i have
what i beleive to be a buick motor with the following serial number which is located near the distbutor on thew right side of the motor. 71339474. anybody help me out? thanks

Rich, the number shows it to be a 1953 Buick Special engine. The last digit(4) is the series identifier where 4= Buick Special series.

The other digits indicate a unit just over the 7 million mark. At that time, Buick was numbering their engines in sequence from year to year. The beginning 53 Special motor was #6950620. There were 217,674 Specials built that year. After throwing a couple of thousand more in for replacement use, the last one would have been about #7170000. This would make yours a late 53 engine. Incidentally, that was the last year Buick built a straight 8.

Click on 'year info' and 'shop' above to see more about car and engine production numbers.