Seafoam65

Whenever I watch a 60's movie I do stop action on the street scenes so I can check out all the cars. A lot of times without stopping the film the cars whiz by so fast on the street that you can't tell what they are. One thing I hate about 60's films is that in most of them Ford Motor Company paid the producers to use Fords in the all the street scenes. Because of this it is hard to see many GM cars in a 60's film even though in reality they were more than 50 per cent of the cars on the road. For example, in the movie Psycho every vehicle seen in the movie is a Ford. Pontiac did pay to get their cars in a few 60's films, most notably in the film "The Seven Ups". It is virtually impossible to spot a Chevrolet in a 60's film, even though they were almost half the cars on the road at that time, ditto Buick Cadillac and Oldsmobile. In most 60's films, if the cars in the movie are not Fords, they are a Mopar product. In the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, all the prominently seen cars are Mopars. When it comes to late 30's and 40's Warner Bros. films, all the cars in them are Buicks, because Buick gave the studios about ten new Buicks every year to use in filming their movies free of charge. This is why you see the gorgeous Buick 4 door phaeton in the end of the movie Casablanca.

Emtee, I kept thinking that I had seen your Avatar picture before, then it dawned on me yesterday that it is the cartoon character that represented the now defunct Rusty Jones Company that manufactured spray on rustproofing that dealerships sprayed underneath new cars up North to keep them from rusting so quickly......Their big schtick was that they offered a rust out warranty......problem was it was virtually impossible for a dealership to file a claim and actually get reimbursed.

A barn is the worst possible environment for an automobile because of rodent damage. If your car is like most cars that have sat in a barn for 40 years, the car will need basically everything redone mechanically and in the interior. the outside of the car may clean up and be presentable, if not the car will need everything. You will find that it would be much much cheaper to go out and buy a very nice 63 Riviera. At a Barrett Jackson auction a couple of months ago a gorgeous 63 that needed nothing that the owner foolishly listed at no reserve got stolen by the new owner for 23,000 dollars! This is probably half what you would need to restore the Barn Find assuming your hundreds of hours of labor are worth zero. If you are married, be prepared for the wife to walk out the door right away, or give you an ultimatum a year into the project.......i.e the car goes or I go. In every copy of Hemmings there are cars for sale all torn down and partially restored for sale either because the restorer passed away or more often because the wife issued the ultimatum. If you got the car cheap, tear it down for parts and go buy a nice one that you can start enjoying the moment it is unloaded from the transporter.......life is short so enjoy yourself while you can. All old cars, no matter how nice, will need some problems fixed, but generally it is foolish to buy any used car that has been mistreated or abused, no matter how cheap it is. I have lots of old cars, but all have been babied their entire existence and not ever left to rot in a barn for 40 years.

That is a beautiful car.......interior is gorgeous and love the tail light treatment......just should have left the Riviera emblems on the front fenders and moved the rear one up to the trunk lid. Nice job of making the LS engine look like a nailhead. I would like to know how they took a stock wood wheel and put the thick wood rim on it.

Your car shouldn't ping on 91 octane gas.......try pouring some B12 chemtool carb cleaner down the throat of the carburetor very slowly while the engine is running. This will knock the carbon deposits off the top of the pistons and may solve your detonation problem.

Nope, there isn't any place on the ballot for Best of Show.......that award is picked by Ray Knott and a couple of Board members......at least that's my understanding. I asked Ray one time to consider letting people vote on their favorite Winner's Circle car, i.e a Best of the Best award, which would obviously result in a much larger Winner's Circle class every year, because people would have a chance to compete for a special award in the Winner's Circle class, but I got shot down......I still think it's a great idea.......and I think there should be a People's Choice award that all attendees could vote on, regardless of whether they brought a car to the meet or not......a ballot for this could be included in the registration packet. While I'm dreaming, I'll throw this idea out there.......POCI has a special award for people who are the original owner of their Pontiacs and that have owned the car more than 25 years. Also right now they are considering giving special awards to anyone attending the convention with their car that has owned it 50 years or more, regardless of whether they are the original owner or not. There are lots of ways to increase the car count at national convention shows, and awards are the key to unlocking the full attendance potential....for example there was a car show in a small East Texas Town that included a Best of the Best award in addition to Best of Show. To compete in the Best of the Best class you had to have won Best of Show at a car show with at least 150 cars in attendance. They got the turnout up to almost 400 cars doing this, with cars coming from 100's and 100's of miles away. The Best of the Best award also had a 500.00 cash prize attached to it. this resulted in a show with some of the most amazing cars I've ever seen.

Oh one other thing.......I think there should be a Best of Show Modified award at the ROA meet, being as the Best of Show winner is always a bone stock correct car. This would encourage more modified cars to come to the meet.

