit bolt-on frame for the rear of the cars for anyone who requested it. Also, full frames were designed and approved for production as quickly as possible - so some 1939's have full frames. Life could be very interesting before the days of product recalls.
I know somebody who was sitting in the backseat with their little 8 year old sister, and the door somehow opened while the car was moving and she started to fall out. And said person who was probably around 12 years old was hanging onto her little sister keeping her from falling fully out of the car! Not wearing seatbelts back then
Looking at the 1992 Skylark through todays lens is tough. I can tell you though, it was a very cool car to see on the car lot and on the road at that time.
Thanks for this very informative post. We had a series 90 and still remember it as a wonderful car. I still keep a Post War series 50. The GM straight 8 has to be the best automotive engine built.
I enjoy these videos so much and especially for the pros and cons of the manufacturer and what they did to the car. I am hoping that you can do one on the 41 Pontiac coupe and the other ones for that year.
An interesting feature that Buick adopted in 1939 was directional signals, strangely at the back only for that year but it would become standard on most cars soon after!
I'd like the blue 60 Buick 4 door sedan that Brad Hamilton had for a commuter car. Might be a comfy car to deliver food in for Captain Hook Fish & Chips, while wearing their pirate uniform. 😊
Adam you are an automotive genius.I love your videos.Presentation in your laid back style makes these videos enjoyable. I just wish they were longer.You could do an hour long video on a Yugo and I would watch it.Thanks for your videos and cheers from Eluethra.
I figured it would be a small little thing that was overblown to get views. No, that was a pretty major oversight and shortcoming, especially in a car that was expected to be extra strong in all ways. I can't imagine trying to go ahead and bolt a trailer hitch to a car that had no frame for the last two and a half feet, and what DISASTROUS effects that would have. I mean, not even the bumper would have been worth a hoot, but bolting a hitch to the sheet metal trunk floor?! Really? Some people actually did that? Wow.
Those '92 -'98 Skylarks were the better looking of their GM platform-mates though. They were actually quite nice vehicles inside and out -and drove nicely too. I remember driving one for drivers ed. class when they were new on the market -was very impressed with it. Seriously considered getting one several times over the years but never did 🙂 Probably an underappreciated car in that community of used car buffs that bought things like that in the 90's.
My first new car was a ‘92 Skylark coupe. The grill calling back to the ‘39 is what got me to look at it, and yes, it was better looking than most of what was available in its price range then. I liked the interior, which was the first interior at GM designed by an all female design team, so I was told. Put a lot of miles on that car.
Interestingly, those lever shocks were used by the British for many years thereafter. MG used them in the MGB (until 1980) and the Midget (until 1979). As the owner of a ‘78 Midget, I’m familiar with the process of topping up the oil in these shocks.
Hey! That Buick is here in my state of Oregon. My uncle Quincy always drove Buick`s & GMC trucks for his work with United Chrome delivering sawmill chipper blades.
Was 1939 the first year for that frame design? My dad had a 1937 Century and he never mentioned that feature. He did talk about some other innovations it had such as the torque tube, all coil springs, and the “grasshopper leg” shocks that I see on this model.
Ya, know. We may not always say it, but we're (I'm including) very impressed with your knowledge and collection of cars. I'm 66 and have had everything from AMC to VW. Most I regret selling, parting with as i loved my babies like you do. The last hurricane Ian took my 98 Volvo s70 mint condition and my 91 Plymouth Colt Vista zero rust. I'm now a Honda guy, Honda shadow, helix, and reflex. I ride what suits my needs for that day. So I have 3 vehicles, how many do you really have. 100? Please tell
Great video, I was hoping you would cover some older cars. I am curious about American cars from the late forties and early fifties, years often not covered.
'38 is my fav year but that '39 grill & the whole car is just gorgeous. If, if, if I could find 1otherwise stock with a 350/TH400 drive train & new brakes & etc, how happy I'd be....
You forgot about the Buick Blackhawk concept car which had '39 Buick front facia styling cues, a retractable hardtop and was built on the last Buick Riviera's platform!
Gee, I've always thought that only Chevy, Olds and Cadillac had made disastrous designs. Now I wonder if Pontiac ever made a goof as big as this, the Vega, the Diesel and the aluminum Caddy engines... ?
