A Drive in a 1952 Buick Super
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- Опубликовано: 24 авг 2024
- Point-of-view-ish video of a drive in rural Indiana in the '52 Buick Super. No power brakes, no power steering, and only one forward gear in Drive. Enjoy the sound of the straight eight doing its thing.
I had a 1953 Buick Super two door hardtop in the late 1980s , powered by a Fireball V8 with a Dynaflow transmission ! Thanks so much for a drive down memory lane !!!
The smoothest ridding car ever put on four wheels and yours runs really well! Thanks for the memory.
Yeah basically a poor mans cadillac. Lol
This 1952 Buick Super is one of those cars with an early automatic transmission known as the Buick Dynaflow. This transmission used the torque converter for torque multiplication and just stayed in high gear when in drive. The result was a very smooth acceleration, but the drawback was that the acceleration was some what sluggish. This is a nice video of a classic car.
" somewhat sluggish" was an accurate description of all cars equipped with auto trans in the 50's. CN YOU SAY PNUT BUTTER DRIVE? Course U can. Simple 3 on the tree would outperform any of them with the average ignorant driver. Like maybe my or yer mom. Next she'll want power steering or something like that!
@@brdwonder 1950 Pontiac had a true Hydramatic 4 speed option that was slower than the 3 speed gearshift/clutch transmission (upshifted too early) but it would walk away from this Dynaflo at least up to about 40 mph. or so--Pontiac shared these with Oldsmobile and Cadillac !
unless "emergency low gear" was engaged and then shifted into Drive once the car(Buick Dynaflo) got up to about 40 but doing that more than few times and you would probably be needing a trans rebuild !
@@brdwonderthey called it “Dynaslush” for a reason. 🤣
Great video! Loved that it was you, the car, no inserted blaring music, allowing us to experience the drive as if we were the passenger. Ditto on the other comments on the camera positioning. So many are done in the passenger seat where all you can see is the glove box and the hood as it is too shallow to get a view of the dashboard.
This is AWESOME man. For a large chunk of my life I've been microobsessing over the inline 8. They seem so smooth; especially in these times when we're mostly surrounded by inline 4's and v-6's(though it does seem that inline 6's are slowly making a resurgence).
I get that in these times of trying to simply stay alive financially and meet emission goals, manufacturers likely wouldn't even think of putting their $ to producing a "modern" i8, BUT I can't help but yearn for GM to allow Buick to depart from their family hauling ho-hum crossover craze and give us a low-wide-long RWD coupe powered by a smooth, torquey i8 backed by their 10 speed ♡ A Riviera re-boot maybe...
One can dream 💭
Nonetheless, this was awesome man and I appreciate you allowing us to experience this virtually ♡
Thanks for this excellent video. I think this is one of the best I've seen. Show the car inside, its dashboard, how fast the car is going, etc.,. This young owner knows how to appreciate the car he has. It makes me remember when I had a Super 1951 Dyna Flow, more than 45 years ago.
What such nostalgia this is
OMG!! Major flashbacks!! My Mom's boyfriend had one of these in 1960. I remember riding in the back seat. The emblem on the center wheel, the antenna knob on the roof, sideways hood and the whine the car made when it changed gears. I remember all this!! It was a black 4 door. Thanks for the ride. It was just like the one I remember.
… yes, thank you for this video …On a production note, we appreciate as well your overall approach and technique and steady cam placement of delivery. Excellent - No way, way, way over done fuzzy dice hanging around anywhere, completely void of loud or continuous background music, no droning over talk narratives and most of all, no blizzard wind noise buffeting the viewer and drowning out this real road experience captured in a 1952 Super... well done Troy. On a personal note, this is how in our opinion, these videos should be posted and aired taking us back to when we use to ride in Super just like this every day while growing up as kids ….
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I figured people didn't want to hear me talk and they definitely didn't want wind noise. So I just placed the camera inside the car for this. I have another video I did the year before where the camera is on the outside. Check out my channel's other videos if you're interested.
