Who's gotta drop top?

Discussion in 'The ragtop shop' started by gotbuick, Feb 7, 2002.

  1. mjs-13

    mjs-13 1970 Stage 1 Convertible

    Who's Got A Drop Top???

    I do!!!!

    I purchased this 1977 Buick Regal Convertible last June from a junkyard here in Nashville. I received a call about this car as it was coming across the scale. They held the car for me and I was able to purchase the car the next day. Everything convertible specific is complete and the car is actually in decent condition just missing a "few" parts. The car is a good builder with all the convertible conversion parts complete, a very good body, buckets, console, original engine/transmission, 8.5 rear-end and more.

    I have tried a web search and only found 1981 Up conversions and a list of companies that converted G body cars. I have not found any information on 73-77 cars and convertible conversions.

    I Finally had a chance to unload the car off the trailer and vacuum/remove all the junque and nuts out of the car. The trunk is very good with a few pinholes and one hole needing repaired. The front floor pans are great while the rear footwell pans need replaced. The floor under the rear seat is surprisingly good. The top has shrunk so the top will not go all the way up however the frame is good and looks well built. ALL the convertible top mechanism and hydraulics are complete. Under the hood is fairly complete less the alternator and radiator. The top frame appears to specifically fabricated for this conversion. The top frame is well built and well designed. The hydraulic cylinders, pump, hoses and control switch are typical GM.

    Through a couple of phone calls I have found a good trunklid, hood header panel, radiator, maybe donor floor pans, wheel opening moldings and more from a friend who has a junque yard with several Regals in stock. This guy never crushes anything! He also may have a 76-77 Buick Century header/grill which is what was used in NASCAR. I think that looks much better than the Regal grill. I will probably buy both is he had them. All in all a neat car considering I purchased the car sitting on the ground with no wheels/tires and sitting in que in a junkyard to be crushed!!!!

    One thing you should notice is how NICE the doors still fit on the car with absolutely no sag. The door gaps on the front or the door and back of the door are superb on both sides. Look at the driver's side window fit on the front windshield. The glass does not fit that good on most hardtops! Another thing I like on this car is the top design. So many conversions have horrible top lines that detract from the car. The top on this car particularly the rear slope of the top fits the design of the car nicely. This conversion would actually look good with the top UP!!!

    Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the car sitting on the ground in the JY however I do have pictures of the car on the trailer after installing wheels/tire to load the car. The rest of the picture are after I spent about an hour cleaning all the crap out of the car.

    I have not specifically determined who built the car however it appears a company called Emess Coachbuilders in Clearwater Florida may have built the car when the car was new. Emess built numerous Monte Carlo and Grand Prix Convertibles so a Regal would not be a stretch. This car came to Tennessee from Florida.

    Any help or information on the builder of this Regal convertible is welcomed!

    Here are the pictures in a Photobucket account. Enjoy!!!


    http://s263.photobucket.com/albums/i...20June 2011/

    UPDATE!

    Today I finally brought the car into the shop to start this project and bring this car back to life!!!

    I found a nice hood to replace the MISSING hood, a nice trunk lid and a nice right front headlight bezel assembly that has not yet been installed.

    More to come!
     
    Last edited: Nov 9, 2011
  2. BillyJack111

    BillyJack111 Guest

    66 Electra
    401 cu inch
    Astro Blue Metallic
    Black Top
    Hanover, MD
     
  3. tom_gonzalez@ve

    tom_gonzalez@ve Well-Known Member

    This is my '64 Electra 225. My dad bought one like it off the showroom floor in June of '64 when I got out of the Navy, so I could date my girlfriend in a nice car. I had a '57 Chrysler New Yorker at the time. I picked this one up on Ebay 6 years ago and am rebuilding it piece by piece. It now has a 425, ElectroCruise, Guide Matic, 6 way seat, A/C, Power Vent Windows, Remote Trunk Release, Tilt Wheel, Power Windows, Cornering Lights, Power Antennae and Wonderbar Radio. Now working on the interior portions and then a new top and boot. Hopefully will have it running in time for next summer.
     