From the histories of the cars Adam and others have shown, one conclusion that's hard to escape is that while body-on-frame designs, fully-unitized designs, and unitized designs with small front and/or rear subframes seem to work well, partial frames that stop somewhere in the middle are often wasteful and troublesome. Other good examples of cars that suffered from the shortcomings of half-frames are the first generation Cadillac Seville (as well as the Camaro, Nova, and siblings), the first generation the Toronado and the Eldorado. The Seville was the only one of that bunch that was really refined, and the extra damping that was designed to tame it added weight, complexity and points of failure.
If anyone here has ever driven a Straight 8 Buick, I would love to know how the torque was... The flathead Lycoming straight 8 in the '31 Auburn Boattail didn't want to spin over 2,500 rpm, but it had so much torque you didn't have to give it any throttle to let the clutch out.
Great video as always. Watching this gave me an idea, I wonder if anyone took the bobtail chassis with the straight 8 and drivetrain and mounted a t bucket body to it.
Since we don't need to attach the non-existent leaf spring shackle so far behind why waste steel on additional spars? Is this one of the first measures of the famous GM beans counter?
At least Buick gave you more frame than Olds and Cadillac offered for the Toronado and Eldorado in the 1960s. Since the Riviera of the same era opted for a full frame and full coil suspension, I wonder whether this misadventure had some influence. "Once burned..."
My first car in 11968 was a 1939 Buick . It was very roomy especially in the back..the suspension was veet 'pliant' The car was very thirsty with its straight 8 cylinder engine. . My older Bro drove us both to school.Unfortunatelu even then it look dated and the headmaster asked us to leave it out in the street..We attended a posh boys school !
Wasn’t aware of this issue on the ‘smaller’ 1939 Buick and don’t recall (or mentally blocked) that it was the inspiration for the ultra ugly ‘92 Skylark. The ‘39 Buick also inspired a beautiful Buick, the 2003 Blackhawk show car.
Yes,o am glad someone calls it out. A 2 door version. I also was told that the century was named century because it could reach 100 mph. A total feat fir 1939. You are correct
I believe in 1960 they did something similar, might have been GM in general. Some models had an X frame, thus no side impact protection. This included 4 door hardtops which had no center post either. I had two friends that up graded in model (don’t remember which) to get the fill frame protection in their 4 door hardtops.
My Grandpa always had Buicks. His first was a 1939, I'm guessing it was a series 40 Special as they didn't have a lot of money. That car made several trips from Wisconsin to California during its life. From what I've heard it was a very reliable car, except it blew a radiator in the middle of the desert on one trip forcing them to drive at night a few mile at a time until they reached a service station! I had a chance at buying a '39 Buick years ago and I've always been sorry I didn't do it, but I now am the proud owner of a 1951 Roadmaster!
2:23: see that 'rope' attached the rear of the front seat? Legend has it that it was designed to hold a blanket, since rear seats in older cars got pretty cold. I'd guess early 1950s was when Detroit quit installing these.
I'm not really a big fan of these older cars but I enjoy learning about them from time to time. It occurred to me that the Limited is essentially what a Suburban or Escalade would be today.
80s GM rear wheel drive cars had frames that would rust out at the back. I tied the bumper to the back of the body with rope to keep it from falling off.
If they had been thinking a little further ahead and made a sort of "semi unibody" type design where there would have been sufficient structrual support integrally welded to the rear body section. In more recent times GM has done vehicles that were almost complete true unibodies that needed only a "subframe" for the front third of the car....
It's not surprising that all these years later most automobile fans are unaware of the debacle of the '39 "Bob-tail" Buicks. Dunham and Gustin's book "The Buick - A Complete History" (an excellent volume, very well-researched) has likely the definitive version of how it happened. As the '39 Buicks were late in development, Harlow "Red" Curtice, Buick's GM and later GM President, ordered Buick Chief Engineer Charlie Chayne to take 10% out of the cost of the entire car. The bean-counters strike again! Since the adoption of coil spring rear suspension meant that they no longer needed a full length frame behind the rear axle as in a leaf-spring suspension, that seemed redundant and so the frame was shortened. Testing was supposedly done, but it must have been rushed and perhaps an afterthought. The rear sheetmetal was said to have been strengthened but it proved inadequate. The authors tell a story about 2 Buick execs taking one of the first production '39s to Detroit for a meeting with other execs and backing into another car bumper to bumper in what they thought was just a slight manner as they were leaving to go home. When they got to Flint, they couldn't get out of the car as the entire body had "sprung" as they described it. The doors were seized shut from body structure distortion. Changes were made in production almost immediately to install full frames, and for already shipped cars an angle iron assembly was provided for dealers to install. BTW, the Buick Chief Engineer in later years was Lowell Kintigh, not Leo.
