That sucks, now you are going to have to find another car to restore and start all over again! You should have checked that out before Nick started the body work.
I don't think so. My understanding is after they were checked over and were ready to go, they were stamped consecutively and were put in the tubes for shipment. The serial numbers were used for warrantee purposes. That's why I think these were bought out of a store, where they pulled them off the shelf. I don't think that's going to happen either Frank. This one may end it for me. If the car is sold then I will finish my 70 Olds 442. If I end up keeping it, then the Olds is getting sold. I am only keeping 4 cars. Duane
Here's some pics from the weekend. I have been polishing the glass. I was able to clean up the back glass and all the side windows except the passenger side front window. That one has quite a few deep scratches. I will have to find another soon. I was also working on the back drive and some other pieces. The back drive rod was a dark gray phosphate so I painted it to look like that. I also cleaned up the clutch fork and the piece that goes into it. It is now ready for the replacement brass bushing. The Voltage Regulator cover is an original and was painted gloss black. Duane
I also found another part that I forgot I got with the car. It is a brand new vintage Mallory Coil. Duane
OK, Today was Door Panel day. I took the door fuzzies & metal pieces off the top of the door panels as I planned to re-use all those pieces. The door fuzzies are stapled to the metal pieces, so I carefully un-bent the staples and removed them. Then I removed all the cardboard "holes" from the door panels. If you notice I removed only the cardboard and left the vinyl covering intact. I do this for a reason. Every now & then the vinyl design gets shifted a little in relation to the board. If you cut out the vinyl from the entire hole you may end up with a partial hole showing when the armrest gets mounted. I only fell into that trap once. Then I started installing the metal tops. Once aligned I smacked home all the "grippers" that hold the cardboard to the metal. I then use a couple of 1/8" pop-rivits with backing plates to totally secure the panel. (I use 4 rivets per each front door panel) Many people do not do this, but I want to make sure they don't come off. Even though the box says they are aluminum, I only use metal pop-rivits here as they are thinner and fit into the recess of the hole. The ones I used only have a 1/8" grip range, and will work, but a longer one would be easier to work with. Now it's time to glue on the foam. The trick is to not put ANY glue in the area where the board meets the metal. That way the foam goes right over that area and will not leave a line in the vinyl when finished. Then you glue on the vinyl and trim it off. Next comes the chrome trim pieces and the emblems, remote mirror hole etc. Below are pics showing how I did everything. More to follow. Duane
Now for the Door Fuzzies. I hate to see the fuzzies held onto the doors with pop-rivets, because you can see them once they are on the car, so I wanted to use staples like they originally were. It doesn't matter with "drivers" but I didn't want to do it here. Anyway, as I was using the original metal tops & fuzzies, I had to make my own staples because I could not find anything with the correct width. The only way to describe installing the staples is that it is a Royal PITA, and takes some time, but the finished product does turn out nice. To do the next panel you simply lather, rinse, and repeat. Hope this helps the guys that want to do their own installation. The rear panels get done tomorrow. Duane
Today I did the rear panels. Then I dropped off the glass, door panels, and some other pieces to Nick. While I was there I took some pics of the original carpet. You can see in the pics that the factory cut "T's" in the front & rear carpet for the outside legs of the front buckets, but they did not do this for the inside legs. Those were mounted directly on top of the carpet. This is completely different then what we see in other plants, but we will do it as it was originally done. Duane
Those door panels look absolutely beautiful!! And correct too, way to go!! Is The unveiling still on track for Cecil?
Probably not, I don't see how I can make it. The wheels are out being polished, the engine is not together, and we are still looking for 1 window. Plus I still need to pick up the trunk chrome from Alan Wander. I have been too busy trying to get the parts ready for Nick to get there. Nick is assembling the car now, but there is still a ton of work to do. Mind you, I am not complaining, it is turning out very nice, but we are not going to cut any corners now to make it to a show. Jimmy may have to get a private showing. Duane
Duane, been watching this, and enjoy your approach to a nice restoration, using what original parts you can. The side quarter glass are a lot of fun, and mine on my 66 required 4 hands to get in. Glade I did not have the roof rail seal in. Should have put the quarter windows back in before putting the SS strip for the RR, but had just enough room to get the glass in. Getting the 2 front rollers on the front track at the same time is kinda fun. On another subject, did you post a list of the new and or replacement parts you found for the car? Are you still looking for anything. Thanks Bill Sangster.
Bill, Restorations are expensive enough, so the only way to make it affordable is to re-use as many original parts as you can. Now this is figuring that "I" will be refinishing as many original pieces as possible. If I had to "pay" someone to re-do the parts, then it might end up costing more to re-do them then buy new. You have to figure in that type of cost as well.............but I often get a bug up my butt about certain things, so I am often more willing to re-cycle parts then buy new. I guess after looking at/Judging so many cars for years I know the common pitfalls people fall into while restoring cars, and will not do certain things, even if it takes me longer or costs a little more. This car, (1969 Buick) actually forces you to recycle more parts, as there are so many pieces not reproduced, like the 69 Coupe rear side windows. You can't get them new, and are forced to recycle both the front and rear side glass, as I don't believe the tint on the new front windows would match the original rears. We are going to put in the best we can find and later see about replacing some if needed. I can't tell you how many times I have heard where an owner bought all kinds of new pieces that were never used on their resto's, and/or did not purchase the correct parts for the cars. All that does is push up the cost of the project unnecessarily. There were even a few parts that came with this car that were incorrect and will have to get sold. Anyone need a set of Lt. Blue seatbelts? I will be selling them soon. Nick is putting in all the windows, so I don't know how much trouble they were to install, but he has done this before, so................... The other thing I want to mention is how fortunate I have been to work with two very accommodating resto shops. Both Nick and Mark Reeves let me come into their shops, and help build/fix parts, clean parts up, and do a hundred other things that most places would never let me do. Hats off to them. The only parts I remember I still need are a Passenger side front door glass (it's coming from Jason Cook), the rear trunk lid chrome (it's coming from Alan Wander), a battery, a water pump, a gas tank sending unit, a clutch disc, a set of shocks (which I will be doing some magic to, as the Motion cars came with very specific shocks), and four (4) 2 1/16" tower clamps. Other then that I should be good. Duane
As you said Duane, if you can clean, paint, rebuild "components" of a restoration yourself, and not have to pay that labor, you can "save some money" (if that's actually possible during a restoration) but original parts fit & function so much better then most reproduction pieces.........
Years ago, at one of the restoration seminars of the GS Nationals, I voiced the opinion that it was preferable to recycle as many original parts as was possible. I had a guy stand up and say that if he listened to me, he would be throwing out or selling most of his NOS parts. My response was I didn't have a problem with that, as many of the NOS parts were not painted/plated like the parts our cars came with, and needed fixed anyway. If you need to replace a part due to damage or wear that's one thing. If you replace a good part because it is easier to do, then that's another. I knew of guys with 70 GSX's that were buying NOS Chromed headlight buckets, and then sandblasting the chrome off to paint and use on their cars. Those parts would have been better used on regular GS's where the good chrome would show. Duane
Nick got the front and rear windows in today, and was painting the headlight buckets I got from California, plus some other pieces. He is also working on painting the dash cluster, but I will wait until it's done to post those pics. Gene Hill gave me a very nice dash cluster with good chrome, and I was going to paint it, but never got there as I was doing other things. I want to thank Rich Garland for giving me the back window that I used on the car. After a "little" polishing it turned out nice. Enjoy. Duane
