TxBuicks
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Posts posted by TxBuicks
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You get that badge (medallion) when you obtain the Senior award. A score of 385 - 400 will get you a Gold Award, which is normally a plaque. A score or 390-400 and no mandatory deductions will receive a Senior award. It can receive the Senior Award only once, after that it goes for the Senior Preservation Award. Following is taken directly from the BCA Judging Manual:
The Senior Award presented by the BCA is designated to honor those vehicles which have proven themselves to be the finest Buicks in their class. In order to qualify for the Senior Award, a vehicle must be judged at a BCA National Meet at which the 400 point judging form is utilized. The vehicle must attain a minimum of 390 points with no mandatory deductions. (ref. BCA Judging Form). Once a vehicle has been designated a Senior, it is ineligible to be judged in class for Senior or placement awards at subsequent National meets. However, upon conforming to the following guidelines a Senior vehicle may be judged and qualify for a BCA Senior Preservation Award. Senior cars are to be judged by their class team under the 400 point judging system (using gold color judging forms). A vehicle must attain at least 370 points and have no mandatory deductions to receive the BCA Senior Preservation Award. If any Senior vehicle being judged at a National Meet does not achieve a score of 370 points or receives a mandatory deduction, it may be judged for a BCA Senior Preservation Award at future National meets.
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Do you have any service manuals (like the one pictured above) for the 1995 LeSabre? I think 1992 - 1999 are very similar, but right now I am working on a 1995 LeSabre and would like something specific.
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There are two ads in the Buick Bugle every month from parts vendors located in Texas. One of them may have it. Good luck.
Buick NOS: 1937-1989. New original parts in their original packaging. Chrome, mechanical, accessories, spark plugs, many Buick signs including neon. No parts cars here, only warehoused NOS parts. Pat Riley, 6208 Sonora Dr., Granbury, TX 76049, 817-326-0111, buickp@windstream.net.
Skylarks 1964 thru 1967, parting many cars. Several sets of 1965 tail lights, user quality. 1964 tail lights, nice, $200. 1964, 1965 upper door and window moldings. Much more. Mark Polastry, BCA #32064, 290 Woodway Drive, Elgin, TX 78621, 512-303-0833
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Bob, I can respect that. How 'bout I give you Robert Blair's information and you can pass it on to the new owner. Robert has some photos and a display he made showing his father and his efforts in saving it. I can't think of a better place for that stuff than in a museum next to the Landau. And I can't imagine the new owner not wanting to talk to Robert about it. The article I wrote on the incredible Landau being reunited with the original thermos set is in the March 2009 edition of the Bugle. The late Charles Barnette is still smiling about this.
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Do you know the name and location of the museum? I still have Robert Blair's (the original owner's son) contact information and I want to notify him. I'm sure he would want to know. Thanks for posting this.
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One more 1965 Skylark GS registered over the weekend, so the tally is now 4 GS, 2 Wildcats, 1 Skylark, 2 Rivieras.
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These are the 1965 Buicks currently registered for 2015. Registrations are still early, though. I typically will receive about half of all registrations in the final month before deadline. 3 GS, 2 Wildcats, 1 Skylark, 2 Rivieras. Get yours in now so we can keep a running count and keep interest up. I will update these figures as we get closer.
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Wow! What a beautiful Riviera. I can't wait to see it in person.
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Those wheels appear to be from a later year, too. In 1964 the center of the wheels were painted gray and the center cap was smaller, with a Wildcat emblem. Those look like late 1960's or early 1970's Buick wheels.
I had a Black on Black 1964 Wildcat a few years ago and sold it to an enthusiastic young man who said he was going to restore it. He hasn't done anything to it yet. It had the black bucket seats, too. It is a really fun car to drive and you don't see many like it. Start by cleaning it up and taking inventory on what needs to be done.
Here are pictures of the one I had, to encourage you.
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I love that picture! You should get that one framed.
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Last Saturday was a beautiful day and I was able to spend a lot of time on the car. There is some good news and some bad news.
Good news. You know I had taken out the interior. Saturday I cleaned the seats using Tuff Stuff. The seats turned out very good. There are no rips in the fabric and they are back to looking almost brand new.
Good news. I got a front license plate holder from a local wrecking yard for $10. I straightened the front license plate, which looked like it had hit every curb in town, so everything looks good now.
Good news. I took the bent trim piece on the left passenger door off and straightened it out and put it back on. Looks almost as good as new. There was no dent in the door, just the trim piece. I guess it did it's job.
Bad news. The front seat arm rest/console fell apart when I took it out to clean it. I will have to get another one from Brown & Sons in Sunset, TX. It is about an hour drive from my house but they said they had a decent one with the same interior color.
More bad news. I could not clean the carpet. It especially looks bad with the seats, that look real good. So I will have to buy new carpet. I see that Stock Interiors has a molded carpet for it for $133, so that's not too bad. A new carpet will look great in this car.
Some more bad news. I notice a giant oil spot under the engine. It has a bad oil leak somewhere that will need to be addressed before I can sell it. I guess I never noticed it before because it was parked on grass. I'll look at it when I do an oil change.