My dad had a 1952 Buick Super 2-door hardtop in red and black. This was the view I had from the back seat. Very comfortable car.
This car is troys dream car
When it comes to these car videos, music is so annoying. I'd rather hear car sounds. Talk is ok in the beginning before hitting the road but not continuously. Well done, Troy!!!!!
@@muffs55mercury61 sounds like this car has a flowmaster exhaust on it to be honest I think its still the stock one though
In 1966 I dug one just like this out of a barn in New Mexico. I jumped it off and cleaned it up and drove it to Denver Colorado. Thanks for the memories!
There's nothing like the smooth hum of a straight eight. A great video! Thanks!
Really that engine sounds like a six
Thanks for letting us hear it glide down the highway. I HAD a chance to get one in pretty much pristine shape for my son in Sheboygan, Wisconsin about 20 years back. It hummed. Did I mention it was only 1000 bucks? My son didn't want it. It kills me to this day. Listen to that car hum.
Great sounding engine, my 53 super had 2 forward gears L Low and D for Drive, thanks for the download, brought back memories
If you readjust the points (maybe clean them too) You will get a better response when starting. .Set them at .016. ALSO it is hard to find someone who can set the caster and camber on these cars, but the toe in and out can be set reasonably well by anyone. That way your steering wheel would be straight. Also those old steering boxes had to be tightened up every once in a while. takes the excess play out of the steering, and makes driving a bit easier.
Loved the ride thanks.
I learned to drive on a 51 Buick Special with a three speed manual. It had a lot of torque, could pull the car along in first or second gear at idle. I tended to lug the engine, and as a result, was rough on the gearbox. I drove that car to commuter college where the parking lots were just open lots that had been cleared of buildings. That Buick pulled through those bumpy lots like a tank.
Thank you for the great ride. ...without music! I love to hear the engine and Dynaflow. The system accelerates remarkably well and it's truly a great smooth car. I had a 53 Roadmaster in blue with a white top. I wish I still had it today.
It's nice to see a younger person driving an old car like this and handling it so well, especially with manual steering. In the future, if you pump the gas pedal several times when the engine's cold before turning on the ignition it will start much better.
Yeah, I remember thinking at the time that I probably wouldn't have to since I had driven it the day before and it usually starts a lot more easily the very next day, but as the video shows, it decided to be more stubborn than I anticipated. Just my luck, haha. But you're right, I should have pumped the gas pedal at least a few times first anyway. Thanks for the great comment!
@Albert Carello
Every old car I had over the years started just fine in cold weather on a 6 volt system. You can always get an engine heater. That's better for the battery and starter anyway. I used to have a dipstick oil heater that kept the engine nice and warm on an old International truck I had that didn't start well in the cold. The Buicks never gave me a problem.
My first car was a 52 Buick Roadmaster in 1965. I paid $20 for it.
@Albert Carello It's my understanding it's just the opposite. Full down on the throttle when cold. Light on the throttle when hot or flooded. Makes more sense. The owner's manual should explain it.
@Albert Carello As I recall I read those starting instructions in a 1955 Buick owner's manual. You may be right about V8 vs. straight 8. The straight 8s will run on regular gasoline. V8s need premium. You can get aviation fuel at an airport or add Octane Boost to unleaded premium.There's a booster called 104, but it's petty expensive. Now you need another additive to kill the enzymes in ethanol fuel; also pretty expensive. You also need racing motor oil which still has zinc in it. It's getting hard to find the right stuff for old cars these days.
Oh gawd that sounds good…nothing like a Buick 8 cyl
My first car was a 1952 Buick Special given to me by my grandmother back in 1971. I can still remember exactly what the interior smelled like. Thanks for the memories!
What a fabulous thing...
My father had a 52 Buick similar to this one. Brings back a lot of great memories . This Buick is really nice . Thanks for sharing this video .
The old Dynaflow steps right out! Nice car.