  4. red67wildcat

    red67wildcat Well-Known Member

    Thought Id add to this thread after all this time
    67 Wildcat Ive owned for 10 years
    70 Skylark Ive owned for a year
    and the last one the Wifes car 70 Cougar
     

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  5. stpetegs

    stpetegs Member

    Mine is a '71 Skylark Custom that had been personalized with GS hood, mirrors, and steering wheel, T/A power pack, cam, 3.73 gears, GSX stripes on hood, Hotchkis / Global West tubular suspension front and back and 4 wheel discs. Need to add headers and an exhaust and then redo the interior in white to match the top and stripes.

    I am in St. Petersburg, FL
     
  6. Drachen

    Drachen Well-Known Member

    Newbie here, with a 1970 Buick Wildcat Convertible, purchased in July 2011. The car attracts attention whenever I take it out of the garage, it's almost like driving a parade float.:cool:
     

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  7. tufbuick

    tufbuick RIP

    How I came to purchase BiggestRed.

    Back around 2005 or so the wife and I were leav-ing the beach, walking into the parking lot, and sitting there with the top down was a gorgeous red-on-red 1969 Buick Electra 225 convertible. The license plate said BUICK225. I was all eyes and wanted to wait around for the owner, but the wife said, “Stop drooling on the car and let’s GO!” So off we went, but the vision of that land yacht remained fixed in my mind. I love the big cars , having already owned a 1970 Aqua Mist Electra 225 Custom 4 door, and I al-ways wanted a convertible to add to my collec-tion. Oh well, I just figured it probably wasn’t for sale anyway.

    Fast forward to 2009. After missing out on Bruce Wilson’s (BUQUICKs) ’72 GS 350 convertible on eBay by a scant $100, I was totally bummed about missing out on the opportunity to own a nice convertible. After a few months of looking at the ridiculous prices on eBay I almost gave up. That is until I happened to look over the listings of Buick Electras. And sure enough there was a red-on-red Electra and the plate read BUICK225. Problem was, the pictures were really lousy and his opening bid was $12,500. I watched and watched but no one bid on his opening price. The car did not sell. He had his number listed so I gave him a call. I offered $8,000 for the car and he said, “NO WAY”. $12,500 was it ! Oh well, I guess that car was not destined to be mine. Two months later the same car is listed on eBay again with the same lousy pictures. This time there is no opening price and no reserve. He still listed his phone number so I gave him a call. I don’t let on about who I am, but I ask if I could come look at the car. He agrees. Well, the car was in poor shape cosmetically but I knew I could bring it back to its former glory. So I chat with him for a few moments and get the low-down on the car. He has spent a fortune on the car mechanically, but he bought a 1976 Eldorado convertible and his wife likes that one better. So the Deuce had to go. I told him thanks for the look-see and I’d throw a few bids on the car when I got home. The bidding was ending that night. There were a couple of bidders that were at around $4,500 so I bid $5,000 and went to bed. The next morning I got up and forgot to look at eBay until around noon. Gee I wonder what that deuce did last night…. I open up my account and it says, “Congratulations, you are the winning bidder”. I almost fell on the floor. Larry Hymowitz (a.k.a. ”The Wizard”) and I went out the next day to pick up the car and this is when the surprises began.

    These are the surprises:
     It was born a California car and only came to NY in 2003 when the current seller bought it and had it shipped to NY.
     It was virtually rust free from bumper to bumper.
     He spent nearly $8,000 on a totally redone AC system, new tires, new shocks, new brakes, tune up, carburetor rebuild, exhaust and mufflers, battery, power window fix, Blaupunkt Sound System, etc., etc., etc.
    After paying for the car the guy says, “Oh yeah I have an envelope for you with some receipts in it.” I threw that on the back seat and off we went. That envelope had all the records and maintenance from day one with mileage state-ments and an appraisal he had done before he
    bought the car.

    This was a true 92,000 original mile, numbers matching California car with documentation to prove it. I got up the next day and cleaned that car from 6:00am to 11:00pm inside and out. That car nearly killed me, but what a diamond in the rough it turned out to be. The car ran great but had a slight miss. Larry did a total tune up and found that two wires were on the wrong plugs. After running it around for about a month and seeing how flaw-lessly it ran we decided to drive it out to the 2010 BPG Nationals in Ohio. 70-75mph and we got 15-16 miles per gallon. Not bad for a 360hp, 5200lb car. Larry and I agreed that af-ter driving our GSs for some distances, this is like riding on your sofa. The car has been nothing but fun and I get a kick when I drive it around in the Hamptons. I’ll park it in town and no one looks at the Lambos, Ferraris, Maseratis or Bentleys. They all stop and look at “BIGGEST RED” !!!
     

