Alexander's '67 Buick!

[YellowRose]

Update On Alexanders '67 Buick

Tom sent me three more pix and an update on the work he is doing on restoring Alexanders '67 Buick. Here is what he had to say. I see the Buick has rust problems under the battery box like our Squarebirds can.

"I’m make some progress with Alexander’s car. Here’s some photos of the passenger side front inner fender. This section is below the battery box. You can see the piece I cut out hanging on the right. The leaky battery did a job on it! To fabricate the new piece took some thought. It has a .9 inch wide by ¼ inch deep “S” indentation stamped from the factory to give it some strength. Since I don’t have a megaton stamping press, I ended up sketching the outline of into a piece of wood. I used a router to make the indentation and loosely screwed the patch panel down to it , confirming the exact location of with a paper tracing. The next step was laying the board on solid my solid concrete floor and “drawing” the sheet metal into the form with a big hammer and flat block of steel while flowing the tracing.

My welding skills are not the best but it will look perfect when complete."

Here are the three pix.

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Tom sent me two more pix of the work he is doing now on Alexanders '67 Buick. Here is what he had to say and the new pix.

"Progress is slow but steady. I’ve also started on the rear body supports. They rotted out before Alexander bought her and someone did a quick “bandaid” repair using whatever they could lay hands on. The newly fabricated support and template for its’ mounting plate are on the left, old repair on the right. The other photo is the hole in the trunk!"

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

I have been watching Tom bring Alexander's '67 Buick back to life again over the last few years. Here is what he had to say today about it, and a couple of pix.

"I just purchased a MIG welding setup from Eastwoods and am finishing up fabricating the trunk supports and associated replacement panels for the trunk floor. My welding has improved drastically. This is the first one, the second came out even better."

Here is another pic that Tom sent after he finished it.

[Guest]

She's going to be awesome! Alexander is smiling, looking down on this project.
Richard D. Hord

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Tom Cangialosi just sent me two more pix of the work that has to be done in the trunk area to fix it. He is coming along...

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Tom Cangialosi just sent me an update and pic on the work he is doing on Alexander's '67 Buick. Here is what he had to say and the pic.

"I'm getting back to the Buick in a big way. It's time to get the quarter panels squared away. This shot shows the material that was removed. Before Alexander bought it someone cut steel from some unknown wreck, tacked it in place and troweled on 1/4 of bondo over it. What a mess! I was lucky enough to find an NOS 68 sedan drivers' quarter that will work here. Tom"

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Tom Cangialosi continues with the work on restoring Alexander's '67 Buick! Here is what he had to say this morning and the pix he sent.

"Here’s the repair to the passenger side windshield top corner. The entire bottom at the cowl is like this! First pic shows the rusted out section. The second the area cut out and the others the patch and welding."

[FINSRIN]

67 was a good styling year for most of GM. Buick included.
Best wishes for you conquering the rust. Delt with significant rust in two Studebakers and now the Lincoln. Gotta do it but yukky and no fun.

[YellowRose]

Here is what Tom had to say about the work he is doing to restore the windshield area.

"I had to refabricate the entire bottom of the windshield frame on the Buick. Here's the last piece."

Here is the pic he sent.

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Tom Cangialosi continues with the work on restoring Alexander's '67 Buick! Here is what he had to say this morning and the pix he sent.

"I am moving ahead with replacing/fabricating the rear quarters. Here are some shots of the passenger side. Long before Alexander, someone welded patches over good metal and some rust along the lip. They then applied ¾ inch of bondo and feathered it forward toward the door. Nice! This side is better than the driver as the lower rear section is only dented. They even filled the dent with bondo when it could have been popped out from the inside the trunk! Anyway, what you see here is me welding a new lip I fabricated on the inner fender. I used the NOS driver’s side quarter I found as a template and flipped it. Plug welded from the outside, you’ll only see a tiny edge if you stick your head in the wheel well. Not original, but close. Same with the beam below the quarter window that attaches to the front lip. I need to get this car back on the frame!"

Here are a couple of pix of what he is doing.

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Here is the latest update and pix from Tom regarding the work he is doing on Alexander's '67 Buick. Here is what he had to say, followed by the 3 pix he sent.

I am still working on the Buick. Here's the repair I had to make to the bottom front of the driver's door. Weird double wall design with a drain that got clogged. After I welded the patch, I sealed and smoothed it out with epoxy!

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

Tom just sent me an update and pix on the work on Alexander's '67 Buick! Here is what he had to say, followed by the pix.

All is well. We're getting hit with a massive snow storm here in NJ. I wish I was in Texas!
The Buick is coming along. I'm working to button up the driver's side quarter panel installation and fabricated parts of the passenger side. After 5 years of searching on ebay I found a repro passenger side panel but it only covered about 75% of what was rotted out. I was very lucky as they haven't made them in 20 years. Using some of the skills and know how my Father handed down, I made an outline in paper of what I needed, transferred it to a piece of lumber, cut it out and hammered a sheet steel over it to form the section. Once trimmed, I MIG welded it in place.

Progress is slow, but I'm moving ahead.

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

It has been many months since I have heard from Tom on how the work is going on restoring Alexander's '67 Buick. I heard from him just a few minutes ago and here is what he had to say. I asked him if he had any new pix and if he does, he will send them to me I am sure.

"Alexander's car is has progressed to the point where all the body panels are installed and I'm scrapping and cleaning the dealer undercoating off the underside. What a pain in the butt! Heat gun/ putty knife and Karnak spray to get it down to the factory black."

[Dan Leavens]

Tom is doing a remarkable job on Alexander's Buick and is a slow process

[YellowRose]

Alexander's '67 Buick!

I have heard from both Julie and Marianne! Both are pleased to hear that Tom's work on the Buick is continuing. Julie said that she and Alexander were fortunate to have known Tom and his family and that Tom and Alexander had a special bond between them.

Marianne had this to say about the history of Alexander's Tbirds, his Malibu and the '67 Buick.

"Alexander bought his 1959 T-Bird dream car in 1981 after he graduated Columbia University and got his first real job after college. He bought the 1967 LaSaber in 1989 when the 1973 Malibu, that he was using to commute to Med school, was worn out and he needed a new car. It is funny how he bought an older car to replace the Malibu."