Love the sound of that no shift Dynaflow...
I really like that the radio isn't on and the wind noise is low. This allows us to hear what he car actually sounded like when driven. The Dynaflow sounds so smooth.
The Dynaflow is indeed smooth,but it provides very slow acceleration up to about 18 - 20 mph - it's not too bad from 20 mph on up - It also causes the car to deliver poor fuel economy - I would personally prefer the three speed standard transmission over the Dynaflow,but not many were sold that way...
Stick shift cars also had silent transmissions with helical gears. I have a 50 Buick with stick. The transmission is almost imperceptible even in 1st.
@@frankgiaquinto1571 It's too bad because these cars perform really well with stick.
That bulletproof dynaflow transmission performed the best automatic hydramatic transmission gm ever made for a car in history. Hell I bet it outlasted alot of the automatic transmissions in newer cars and the cars built nowadays.
@@1940limited Manual transmission Straight Eight Buicks that I remember had very musical sound in first and second gears. Perhaps the transmission has been modified or changed out for a different one?
Straight 8 Buicks always had their own distinct sound. Nice video.
Yes, definitely! Still recall that distinctive roar of a Straight 8 Buick when it accelerated.
Rather like a “gurgle”
Nice Cruise in a Nice Classic Troy!... 👍🙂
I owned a 1956 Buick Century 4 door hardtop with a 300 v 8 really was a cruiser on the open interstate and gas mileage was very good. Can't beat a Dynaflo transmission.
I can see why my dad liked the old Buicks.
Back when a car was built with pride and quality
Looks like a really nice road to drive an old car on, nice and smooth, not too much traffic.
I have a Buick special '52. Your video is very good, thank's.
Liked the video, looks like you’re having a blast driving. Only wish you would have shown us the car!
...excellent video...love that straight eight and Dynaflow combination...
A great example to all persons who post car vids. I recently purchased a one family owned 47 56S Sedanette that will hopefully be on the road shortly. Its nice to see how well these things get down the road
great job doing this. I learn to drive on a 1949 Buick Super with dynaflow . I like the straight 8 sound similar to a v8 .
Ther is nothing like the view from behind the wheel of a Buick 8.
I bet it was a bit quieter when it was new, but not bad for a 66 year old car. My buddy used to have a 55 Special, love the way they start by pushing the gas pedal down to the floor with the key on
I remember in a live interview with rocker Donnie Iris, he mentioned he had a 51 Buick, and he called it his "pride and joy".
Outstanding video. 👍
I love driving my old cars, but there are so many "bad" & "distracted" drivers on the road these days, it just makes me a bit more nervous! LOL Looks a lot nicer & calmer in Indiana.
Beautiful car💖
very good power, so smooth,....beauty...wow 3:42 thoroughly impressed me,...the tires ta ta taaa....over those rails like nothing whatsoever.
The Buick was the next best thing to a Cadillac. None of the other GM cars could match it.
Suggestion, If you give the accelerator two pumps let it sit for 15 seconds then try the starter it will fire right up.
Young man, you are a god! I do not know how the experience of driving this could have been better translated. My old man had one.
Woman drove without power steering or power brakes just fine, so no male should have any trouble.
"And I long for my Indiana home...."
Per Wikipedia: The Dynaflow was an automatic transmission used in various forms in Buick cars by the General Motors Corporation from 1947 until 1963. The transmission initially used a five-element torque converter, with two turbines and two stators, as well as a planetary gearset that provided two forward speeds plus reverse. In normal driving, Dynaflow started in high gear (direct drive), relying on the converter's 2.1:1 torque multiplication to accelerate the vehicle. Low gear, obtained via the planetary gearset, could be manually engaged and held up to approximately 60 mph (97 km/h), improving acceleration.[1]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynaflow
Bloody awful thing. Sucking all the power from the wonderful straight eight
Maybe it seems pretentious. But I want to correct several errors and inaccuracies of Wikipedia about the excellent Dyna Flow transmission.