I ordered the 1988 edition of that book back in 1990 at a local bookstore. I was 13 years old then, I remember it costing $54 here in Canada and not being used to spend that kind of money for anything! Certainly helped me learn a bit more of English! Got a newer edition for about half the price at the Flint centennial flea market in 03 and gave the old one that was falling apart to a friend!
drove airport limo around 82-83, was a new Buick (Limited?), converted to propane. Nice ride and comfortable car, but looked a little plain Jane next to the Century series. Buyers of this brand must have been forgiving seeing how these models and btand name lasted so long...
Gorgeous - 1939 was a great year for Buick style even if the bobtail frame was not a great year for Buick engineering. I especially liked the yellow convertible four door at 3:36.
I can see people being ticked off about the frame. Even with photos, most people wouldn't be able to determine that a shortened frame was going to be a problem based just on that. The engine size though is obvious. Don't go by marketing names, go by numbers.
@MarinCipollina I know the Chevrolets did as a cost cutting to have Fisher Body install the bumper. When hit hard like the 39 Buick, the rear roof side sail panel would buckle. Not sure if BOP had the problem.
w@@arthurdybowski5615 Well that sounds pretty horrible.I worked new car sales at a Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac-GMC dealer in the early 1980s. I don't think I ever even heard of that.. But the auto industry is huge, and GM was the biggest. So just because I never heard of it doesn't mean it's not a real thing. You know.. It's just hard for me to imagine anyone doing that. The more you think about it, the worse it actually is, and the less sense it makes.
The more modern Skylark looks more like the Y Job that preceded the 1939 design. I think the designers went all the way back to Harley's show car for inspiration.
my dad had a '38 Centry, my dad and mom, with my mom's mom, went for a rice, grandmother in the back seat,, roads here in MA were hilly? they went over a hill, small, as one would say, 'that made my tummy turn' as in weeee' .. my grandmother hit the roof lol.
![Lp. Последняя Реальность #97 ЧЁРНАЯ МАТЕРИЯ [Анти Скинт] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k4MjXCzKsYw/mqdefault.jpg)
“Some men are Methodist, others Catholic. My father was an Oldsmobile man.” I know it’s a Buick video, but this car made me think of that line
Hehehe…love it!
"That hot-damn Oldsmobile is frozen up again!"
What are these quotes from?
It's the first time I've come across this.
@@gordonborsboom7460the movie “A Christmas Story” - those quotes were spoken by Ralphies old man.
@@gordonborsboom7460. Used in the movie, A Christmas Story, they are from the book, In God we Trust, All other pay Cash, a series of short stories from his childhood, buy author and humorist Jean Shepard. Great reading!
Australia here. When I was a young guy, 30 years ago, there was a 6 wheel black Buick sitting in the middle of a chook yard not too far from home. I didn't know it was a Buick, it just looked really cool. I asked if the guy wanted to sell it, but he said no.He passed away some time later and the Buick was sold as scrap. What a waste.
Thanks for this one, Adam. Also notable for 1939 was the first year the grille became a full width grille, rather than something layered over the radiator that was thinner and more upright. Compare to the 1938 and the difference is striking. Thus begin the era of ever more fully integrated bodies, which only culminated in the 1950s.
Oh my gosh....you've out-done yourself with this beautiful 'mini' feature film!
Excellent!!
Thanks for posting!
I cannot get over how beautiful these late-1930s Buicks were....almost every detail has 'class' incorporated within.
Thanks again for educating those of us who weren't alive back then.
Gosh and golly gee wizz you're right!
I have read many books over the years about Buick history. The front end was certainly unique but I read that the grille design caused overheating problems under certain conditions. Hopefully they solved the problem by the time the 1992 Skylark was introduced! My father told me that when he was a kid living on a farm in Wisconsin his family was poor (it was during the depression) and were visited by relatives who drove a Buick of this era. He was among a group of cousins who were playing outdoors in cold weather. The kids wanted to get out of the elements so they got into my grandparents old Ford. The wind whistled around the windows and doors and the cousins suggested that they all pile into their Buick. My father could not get over the difference. The Buick was tight and no wind blew into the car. That stuck with him his whole life.
