Biggest Engineering Failures: The 1939 Buick Special & Century's Shockingly Weak "Bobtail" Frame

“Some men are Methodist, others Catholic. My father was an Oldsmobile man.” I know it’s a Buick video, but this car made me think of that line

Oh my gosh....you've out-done yourself with this beautiful 'mini' feature film! Excellent!! Thanks for posting! I cannot get over how beautiful these late-1930s Buicks were....almost every detail has 'class' incorporated within. Thanks again for educating those of us who weren't alive back then.

Thanks for this one, Adam. Also notable for 1939 was the first year the grille became a full width grille, rather than something layered over the radiator that was thinner and more upright. Compare to the 1938 and the difference is striking. Thus begin the era of ever more fully integrated bodies, which only culminated in the 1950s.

Very intriguing, Adam. Never heard that story about the Buick frame, or lack thereof 😮

Australia here. When I was a young guy, 30 years ago, there was a 6 wheel black Buick sitting in the middle of a chook yard not too far from home. I didn't know it was a Buick, it just looked really cool. I asked if the guy wanted to sell it, but he said no.He passed away some time later and the Buick was sold as scrap. What a waste.

Thanks for taking a look back at cars outside the 60's to 90's period.....some truly beautiful styling in that era. Would love to see more, especially ones in colors not seen today....so tired of contemporary color palettes...(black, white, grey, silver....ugh). If you do a video on the '41 models and need photos, I'd be happy to send pics of my '41 Buick Special SSE, a maroon "torpedo back" coupe.

I have read many books over the years about Buick history. The front end was certainly unique but I read that the grille design caused overheating problems under certain conditions. Hopefully they solved the problem by the time the 1992 Skylark was introduced! My father told me that when he was a kid living on a farm in Wisconsin his family was poor (it was during the depression) and were visited by relatives who drove a Buick of this era. He was among a group of cousins who were playing outdoors in cold weather. The kids wanted to get out of the elements so they got into my grandparents old Ford. The wind whistled around the windows and doors and the cousins suggested that they all pile into their Buick. My father could not get over the difference. The Buick was tight and no wind blew into the car. That stuck with him his whole life.

Howdy, just watched your feature and it made me smile ruefully. When I first had the yen to do up an old car into a nice cruiser back in the early 80's, I found a fairly good American- built 1939 Buick Special 4 door up here in northern Canada. It was minus the engine and tranny but was otherwise quite unmolested. I was told the engine had been seized for years as it had overheated and had been tossed. Once I started disassembling it, i was quite surprised to see it had no frame behind the rear end assembly but had a few braces to the back bumper and a curved piece of angle iron inside the rear bumper. I thought it was factory at the time (although kind of tacky looking) and it wasn't until years later I found out that it was one of the first 10,000 or so Buicks that were built with the short frame. It worked well enough for what I wanted to do with the car so I reinstalled all the braces once I had the car ready to go. Over 30 years since then, it's always seemed pretty solid but I really never entertained the notion of pulling a trailer and I never overloaded the trunk. This car also had the stream boards which were a sportier version of the usual running boards you saw on cars of that era. It was Buick's first attempt to get away from the obsolete concept of the running board. They looked really great and still do. The funny thing about the car is once I got it going in the mid 80;s and proudly showed it off to a few old guys at the time, the response I got was, "Oh yeah the 39 Buicks with the short frames and those air-blocking grille bars that caused engines to overheat and seize; (Ah Ha!) those were real lemons that year!") I still love mine though!

Lever arm shockabsorbers. Popular with british cars back then. Interesting to see a panhard rod for lateral control of axle.

Dad had a 38 Special business coupe. He told me that he should of weighted till 39's went on sale cause he really liked the styling. But that 38 lasted thru WW2 and into the early 50's before it was just worn out. Then he traded it in on a 52 olds

Seems to me that the issue here wasn't a "weak" frame but the lack thereof 😂

Crazy, I’ve had my 1938 Buick Special for 7 years and never knew they made that change in 1939. Glad I went with a 38! Mine as knee action shocks in the front, cartridge shocks in the rear. It is interesting Buick went back to knee action on the rear for 1939.

This is mentioned in a marque book I own (“The Buick: A Complete History”, published by Automobile Quarterly) and the author relates that some customers would actually look under cars in the showroom, to determine whether the cars were short frame cars. Very embarrassing for the salesmen. Other than the short frame, these had a very good and modern chassis, with trailing arms, coil springs, and a Panhard rod.

3:40 Simply beautiful ❤ I definitely feel like I would’ve chosen this car in its day

So the rear bumper mounted to sheet metal???? That would make the trunk a crumple zone -- hope the gas tank wasn't back there somewhere. Ouch

A very dignified and stately motor vehicle, which was common in the era, and a big reason we love these automobiles. I would love to hear someone describe how engineers of the distant past did their testing, or how they devised designs considering strength, lifespan, and the like.

I have a 1939 Buick special, its completely apart for restoration but the last pic of this video is what my car would have looked like when new. I thought the frame in this car was weird but didn't realize it was a one year only problem.

Aborher excellent presentation and insight into these vehicles that were before both our times! Thoroughly enjoyable to watch Thank you, Adam!

Wow, this '39 Buick is an AMAZING Vehicle, but with flaws, Adam😎👏

If you wanted a car for towing in 1939, the Nash was probably the best buy...those were some seriously heavy frames.