1- The Dyna Flow transmission was offered for the first time in the 1948 Buick Roadmaster, not in 1947.
2- At the end of 1952 the plant where GM produced Hydramatic transmissions caught fire. Thus, a part of the Cadillac and Oldsmobile 1953 cars were equipped with Dyna Flow tranny .. To Chile came a good amount of Cadillac and Oldsmobile 1953 with Dyna Flow transmission.
3) - In the owner's manuals of Buick 1949-50 and 51 it clearly says that the car can ride up to 45 miles per hour in L, not up to 60 m.p.h. I had a Super 1951 and a Le Sabre 1960.
@@nickjervis8123 It is smooth though, and that's kind of what this is meant for. It gets a lot more responsive when you get up above 40mph, but yeah, you can't really expect much low speed acceleration.
@@nickjervis8123 Also a gas eater
Awesome video, great drive. Hot driver! I would have loved to see the car itself.
Thanks! There is more of it in some of my other videos.
neat
Great video!
she's a good ole girl
Amazing car. Wish I had it, but I'm only 13
There is no mistaking the sound of a smooth inline 6 or 8.
Ran a couple of STOP signs there Buddy !!
The GoPro distorts the view. I assure you, though it is not a perfect stop, it is much less "running the stop sign" than it looks.
So tell us about your Buick. You know has it been in the family and/or what is it's history and what have you done to it so far as it appears to run and drive very well ? Yes keep it stock and running as Buick intended !
The car is all original and has been in the family since my wife's great-grandmother bought it used in 1954. She drove it until the '80s, and then it was passed down and used by both my wife's grandma and father as a backup car in case the other cars needed work something. It wasn't until recently that it was really thought of as a classic rather than just an old car.
In the past few years or so, it has gotten a bit more care and attention. We installed carpet on the floors to help with comfort, sound, and keeping the heat out. It also got a set of brand new white wall tires for the first time since probably the '50s or '60s. It has never had extensive work done to it, and has just over 40k miles now. It runs and drives great, and even the heater and defroster still work great. I tested that last Christmas when there hadn't been any salt put down on the roads yet. The shocks need to be rebuilt though. The paint is original and has a nice patina.
Here's a mini-article Jalopnik ran about our car a few years ago: jalopnik.com/5950722/a-stunning-1952-buick-in-the-fall
Although their horsepower rating was 128 which may sound low, these were still very powerful cars in their day. It was much of our road system that was not up to it and thus there were many accidents. Freeways were still years into the future.
This looks like Illinois, Indiana or Ohio (or possibly Iowa with all the corn fields there)
There were some freeways, in, where else, Los Angeles, and a few Turnpikes had appeared back east, but in Indiana, probably few if any
@@michaelbenardo5695 I think the Indiana toll road was completed in 1956 or 1957. They didn't mess around in those days. Today it would take six of seven years to do a 156 mile freeway (244 in Ohio) when back then they did it in three.
I hope you are smart enough to hold onto this great rare classic car and not sell it to anybody at all
Never abuse this car I own one myself and I'm 19 you treat it right it will treat you right anyways need to fix your wheel I like nice and straight is it a inline 7 or 8?
Inline 8. As far as I know, there were never any cars produced with an inline 7. They only really show up in certain ships and maybe some industrial things.
my grandpa had one of these haha
Slush box taking all the power. Switch to a manual box. I got a 1940 Super Eight manual. Great
na not for a Roadmaster, needs to stay a Automatic
It’s the ultimate cruiser car of that time period, what that tranny was designed for.
I believe the last Roadmaster with the 3 speed was wonderfully musical sounding and much much quicker than the Dynaflo which is the worst thing about these cars in my opinion. At least Packard's similar transmissions had lock up torque converter unlike this. Although the Packard transmissions gave horrible reliability problems when combined with the new Packard V8 in 1955 which I think helped to end Packard.
I guess the clutch pedal in the Super is pretty stiff to push in ?