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  8. 66gsconv

    66gsconv nailhead apprentice

    I have owned this 4 speed convertable since 2001. now if I can only start on the body work. St louis area
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    Last edited: Dec 24, 2011
  9. gs66

    gs66 Silver Level contributor

    We have 2 '66 GS convertibles and a post car. We drove one of the convertibles on the Hot Rod Power Tour in 2009 that went from Madison to Bristol. Nailhead ran great!
     
  10. moleary

    moleary GOD Bless America

    Merry Christmas Jerry!

    Thanks for starting this thread : #1 02-07-2002, 02:17 PM http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=236&page=27

     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2011
  11. vet7801

    vet7801 Member

    I've got a 1967 Buick Skylark, 340 V8 260 hp PS PB Auto trans . Had 49xxx original miles when I bought it three years ago, now at 52xxx. Added Buick chrome wheels I bought off a board member right after I got it.
     

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    Last edited: Dec 31, 2012
  12. rifo

    rifo Well-Known Member

    I bought my 71 Skylark convertible on Dec 1, 2011. I first saw my Buick sometime after I moved to Rocklin in 1998, probably around 2000 or so. An elderly lady drove it around town and after a while I found she lived a couple of miles or less from me. I would stop to look at it when ever I saw it parked at the super market or wherever I saw it. I always thought a grandchild or some one would inherit it some day.
    Fast forward to last December- it came up on Craigslist. The lady passed away and her neice had it for sale, no pictures, so I called just to see if it was indeed the Buick I had always admired. I went to see her and wanted it badly. Not so much because it was a convertible but mainly because
    I knew this lady had babied it and took great care of it for years and years. The neice and I worked out a price and she gave me a box of papers for the car. Her aunt had bought it new in Indiana in 1971 and moved to Rocklin Cal in 1979. The box had trhe window sticker, protect-o-plate and all the original paperwork for the car.Also all receipts for all work done since new. All original except for the air conditioneer she had Sears install, all papers for that included. 350 2 bbl engine, power brakes and steering and power windows and top.
    I will need to get a new top eventually and I will reupholster the front bench seat and replace the carpet also.
    I felt very lucky to be able to purchase this original Buick and look forward to enjoying it for years to come. I really enjoy this site for Buicks as well.
     
  13. I have a 1970 Electra 225 drop top. located in Jacksonville, Fl. IMG_0780.jpg
     
  14. Rickycattis

    Rickycattis Member

    1960 LeSabre Convertible
    We live in Sweden buick 3.jpg
     
  15. SweBuick

    SweBuick Well-Known Member

    Welcome!! Where in Sweden are you located??
     
  16. Rickycattis

    Rickycattis Member

    Hi, we live in rebro. Jatte fin Buick du har !
    Rick
     
  17. 66spcl

    66spcl Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]

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    [​IMG]

    thats my girl
     
  18. Paul from PA

    Paul from PA Well-Known Member

    1967 Skylark with complete drivetrain from a 1967 GS 400 Convertible, 4 speed , posi, power windows console with tach. An hour outside of Pittsburgh
     

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  19. sjb89

    sjb89 Silver Level contributor

    I have a 1971 Skylark convertible.It is red with pearl white interior and white top. It has a 350 4 barrel engine with dual exhaust , ps.,pb. auto trans. split bench seat, and all the stock Buick goodies. I am in the process of completing a frame off nut and bolt restoration. The car was from the desert and has NO RUST at all. I am from Newtown Square,PA.
     
  20. Steve e Summer

    Steve e Summer Well-Known Member

    Okay, I'll bite. I drive a '69 GS400 convertible. I live in New Jersey though I bought the car out of Florida. It has pearl white bucket seat interior, console shift, pw/pb/ps, power antennae, 8 track player w/ auxiliary Delco amp (?) tilt wheel, crusie control, remote driver mirror, AC, rally wheels, rocker trim (?). Car rolled out of Flint with Antique Gold Paint and Buckskin top, it now wears Cameo Cream and white top. I will more than likely change the exterior back to original colors. The rocker trim is the one thing I find strange but, mine is not the only '69 Gran Sport I've seen with it. I may remove that too.
     

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