No reply from CARS Well, one could assume we won't be getting them from CARS. I sent them a polite email inquiry last week, and they have not even had the courtesy to acknowledge my inquiry.
Well, duh!! Sometimes the most obvious is not obvious enough! Joe, can you post any pics of what you got from Legendary? I just bought a whole new interior from them and their product was great, don't know why I never considered what they have available!! ou: ou: ou:
Are they carpeted or rubber or....??? Someone mentioned they weren't correct style (not knocking that but its not what i am looking for)?
Thanks for the pix Thanks, Joe, appreciate the photographic help!! A picture tells a story so much more clearly! The look of your Legendary mats is great, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. In the meantime I have sent an inquiry to a place in London Ontario called NOS Reproductions to ask if they have any interest or could be convinced to make the correct rubber NOS-looking mats. Will advise further.
Small potatoes? Ian, Thank you for your attempts to contact them (at CARS) and for continuing to try and locate a source. Sorry I blew my stack yesterday as the level of frustration increases for me on this. Those mats from Legendary look like it was a very involved project and possibly more complicated than our factory mats with the multiple colors and rib patterns. Those look great but I still just want a clean, simple factory mat like I have rested my feet on since 1971. A few vertical and horizontal ribs with a nice clean Tri Shield in it. Reading between the lines here there has to be an underlying reason these part suppliers are not taking advantage of this need. I remember a top sales man with Year One many moons ago who was a good friend who told me the low down on "Buick customers" at that time in the 1990's. He told me "John, I'm just being honest with you I'd rather deal with just about any brand customer than a Buick guy" he went on to say "Not all of them but the great majority of them are picky and cheap, I talk to another brand customer and get a page of orders and few complaints, and I sell a couple things to a Buick guy and get lots of complaints" Needless to say being a Buick man my whole life those comments hit me like walking out in front of a freight train but how much of it is true for suppliers? I know the other brands must be hacked when something is reproduced incorrectly, or of poor quality, and I am sure many of them also complain in that instance. As I am typing this I am seeing one BIG differance though.................look at how many more vehicles were produced for the other brands of cars and also how many different models to further multiply that number. So you get 100,000 orders in a time period for Chevy parts lets say and 10% of those are returned for various reasons but you still sold 90,000 parts, try that with our order numbers (with limited parts availability also which doesn't help us place higher orders, catch 22) and you can see where this is heading. I am sure the suppliers take note of every blow up that has occured also when someone did step up to the plate to make something. Just like the 1970 grill complaints. Yes, people had a reason to express their comments on what it needed to be correct, and possibly not be satisfied (I was personally just happy it was made and I could correct it) but along with expressing the discontentment, the suppliers side has to be considered. "Do I want to rip these guys heads off over this and make them wish they had never bothered with us?" also "Are these suppliers going to ever want to do anything for us again?" Since we are not getting any reasons from the suppliers I have to guess there has to be some truth to some of the old Year One guys comments. Are they just seeing big headaches for small potential orders and it is not worth it to them? Look at the Chevys and other brands you literally can buy the ENTIRE car these days, and we can't even get a freakin set of floor mats reproduced! Am I losing my mind here or is this the truth behind the deaf ear being turned to us. If it is the truth, I'm not real discouraged by it all though, guess it is one reason I have always been a Buick guy. All things set aside I like being, and driving an underdog.Not being able to get parts as easily as my arm chair, catalog ordering friends of other brands has actually made me a pretty damn good fabricator,buffer,painter,and "junk yard master" :laugh: . One of my hard core Chevy friends who I talked into buying a 72 Sun Coupe, got to see our side of the parts issue and GAVE me a 66 Chevelle, "So I could see how you SHOULD be able to order parts and the effects of order quantity on the prices". I accepted the car, but soon after offered it back to him. There is NO CHALLENGE for me! It wasn't about talent (Yes, I know it still takes talent) but I mean the talent of making something happen when the cards are stacked against you. Guess I'm kind of proud of "being cheap" too. I call that being a good negotiator. If the price is fair I don't argue, if I just paid $1000 for a grill and I only have $50 for a $75 dollar part, I negotiate, or horse trade or sell some of my parts off to get what I need. How much does a Chevelle grill cost? Yes, I think that $1000 plastic grills might make any brand customer a little "cheap". Being "picky" well, guess I can see that a little clearer also for those of you still reading this painfully long post. You know not even including the time it took to find a usable candidate I spent HOURS with a Dremel making a 1970 passenger side,side marker lense for my 4 speed Stage 1 (in 1990's). I used a yellow NOS military truck lense, dug my old lense out of the housing and cut and filed and sanded and buffed until no one even noticed the differance when I pointed it out. If I had punched a few buttons on a phone,tore open a box, and bolted one on to my car, I probably would not have near the appreciation of being able to either find a usable one or the satisfaction of something I made with my own two hands. That's what is tough on the mats though, anything in a junk yard is long gone or in such horriable shape that we could just really use some help on these. I'm going to keep hunting though because when I finally get some it will be another satisfying goal completed, when no one wanted to help. Soooooooooooo guess I'll stay under the title of "picky and cheap" and wear it proudly, just like our cars are misunderstood and under rated by many I guess I'd still rather be one of the few. Sorry to go on so long, but it defintely made me feel better to see what I feel drives most of us to the level of excellence, and loyalty towards our cars. Keep going fast with class , guys :TU: P.S. Anyone want to do some horse trading with a cheap guy on some black mats? :Brow: Your Buick brother, Fritz
Maybe the process of finding the right parts and putting in the extra time learning to make due with what you can find is why so many Buick guys get so attached to their cars. o No: Like Tom Miller's signature says, "I don't want more than anyone else, but I don't expect to settle for less."
