Guys on the Buick Club of America website confirmed (on their own cars) that the 45-fin drums came out on higher-end RoadMasters in '57. I think it was one specific model, but don't remember which. All '58s had them. They were 45-fin until about '64, then changed to 90-fin. The 90-fin drums are on all the full-sized Buicks up through '71 or so--until all the big cars came standard with disc brakes. -Brad
So when did they start showing up on rods? Shortly after I would think? Higher end cars probably as soon as 58-59, with others catching on in the early 60's??
A while back I noticed Buick drums on a rod in some old Petersen book dating to pretty close to then--so at least one instance on a high end rod very early on, when they probably had to be bought new over the counter and there had to be a machinist with an experimental bent. Later on, I noted a rod a few years later running nearly new Lincoln finned drums, around '62 whe THEY came out. Watching for interesting stuff in new car dealerships was always part of rodding...like noting that hydraulics would fit earlier Fords in '39, the discovery of Zephyr gears in '4i or so, Denver heads... My mind is way too leaky to find those features in any efficient way.
Actually not all the '58s came with finned drums. I bought a '58 roadmaster in '69 from the original owner, it still had the original drums on it and they were not finned aluminum. I don't know if iron drums were an option or maybe the aluminuim ones were.
The Jalopy Journal
