Trunk Redo Finished-Thanks

[Riviera63]

Just finished the refresh of the trunk and installation of a remote trunk release on my 63 Riv. Things turned out pretty well all things considered. A previous owner had covered the old original mat with a black carpet material which did not look too bad with the original grey cardboard. What pushed me to do the change was the brown trunk mat that I had purchased. It just did not look quite right with the black and grey. I found out later was the only option in 1963. The brown trunk mat ended up being my only choice as I talked to Jeff of CARS at the 2015 ROA Convention about buying a black one at that time and he had indicated that they were done doing the trunk mats as they were having production problems. The only ones they had were brown blems and when those were gone that was it. I purchased one of those cheap last year and got lucky. With a little work it turned out OK. I see they have the brown blems for sale yet but, they doubled the price from when I purchased mine.

 

I removed the black carpet which exposed the original trunk mat which was pretty grubby. I did not remove it as it was really stuck down and figured a little extra insulation/padding would not hurt. I was worried about oil, grease bleeding through. What I ended up doing, which I would like to pass along to others, is cover it with a thin neoprene rubber sheet which I had purchased from rubber sheet warehouse on e-bay. It was 1/32" thick X 36" wide X 12 ' long. It was easy to work with and I think will be a good barrier between my old mat and new.

 

I want to send thanks to Pete for his great advice and help on covering my new trunk cardboard with vinyl. I went with a tan vinyl instead of a grey to help accent my brown trunk mat. I love the vinyl as it is very durable, cleanable and I know it helped keep the cardboard looking good with the bending, twisting etc. to get it in. I also want to send thanks out to Winston for his tip on the 65 trunk liner kit from CARS. I know it is not exactly original but, it is close enough. As Winston pointed out it is very affordable compared to what you would have to pay elsewhere and looks great. Thanks guys.

 

One thing I did learn is that I hope I never get a flat tire. I never want to have to take that spare tire out and put it in again. I have 225's, what a pain. Another thanks to Winston for the let the air out of the spare and carry a portable air compressor tip. Mine should be arriving any day now.

 

For some reason I am not able to add pictures. I will post and try to add the pictures after.

 

Bill

 

 

 

[Riviera63]

[Schmiddy]

Hi Bill

Looks great, thank you for the pics!

I will redo my trunk too 'cos it looks worse than on your first photo ! I've ordered all material in the US and have it here, but I didn't started yet. Where did you got the hull for the wheel? Or is it remade by handwork? Please let me know, thank you very much! 

Regards,

Eric

[Lapham3]

Much better! Does remind of one of the fellas bought a '63 that had the earlier available OE reproduction done and it looked great. The only problem was the previous owner felt that was a higher priority job than the two broken head bolts!?

[Riviera63]

2 hours ago, R-IC said:

Hi Bill

Looks great, thank you for the pics!

I will redo my trunk too 'cos it looks worse than on your first photo ! I've ordered all material in the US and have it here, but I didn't started yet. Where did you got the hull for the wheel? Or is it remade by handwork? Please let me know, thank you very much! 

Regards,

Eric

 

Eric,

 

The spare tire cover came with the trunk liner kit. You can get the half cover style like mine separately from CARS, Inc. Buick Parts. It is listed in the catalog but, I could not get it to come up online. They also list a full tire cover that again does not come up online. Their phone number is 908-369-3666. If they do not have them, they are made by REM Auto Inc. You can go online, www.remauto.com, and possibly find a dealer that does. Clark's Corvair also has tire covers.

 

Bill

[Schmiddy]

Thank you Bill for all these interesting infos. I took a look at it and found what I'm looking for...
Did you meant this trunk parts of the catalogue (see page 3)? http://www.oldbuickparts.com/cart/pdf/catriv/riv15.pdf ...they have the half cover I'm looking on the last page.
For the full cover, it seems that they provide them only for 63 early models.

Regards,

Eric

[petelempert]

It looks amazing. First rate job. Congrats. PRL
 

[RivNut]

In '63, the early production cars had the spare mounted on the floor - those take a full cover.  When the spare was put under the package tray in a mid year production change, the half cover was necessary.  Perhaps Jim Cannon can supply us with an FB production number that will tell about when the change took place so that you'll know which is correct for your car.

 

Ed

[toomuchvinyl]

Bill did you still have the J-bolt or whatever for the spare tire hold down or did you have to find some replacement? If you did have to get a replacement, what did you use?

Edited May 6, 2016 by toomuchvinyl
misspellings. (see edit history)

[Riviera63]

2 hours ago, toomuchvinyl said:

Bill did you still have the J-bolt or whatever for the spare tire hold down or did you have to find some replacement? If you did have to get a replacement, what did you use?

 

Keith,

 

I had the J bolt for the hold down. You can get reproduction j bolts and wing nuts from OPGI and CARS, Inc. that I know of.

 

Bill

[toomuchvinyl]

24 minutes ago, Riviera63 said:

 

Keith,

 

I had the J bolt for the hold down. You can get reproduction j bolts and wing nuts from OPGI and CARS, Inc. that I know of.

 

Bill

Thanks! I hadn't looked yet but it's on my list of needs.

[PWB]

Man, that's better than most dog houses. 

 

Nice work!

[tapjar]

This is great info! I´ve also been looking for good trunk carpet set, and this is it. I already have the cadboard set and covering it with vinyl is good idea. It´s gonna look great!