…. oh btw: forgot to mention, the dynaflow automatic transmission just like yours, has no gears and is unlike other automatics in that it relies on fluid applied multiples almost infinite torque ranges to propel the car forward. The Drive or Low, are only selections for each of these fluid psi applied torque ranges via pumps and not gears. The dynaflow because of this design, never shifts while in drive range or low range and just keeps multiplying fluid torque via pumps to propel the car in that smooth Buick boulevard and highway fashion it was famous for when it's contemporaries of the day like ford, chevy's plymouths etc would be rattling and grinding just struggling to barely keep up with it on the highways and byways ...
Interesting! I'll have to do some more research on that. The Dynaflow is definitely a unique experience. Nothing else like it on the road.
The 1953 V8 came out with "Twin Turbine" Dynaflow. It was qucker and lost that '49-'52 slush sound on take off.
my 1963 Impala has Powerglide 2 speed transmission and it works the same way as Dynaflow
The 3.9 axle ratio keeps that Fireball Eight revved up at highway speeds, but was necessary because of the slippage of the Dynaflow. A Hydra-Matic equipped Cadillac in the same body used the much more positive four-speed with a 3.36 final drive.
Of course, the V-8 was also a much more powerful engine. The real advancement came in 1955 when the the stator in the torque converter became variable, called Vairable Pitch Dynaflow--when the accelerator was floored, the stator switched to a higher stall speed, allowing the engine to rev up, giving the Dynaflow its version of a passing gear. For the first time, a '55 Buick Century could outrun a '55 Olds Super 88. It was so effective it was adapted to the brand new Turbo-Hydramatic 400 in 1965 in Olds/Buicks/Cadillacs with engines 400-430 through 1967.
Great car! I have a '52 Super woodie...love it! Where is this? Pretty country!
I'm jealous! Love the Buick wagons of the early '50s, late '40s.
The video was filmed in northern Indiana. Not usually a classically "pretty" area, but it does have its moments.
@@TroySherk yeah, I had a 40 Buick woodie for 30 years, had to give it up, and several others, too but my '52's a keeper!
This thing looks like it's as high as an SUV.
That's a beautiful car. The 1st car I drove when I got my driver's license was the family car - '56 Plymouth Savoy, V8, no PS or PB, and watching you work that steering wheel reminded me of the Plymouth. You had to be rolling to turn the wheel, basically. How many turns lock-to-lock are there on the Buick?
You know, I've never actually played around with it to count it myself. Too much effort on flat ground, and I haven't had both front wheels off the ground to test it like that. It feels like a lot though, haha. Glad I could bring back some memories!
Apparently that first stop sign was really only a "yield" sign. He barely slowed down.
Was barely moving (GoPro adds sensation of speed) and had someone in a hurry behind me who came speeding up behind me after turning a corner while I was backing out of the garage. Sorry, officer.
Neat to look at but, Really makes you appreciate modern cars.
How? They are unspeakably ugly, they ride like trucks, they are really cramped inside, many have so much road noise that they sound like they have bad wheel bearings, and they are too low. You can't see and you can't where your hat if you are tall. I don't like them at all.
It would likely start better if he pumps it 3/4 of the way down a few times - not far enough to engage the starter but enough to give some squirts of fuel.
I agree. I've learned a bit in the 7 years between then and now. But one thing to note is that the starter engages after very little pedal travel. You'd have to pump it with the ignition off, or as I did here, while the starter's already cranking (you can see my knee move as I pumped it right before it took off).
Word of advice. Pump foot feed to start cold. Is this power steering option? Him not armstronging to steer. Ps set toe in. Steering wheel crooked. 49 roadmaster driver
Yeah, it does need aligned. And someone else beat you to the comment about pumping the gas too, haha. In the past, it didn't require that if I ran it just the day before, but this time it was more stubborn. I pumped it once or twice right before it started it (with the starter engaged). No power steering on this car. I just usually wait until it's rolling a bit before I try to crank the wheel so I don't have to work it so hard.
