1913 Model 31 Buick

by Mark Shaw

Like many of us with old cars, my father “infected” me with this great hobby. During my teen years, he helped me work on my first cars and I got my first taste of working on old cars when I helped him restore a 1927 Chevrolet. Many years later, during his recovery from quadruple by-pass heart surgery in 1985, he bought a blue/black 1913 model ‘31 Buick. This was the car featured several years earlier in the center color portfolio of the book “THE BUICK A Complete History” which listed Tom Hinsch as the owner. Since this model Buick could not easily be fitted with an electric starter, my father needed a “starter/driver” to help him enjoy his new old car while he fully recovered. After he taught me how to start, drive and maintain that Buick, I was hooked!

 

Everyone in our family got to go touring with Ma & Pa Shaw in the car that became known simply as “The Thirteen”. My parents joined and toured with the Horseless Carriage Club of America (HCCA), and I had the chance to tour with them and observe other brass era cars with T-head & L-head engines. I soon gained an appreciation for Buick valve-in-head engines and also learned that Buick had engineered some elegantly robust cars. We have continued to tour only in Buicks ever since!

Touring with “The Thirteen” for several years had taken its’ toll on the older restoration. So my son and friends helped me remove and strip down the body to bare wood for it’s’ (second) restoration & repaint just in time for my daughter’s wedding in August 1999. We didn’t restore it to be a show car, but as a historically correct and reliable touring car for my parents to enjoy in their retirement. About five years later, when my father could no longer comfortably maintain & drive “The Thirteen”, it came from Santa Cruz, California to reside and with the next generation of our my family in Vancouver, Washington.

1913 had many firsts for Buick. “The Thirteen” is a “nickel car”. All its brass trim pieces are nickel plated. It is believed that nickel plated brass cars became popular because they didn’t require never ending polishing to keep the brass lights and accessories bright and shiny. “The Thirteen” also came equipped with electric headlights, combination oil /electric side & tail lamps, and a Vesta Magneto Generator to keep the battery charged and all the lights working. “The Thirteen” also has a Prest-O-Lite tank to run the DIVCO Automatic Starting System. Yes, Buick had automatic starting in 1913! I understand this was the only automatic starting system offered By Buick in 1913 because the electric starter-generator had not yet been perfected to the satisfaction of Buick engineers.