Color is everything! Some paint finds its way onto the '69...

'bout time, slacker... Looking good, bro! I have a box being mailed this week coming your way...

 

Man get a top on it and bring it to the GS Nats in Oct.!!!!!!!!!! I'd love to see it!

 

Thanks George, much appreciated.

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:01 PM ----------

Rusty, wish it were that simple man. Still have plenty to do but the top is now a priority. FYI 2 once NOS WG's come from my former Aqua car (Hartmann added @ some point) and the other 2 are NOS. One still had baby blue painted "12-70" on it. They're not from the GSX.

 

Alright already...still needs me some interior though. Please forgive the tailpipes. When I transfer the images onto this site they lose some clarity for some reason.

 

Wow. I'm not sure how I missed this post but wow. Merry Christmas Brian! That is beautiful.

 

Another fall is upon us, and the car is now at a shop for final interior assembly. It's going to seem like a New York minute compared to the time spent in bodyshop prison! The car should be ready for pickup from Bridge's Upholstery Shop in Independence, KY sometime tomorrow. He's obviously a Mopar guy, but he seems to have a good idea of what looks right on a GM too. 'Bird is 440+6 automatic and a quite a contrast from the subtle GS400 car.

Next on the list is a trip to Ryan Muffler in Florence, Kentucky. There the convertible will get 2.5" manifold back exhaust from T/A performance that arrived yesterday along with 50 series Flowmasters.

 

:TU: Spring Grove is next month, then GS Nationals...see you there I hope!

 

Very nice GS. Love the color. Looks like it is surrounded by some high buck company in the shop.

 

Thanks Jerry. Spring Grove :TU: Special thanks to Marc Cleek & Glenn Bridges (pictured). It's come a long way in the decade since I bought the car.

Vintage thread:

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...hlight=help+in+a+hurry+whats+this+gs400+worth

 

Brian, I don't post much on this great forum but I just had to say congratulations on that stunningly beautiful buick. You would have to be one very proud man. Now you can look forward to using it. Cheers Joe

 

Joe,

Thank you, and yes, I am pretty proud right now and looking forward to its use.

 

Back to the thread in '03 where I asked what this car was worth...

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...hlight=help+in+a+hurry+whats+this+gs400+worth

Mike ended up selling me the car a year after the thread for $4,500. I actually shared the '03 thread with him and that is how we came up with the price of the car. You guys actually made the deal happen!



JW said

If it is complete, numbers matching, and has a solid floor and trunk, and solid core support and inner fenders, I would value it between $2500 and $5000. The quality of the bodywork is part of the equation, as is the fact that I have never seen half a car rust out (assuming the quarters were replaced because of rust.)

That's about as close as anybody can get with two pics on the internet.

In restored strong #2 condition that car will bring between 10 and 15K. Prices are a little short on the early cars. A '70 in the same condition would add almost 10K to these figures, depending on how it is optioned out.

If it is as solid as you say, and the quality of the bodywork is good, I would be very happy to get into it for $4K or less.

JW

Jim was right...there was more rust than I had initially expected. Repairs were needed in at least a dozen areas of the car. On the plus side, the previous metal work that had been done was indeed first rate.

Then there was this quote from Bill:

Lets see, if it was nice it would be worth $10,000. Subtract $3000 for paint/bodywork, $2000 for interior, $1000 for chrome, $500 for the top, thats down to $3500. Lets say between $3500 and $4000?????



- Bill

Wow, I don't even know where to start with the numbers. What's it worth now? Nobody knows for sure, but I just emailed Hagerty's with pictures and asked them to up the coverage to their own value guide @ 60k. Looking back I would have had to subtract at least the following: $15,000 for paint/bodywork, $6,000 for interior, $5,000 for chrome & trim, $1,200 for top frame & hydraulics, $1500 for top itself. I hate to think what I've paid for shipping all the parts to one place! Sweat equity? No such thing! Then there's all the items I've just plain had laying around forever, like the NOS door sill plates from the early 80's. The thing to take away from this is what so many people on this site will tell you time and time again. Restoration costs...whatever you think they're going to be, are probably going to be FAR more than you anticipate.

 

Brian looking super Enjoy!

 

WOW !!!!! Brian the 69 is sure looking good.:beers2::beers2:


Dave

 

Thanks Tony & Dave. It certainly isn't "done" yet, but inching closer towards done for now.

 

Super looking car turned out great. Makes me want my 69 vert done. Guess it would help if I would stop driving it. Where did you get the Pearl interior? Mine has the same but it's Signal red.

 

lots or work and it paid off ....looks great !

 

Door panels, windlace, rear sidewall, ash wells, window fuzzys, kick panel carpet, extra material for the armrest pads, seat foams, front and rear seat covers, bucket seat springs, bucket seat side and rear plastics, track adjustment knobs and seat back release buttons are all from Legendary Interiors. They call it parchment pearl, and he assured me it was correct. He sent me a sample and it matched the unscathed material under my bucket seat perfectly.

All handles, heater control, and door sill plates are NOS. I stripped everything before taking it to the upholstery shop...1 million hog rings and lots of glue on the panels. I installed new lower springs in the buckets seats and made some repairs to the upper springs after bead blasting and priming all the parts (can't recommend the repro upper springs) I polished the stainless trim after picking through three sets. The console came out of a parts car and just needed a quick detailing. The carpet and kickpanels came from The Parts Place. The radio delete was eBay. The dashpad...not sure because I bought so many, but this one needed a dye (Cole sent me a perfect one but it got ruined in shipping - he was great about it). The chrome armrest backings are from OPG. The armrest bases and headrests are dyed. I cleaned and painted the seatbelts and buckles respectively. We had the column out for paint during the bodyshop phase of things. The 15" sport wheel was put on by the previous owner. It had the plain wheel from the factory. I have a 16" sport wheel from the same parts car the as the console but prefer the 15" because it doesn't have tilt. And I ain't small! The GS door panel emblems are original to the car and the GS is repainted. The instrument housing is original and quite nice considering the car's previous condition.

 

Thanks for the information. I have wondered about getting a match for the pearl since no one lists it specifically.

 

My son was home from college and got the old computer up and running again. It had a lot of pictures downloaded on it that I wanted to put on this thread. So here are some to share...

The car was overheating when I bought it. I tried a few of the normal things to try to get it cooler and then decided to pull the original 400" out and have a look. The overheating issue turned out to be a minor corrosion issue in the water jacket as evidenced in the pictures below. Ha-Ha

I ended up buying a '71 455" off a fellow V8Buick member and did the oil pump, timing chain, rocker assemblies, gaskets, and cloned it into a 400. It is a very well mannered engine that is giving me good service but it's been nearly a decade and the thing needs detailed again.