@@TroySherk thank you Troy. Glad to meet another old buick driver. These cars no worse to drive as they were 60. Years ago. Daily drivers to me, much to the chagrin of the socialist state of califonia. To the credit of calif, do not half to retrofit my prewar iron to turn signals , dual wipers or stop lites.
What's the top speed you could reasonably drive one of these? Could it handle and interstate?
70+ mph is certainly achievable, but you probably wouldn’t want to do it for long durations. I’ve had it on the highway for short runs of like 15 minutes at 60-65 mph, and I think the fastest I’ve driven it in a short burst is around 80. It handled all these situations just fine, but I don’t think I’d want to drive it above 55 or 60 for hours at a time.
Man, that's a nice ride! I've got a question about these accelerator-start Buicks. If you get in a driving situation where you have to stomp on the throttle, how do you keep from activating the starter when driving? My father had one but I was too little to drive at the time.
That's a good question. I think it's a vacuum activated switch on the carb, so it only activates when the engine is not running. The switch engages with very little throttle input (and you can activate it by pulling the throttle back with your hand in the engine bay too).
There is a relay in the starting circuit that prevents the starter from getting current when the generator in spinning.
@@michaelbenardo5695 Thank you. Always wondered.
... exhaust seems noisy, to me ...
....when men were men, as were some women and Toyota still in Japan.............
And there is enough steel in the Buick to make 10 Corollas
Why is the exhaust loud?
Buick recommended that only straight through mufflers ("glasspacks") be used. That was what original equipment was if I remember from my grandfather's owner's manual. Pontiac also with its Straight Eight used factory glasspack if I remember. These were larger longer fatter glasspack mufflers than the kid's stuff aftermarket "bombs" so were not as loud as those but were louder than the common "reverse flow" muffler.
Never start one of these cars up with the radio on. You won't like the results.
I've never really given it any thought other than that I wouldn't want to put more load on the electrical system than necessary when starting. What happens if you do? (Note that I turned the radio on after starting, not before, not that I think that's what you were saying anyway).
@@TroySherk , Buick recommends radio be turned off when cranking engine. I failed to do that in a 53 Super i owned. It caused a voltage spike taking out the vibrator and something else in the radio, I don't remember what that was. I never made that mistake again.
@@TroySherk The radio draws a lot of power and will drain the battery to where the car won't crank in a fairly short time (like 10 or 20 minutes) if the original tube radio
--but those radios sound better than transistor AM radios and I believe "better" cars like the Buick had more tubes in their radio than cheap cars like the Chevrolet--also those cars could "hear" distant and weak stations that your typical table radio model couldn't get
@@steveashcraft718 Something to do with a sticky relay in the voltage regulator? (Old cars with generators have complex non-solid state voltage regulators with I believe 3 mechanical relays,I believe a completely stuck relay in the regulator can burn out your generator while the car is parked or even start an underhood fire
@@davidpowell3347 , not really. While a stuck voltage regulator can do what you have stated starting the car with the radio on causes a voltage spike for whatever reason.
Do you ever come to a full stop?
… he's out in the boonies cop, give it a rest ….
How much does a car like this go for?
I have no idea. This one was last purchased in 1954 by my wife's great grandmother.
How sad: NO Narration ... "nothing". *Why not talk / speak about "this n' that" ? (or "your stories").
Anyway: BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL Car !
This young guy is very rough with the shifter, is a 65 years old car...
I could see how it might sound like that in the video, but that's kind of just how the shifter is. It has a very firm action. When putting it into reverse, it's necessary to pull it all the way down, and then a little extra. It's probably just out of alignment, but sometimes if you put it very gently into reverse, it doesn't actually engage. When I put it into drive, I just push up until it's in gear. Nothing rough about it.
I would have enjoyed this video, really, if it wasn't for the driver going through the stop signs at 1:22, 4:27. 8:48, and so on. It just ruined it for me. Great country side though!