My 65 build.

Discussion in 'Members Rides' started by buicksWILD, Jul 17, 2020.

  1. buicksWILD

    buicksWILD Well-Known Member

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    Picked her up last week in SD and trailered her 15hrs to her new home in TX.

    The ex owners were brothers and both huge fans of buicks which I intend to keep in contact with because they seemed rather fond of the car after owning it for over 35 years.

    First order of business was to check her over on a lift and then shine her up.

    I got her up on a lift and found the engine/transmission pans both leaking so I'm going to replace those soon. Also needs new u joints and a few other odds and ends but nothing major.

    Got her back into my shop and began taking her apart to better clean the chrome and body.

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    Last edited: Jul 17, 2020
  2. buicksWILD

    buicksWILD Well-Known Member

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    I clay bard the body first.

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    Then got to work on the chrome.

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    Clarkie and 2001ws6 like this.
  3. buicksWILD

    buicksWILD Well-Known Member

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    Forgot to take a pic of the back but I'll get it later.

    And that's basically where I'm at.

    Aside from this I had her inspected and all of the other paperwork done.

    My original intentions were to build a LS track machine but after so many compliments, waves, thumbs up ect ect I just can't do it anymore. I think for now I'm just going to do some much needed mods like window seals, front disc brakes. I do want to buy some wheels and give her a bit of a rake with some drag radials on the back. I also plan on eventually swapping out transmissions with more gears only so I can drive her farther and more comfortably. Possibly do uca & lca and some rear suspension stuff and maybe a efi kit in the future but for now she's been a pleasure driving around town.
     
    mbryson, Chuck Bridges, VA_64 and 6 others like this.
  4. dr

    dr Well-Known Member

    looks great
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  5. SpecialWagon65

    SpecialWagon65 Ted Nagel

    Great looking car, keep us informed! Sea Foam Green
     
    Super Bald Menace and buicksWILD like this.
  6. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Nice job shining it up. Give us some more overall pics
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  7. telriv

    telriv Founders Club Member

    I can help you in the handling department with a 2.5 turn lock-lock direct bolt-in P/S box, Bilstein shocks, front & rear sway bars, poly bushings in the correct places., etc.

    Tom T.
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  8. no1oldsfan

    no1oldsfan Well-Known Member

    So tell the story. Please. Craig's lead or?...
    Cool car in great hands looks like to me.
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  9. buicksWILD

    buicksWILD Well-Known Member

    Thanks for all the compliments and advice guys. I'll get more pics soon. I really want to clean up the wheels and interior first.


    Basically I've been in search of a 2 door classic for a very long time. My first car my dad bought me was a 4 door 74 Mercury Comet with a straight six. It basically helped cultivate my interest in classics. Even for a 74 I felt like the comet have beautiful lines and curves despite being a 4 door. It was totalled in college unfortunately by a drunk driver in a parking lot.

    A few years later I picked up a 63 Ford Galaxy 500XL 4 door after passing up on a 67 Ford Fairlane coupe. I can't remember why exactly I passed up on the 67 but I regret it because it was a great looking car with column shift. I tore down the Galaxy only to find out I was in way over my head as far as rust was concerned. Needless to say I sold it soon after.

    Next was a 1986 Dodge D150 that I still have. It usto be in immaculate shape until it blew a front tire and dented the passage side front fender and door. I've replaced the full length exhaust on it and have a few other mods waiting to go on.

    Now the Buick.

    So after being laid off in Feb I had nothing but time to whore craigslist and various other car sites. Initially I was only doing searches in TX and NM which at times did yield great results but at times would be the same cars over and over. So I decided to expand my search to a few states over since I would have time to go out for a mini road trip.

    At first I found a 82 Lesabre that I was really wanting. A friend of mine had just completed a ls slap in his Grand National and I wanted to do something similar. I txt the owner but he wouldn't budge on the price. The ad came down soon after so I kicked myself for missing it. I had found a few other classics but they were 4 doors the other 2 doors I liked were just out of my budget.

    So I ended up finding the ad for the 65. Initially I didn't think it was a Buick, I thought it was way too sporty looking to be a buick. After a quick search I realized it was a buick. The ad didn't have a phone number but only an email. I've dealt with emails before and they've always turned out to be scams. So this raised a flag but I took a chance because the pics and description matched really well. I emailed him asking for specific pictures that weren't in the ad. I figured this should prove if its legit or not. Surprisingly he replied with the specific pics. So I though ok maybe this is still a scam and he just has plenty of pics of the car. So I asked him for a number and he sent me one to call. I did a search on it and it was a Arizona number. So i though this has to be a scam, the owner is in Arizona and the car in SD no way. Again my curiosity got the best of me and I called him up and was surprised when somebody answered. The owner is a very friendly and warm guy. You could tell he was very fond of the car by the way he spoke about it. Turns out he had moved to Arizona and his brother was housing the car in SD. We agreed on a price and he gave me his brothers number so I could set up a time to go see it.

    I took off Tuesday afternoon and got to beautiful Sturgis SD Wednesday morning. The brother was also very fond of the car and we chatted about it for a few hours while I checked it over and loaded it. Very friendly man as well. I could tell he didn't want to see it go either but after looking the car over I just couldn't go back home without it. 15hrs is a hell of a drive just to come back home empty handed lol.

    The car was exactly as the owner described it to be. Minimal rust, a few scratches and dents that I consider part of the cars character. But most importantly I really liked it because it was the elusive 2 door sports car I had been chasing for years. Something I never thought I'd own especially for the price I got it at considering the amazing condition it's in.
     
    mbryson and buick66lesabre like this.
  10. no1oldsfan

    no1oldsfan Well-Known Member

    Cool story. Good for you.
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  11. gs66

    gs66 Silver Level contributor

    Congratulations, enjoy the car!
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  12. buicksWILD

    buicksWILD Well-Known Member

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    Found a good deal on some center caps. $50 for all three shipped. They cleaned up really nice. If I can't locate a 4th one I think I'm just going to order a blank one.
     
  13. buick66lesabre

    buick66lesabre Well-Known Member

    Congratulations and thanks for saving another b body. I'm 17 years in on my journey with my 66 lesabre, which is also a 2 door hardtop and was seafoam green when I bought it. I look forward to watching your progress on yours, and nice job already on bringing some shine back into that paint!
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  14. BYoung

    BYoung Stage me

    Following. How's the interior?
     
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  15. nekkidhillbilly

    nekkidhillbilly jeffreyrigged youtube channel owner

    i think 65 and 62 are the best looking wildcats.
     
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  16. buicksWILD

    buicksWILD Well-Known Member

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    What can I do about these splits in the seats?

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    BYoung likes this.
  17. Oldskewl59

    Oldskewl59 Gold Level Contributor

    Nice find!
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  18. SpecialWagon65

    SpecialWagon65 Ted Nagel

    Cool clock conversion. The "Standard interior" you have would usually be vinyl with cloth inserts like
    this one - yours is about the 4th one I've seen recently but they are few and far between. Pics are not my car.
    The other one I know is in Italy...and this one found in Wyoming. Keep up the good progress,
    Ted
     

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  19. no1oldsfan

    no1oldsfan Well-Known Member

    My goodness. Golly. 20200721_132824.jpg How rare is that factory tach??!!
    So cool
     
    buicksWILD likes this.
  20. no1oldsfan

    no1oldsfan Well-Known Member

    Seriously. That has to be a crazy rare option in that car.
    No?

    Wait is that a custom install of a later tach? Clean install if so.

    Cool cool car. I get your love for it.
     
    buicksWILD likes this.

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