Over twenty years before Buick’s dual-quad Wildcat 425 V8 made the scene in 1964, Buick offered TWIN CARBURETORS just before the breakout of WWII. Steve explores a twin-carburetor, “ram air” 1941 Buick discovered on the side of the road.
They used to throw these straight 8's into tractors and train yard tugs (trucks) to move freight around. My father worked at the Philadelphia navy yard and they used those same tugs (trucks) to move large ships in and out of the docks before draining for hull work. They are torque monsters of their era. Steve, what you're doing is beyond priceless. The history and information contained within your noggin is unmatched the world over.
Amazing! My father also had one of them and served in the USMC Pacific Theatre during WWII. He flew the F4U Corsair as a Marine aviator. I have a couple photos of him with his Buick. He stayed a Buick man until he died.
Hello Daniel Kingery, if you like random then I think you'll appreciate the video coming in a couple days. It has to do with a thing called the Ferguson Formula.....THANKS for watching, and writing. -Steve Magnante
They will never make cars as beautiful as these old cars. Look at the lines on that car...and also the accents on the hood and fenders. Just beautiful. Love the louvers.
First car I drove was a 52 Buick with a straight 8 and a 3 on the tree. At first just around dad's shop, couldn't make a turn, couldn't find reverse. Ended up using a bumper jack, get it all the way up, push it over until it cleared the propane tank and I got it parked back where it belonged. Then I asked my older brother how to get it in reverse, now my dad always thought my older brother was the smart one, but he was dumb enough to show a 5th grader how to find reverse. Old man did notice the gas was low once, but he just figured I'd siphoned it out for my go-cart. Thanks for reminding me of that! Being a kid in the 70s was pretty cool.
The 65 Chevy Corvair Corsa came with four carbs. Two primaries and two secondaries. The four of them work together like a four-barrel carb. There's plenty of unusual stuff out there. Thanks for showing us this Buick.
My Dad bought a Brand new 1989 Buick Century nothing like that and prior to that he bought a Brandnew 1984 Buick Lesabre and I can keep going back he was a Chevy truck guy and Buick’s for my Mom. When my Dad passed away 6 years ago my mom finally bought a Cadillac which she always wanted my Dad would whisper in her ear to expensive.
165 HP. The most you got in a flathead Ford in 1941 was 100. I had a Buick straight 8 from 1953. The intake roar was heavenly cool. Had it up around 105 once.
I love it “Roadside Crawl” . I do a lot of driving and when I see an old classic on side of road or a driveway I stop and snap off a few pics. I’ve got quite the collection. Steve love what you do and your knowledge of anything automotive is astounding!! Always look forward to your videos. 👍👍
My Uncle worked for for for Fijol's for many years and even lived next door to the Junkyard for a while. When I was a kid, my grandpa walked me through the junkyard on Sundays and taught me all the makes and models of the cars that were there.
Growing up in the 50’s my father worked at a Buick dealership. He was the resident Dynaflow transmission expert. As a budding hot fodder I marveled at these old Buicks with dual carbs. My father said there’s nothing new under the sun. Even factory superchargers and fuel injection could be found on some old cars. Ahhh, the good ol’ days …
Those straight eights were great, torquey and smooth. It's a shame the faded out in favor of V-8's A small displacement version might be a good idea today, but would be too wide for front-wheel drive.
@@jeromebreeding3302 - Olds Toronados and Cadillac Eldorados did FWD with the engines longitudinally mounted... but straight 8s and 6's just too long and heavy...
The compound carburetor setup had an air valve in the secondary carburetor. You had to get enough air flowing (demand) for it to open and make the secondary carb provide fuel. It works much like the secondary setup on Carter, Edelabrock and Quadrajet carbs.
Sunday night at the racetrack Don Ellingson car number 5, Buick straight eight! 1/4 mile dirt track all that torque was real handy, he won a lot of race on the local tracks!
When I was a kid there was a stock car racer with a Model A sedan powered by a Buick straight 8 at the local track. He always had to be careful loading and unloading from his trailer to avoid damage to the oilpan. Pretty competitive, even into the mid-70's.
165 HP had to have been pretty darn stout in 1941. I wonder how that compared to Cadillac in 41, I’m pretty sure Cadillac was still running a flathead V8 in 41 but I could be wrong. My dad whose 81 yrs old told me Buicks always had a higher level of build quality, especially in the 60’s. I think it’s pretty well known that the 455 GS cars were always a tough out even against the Hemis, Ford 429’s and other GM big block cars because they were always running perfect as opposed to the others that were often out of tune. He also told me the Hemi cars were never really a factor because they were almost non existent and the rare time you did encounter one it was having some kind of issue.
