My name is Paul and I just picked up my first Buick, a 69 GS 350. I'm the guy the repair shops would take advantage of because of my lack of knowledge in cars, but i got this one to teach me and get me going. This place looks like it is overflowing with information and i can't wait to get started. I probably paid too much for her, but after driving it i fell in love. The last owner dropped a 350 chevy in there so i will probably swap it out later on, but for now i have some interior and exterior work to do. Leaking oil pretty bad right now, but I'm just happy to get my hands dirty. Longtime woodworker wanting to get out of the woodshop and into an auto shop! I included pics from the sale (it was missing the front windshield at the time but has since been replaced) $2850
Thanks, i was hoping so. Is there a good book that describes how each piece of the car goes together with OEM numbers? Just want to make sure i am putting in the right stuff...
Yes indeed. There are assembly manuals, chassis manuals, and dealer parts manuals available. Assembly manuals were used by the assembly line wokers, and the Chassis manuals toild the mechaincs how to fix the car. the Parts books list all the parts, it's actually two volumes, so is the chassis manual actually Welcome aboard. EVERYone was new at one time. I've been new to this for 16 years! :laugh: PS 2850 is exactly what I paid for my convertible in '89. She wasn't exactly show-quality if you know what I mean
Paul, welcome aboard! I'd say you got a great deal on that car, regardless of the mods... a running BBB or SBB isn't hard to come by, when you're ready to dump that Chevy 350.
Welcome ! Great looking set of wheels Paul, you'll definetly learn a lot here - lot'sa Buick people ! :bglasses: :beer :TU:
Paul: Here's an avatar of your car, you can upload it by clicking on User CP at the left upper corner of this screen, and clicking on Edit Avatar in the next screen.
Welcome! It's real easy for us nail pounders to learn to spin wrenches. But don't loose those hammers they can come in very handy at times :laugh: Never met a 69 I didn't like!
Wow, thanks for the welcoming. And i have a question right off the bat. My dashboard is going to be my first tackle and i have scoured lots of parts sites and can't seem to find what i need and perhaps one of you guys know. I need to find replacement dash inserts for a 69. i see that OPGI has got woodgrain versions for 70 -up but i need the orginal gray ones. This would be the face plate that has the lighter, washer, etc. Mine is pretty beat up and i thought that maybe you could just buy those or the whole bezel that fits around the speedometer but i may be off my rocker. Any help would be great!
Hi Paul. You did great on your purchase. Welcome aboard. I do not believe ANYBODY repros the dash bezels or inserts for 69. They are painted as well, there's no inserts per se in the 69 dash bezels and surrounding inserts as far as I know. The 70 guys are lucky with the wood grain stuff. I'll tell you, the 69 bezels really look like crap (mine) when they get old. Only thing you could do is send it to Mr. G's. I'm not even sure "they" know what the correct gray/gold color the bezels were that year though. Many times they will ask you to provide them with a very clean original piece to dupe the color from. Unless he has the original color codes. Aside from that, you need to look for a beautiful original. (good luck) Edit: Oops. I may have missed the hood badges. I think I see them now, they blend in with the red background. :grin: Not impossible, but if me not being able to find one since 1985 is any indication........ :af: Good luck to you. BTW, post your VIN when you get a chance. I'd like to break it down. Is it definitely a GS350 and not a GS "California"? I noticed no "350" hood badges.
Great...oh well. That's the fun i guess. The VIN # is 434379k113311 It does have a 350 hood emblem, but only one on the other side. have to find one more of those too. Haven't come across one of those either...