I like the way the Pontiac Oakland Club handles classifications in their popular vote show.......The first sentence in the rule book regarding the stock classes reads "Stock is stock". In POCI if you show up with a car that has wheels that were factory but not available for that model year, you are put in the semi-modified class. They also have a modified class for cars with lots of mods (more than three) Personally I would like to see the ROA have this kind of setup but I don't see it happening any time soon. POCI tries to encourage club members to restore their cars to the way they left the factory, while still allowing the modified cars to be able to participate as well. Best of Show at the national POCI meet Popular vote show is always a totally correct stock car. POCI has cars go through a tech inspection to ensure they are placed in the correct class, while ROA let's you decide what class you want to be in, up to a certain point as long as there aren't tons of mods. POCI does allow period accessories to be added in stock classes, like aftermarket cruise controls, four way flashers etc., radial tires, and other safety improvements. They also have a Road Warrior class where the cars must be driven to the meet and everyone gets a participation award. In addition they have a point judged show the day before the Popular vote show, where the cars are judged on the entire car including the undercarriage and where correct casting numbers and date codes come into play, as well as a Point judged modified show which is like an Autorama format where the cars are judged on fit and finish.

Agreed.....tighten the hose clamp and the leak will stop.

It's my guess that the original black interior in his car has faded from sun exposure and taken on a slightly blue tint from old age.

There was no dark blue in 65.......the only blue you could get was a light blue.

Welcome back Jayson!

There is absolutely no question that the value of my car goes up every time an original one is customized....thanks and keep it up, perhaps my car will hit $100,000 when it's the last one on earth to be left stock.....I can't wait! The value of something is directly related to how rare it is , simple as that. It's why 71 hemi Cuda convertibles that sold new for 4,000 dollars fetch 1.5 million dollars.

My car has had halogens for decades with no issues.

As I stated earlier, I like modified cars because they make the value of my stock car go up. The argument that the mods can be reversed so anything I do to the car is fine is often used as a justification to alleviate any guilt, but the fact of the matter is that no purist is going to bother with buying a modified car and putting it back to stock.....too much time and expense and trouble for that to ever happen. I've never heard of anybody doing that and I've been in the hobby for 40 years. It is getting very difficult if not impossible to find a totally stock non Gran Sport nice early Riviera for sale......like the bald eagle, it is bordering on extinction. That's fine with me because I've got my car, but if I was looking to buy a correct nice stock one today the search would be very difficult because they are as extinct as the Do Do bird.One factor in this is that a lot of the stock ones have gone overseas to places like Australia, where people have a greater appreciation for the totally stock cars versus lowered and air bagged cars. Once the cars go overseas, odds are they will never return to the states. I wonder if perhaps we can get the stock early Rivieras on the official U S Government "endangered species list" to protect the few that remain? One thing i've always wondered is why remove all the Riviera emblems off the car and fill the holes where the emblems were.......those are the most beautiful model emblems ever put on a GM car and people remove all of them where you can't even tell if it's a Buick if you are not familiar with the cars.....and then there is the removal of the outside locks and door handles so when the electronics fail you can bust out a window to get into the car. A similar analogy would be buying the original Mona Lisa and adding a moustache to the painting.

T

I love the modified cars, every time somebody does that to a 65, the value of my car goes up some more. It has gotten to the point that only a few stock ones are left......they are getting harder and harder to find.

Agreed........that would be an awesome car

Ed, you could get the rear armrest in the base interior in 65........my Dad's 65 Riviera was built that way.

Any good body man could make that quarter look new very quickly.

That car is NOT Bamboo Cream in color. It is Shell Beige.

The big problem with these mirrors is that the cables corrode and seize up on the other end where they connect to the mirror.......remove the screw on the mirror head and lubricate the cables with penetrating oil and see what that does for your problem. when I bought my car the mirror was completely frozen and wouldn't move at all till I did this........now it works great.

Agreed........the giant drum brakes on your car have more stopping power than disc brakes, and in addition the pedal travel is a lot less. Contrary to popular belief, often when a dual master cylinder goes empty due to a leak in the system, there are no brakes at all.....I've seen it many times. I go with my single master and check the fluid level regularly, and I have a fully operational emergency brake if needed.

That is an aftermarket cruise control that was installed in the car in 1967. The switch is located on the turn signal lever. It still works perfectly and doesn't vary even one mile per hour. In order to install it, it was necessary to remove the four note horn option that the car came with. (The horns would normally occupy the same space when the hood is closed). The unit was made by Perfect Circle. Since this picture was taken I have located a reproduction Perfect Circle cruise control transducer decal which I have installed on to the top of the transducer. Also since this picture was shot I added a correct yellow capped tar top battery topper to the battery, as seen in this pic below

Repainting the engine compartment is actually pretty easy........It took me about 15 hours to take everything apart, paint everything and reassemble. First pic is my original 55,000 mile untouched engine compartment....second pic after I refreshed everything.....