My 68 Wildcat 2dr. has chrome trim running along the side of the car to protect it from door dings that looks to be as old as the rest of the car. It's held in place by many small screws that are covered up by a rubber insert strip. It's in poor condition and I plan to remove it and close up all the tiny holes drilled into the body. I've noticed that most of the pictures I've seen of 2 dr's do not have this trim. I'm thinking it may be dealer installed after the fact. does anyone know if this was an option? Although it does accentuate the swoopy lines of the car, I'd rather it wasn't there. There are some relatively minor rust issues and dents on both Quarters that I want to address soon and I don't want to put the trim back. I would like to make the car as correct as possible. Any thoughts?
Is there any way to find out for sure? Is there an equivalent to the Marti report like for Fords? Gary
I can help you out with this one. Body side moldings for '68 full size Buicks were not optionally available from Buick. I have the '68 parts book and there are none listed. I know there was a Chicago based company called Beauti Gard Industries, Inc. that produced "beauti gard moldings" in one size only kits for 2 and 4 door full size '68 Buicks. I have these moldings on my '68 LeSabre. These moldings are stainless and attached with clips, but do not have the rubber backing you described. The moldings on your car are definitely after market.
Thanks for clearing that up, however, mine consist of a stainless channel type construction held on the car by a multitude of small screws, then a rubber strip slides into place to conceal the screws. No clips involved and no rubber backing. I'm curious, What's W.O.T. stand for? Gary
Since you seem to have several of these cars, perhaps I can ask another question. How much work would it be to remove the A/c components and convert my car to non A/C. I have the first iteration of the comfortron type system with only 2 rotary dials and an automatic fan control (which only works randomly) fan is on a toggle switch for now. Are all the Non A/C components readily available? This is probably not the correct place on the forum to ask. Gary
WOT stands for "Wildcat Owners Team" An informal club started here on V8 Buick a few years ago...anyone welcome! As far as retrofitting your car to non A/C it can be done-the factory cars with no A/C came without vents in the dashboard. The non A/C cars also came with only a four blade fan and no fan shroud. I would leave any fan shroud you have in place to prevent overheating issues. I suppose the components could be salvaged from a donor car if you want to go that route. Not too much aftermarket stuff for full size cars of this era.
Thanks for the info, I'll see what it takes to get the A/c working, but if it proves to be too much of a hassle, I'll keep my eyes open for a parts donor car. I'll try to figure out how to join W.O.T. Gary
Gary -- is the sole objective to get heat? I can't imagine it would be a good idea to remove -- parts would be hard to find and it would be a mess to try to convert.
I have heat by routing a vac line directly to the water valve on the engine and bypassing the fan with a switch. I realize it would be very difficult to swap out the A/c for non A/C, and likely not possible without a donor car, but I've had the dash top off and the instrument cluster out for repairs and I find the octopus of vac lines intimidating to deal with. After the car comes out of storage, I'll have a go fixing it with the shop manual and hopefully get the fan to cooperate. I don't really care about the heat as I will only summer drive the car(now in storage). I needed to have a working heating system to pass inspection for plates and the way I have it bypassed for now, I should pass. It is the more complicated premium A/C system with the auto fan control (only 2 rotary dials) It also makes working under the hood crowded. Gary
I see your point but -- I have a non ac car and had an ac car -- lots of differences. I would think your bypass is the rational choice.
I know that molding very well. My dad always put it on his Electras. Went to dealers but dealer had some trim guy expert come in once a month and he did stripping and moldings on their cars. My dad seen it one time so he inquired, and the next month he had molding on his car. I went when the guy installed it. It was pretty cool, because my dad had options for different ends and he let me pick them out. The guy had tons of colors available for the insert.
I could live with it if it was intact, but it's missing completely on the rt. rear quarter and on the rest, the rubber insert hiding the screws has shrunk back several inches from the sun. Gary