Lever arm shockabsorbers. Popular with british cars back then.
Interesting to see a panhard rod for lateral control of axle.
Dad had a 38 Special business coupe. He told me that he should of weighted till 39's went on sale cause he really liked the styling.
But that 38 lasted thru WW2 and into the early 50's before it was just worn out. Then he traded it in on a 52 olds
I understood the 1938 model was a styling pinnacle
Thanks for taking a look back at cars outside the 60's to 90's period.....some truly beautiful styling in that era. Would love to see more, especially ones in colors not seen today....so tired of contemporary color palettes...(black, white, grey, silver....ugh). If you do a video on the '41 models and need photos, I'd be happy to send pics of my '41 Buick Special SSE, a maroon "torpedo back" coupe.
50k shades of grey.
This is mentioned in a marque book I own (“The Buick: A Complete History”, published by Automobile Quarterly) and the author relates that some customers would actually look under cars in the showroom, to determine whether the cars were short frame cars. Very embarrassing for the salesmen.
Other than the short frame, these had a very good and modern chassis, with trailing arms, coil springs, and a Panhard rod.
Apparently also pretty good brakes for the time
Very intriguing, Adam. Never heard that story about the Buick frame, or lack thereof 😮
So the rear bumper mounted to sheet metal???? That would make the trunk a crumple zone -- hope the gas tank wasn't back there somewhere. Ouch
Howdy, just watched your feature and it made me smile ruefully. When I first had the yen to do up an old car into a nice cruiser back in the early 80's, I found a fairly good American- built 1939 Buick Special 4 door up here in northern Canada. It was minus the engine and tranny but was otherwise quite unmolested. I was told the engine had been seized for years as it had overheated and had been tossed. Once I started disassembling it, i was quite surprised to see it had no frame behind the rear end assembly but had a few braces to the back bumper and a curved piece of angle iron inside the rear bumper. I thought it was factory at the time (although kind of tacky looking) and it wasn't until years later I found out that it was one of the first 10,000 or so Buicks that were built with the short frame. It worked well enough for what I wanted to do with the car so I reinstalled all the braces once I had the car ready to go. Over 30 years since then, it's always seemed pretty solid but I really never entertained the notion of pulling a trailer and I never overloaded the trunk. This car also had the stream boards which were a sportier version of the usual running boards you saw on cars of that era. It was Buick's first attempt to get away from the obsolete concept of the running board. They looked really great and still do. The funny thing about the car is once I got it going in the mid 80;s and proudly showed it off to a few old guys at the time, the response I got was, "Oh yeah the 39 Buicks with the short frames and those air-blocking grille bars that caused engines to overheat and seize; (Ah Ha!) those were real lemons that year!") I still love mine though!
Seems to me that the issue here wasn't a "weak" frame but the lack thereof 😂
...looks a lot like the one underneath the Willys Overland 4cyl of that era - a far shorter and lighter machine.
Crazy, I’ve had my 1938 Buick Special for 7 years and never knew they made that change in 1939. Glad I went with a 38!
Mine as knee action shocks in the front, cartridge shocks in the rear. It is interesting Buick went back to knee action on the rear for 1939.
A very dignified and stately motor vehicle, which was common in the era, and a big reason we love these automobiles.
I would love to hear someone describe how engineers of the distant past did their testing, or how they devised designs considering strength, lifespan, and the like.
Cars of that ear looked "cozy" to me.
@@HAL-dm1eh Yes, I agree. There's something sort of comforting, something warm, about them.
There are literally THOUSANDS of excellent books on the topic od early automobile engineering available to enthusiasts.
@@pyrexmaniac Thank you.
I have a 1939 Buick special, its completely apart for restoration but the last pic of this video is what my car would have looked like when new. I thought the frame in this car was weird but didn't realize it was a one year only problem.
3:40
Simply beautiful ❤
I definitely feel like I would’ve chosen this car in its day
If you wanted a car for towing in 1939, the Nash was probably the best buy...those were some seriously heavy frames.
Wow, this '39 Buick is an AMAZING Vehicle, but with flaws, Adam😎👏
Everytime I see a '39 Buick it reminds me of some of the great Warner Brothers gangster movies with Bogie, Cagney &/or Edward G. Robinson. One of my uncles had a '39 Special sedan & loved it. He kept it until '56 & traded it in on a Special 4-door hardtop.