Love to see stuff on old Buicks. You did a great job on this video. Just a couple of minor corrections. The car you show is a Roadmaster, not a Century. (someone may have put the incorrect hood pulls on it indicating it was a century over the years.) the other minor correction is that the Buick straight 8 on the 41 was totally different than the 31 through 35 models. The "new "senior series" straight 8 that was used on the '41s came out in 1936. It was used on the '36 Century, Roadmaster and Limited models. It is the '36 Century model that was sort of the first muscle car. The junior series straight 8 came out in 1935 and continued to 1953. The '53 Senior cars and Supers had the new nailhead V8. I have a 1936 Roadmaster and the low end torque on those cars is so great, that it will come up a hill in my neighborhood in 3rd (high ) gear, that I have to shift my 2007 Corvette back in to 2nd gear to make. Keep up the great work
My dad that passed away in 2005 at 89 used to love to talk about the straight 8 Buicks. He used to say they ran so smooth that you could balance a nickel on the valve cover at idle. He had a 1954 Buick Century with the V8 when I was a little kid that he traded in on a 56 Dodge Sierra wagon that was great for going to the drive in movies when me and my sister were little because we could sack out in the back when we got tired.
I'm sorry for the loss of your dad. My dad just turned 80. It does sound like your father left quite an impression on you as well as a great legacy and love of cars.
You sure that isn’t a ROADMASTER? According to the brochure Buick only offer that body style on the Super. ROADMASTER and the mid year Special…. Century4 doors were a fastback.
Did I like this video? I loved it! I just finished watching Uncle Tony’s video on multi carburation, and your video was next, what timing. That’s exactly what I like to see, factory multi carb setups with those very interesting air cleaners. I learned something today.
Hi James, yes, it's more than just a couple of carbs. The air cleaners and factory ductwork (Ram Air?) is really the stuff that's so cool to study - as well. THANKS for watching and writing. Oh, and Tony DeFeo was one of my early influences in the car magazine world. Check out some of his street racing exploits from 1986-'90 issues of Hot Cars Illustrated and Super Street Cars from CSK Publishing! I always had the latest copy sitting on the bucket seat next to me when I went out street racing in my old '68 Hemi Charger and '64 Polara Max Wedge (clone) back in 1987-1990! Steve Magnante
@@SteveMagnante I remember your Polara, It was white with red interior. Saw you race (and win) against a big block '69 Chevelle right up Rte. 67 between the rest areas when it was 4 lanes. Summer of '87
Someone told me about this kind of car. He had One!!! I wanted to put Dual Carbs on my 41 Pontiac Straight 6, and when I told him my idea, he told me how Fantastic this car really Was!! I never thought I would see one. Thanks again Steve..
I knew an old country boy who had a 50 Buick. He was 16 when he was in the 6th grade. He wasn't allowed by the school to drive to school, so we would all pile in ands he would drive us to school and park about a block away. He said it had a cam and a half, whatever that meant. I assumed it was some kind of "racing cam".
Awesome car! Glad you filmed it! Hopefully someone will restore and preserve it back to 1941 specks! Looks like a pretty complete and solid car? Thanks for sharing Steve! Take care.
For comparison, The Duesenberg 7 liter straight 8 in 1929 made 275hp and when supercharged it made 350hp at both rated at 4000rpm both with 7:1cr. DOHC and SOHC were offered in the Duesenberg.
I love that you have so much info about everything. Not just the most popular of cars. Listening to all of your knowledge relaxes me and really grabs my attention (and that's hard to do). Thumbs way up Steve!
I love how you found all this cool stuff. It was 1980 or 81 when u seen my first straight 8. had no idea back then that it was 3' tall. Cool car, thank you Steve.
Hey Steve Love all your Video's. Grew up and lived in the Berkshires Lenox ma. So I love your Roadside and Junkyard Crawls keep up the great Work , very educational and love the subject Thanks Rick n Sue White
Thanks for sharing your knowledge and passion Steve. I also enjoyed hearing back-stories etc., regarding the Buick. I'd never heard of the "compound" carburetors, so that's a new tidbit of info that I enjoyed hearing about. Keep up the great work!!
you opened the hood wrong : ) lol . . . i always though development of the early Buick hood hinges was an interesting progression of engineering. great vid
The other car which comes to mind from this period; the Hudson Hornet, some of which had the Twin H carburettor set up, ( i seen one a few months ago at the supermarket, was not in bad condition, in Dunedin New Zealand, so the car is a long way from home usa. )
Hi Steve. Some how you ended up on my you tube feed and something made me click.I cant believe how interested i have become in all things that i previously had absolutely no interest in.Love your content even if i dont know what you are talking about.I think you have converted me into a classic car guy. Cheers from Australia.
