Hi from Santa Cruz, California. I'm Steve and have a small back yard shop. Buddy is one of my best friends. Together, we're going to fix up his '65 GS. I have done a few cars now, but my Buick knowledge is pretty thin. Looking forward to having the wisdom here help us do justice to this great car. Hopefully you guys can help keep us from making stupid mistakes... Buddy got a '65 Skylark several months ago. It was mild spec with bench seat, column shift, 300, etc. Was going to put in a radiator and heater core for him, get the car driving reliably, and the project started growing. Before any work was done i started searching Craigslist... (insert "sound of doom") An ad appeared featuring a GS with rebuilt motor and matching numbers, showing just these pics: To be continued...
Nice! Wellcome! Glad to see people still taking on these as projects! I'd love to have a '65 someday. Hopefully being in CA you're buddy has a rust-free example but if you need anything I have a bunch of '65 parts looking for a good home. I'd join 65GS.com as well.
Wow, that was quick! Thanks for the kind offer and welcome. We’re just getting started, But far as i can tell, we lucked into a pretty good one. We're definitely going to need a lot of help, though. Long way to go from here... Posting more details shortly. Waiting for admission to 65GS as we speak…
Turns out we got to meet Ray, a local car nut who has some fine cars and a beautiful shop. Here's Buddy taking his first ride in the car. Pushing it to get it turned around. Ray is all "Hey, how did WE end up doing the pushing??" Try to look rakish and styley... And away it goes...
Got the girls together back at the lot to get to know each other. The story goes like this: Car has only 60K on the clock, stuck a valve or something. Motor was supposedly rebuilt by a specialist in Grass Valley. It didn't need pistons but got rings and bearings. Heads were done locally at Moreno's. New alternator, PS pump, OG carb was gone through, etc. Some wiring and plumbing whatnot and it's ready for a test fire? Compartment was cleaned and painted, and the trans was serviced. Certainly is clean... Ray was a fleet mechanic by trade and seems to have done some pretty nice work already. Brakes are supposed to have been gone through as well, but the pedal is at the floor. We're trying to decide if we should get it fired off and run around the lock a couple of times before we blow the car apart for resto? Maybe do the mechanicals first? Would be really good to know how stuff works before we dig in. Easy for little things to get missed in a partway finished project though...
Now for some questions... Thanks in advance for sharing. Anything to offer Buick newbies is most welcome to be sure. Trying to decode the plate on 65GS.com the plate doesn't have any option letters? Did the console shift cars still have the attachment point for the column shift? Was this swapped out in the past? Fuel tank is rusted out. Ray provided us with another better one. It will, however, need quite a bit of work. Are re-pop tanks any good? I see OGPI has a new one for just over a hunnert bux. SO many aftermarket parts i have dealt with on other cars have been a sorry joke. Worth it to restore the OG tank? Same with exhaust - If restoring a car to original, does anyone make a correct original style exhaust? Not that we're aiming for 1000 points, but if buying stuff, we'll shoot for originalish if possible. Same with interior kits. I see OGPI has both Legendary and PUI? Two different companies re-popping interiors? Seems impossible...! Legendary costs more but they don't have our saddle color. Any of you guys have experience with these products? How good is the stuff? Aftermarket interiors for my other cars have been very disappointing... Oh, it's a long way to Tipperary... Such a long way to go..!
So, it was a busy morning... Thanks to info on 65GS.com, Got an original repro exhaust and hangers coming from Gardner Exhaust. Also called Legendary directly and got an interior kit in the making. They have our saddle color, in NOS material, even(!) Door panels are expected around September, seat covers in February or so. Big start to the project already... Can anyone recommend a good option for a fuel tank? I saw the reproductions come in either 3/8 or 5/16 outlet. What would be correct for a stock '65 GS? Measuring what's there now isn't always accurate 60 years later.
Did you get signed up and approved at 65GS.com? They've had a bunch of foreigners (Russians, etc) trying to sign up lately. It's been tough to sort the real GS guys from the hackers for approval. Your firewall tag... Car was built at the Fremont, Calif plant. They didn't put accessory codes on the tag, just a manifest number (like your 26933) that matched up to the plant documents. That info is long gone. Sometimes there is a Fischer Body build sheet stuffed in the springs of the rear seat cushion. All 65 GS's came with bucket seats. Your column was replaced. Engine rebuild... Grass valley is home to Centerville Auto. Russ Martin knows the Nailheads, and will build them right. They have a website and are active on several Facebook sites. Gardner Exhaust has GREAT systems!! Fuel tank.... Quanta products aka Spectra. Shipping can be $$. Rockauto is good, I've lucked out on Amazon a few times @ $100 Spectra tanks. Fuel tank sender should be 5/16" stock. $40 on Amazon, $32 if you catch a price reduction. BTW, congrats on the GS! Looks like a solid car. The 65GS.com guys are awesome, as are the guys here. Please try to avoid FB!!... too much bad info posted there, tho there are some good posters.
Thanks for the info. Do my best with searching but it takes hours sometimes..! Got set up on 65GS. Will add to the registry when i get some time. Not sure i have the time to replicate the build again but look forward to posting and especially learning there. Talked to the Previous Owner today at length. Parts did indeed come from nailheadbuick.com but were assembled at home. Even got one of their street torque cams.. Forums not Facebook! I don’t do any of those. Who cares what some girl’s lunch looks like?
Thanks my man. Really glad to be here. Hope you find our build interesting. Going to be a big/long one, and we’ll need help to do it correctly.
Totally spaced out looking up there..! Appreciate the nudge. Ooo! That’s our column! Thanks for watching my back. I’ll PM the guy as well. Hopefully he sees it!
You got it - I try to look out for guys & it was so ironic that you'd literally that day asked me if ai had one. You can tell him I jumped in line for you.