My Brother had a Pontiac "Silver streak" straight 8 3tree. Go up Mt. Hood with snow studs and ski's in the back seat. A beast for the mountain.
I am so excited to see you go back in time to an earlier era of automobiles!! Thank you so much!! ("Rare Classic Cars & Automotive History"😍)
Aborher excellent presentation and insight into these vehicles that were before both our times! Thoroughly enjoyable to watch Thank you, Adam!
Our family had a 39 Buick Special back in the 80s. What a wonderful car. I miss it! Unrestored and everything worked except the "knee action" shock absorbers. They would leak out their hydro fluid quickly. Straight 8 was a breeze to drive.
Let me let you in on a secret: to start the car, turn ignition on and push the gas pedal to the floor to engage the starter!
It should be adjusted so you only need to push it half-way to the floor. Otherwise you open up the automatic choke, exactly what you DON'T want to do when the motor is cold.
Thanks Adam for sharing this interesting video on the boat tail Buicks of yesteryear!!! 👍👍🎄☃️
The style of cars in the 1930s have always looked similar to me. This '39 Buick grille looks the same as Fords to me. A video about styling of thirties and forties cars with the research you normally do would be enlightening.
5:38 Notice the T-shaped "torque tube" axle, coil springs and Panhard rod that would continue to be a Buick trademark until 1960; its tendency to transmit vibration necessitated the use of Buick's smooth Dynaflow transmission instead of Cadillac's clunky but efficient 4 speed Hydramatic.
I never knew that, thanks Adam. I hate to think what a parking love tap would do to the back of that car.
Nice presentation with great detailed information and beautiful pictures.
When I was young many of those old straight 8s were around and could be got as a used car for very cheap. My oldest brothers first car was a Pontiac Str.8 he got for 50 dollars. He took me and my brothers all over the place in it. It had that Indian head on the hood that glowed when the lights were on.
They were good engines easy to work on and very reliable. The old trans were many of the cars of that eras week point esp. the early autos.
Always loved the '92 skylark. Awesome looking car. 👍
What in the world were they thinking when they made that drastic of a mistake??Where in the world were their engineers?? Now that is one factoid I never would have known if it was not for Adam!!
They were trying to save a few $$. Bad decision.
Really like your videos, have watched dozens of them. And a special thanks for doing one on a pre-WWII car. Hope you can do more on such cars.
Thank you Adam. Who knew Buick had this issue. This was interesting to learn about Buick and this issue. It was interesting to learn the meaning behind the Century name. It is in use in China today at Buick there. That had to be a costly fix. Roadmaster and Limited by have a long history with Buick as model names. You went back and it was quite interesting.
Thanks you for the video. I own a 1939 Buick Special Model 41. It does have the Bobtail frame and was modified with the angle iron brace for support.
Hah! Remember discussing the "bobtailed Buicks" with a friend of my dad's who was around when those cars debuted. He said that if a 1939 Century 4 door sedan went over a set or railroad tracks at speed the rear doors would fly open. Must have been interesting for the rear seat passengers - particularly with the rear opening doors and no seat belts! Buick chief engineer Charles Chayne was ultimately in charge of the engineering snafu - the decision approved by none other than Buick's depression era savior, President (General Manager) Harlowe Curtis, who was trying to save a little money per unit. Once the reports started coming in from the field, Buick engineering devised a "band aid" in the form of a retro fit bolt-on frame for the rear of the cars for anyone who requested it. Also, full frames were designed and approved for production as quickly as possible - so some 1939's have full frames. Life could be very interesting before the days of product recalls.
I know somebody who was sitting in the backseat with their little 8 year old sister, and the door somehow opened while the car was moving and she started to fall out. And said person who was probably around 12 years old was hanging onto her little sister keeping her from falling fully out of the car! Not wearing seatbelts back then
@@zzoinks Seatbelts didn't even exist as an option in 1939.
Let's no overlook the fact that the Century was a very early if not the first muscle car.
Right, it was called the century because it was able to hit 100 miles per hour.
The Century was a Special with a Roadmaster engine.
Looking at the 1992 Skylark through todays lens is tough. I can tell you though, it was a very cool car to see on the car lot and on the road at that time.
Thanks for this very informative post. We had a series 90 and still remember it as a wonderful car.