4 = Buick 34 = GS 350 37 = 2 drs HT coupe 9 = Model year 1969 K = Kansas City, MO factory 113311 = Kansas City factory production number for 1969
Hi Paul - welcome to the world of '69 Buicks :beer :TU: :beer There are quite a few of us here that only play with the '69s (and similar 68s) so you've got ALOT of help available to you - dont be afraid to ask even the simplest or what you think may be dumb questions. At one point we all were n00bs :laugh: the only dumb question is the one not asked.... :Smarty: First thing you want to get is a 1969 Chasis Service Manual and it will look like this this is the bible !!! I've seen them go for $5 to $100 depending on condition - the one in the picture is fairly nice and is on Ebay for $59. I didn't see any for under $35 and for its condition it was over priced. 350 hood emblems are Finally being reproduced - ebay or the Parts place or Y1 or ...etc 350 hood emblems are correct for GS350's EXCEPT the California GS's The only applique on the dash is over the heater control unit. the Dash Bezel is plastic and was then chromed (the WHOLE thing) just for the thin bead reveal. the rest is painted flat black and a sivery argent. I did mine many years ago - much easier to hunt for a good one. Your grille is a 69 Skylark / Sportwagon Grille with a '68 chrome surround (all 69 surrounds had the center bar). If your grille / surround is good Im sure you could sell them seperately and buy the correct pieces. FINALLY, someone is repro'ing the 69 GS grilles. Thats a good starter - If you want more observations let us know. If you need particular parts make a post in the Parts Wanted section ....Welcome :beer
Paul, Here is an excerpt from a PM I got from "one of those guys who plays with 69's", aka 69gs400s, aka Alan, aka monkey butt. Oh sorry, I digressed. Anyway, here is what he sent me in response to pretty much your same question, which I asked him in JULY 2003! ( I know, hard to believe anybody would try to remember anything Alan told them for that long). Hi Chris I did infact restore mine several years ago.....It wasn't fun, It wasn't easy....and it wasn't cheap !! If i were you, I'd look for a good used one and replace yours unless your a masochist then again....I dont think I've ever seen a GOOD used one. In fact, I've said several times to myself - "Self - Go rip the beautiful original one out of that Skylark you have and put it in your worthy GS !!" Here's what i did.... I took a near mint radio bezel (same color - think its called Argent) to an auto paint supply house. They have a handheld scanner that "reads" the color and then tells them what magic potion to brew up to get that color. I bought the smallest amount possible, 1 pint i think, and it was like $30 and enough to paint every surviving dash bezel (unfortunately it wasn't stored properly and went bad or else I'd send you some ). I also brought the dash bezel in for them to match the black - its a no-gloss (flat) black that they didn't have to special mix. Also needed were both a plastic cleaner and plastic prep - again smallest quantity sold was enought to do a fleet of dashes. All told It was around $100. That, my friend, was the EASY part !!! What was the difficult part was masking all of the fine chrome lines that are around the bezel that took about 3 nites and a pack of single sided razor blades and a roll of masking tape. If i remember correctly, I masked everything but the Argent and used a friends detail air brush to spray that - several light coats. Then I unmasked the black and covered the Argent, and sprayed that. Id seriously suggest practicing with the airbrush if you've never used one before....on something other than your bezel but something of similar property. When the paint was dry, I used an artists detail pen - chrome color fine tip, to go over the fine line. Initially i was just going to "touch up" the bad spots but it didn't look right so i went over it all. Soooo......how's it look ??? Very presentable, but not correct. The Argent color came out alittle more silver-y than it should be but Im being picky. It looks better than most dashes and even my Argent color looks better than some other painted ones I've seen where the person just used a silverish color.
Well, it's sure good to know I'm in the right place and very good to see more 69'ers. Now that i am looking for stuff it seems that year is going to present some fun challenges ahead. Thanks for the advice on the dash bezel, seems like i will need to practice a bit first. I am looking at a couple of used ones right now but still not sure on the shape of them. What's the most popular place for you 69'ers to get your parts from? I can't find those 350 hood emblems... Also, i saw OPGI.com offers a cd with the chassis, shop, and assembly manuals on it for about $35. Has anyone used this before? i have no problem printing the stuff off, just didn't know if it had the right stuff. Thanks again guys for the advice, greatly appreciate it. :TU: :beer
Alan, do you have a pic of your grille so i could see what it is supposed to look like? Also, on my trunk it has a couple of emblems and it makes me think that it is not the right trunk for it. I have included the pic from the sale, it is not very close, but you can see that it has Skylark Custom on it. I thought the GS350 and Custom were two different beasts but maybe not? I almost wonder if it is a 70 or so trunk lid because i saw that they make GS flip emblems that go over the keyhole for the 69's and this keyhole is not flush.
Hi Paul I did mine in my 68 last winter and it turned out better , the gray is more silver than I wanted but look better than fading . Like Cjp69 said the masking of the chrome line took some time and p p atience
