Numerical Conundrum Confirmed!

For years, I’ve been hauling around car parts for my 1952 Buick from one house to another. Not just your everyday trim items and a few boxes of miscellaneous stuff – I’m talking tonnage. Complete doors, body panels, an entire rear end and torque tube assembly, spare engine parts, a complete front bench seat, brake drums, radios, steering column, suspension parts – everything but a spare frame and body shell. Yet in spite of my years of ownership of all this metal, I’ve only had a rough idea of what exactly I own. Now that I have a vast, open space to store it all in (the very sturdy loft of my garage), I can finally inventory it properly.

A couple years ago, I had a suspicion that perhaps a few of these parts were a bit undersized for my Roadmaster (72R for those in the Buick circle), this front-end assembly among them. I actually have four such assemblies in my possession, so this past weekend seemed like the best time to sort it all out; all four assemblies look alike without the brake components attached. With wire brush in hand, I started my search for part numbers.

Bingo! Found them all over. Bear in mind that I suspected that this assembly was for a Series 40 Buick (Special). Happy that the numbers should make things easier, I tackled the other like bits:

Possible Series 70 (Roadmaster) parts

A keen eye will note a different set of numbers. All documented on a note card, I ran to my parts books. If you recall, I’ve contemplated the possibility that Buick changed their numbers along the way – for some, odd reason (perhaps a change in supplier?).

I have five books for reference, four of which are chassis and body books: one is 1952 specific; effective date of Jan. 1, 1955; effective Nov. 1, 1968; effective Sept., 1973. A fifth book is a May 1953 Interchangeable Parts manual. I should have no worries. Wrong. And I confirmed my theory by examining these two parts.

Without going into all the numbers I found, here’s an example. The steering knuckle support from the top two photos has part # 1323035 (right) and 1323034 (left). Nothing was listed in the Interchange manual and the ‘68 chassis book didn’t have a listing for ‘52 models (no surprise). My ‘55 chassis book lists part # 1318752/753 for Series 40 and 50. But the proof of number swapping was uncovered in my ‘52 chassis book: 1323034/035 for Series 40 and 50.  The steering arm numbers matched (confirming the top assembly as being applicable to Series 40 and 50), but the control arm numbers failed to match in any book. Furthermore, the control arm shaft (note the blotch of factory green paint) has the part # 1303544 on both Roadmaster and Special/Super assemblies, but the book only lists part # 1393411. Additionally, neither control arm number cast into the part match what’s provided in my ‘52 chassis book.

Frustratingly strange, but I was – with these few numbers – able to figure out which of my front end assemblies fit what. I wonder how many parts we passed up simply because what was on the part didn’t match up with what the book states. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any theories? I’d love to see your input.