Hot Rods lookin at a 40 buick coupe

I am about to pull the trigger on a 40 Buick coupe. The car is nice with great paint and chrome but an original drivetrain. I have a Buick 455 and a switch pitch 400 trans to put in and can probably locate a leaf spring rear to fit, i'm wondering what the best route is for front suspension? i'd rather not graft on a late model front clip but i want disc brakes and modern suspension characteristics. what are some other options besides the fatguy mustang 2 stuff?

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40 buick coupes are waay cool...but you oughta go do an intro..before these guys get on ya

 

You know the rearend is coil springs located by the torque tube, right? You're not going to just swap in a leaf spring rear.

I suppose the lowbuck option might be a Jaguar XJ sedan - which would give you a rearend option too. The front ends unbolt from them and are relatively straightforward to adapt to other cars. Your only issue in the Buick is the stock front suspension and crossmember would have to be cut off.

 

No, they´re the Metropolitan Police. I think they only show up for posts about Nash cars.

 

drive it stock! Put on a dual carb intake from a 41.

fastest car on the road in its day.

 

I would imagine you could upgrade the drivetrain in a near-bolt-in fashion with a 322 nailhead and swap out the rearend center section with one from a 52-53 or so rearend that has a more highway friendly gear.

 

I helped build a 37 Buick with a friend one time. We used a nailhead from a 60's Riv. The stock steering box was a little hard to work around. Using Riv manifolds. The rear suspension is on trailing arms. Just clamped on the Riv rear. Not really a bad swap overall. Was made a little bit harder because the guy wanted to keep the car "whole" because he was afraid he might want to restore it someday. That was 20 years ago. he is now in his mid-70's. He uses it every weekend, weather permitting, and I haven't seen his restored 39 Buick outside the garage in years. lol

 

I like those old Buicks and have come close to getting one a couple times. I actually know where one is, but of course it's not for sale.........or even have any plans for it. I'd love to give the rear a boatail look and of course add a split window.

 

A friend just hung a Camaro/Firebird subframe under one and it was a ton of headaches to accomplish. I'm not sure if he has it finished yet.
It would be great if someone came up with tubular A arms that would bolt on in the stock positons and use later spindles and brakes.

 

I have wanted an old prewar coupe ever since i was about 10. somewhere along the line I became a Buick nut and got mixed up with Buick GranSports ( currently own a 65 GS with a factory 3 speed) so finding a Buick coupe is perfect in my book. I also know of a running driving 37 Buick special for about 5 grand near me. I like the styling of the 37 better but the 40 is in much better shape and at 7 grand i feel it's a better deal. the 40 coupe is a Super.

 

I just finished installing a complete Mustang front end conversion from "Fat Man Fabricators". It was an outstanding product that fit perfectly and gave me rack and pinion power steering, big disk brakes and great handling. I couldn't find any fault with the product and it was a dream to install. You just need a good welder to do the finish work..I tacked it all myself and then got my nephew, a pro welder to finish off. I didn't want it to fall off!

 

The stock front suspension is pretty good on these Buick's and theres always an option to use a Scarebird disk break conversion to get better stoping power.