Jump to content

ol' yeller

Members
  • Posts

    1,326
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by ol' yeller

  1. Just an off the wall suggestion but is your fan close to the radiator? If it’s too far away, that could be an issue.
  2. Here’s one of my brother and me taken in 1969 in my 1965 Buick Skylark convertible. Judging by our clothes we were likely heading to church…or at least that’s where we told our folks where we were heading.
  3. I actually got to drive my ‘65 Skylark Convertible off the flatbed and into my garage after she resided in the paint shop for 6 weeks. Now where did I put all those parts I took off? 😳
  4. In the section Cars and Partss For Sale, ads used to be separated in “Not Mine” and by owner. Now all of a sudden there is a big overlap of the 2 sections. Why is this?
  5. Sorry, Bob. I bought some elsewhere yesterday. Thanks anyway.
  6. Anyone who has watched the movie, My Cousin Vinnie, knows that in 1964 the Buick Skylark didn’t come with a limited slip rear end. Of course they were wrong! 🤷‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️
  7. Bill, I think your only option is regular car insurance as opposed to classic car insurance. One of the reasons why “classic” car insurance is so much more reasonable is they have requirements that cuts their risk. Storing cars outside of a locked garage makes them much more vulnerable to theft and vandalism especially in or near large cities.
  8. Interesting car. I just bought one in slightly better condition but I paid a lot more. Non original front seat. Also noticed the downflow radiator which makes this an early ‘65. Taillights are a little crusty which is normal but for the price it’s a real bargain if the rear quarters are as solid as they appear.
  9. The main reason why pics or description is helpful is that I restored a ‘69 Riviera here near Seattle a few years back. I sold it on EBay to some guys in Idaho who a year later sold it on EBay. If memory serves, that buyer was in Qatar. But the car could have wound up anywhere. I know it is a long shot but I thought it could help the OP if it is the same car.
  10. Pictures or a description would help. Buick made a lot of ‘69s.
  11. Also a standard front fender without cornering lamps can be cut to accommodate the cornering lamp. I added them to my ‘69. Good luck on your search.
  12. He doesn’t know what he has. It is actually a 1965 Sportwagon. It is also a 300 V8 not a 331 as he states. It is the 2 barrel version of the 300 as designated by the Wildcat 310 plate on the air cleaner. Very unusual to find one with a manual 3 speed and AC. That said, this one is way beyond saving but could give up some useful parts for someone.
  13. The title issue for me would be a solid pass. Why do the seller’s work for him? He jumped title and now it would be up to you to straighten it out. As for the “ Come look at it” response, I got the exact same response from a seller on a Reatta convertible I was interested in years ago. After months of my ignoring the ad on Craigslist, I decided to go look at it. I brought a pile of cash figuring it would motivate the seller to make the deal. The car was fairly priced. Turned out that the seller was a multi-millionaire who really wasn’t motivated to sell his car. My pathetic little pile of money didn’t impress him in the least. I did buy the car at his price because it was an original pace car for the Great American Race and came with the decals for the race that were previously installed on the car. It was a low mileage car, driven by his wife and everything worked as it should. As a bonus, he gave my friend and I a guided tour of his car, motorcycle, and memorabilia collection which was massive. Sometimes you have to see past quirkiness.
  14. My ‘69 is long gone. I sold it to a couple of brother’s in Idaho who a year later sold it on EBay to a bidder in Qatar. Lost contact after that.
  15. As I remember on my ‘69 years ago, a lot of the vacuum problems came from the plastic vacuum manifold on the firewall. At the time, it was made of unobtainium.
  16. I didn’t do head work to gain any power. My Skylark had about 120K miles on the engine so it was time to do the valves. As long as that was being done, I had the hardened seats installed. The lower end was still going strong at 140K miles when I sold the car. You will not cause any big harm to wait until you are having valve train or head gasket issues. One thing I did to my Skylark that improved performance was to change out the rear gears. I went with a 355 gear ratio and that gave it good grunt without destroying gas mileage much. I also added limited slip at that time. If your car is running well, I’d say enjoy it for what it is. I built my Skylark for me. It needed a lot when I bought it. The 300 is a great engine for longevity and reasonable gas mileage. I imagine it would be more taxed in a LeSabre than in the lighter Skylark but I was very pleased with all (5)) the 300V8 ‘65 Skylarks I have owned.
  17. Your engine, if the air cleaner is correct, is the 300 V8. It is a cast iron block, heads and intake. It is an incredibly reliable engine. Yours is the high compression version of the 300. It has a 4 barrel carburetor and intake as well as high compression pistons. It is not a nailhead. If it is an untouched original then it has a phoenelic (plastic) coating on the cam gear. Buick did this to suppress timing gear noise. The coating disintegrates over time and falls off into the oil pan which also will eventually affect the timing. If you are considering any engine work, that is where I’d start and I’d figure on a new water pump as long as I’m in there. Head work is pretty easy to have done. When I did mine, I added hardened valve seats. Mine ran great on premium pump gas although mine was in a ‘65 Skylark. Nice car! The rattle is likely the engine complaining about the grade or quality of today’s gas. Adjusting the timing and having the Carburetor adjusted properly should eliminate most of it.
  18. I stop by almost every day even though I no longer own a Reatta and have little desire to own another. Just habit I guess.
  19. I live on a nearby island, Camano. The big difference with Orcas is there is a bridge to get on and off the island without having to rely on the ferry system’s schedules and cost. I find island living very different. There is a greater shortage of things here than in more populated areas. Services, both trades people and medical are scarce and more costly. Some of it is Covid related but a lot has to do with the remoteness of the island. I overlook these because the closeness of community and the less hectic lifestyle more than make up for the other. As a disclaimer, I have only actually lived here for 5 months as I spend 6 months in Florida and 6 months here.
  20. I have 3 for honorable mention. I had a 1976 Ford F-150 that someone transplanted a 351 Cleveland Cobra Jet into it. Faster yet was my frame off restoration of a 1969 Buick Riviera with a rebuilt 430 CI bored 30 thousands over. The fastest car by far is my daily driver, a 2019 Dodge Challenger with the 5.7L Hemi engine. I don’t see a need for more HP than that.
×
×
  • Create New...