I still keep a Post War series 50.
The GM straight 8 has to be the best automotive engine built.
I read that Cadillac division complained to management about the Limited encroaching on their turf.
I saw a video where some Checker Cabs had those jump seats. Checker must have copied the Buick Limited! 😊
I enjoy these videos so much and especially for the pros and cons of the manufacturer and what they did to the car. I am hoping that you can do one on the 41 Pontiac coupe and the other ones for that year.
the 3/4 rear view makes it look almost British in design. @1:40
Love your work. Thanks for doing it.
An interesting feature that Buick adopted in 1939 was directional signals, strangely at the back only for that year but it would become standard on most cars soon after!
Our 53 dodge had the optional signals. Our 54 did not.
That 1939 is my one of most favorite Buick designs.
I'd like the blue 60 Buick 4 door sedan that Brad Hamilton had for a commuter car. Might be a comfy car to deliver food in for Captain Hook Fish & Chips, while wearing their pirate uniform. 😊
Adam you are an automotive genius.I love your videos.Presentation in your laid back style makes these videos enjoyable. I just wish they were longer.You could do an hour long video on a Yugo and I would watch it.Thanks for your videos and cheers from Eluethra.
I figured it would be a small little thing that was overblown to get views. No, that was a pretty major oversight and shortcoming, especially in a car that was expected to be extra strong in all ways. I can't imagine trying to go ahead and bolt a trailer hitch to a car that had no frame for the last two and a half feet, and what DISASTROUS effects that would have. I mean, not even the bumper would have been worth a hoot, but bolting a hitch to the sheet metal trunk floor?! Really? Some people actually did that? Wow.
Those '92 -'98 Skylarks were the better looking of their GM platform-mates though. They were actually quite nice vehicles inside and out -and drove nicely too. I remember driving one for drivers ed. class when they were new on the market -was very impressed with it. Seriously considered getting one several times over the years but never did 🙂 Probably an underappreciated car in that community of used car buffs that bought things like that in the 90's.
My first new car was a ‘92 Skylark coupe. The grill calling back to the ‘39 is what got me to look at it, and yes, it was better looking than most of what was available in its price range then. I liked the interior, which was the first interior at GM designed by an all female design team, so I was told. Put a lot of miles on that car.
My Dad owned a 1940 Buick Super Convertible. He claimed that it was radical because it lacked running boards.
Interestingly, those lever shocks were used by the British for many years thereafter. MG used them in the MGB (until 1980) and the Midget (until 1979). As the owner of a ‘78 Midget, I’m familiar with the process of topping up the oil in these shocks.
I'm a fan, but '39 is one of my least favorite GM years. '41 - one of my most. Shocker about the frame. Never knew. Thanks!
Thanks for this! I don't know as much about pre 1950 cars.
Hey! That Buick is here in my state of Oregon. My uncle Quincy always drove Buick`s & GMC trucks for his work with United Chrome delivering sawmill chipper blades.
Was 1939 the first year for that frame design? My dad had a 1937 Century and he never mentioned that feature. He did talk about some other innovations it had such as the torque tube, all coil springs, and the “grasshopper leg” shocks that I see on this model.
Yes, fortunately 1939 junior Buicks only.
Ya, know. We may not always say it, but we're (I'm including) very impressed with your knowledge and collection of cars. I'm 66 and have had everything from AMC to VW. Most I regret selling, parting with as i loved my babies like you do. The last hurricane Ian took my 98 Volvo s70 mint condition and my 91 Plymouth Colt Vista zero rust.
I'm now a Honda guy, Honda shadow, helix, and reflex. I ride what suits my needs for that day. So I have 3 vehicles, how many do you really have. 100? Please tell
The cars of this era were known as "body- on- frame;" this one is "body [mostly]- on- frame."
Great video, I was hoping you would cover some older cars. I am curious about American cars from the late forties and early fifties, years often not covered.
'38 is my fav year but that '39 grill & the whole car is just gorgeous. If, if, if I could find 1otherwise stock with a 350/TH400 drive train & new brakes & etc, how happy I'd be....
Coil springs at the back? A rarity for that era.
You forgot about the Buick Blackhawk concept car which had '39 Buick front facia styling cues, a retractable hardtop and was built on the last Buick Riviera's platform!
That grill is almost reminiscent of a 1948 Studebaker M5 but with curves to it.
