1937 McLaughlin Buick Eight
Geoff Carverhill discovers how Andy Lerry turned a good condition, original classic into a super-immaculate, very usable show car.
How many of us have been away on holiday, relaxing, soaking up the sun and perhaps reading a copy of Classic American, when a classified ad jumps out and says, "Buy me!"? You turn to other articles, but that one car makes a distinct impression on you, and you decide that you've got to have it! That's what happened to Andy Lerry while he was on a holiday cruise, when he spotted a 1937 Buick convertible for sale: "It sounds a bit 'jet set', but I was on holiday in Croatia and was on the deck of a really lovely boat looking over the Adriatic. .. ! saw the Buick for sale in a small ad and I bought it over the phone from a gentleman from Swindon. I sent him a deposit and went to see it afterwards. When I went to pick it up, it was pretty much as I wanted and it had a lot of work done to it."
The Buick that Andy Lerry bought in July 2018 was sold new by the London Buick-Cadillac dealers Lendrum & Hartman who, between 1936 and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, had a very busy time, with record sales of cars that peaked in 1938. This upsurge in Buick's popularity had quite a lot to do with the sale in 1936 of a Buick Series 90 Limited Limousine and a Series 80 Roadmaster to the Prince of Wales, soon to be King Edward VIII. The King's patronage started a sales drive which was unprecedented. In the early Thirties, Lendrum
& Hartman were happy to sell 150 cars a year; but in 1937, they sold in excess of 2000 cars. In 1937, Buicks were advertised for sale 'from £455', although a 'drophead coupe' would be nudging £600.
What makes Andy Lerry's car a little more unusual is that many of the Buick convertibles sold by Lendrum & Hartman during this period would have had English coachwork, from Albemarle or possibly Carlton or Maltby (in fact we featured a 1937 Buick saloon-tourer with a body by Redfern in issue 160, August 2004, if your back issuesgo that far back) in order to gain British-built status, but this example appears to be an American-built Buick, but assembled in Canada by Mclaughlin at its plant in Oshawa, Ontario, after initial assembly at Buick's Flint, Michigan, plant. Sedan or Limousine models were also more popular than convertibles and Lendrum & Hartman apparently did not encourage the sale of convertibles, unless they were to have English coachwork. Andy's 4¼ litre (248cu in) straight-eight was the most compact model offered by Buick in 1937 - the 40 SeriesSpecial, riding on a 122in wheelbase. Three other models were also available
- the 60 Century, 80 Roadmaster and the 90 Limited.
The car was originally sold to a customer in the London area on July 1, 1937, where it stayed until the midFifties; its last London address being in Brixton SW2. The car was then sold during the late Fifties to Mr Harold Marvin, c/o Coral yacht, Marvin's Yard, Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. Mr Marvin was apparently an intrepid local yachtsman who was reputed to have been the navigator on one of the ex-Prime Minister Ted Heath's Morning Cloud yachts. The car resided on the Isle of Wight until the late Seventies, with the last owner registered as being a Mr Caroll, who also lived in Cowes.
In 1978, the Buick was found in a scrap yard in Southampton and was subsequently bought by the late Steve Passmore, who was a leading light in the Pre-50 American Auto Club. Steve used the car regularly and maintained it himself and, although it remained in his ownership for about 25 years, he never restored it.
"ITWAS RUNNING OKAY AND DRIVING OKAY, BUT THE CLUTCH WAS JUDDERING AND ABOUT 50% OF THE PAINT WAS IFFY, SO I THOUGHT THE ONLY WAY WAS TO DO IT PROPERLY"
Major re-fettling
Soon after Andy got the Buick home, he started to look at what needed to be done to it and, being someone who wants a car to be 'right', set about what he describes as "major re-fettling"
- a part-restoration. Andy describes the process: "It was running okay and driving okay, but the clutch was juddering and about 50% of the paint was iffy, so I thought the only way was to do it properly. So we took the front wings off, bonnet off, bumpers off for re-chroming, front off, wheels off and engine out. I had the wings chemically dipped, stripped and painted. The original colour was listed as 'Grey', but it has been beige for a very long time. The paint colour is a mixed colour, believed to be called Regency Cream. I had the wheels dipped, stripped and painted in an ivory colour to match the colour of the leather interior."
The engine didn't need rebuilding as it was running well, but needed checking over and degreasing. The head was removed and new head and sump gaskets were fitted. It was then reassembled and detailed with correct transfers. A new water pump was fitted and the radiator replaced. Andy then made some subtle upgrades to the car to bring it up to a more usable, modern standard, but which would be out of sight to the casual observer: electronic ignition was fitted, 12-volt negative earth electrics and a large 12-volt cooling fan, but the original vacuum wipers were retained and overhauled. A new high-output AC-Delco alternator was fitted. The pulleys were re-machined to increase the charging ability of the alternator. A new old stock (NOS) carburettor was fitted a while ago by Steve Passmore.
As the three-on-the-floor ' dogleg' transmission was in good order, all that was needed was a new clutch and transmission mounts. Andy says: "While the Buick was owned by Steve Passmore, he had made a conversion so that the centreplate would take a 10-inch clutch from a black cab ... so I'll buy clutch plates in readiness, in case they become obsolete."
The underside of the Buick is all-original and has never been welded, but the fuel tank was removed and refurbished and, as the brakes and suspension had recently been replaced or refurbished by the previous owner, these just needed checking, degreasing and painting. The interior is immaculate, with its superbly reupholstered seats and door cards, and brown Wilton carpet - piped in leather - in the front passenger area, inside the boot and the rumble seat area. It's like "Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow detailing", as Andy points out. Steve Passmore must take the credit for making a new hood for the car when he owned it.
"THE PAINT COLOUR IS A MIXED COLOUR, BELIEVED TO BE CALLED REGENCY CREAM. I HAD THE WHEELS DIPPED, STRIPPED AND PAINTED IN AN IVORY COLOUR TO MATCH THE COLOUR OF THE LEATHER INTERIOR."
As with all good restoration jobs, there are often tasks that have to be undertaken by specialists, and Andy sought the expertise of Martin Kerr of Tubeworks in Cheltenham (m .l.kerr@blueyonder.co .uk). Andy describes him as "a very skilled engineer and fabricator who works on unusual classics and hot rods and fabricates race-car chassis .. . I couldn't have done it without him". Martin was responsible for most of the engine fettling and the paintwork, as well as other adjustments and modifications made to the car during its restoration. With most of the Buick in a reassembled condition, the bumpers, which were re-chromed and straightened by S&T Electroplate (www.stchrome.co.uk) in Yate, near Bristol, were refitted .
Eighteen months down the line, with the Buick getting near to a condition that Andy was happy with, it was time to apply the finishing touches to it. A new set of radial-ply whitewalls from John Pettigrew at North Hants Tyres (www. northhantstyres .com), have "the look and size of cross-plies", plus a new set of correct reproduction hubcaps and trim rings to complete the period-look wheels. All that was needed now was for the Buick to be driven, which has not been quite as straightforward as Andy anticipated - since we have all been somewhat restricted over the past few months. However, Andy is looking forward to getting behind the wheel of his Buick soon, as well as trying to find out some more history of the car, so if anyone knows anything about DYX921,
* please get in touch!