Don't want to derail this thread, but betting on the dogs was something my Father loved to do and he passed it along to me.
I shook the car down this morning and decided to take it out to run some errands. It started great, hot started better than it has since the new build and overall, ran flawless for a good 40 miles. I'll be doing the same early tomorrow for a cruise-in about 30 miles away. Oh - and I also stopped to grab some groceries.
Looking good! Curious as to where the cruise in is tomorrow. Outside chance I may be let off the leash long enough to go Took the Electra out for a warm up, dust off run today and it started up right away and ran smooth. Warm enough to have the windows down! Got to make the most of it while we can. Bob
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. During a recent conversation with @Rob Ross, he asked if I still had my OEM shroud - which I do, in basically perfect condition - and suggested grabbing one of TPP pieces. After some thought, it made total sense. Why risk ruining a $1000 plus part when adequate repros are readily available? With a little massaging - especially around the area of the provision for the upper radiator hose hook - this will be more than sufficient for me and I can shelve the original. I'd also be half heartedly looking for one of these vanity mirrors for a while and found one for $20 shipped on eBay. At some point in its life, someone had installed one, so there's already remnants of the brackets on the sun visor.
Makes sense to use the repop and store the original. The 71's aren't nearly as expensive but I had the chance to buy a very nice original a couple years back and have it set aside.
I've got extra of most of all the front end parts because it seems no one pays attention when they're driving these days.
That shroud that came in your car is as close to NOS as one could want. Don't think I've ever seen a nicer one.
Speaking of shelving, I paid Mr. Cook a visit last weekend and grabbed some goodies from his collection of Buick stuff. I'll be freshening up this '70 M21 and swapping out the original once the weather breaks. It's going to my transmission guy this week. I also grabbed a set of 14" inch steelies that will get a new set of Firestone Wide Oval radials after they're blasted and painted. That will complete the transformation back to day 1. The rebuilt shifter will also nicely complement the fresh Muncie. I found a gentleman named Brad Barrie on Facebook, who runs the page Old School Automotive License Plate Frames. He filled a void and crafted me up some dealership swag after my 4 year search was fruitless. I've looked high and low for basically anything from this former Buick dealer and these are the next best things. I also turned the sticker into a magnet, for obvious reasons.
The '70 M21 is freshened up and ready for installation once it rains here a few more times and I can drive the car to my buddy's shop. The rebuild was done by a transmission shop (somewhat) local to me that's been in business for over 30 years, so I'm confident it'll perform as new. I'm into a (basically) new M21 for under $1400 bucks and from what I've seen online, it looks like I'm ahead of the game in that respect. Tomorrow, I'm taking the old Polyglas tires off the 14" steelies and dropping them off at the blaster. I think the radial Wide Ovals will really "finish off" the car's look. Stay tuned...
As long as I've owned the car, the hood latch has been "difficult", for lack of a better word. Turns out it was cracked - which makes sense - so I swapped it out with a replated one Dave Johnson sold me last year. The hood pops open much easier now. I picked up the 14" steelies from the blaster last week and dropped them off to my paint guy. They came out very nice. The Wide Ovals should be here this week or early next week.
Those are the same exact wheels the the beater wore when it was in muscle car review. After that, I upgraded to 15" steelies
That looks awesome. Can't wait to get a set for my car. Just need to find (and maybe re-chrome) some more '70 14" Chrome wheels. Not "same exact" as in just like, but so ppl understand, they are the actual wheels from the beater.