Given the prices that RH mirrors for '68/'69 Buicks have been commanding, the demand for these parts is definately there. How can '68/'69 owners go about getting these sought after mirrors reproduced? There are repro mirrors available for Chevys and Pontiacs from this era. Is anybody else tired of the inavailability of these mirrors? o No: David
I just don't know if there is enough demand from 68/69 owners, to make it practical (affordable) for anyone to repro these. Most of our cars did not have these from the factory, so it means drilling holes where none have been before. Not a lot of guys want to go drilling holes thru their painted fenders. Me, I might do it... I would think a company would have to make these by the thousand for them to be low priced enough to sell in the market place. I just don't see it happening.
Recasting mirrors I would think would be more expensive than doing grilles. I know one just sold for $600+, and a pair just sold for $200+, but I just bought an NOS passenger mirror in January for $85, and there was one at the GS Nats for $100. Parts always go higher on ebay around Christmas time. If you're patient and diligent you can still get them resonably. Maybe I should start a parts locating service??
Most driver mirrors seem to be the remote style, which is a different design than the manual passenger side mirror. I don't think a remote driver side mirror would look right on the passenger side.
Yes, the mirror "heads" are the same (manual mirrors), but the bases are different. Here's a manual driver for comparison. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4507708802 If you're creative, you can take a driver's manual mirror and drum sand (or belt sand) the one side of the base to reverse the angle, and then bend the mounting bracket to fit. Once installed it's not noticeable to the untrained eye. Here's mine (sorry about the pic, it's frosty here).
I'm thinking about doing that myself, Tim. Just purchased a driver side manual mirror here. I figure the hard part will be drilling... :shock:
Personally, I couldn't drill my door to mount that, unless I had a real hope of getting a correct one in the future, which seems not to be lilely. Just my .015 worth
Yep, I understand that... not sure if I'll go thru with it or not either. The mirror I have coming may not turn out to be nice enough to use anyway. We'll see... I just know I really hate driving w/o that view of the right rear. But I also don't want to add a mirror that's in lesser condition than the car.
I understand, but NOS driver's mirrors are a lot easier to come by than NOS passenger mirrors. Holes can always be filled.
Interesting thoughts I dropped off a '68-69 right hand mirror at Paragon Reproductions, a Corvette repro place, about 2 miles from me, in March, and asked about reproductions, etc. I need to follow up on that, seems they are very similar to the Chevy parts, and the new owner of Paragon, is also a Buick fan. So hang on as Steve is very discouraged with the repro parts available for his '72 Skylark and told me a couple of weeks ago, that we "Buick" people need help in getting the right stuff reproed better, than what he has found for his car, so stay tuned. Steve uses as many Michigan vendors as he can, and the chrome plating for the Vette stuff is awesome. So check out their Web page Just another note, our John Stevens' brother Bill is in charge of shipping and mailing at Paragon, so another reason to check them out, and harrass them about doing some Buick parts!!!!!!!!!!!! R
Like these used ones, the prices are all over the place. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4503640731&category=34204 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4504692695&category=34204 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7936927223&category=33649
Well, I never had a car with a right hand mirror until 1995, so I never got dependant on them, and still don't use them.... If I got one, it would only be for the "cool, rare option" factor
I agree that the location on the door sucks, but I wouldn't call them useless. Not after driving thru Chicago in August midday... that's when I really could have used a RH mirror.