Interesting info, thanks
Gee, I've always thought that only Chevy, Olds and Cadillac had made disastrous designs. Now I wonder if Pontiac ever made a goof as big as this, the Vega, the Diesel and the aluminum Caddy engines... ?
From the histories of the cars Adam and others have shown, one conclusion that's hard to escape is that while body-on-frame designs, fully-unitized designs, and unitized designs with small front and/or rear subframes seem to work well, partial frames that stop somewhere in the middle are often wasteful and troublesome. Other good examples of cars that suffered from the shortcomings of half-frames are the first generation Cadillac Seville (as well as the Camaro, Nova, and siblings), the first generation the Toronado and the Eldorado. The Seville was the only one of that bunch that was really refined, and the extra damping that was designed to tame it added weight, complexity and points of failure.
Those Sevilles rode pretty well
Was the rear bumper just bolted to the body? Looks like a rear collision could be catastrophic.
If anyone here has ever driven a Straight 8 Buick, I would love to know how the torque was... The flathead Lycoming straight 8 in the '31 Auburn Boattail didn't want to spin over 2,500 rpm, but it had so much torque you didn't have to give it any throttle to let the clutch out.
Great video as always. Watching this gave me an idea, I wonder if anyone took the bobtail chassis with the straight 8 and drivetrain and mounted a t bucket body to it.
Since we don't need to attach the non-existent leaf spring shackle so far behind why waste steel on additional spars? Is this one of the first measures of the famous GM beans counter?
At least Buick gave you more frame than Olds and Cadillac offered for the Toronado and Eldorado in the 1960s. Since the Riviera of the same era opted for a full frame and full coil suspension, I wonder whether this misadventure had some influence. "Once burned..."
That '92 Skylark ways reminded me of a lump of melted plastic.
Yeah, not a 1939 Buick! That '92 is grotesque.
@@ricksand6477 Oh come on.. Give them a break.
My first car in 11968 was a 1939 Buick . It was very roomy especially in the back..the suspension was veet 'pliant' The car was very thirsty with its straight 8 cylinder engine. .
My older Bro drove us both to school.Unfortunatelu even then it look dated and the headmaster asked us to leave it out in the street..We attended a posh boys school !
I’m surprised to see seatbelts in this.
Love the videos!
I assume that the belts were added much later.
Thank You Adam
Wasn’t aware of this issue on the ‘smaller’ 1939 Buick and don’t recall (or mentally blocked) that it was the inspiration for the ultra ugly ‘92 Skylark. The ‘39 Buick also inspired a beautiful Buick, the 2003 Blackhawk show car.
Century, the original muscle car if more powerful engine in the smaller body is the definition.
Yes,o am glad someone calls it out. A 2 door version. I also was told that the century was named century because it could reach 100 mph. A total feat fir 1939. You are correct
First Century was model year 1936.@@bighank796
I believe in 1960 they did something similar, might have been GM in general. Some models had an X frame, thus no side impact protection. This included 4 door hardtops which had no center post either. I had two friends that up graded in model (don’t remember which) to get the fill frame protection in their 4 door hardtops.
My Grandpa always had Buicks. His first was a 1939, I'm guessing it was a series 40 Special as they didn't have a lot of money. That car made several trips from Wisconsin to California during its life. From what I've heard it was a very reliable car, except it blew a radiator in the middle of the desert on one trip forcing them to drive at night a few mile at a time until they reached a service station! I had a chance at buying a '39 Buick years ago and I've always been sorry I didn't do it, but I now am the proud owner of a 1951 Roadmaster!
2:23: see that 'rope' attached the rear of the front seat? Legend has it that it was designed to hold a blanket, since rear seats in older cars got pretty cold. I'd guess early 1950s was when Detroit quit installing these.
I'm not really a big fan of these older cars but I enjoy learning about them from time to time. It occurred to me that the Limited is essentially what a Suburban or Escalade would be today.
Actually the Limited would have been much more rare compared to Yukon, Escalade or Suburban today.
80s GM rear wheel drive cars had frames that would rust out at the back. I tied the bumper to the back of the body with rope to keep it from falling off.
If they had been thinking a little further ahead and made a sort of "semi unibody" type design where there would have been sufficient structrual support integrally welded to the rear body section. In more recent times GM has done vehicles that were almost complete true unibodies that needed only a "subframe" for the front third of the car....
