Projects 1924 McLaughlin Buick spl. Build Notes

Greetings All!
Here I intend to present some build notes and details apropos of my 1924 McLaughlin Buick special bodied roadster.
Do follow along!....If you like that sort of thing

 

Firstly a bit of an intro to McLaughlin Buick Canada.
Involved in the earliest days of General Motors, McLaughlin Automobiles were manufactured in Canada starting around 1907. Early partnership with Buick created the legendary McLaughlin Buick.

 

And now we begin.
First, gather a pile of parts. Like this:

Then put all those parts in a Big Box, close it and shake it around, until it becomes something like this:

 

More details to follow. For now, some of my inspiration images for this project.

 

Cool little car

 

I want one!

 

Wow!!!

 

Cool. I love specials and speedsters, especially boat tails.

 

Cool cars with tall disc wheels and skinny tyres just count me in..

 

The McLaughin automobile was built in Canada from 1908 until 1922. The McLaughin-Buick was sold from 1923 until 1942. It evolved from the McLaughin Carriage Co. in 1867. The first McLaughin was built in 1908 with a Buick four cylinder engine, but used an all Canadian built body. The Canadian cars were built with such quality and high standards that when A.P. Sloan who was the president of General Motors saw the car, he was outraged at the shoddy workmanship of American made Buick's. In 1915 McLaughin obtained a license to start building Chevrolets, again with better quality builds. In 1918 McLaughin was sold to General Motors and became General Motors of Canada and in 1923 the name was officially changed to McLaughin-Buick. The McLaughin name was dropped around 1941-42 and was only known as Buick. They produced a four cylinder, a light six and a standard six. The light six was basically an American Oakland wth a McLaughin nameplate. Just a little history about your great car.

 

Ummmm ya gotta teach me how to “ shake that box “

please show us and tell us MORE !!!!!!

killer car !!!

 

So,
In the mid 1920's You could get a complete Buick chassis (in pieces) delivered to you, basically anywhere in the world.
As mentioned in woodiewagon46's comment, McLaughlin Buicks were noted for exceptional build quality, AND were favored by some royal families of the era.
....I'll never be Royal....

 

As we all know, supply chains have continued uninterrupted for the last 100 years
So, I began calling all of my favourite Old Car Parts contacts. Explaining my plan and desire for any available parts. And cheap.
Mostly they had a chuckle and kindly said something like:
'I don't know who you think you are son, or what you think you are trying to do. You're gonna need a few miracles to build that car. But Good Luck, and here's another contact to try for parts..."
View attachment 5307277

 

Armed with this total parts unavailablity, I began piecing together what I had to work with. And ordering what few bits could be found for this 1924 4 cyl. McLaughlin Buick chassis and motor.
Big Thanks to Gary Automotive in Edmonton, AB, CAN
and Bob's Automobilia in Templeton, CAL, USA
Also, the fine fellow who sold me the bare chassis had kept much of the linkages intact. And had a 1929 Buick grille in pieces.
Here it is all standing on new tires and starting to be a thing that Could Be.
You can see the 1929/30 grille, as well as some circa 1929 headlights.

 

After finding the rolling chassis to be fairly complete, I began total disassembly. Then parts prep and re-assembly
We all know what this looks like, but here we go.
Taking things like this...

 

Then doing things like this...

 

To make things like this...

Note: I had decided to keep this build era-correct for the late 1920's....so only pre-1930 parts and build tech. Because that is a rational thing to do... right?
enough for today. more fun tomorrow.

 

Thanks Everyone for checking in if you like this one.
Not usually very active online, so just doing my best here.
You guys are so Rad.

 

very cool!

 

This is a neat project. Not sure if you've seen it yet or not, but another HAMB member built a speedster of the same era on a 1926 Buick chassis but with a V12 in Brazil (I think), you can see it here.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/seagrave-531-v12-special-build-up-in-brazil.1163715/

Looking forward to seeing more of yours as well!

 

Re: 1926 Buick chassis but with a V12 in Brazil
I Love this car! It is a scaled up version. Bigger motor. Bigger budget. Amazing build.
My 1924 is a home grown, small displacement version.
Thanks for posting that one up!

 

In 1924, Buick had a special promotion.
They would arrive with a flatbed truck in various cities. Then proceed to assemble a complete Buick motor and chassis... and drive it... all in one day!
While my timeline was closer to 2 years...the end goal was the same.

Cut me some slack on the timeline, eh.
They had more help in the 1924 demos.

 

This 1924 4cyl. 170 CID motor turned over smoothly by hand and showed even compression when purchased.
Following are pics of the inspection, repairs and reassembly.
Round one, still figuring out what I had to work with.
Fit and wear checks.
Pushrods, rockers, distributor, bottom end, oil passages, clutch and transmission etc.

 

The Gods had smiled upon me! The motor was a keeper!
So, I got to proceed with Fun activities like...
rebuilding a Stewart Vacuum Feed Fuel Pump and Marvel Updraft Carburetor,
Repairing a banged up oil-pan, etc.

 

Pushrod's! They look like small driveshafts!

 

Some pictures of the motor, accessories and linkages progressing.
Check, repair, test fit, repeat.

 

Wow!!!

 

Suddenly it was a rolling chassis!
Photography is Not in my skill-set. I tried to capture the stages of the build, regardless.

 

After many trials and tribulations, I finally got a Ford Model B Radiator to fit the Buick Rad Shell.
Then Modified them both to fit this chassis and motor.
These photos also show the huge cast bronze spare tire mount. It is an original McLaughlin part, I just changed the location.

 

A seat! It needed a seat!
No worries, I had this chunk of rough-cut cedar and these Model A seat and roof scraps.
Let work be followed by Comfort. Eventually.