A small lead - - As I said earlier, I sent an inquiry to NOS Reproductions in London, Ontario, and got this prompt reply by e-mail : "We do offer rubber style floor mats for these cars,I have mailed you a flyer. Thank You Kris Pfile NOS Reproductions 1 (800) 667-6200" When the flyer arrives in the mail, I'll scan it and post it here, if possible. At this point I have no idea what they look like, and it's hard to guess from their web site. Will advise further!!! :Comp: Here's a link to their web site : http://www.nosreproductions.com/mats.asp
I think you are right on the money Nick. Probably why I almost without even considering the statement say "It is a labor of love" when someone asks how I made something so nice. "Made" is probably a key word also because with our getting the short end of the stick from a majority of the suppliers, we have to MAKE things happen. Whether that being finding old cores in better shape than ours, fabricating,buffing,painting,filling and plating etc etc a Buick guy has to be very resourceful, and have a strong ability to improvise. Needless to say with the "invention" of the computer (didn't Gore come up with that BTW? :laugh: ) anyhow with the "computer car clubs" we have the benefit these days of reaching thousands of like minded people with all sorts of part sources and cutting edge technology for our cars. AND other underdogs who actually know how it feels to walk around a swap meet for half a day and never see a Buick part, or see a Buick at the local dragstrip, or have had to argue with a person at a parts store that "YES! They DID put a 455 into a Skylark GS back in the 1970's! :rant: " Then they give you the 350 part anyway! ou: Being a brut for punishment I took on a 60 Electra 225 convertible. NOW, I think my GS parts are easy (mats excluded of course)!!! :laugh: Try and find a source for a 60 Electra some day :laugh: . It's all good though and when you run into someone else working on something this tough it is like finding a long lost friend, having someone to help and be helped by. Imagine running up to someone at a show with a 67 through 69 Camaro and saying "UNBELIEVABLE MAN! I have one of those TOO!!!!" I can see the glassy eyed response now............"Yeh, buddy who doesn't!" :laugh: :laugh: Lucky we've got each other is all I can say! :beer
Ian is on a roll ! :TU: If they are out there I'll bet he will find them! Go Ian, Go Ian, Go Ian!!!!!! :beer
They are incorrect. I think the legendary mats are the same style. I talked to Chris recently about it. I even ordered a set of their plain jane ones just so I would have somethingto keep my carpet nice until (IF???) the correct ones get made. I will post pics once they arrive if different than the legendary ones. Also, I have a complete set of crappy green ones here, edges rough, faded bad and smell but they are the correct style so might look around at getting them made somehow...not likely though, I don't have the finances to make big things happen, sad to say, but I keep buying lottery tickets! :laugh:
here shane!! has anyone attacked Shane from the parts place on these? they seem to actually listen to part requests from us :TU:
Some News OK, I have some news on 2 fronts. First, I did PM Shane from The Parts Place and he said they have no plans to do floor mats, as they want to focus for now on some sheet metal parts and more grilles. Second, I got the flyer in the mail from NOS Reproductions and it says their product is vinyl as opposed to rubber, but the picture in the flyer actually looks OK to my inexperienced eye. I don't have nor have I seen an original set of Buick Skylark or GS floor mats so I don't know what to look for. But I'll try to post their flyer here, if I can make it fit....you guys can be the judges and let know how they look to you!! :TU:
>>Hi Ian. If you would like to see what the original Buick floor mats look like just take a look at my posting for the set I am selling on the board: http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?p=853717#post853717
Ian, That is a pretty handsome mat they have there even if it is not correct. I called Chris (one of the owners at NOS) and we talked for a good while. Turns out his source on these is Legendary Auto Interiors (800) 363-8804. I had a concern with how pliable these would be in "vinyl" and he said it is a composite type material which is still very pliable and has the "tits" on the back to avoid sliding around. I was actually considering buying these because as I have shared I just want something non carpeted, with a simple Tri-Shield on it. The original is preferred but these look nice enough and are pretty cheap I figured. After speaking with sales at Legendary though they have dropped the simple Tri Shield and "gotten fancy" . The basic Tri Shield is no longer available ou: as it will have "GS" or GSX" under it, and you can even get mats in colors,with white Tri shield and red GS lettering.Those last ones I mentioned are still only 139 for a set of 4 and available in color choice on mat. Still not what we are looking for but good to talk with both companies. Chris said we'd have to justify some big numbers before they would consider making them of course. BTW they (Legendary) are coming out with fully assembled door panels.Pricing on fronts is 450 a pair and they are waiting on the prototypes for the rears. I had a call come in and wasn't able to discuss making what we all want but you know it will be the same answer. I may send them an e mail anyway though. I mean if they make the whole interior why not the one item that completes the look? I don't know what it is with me but if I see a drop dead perfect interior,nice and shiny,smells new,seat cushions supporting the new covers correctly and all and then look down and see funky carpeted mats it just ruins it for me Guess it comes from seeing junkyard dog cars with carpeted cartoon character mats,flames,big obnioxious lettering etc etc.Just not the Go Fast with Class, more like go fast with flash or somethingg and I like the understated, innocent "I'm just a big ole Buick" look. Anyhow, maybe if we all keep calling and e mailing, someone will bring it up in a sales meeting and we will get a chance. I'm still gonna hold out but thanks for your work Ian. Regards, John
