Just wanted to do a side by side comparison of the 71 GS grilles. My Bittersweet Stage 1 has a restored grille using correct paint colors. The Sandpiper Beige GS has the current reproduction grille. First off the the grille appears to only have been painted silver and some black in the recess areas. Second the Studs that were sent with the grille wont even fit in the holes without drilling oversize. They look like skylark grille studs. Sorry I don't have pics.
Dave, I got the grill from the GS club and used the studs I got from you as it came with none. It was also black plastic and tooks lots of prep and I also painted with correct colors. It fits like a glove.
Dl, I called OPG and they get their grilles from The Parts Place. There is no Argent on the grille and the black is missing inside the squares. Looks carefully at the center of the grille on the right in picture of my original post. The biggest disappointment was the studs did not fit either.
Close enough ..no? You wanna go back to chashing $2000 grilles on ebay like before Parts place popped these?
I think the grille the guy from the GS club had made in France by a Lexus plastic supplier was better quality however it required quite a bit of work to get paint on it. It fits like a glove with no mods. Not sure if there are any more floating around.
Paint is easy fix. The studs was a first run issue, Georges site has an article/fix on it: http://www.buickperformance.com/New71GSGrillProblems.htm Also, its worth noting my original 71 gs grille was argent in the "squares" area, and black in all the recessed areas.o No:
With regard to the egg crate/squares area that are painted Argent Gray. Are the insides of the squares painted gray, while the forward facing surfaces of the squares get painted silver? Or, do both the insides and forward facing surfaces of the squares both get painted gray (please tell me this is the correct way)? Thanks