Very handsome vehicle, look at those running boards
It's not surprising that all these years later most automobile fans are unaware of the debacle of the '39 "Bob-tail" Buicks. Dunham and Gustin's book "The Buick - A Complete History" (an excellent volume, very well-researched) has likely the definitive version of how it happened. As the '39 Buicks were late in development, Harlow "Red" Curtice, Buick's GM and later GM President, ordered Buick Chief Engineer Charlie Chayne to take 10% out of the cost of the entire car. The bean-counters strike again! Since the adoption of coil spring rear suspension meant that they no longer needed a full length frame behind the rear axle as in a leaf-spring suspension, that seemed redundant and so the frame was shortened. Testing was supposedly done, but it must have been rushed and perhaps an afterthought. The rear sheetmetal was said to have been strengthened but it proved inadequate. The authors tell a story about 2 Buick execs taking one of the first production '39s to Detroit for a meeting with other execs and backing into another car bumper to bumper in what they thought was just a slight manner as they were leaving to go home. When they got to Flint, they couldn't get out of the car as the entire body had "sprung" as they described it. The doors were seized shut from body structure distortion. Changes were made in production almost immediately to install full frames, and for already shipped cars an angle iron assembly was provided for dealers to install. BTW, the Buick Chief Engineer in later years was Lowell Kintigh, not Leo.
I ordered the 1988 edition of that book back in 1990 at a local bookstore. I was 13 years old then, I remember it costing $54 here in Canada and not being used to spend that kind of money for anything! Certainly helped me learn a bit more of English! Got a newer edition for about half the price at the Flint centennial flea market in 03 and gave the old one that was falling apart to a friend!
drove airport limo around 82-83, was a new Buick (Limited?), converted to propane. Nice ride and comfortable car, but looked a little plain Jane next to the Century series. Buyers of this brand must have been forgiving seeing how these models and btand name lasted so long...
Gorgeous - 1939 was a great year for Buick style even if the bobtail frame was not a great year for Buick engineering. I especially liked the yellow convertible four door at 3:36.
Adam, aren't those the "Knee-Action" shocks I've heard about??
Yes!
I can see people being ticked off about the frame. Even with photos, most people wouldn't be able to determine that a shortened frame was going to be a problem based just on that. The engine size though is obvious. Don't go by marketing names, go by numbers.
Lord! Who knew? Great video.
Repeated again on the early Toranado & Eldorado lines but with greater success. 🙂
Let's not forget the 1970 GM "B" bodies with their rear bumper attached to the body rather than the frame.
@@arthurdybowski5615 Was that true for ALL 1970 B bodies from GM?
@MarinCipollina
I know the Chevrolets did as a cost cutting to have Fisher Body install the bumper. When hit hard like the 39 Buick, the rear roof side sail panel would buckle. Not sure if BOP had the problem.
w@@arthurdybowski5615 Well that sounds pretty horrible.I worked new car sales at a Pontiac-Buick-Cadillac-GMC dealer in the early 1980s. I don't think I ever even heard of that.. But the auto industry is huge, and GM was the biggest.
So just because I never heard of it doesn't mean it's not a real thing.
You know.. It's just hard for me to imagine anyone doing that. The more you think about it, the worse it actually is, and the less sense it makes.
Kind of like the Jeep Gladiator and Chevy Colorado of today-hang a heavy trailer on back and stuff starts folding up.
I seem to remember that the beautiful but tightly spaced grille caused cooling problems as well..
Is that the reason for the portholes in the hood?
Don't think so, the portholes were a Buick styling theme for many years and mostly if not always non functional... @@glennso47
The more modern Skylark looks more like the Y Job that preceded the 1939 design. I think the designers went all the way back to Harley's show car for inspiration.
Have the hots for an L38 sedan. Now I have another reason to pass on any thought of a '39. The first being the column shifter.
I love it!
So ironic. I WANTED a '39 coupe but couldn't find one so 'settled' for a 38 sedan instead. A MUCH better car -- we had a wonderful time.
Nice looking car
my dad had a '38 Centry, my dad and mom, with my mom's mom, went for a rice, grandmother in the back seat,, roads here in MA were hilly? they went over a hill, small, as one would say, 'that made my tummy turn' as in weeee' .. my grandmother hit the roof lol.
My dad had one here in australia,a special I think,RHD,of course and 12 mpg