Now the really bad news. I have everything out of the car except the drivers seat. I put the drivers seat back in so I could drive it if I needed to. I was skeptical about putting in the padding and carpet before I knew where all the water was coming from. Well, since it has been raining all day, I went out to check it. There was water everywhere in the floor pan, with most of it in the rear passenger area. I guess the door seals are leaking, or perhaps the rubber weather stripping, I don't know right now. What I do know is that I have to fix the leaks before I attempt to sell it. That means more money and a lot more work. At least I know it is probably not a heater core or plugged A/C drain. At it explains why it was the wettest in the rear passenger floor when I got it. Any suggestions on how to fix water leaks are welcomed. Here are some pictures of the water inside the car.
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The local Buick Performance Group used to rent out Texas Motor Speedway once a year for their annual Buick Race Day. It was bracket racing so it didn't really matter how fast you were as long as you were consistent. I raced my 1966 Wildcat a few years. It was completely stock, including bias ply tires. I would drive around the water used to wet the tires for initial burnouts so that I wouldn't spin the tires. I left it in Drive the entire time and would floor it when the light turned green, as quickly as I could without spinning he tires. Once I got passed the point of spinning the tires, I held it down to the floor the entire time and let the TH400 transmission shift by itself. I ran 16.50 in the 1/4. It was very consistent running it that way, and I won 1st in my bracket the first year and second in my bracket the second year (I ran a bit faster than 16.50 and broke out on the final race). Anyway, don't be afraid to just leave it in Drive and floor it. It can handle it.
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My father was an electrician and, like you, he made it look so easy. I struggle with electrical issues. I can usually fix them, but it takes me forever, and I'm never sure what I'm doing. A wiring diagram looks like a giant, confusing maze of colored lines to me. I totally respect the electrician. Good job.
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I see it fine using Firefox.
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Call it what you want, it has the same effect. I know the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the BCA is a big deal, but so was the 100th Anniversary of Buick in 2003, and the 100th Anniversary of GM in 2008, both held in Flint. They were big events and everyone knew they were coming years in advance, but I don't recall them being promoted until after the previous National Meets were over.
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Dship, thanks a lot. That looks like what I needed. The web site directed me to Medium Adriatic Blue, code WA9907. I think I can see 9907 as the paint code on the faded sticker now. This should help me. After looking at the car closer, I'm not sure now if a spray can of touch-up paint will do any good. I don't want to spend a lot of money getting it repainted because I want to keep it affordable for the next buyer. I guess I can try a can for $15 and see how it goes from there. I can't make it any worse than it already is.
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Dship, thanks for the information regarding the paint code. I found the sticker you refer to. It is stuck on the spare tire cover. But it is very faded and I cannot make out the numbers with my poor eyesight. Perhaps I can take a picture and magnify it. I was hoping someone would know the code from looking at the pictures.
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Yeah, I figured the box with all the wires was the ECM, although it didn't say it on the box. There was hand writing on it that said '1995 LeSabre' so the previous owners might have changed it out for some reason. I don't think they would write that on it with a marker at the factory, but I could be wrong.
Anyone know the official paint code for this dark blue paint color?
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This seems to be a common problem with the mid 1990's Buicks of this style (Park Avenues and LeSabres). I see the faded paint in the same patterns on the trunk lids and top quite often here in Texas. I guess the paint on these surfaces doesn't hold up to the Texas heat. I went to O'Reilly's Auto Parts to see about getting a can of touch-up paint and they told me if I told them the paint code they could mix a spray can with the exact color for $15. All of the trim stickers I have found are too faded to see the official paint code. Does anyone know what paint code this is?
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Leaves, leaves, and more leaves. I'm cleaning as I go. No rust under all of this, though.
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When I took the carpet out I noticed this box hanging loose behind the glove box. I took the glove box out and saw a bracket for it. I don't know why it was loose, but I disconnected it, put it back where it belongs, and reconnected the 3 plugs with lots of wires. Secure and out of sight.
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I didn't get much done on Saturday concerning this car. Not only was it Valentine's Day but it was also the day of our local chapter meeting. This month we drove 1.5 hours to visit Pete Philips at his restoration shop. But I did manage to do a little more cleaning and fix a headlight. Here are some more pictures of the Air Bag Controller box cleaned up and the broken headlight. Auto parts stores wanted upwards of $75 for a replacement headlight. They don't sell just the glass lens, you have to buy the entire assembly. I was lucky to find a local salvage yard with a 1995 LeSabre that had a good headlight for $30. It was the easiest headlight replacement I have ever done. Just 2 big, easy to turn thumb screws, right on top and easy to get to. Loosen those and all of the bulbs pop out with a simple twist. I had it replaced in 2 minutes.
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There is an ad every month in the Bugle (under Parts for Sale) from a guy selling Dynaflow rebuild kits. I would tend to call him first because he is supporting the Buick Club with his advertising, and you with your purchase. His website is www.autotran.us.
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This will be a great opportunity to celebrate some of Buick's best designs. The iconic 1965 Riviera with the vertical hidden headlights and the introduction of the Gran Sport, to name a few. In past meets, it has been an organized focus by the meet planners and then just a matter of getting the word out. A few successful attempts included the outstanding gathering of over 50 1959 Buicks at the Colorado show in 2009, and the fabulous collection of 1936-1938 Buicks that showed up in Charlotte. Thank Brian DePouli for that one. As far as I know, there has not been a call from anyone running the meet this year. That's not to say it can't happen. Just get the word out and challenge anyone with a 1965 Buick to bring it and lets see what happens.
Buick Rescue - 1995 LeSabre
in Me and My Buick
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Well, unfortunately, not all rescue missions turn out for the good. It has been raining for several days here in Texas and I just cold not keep the car from filling up with water. There were leaks in all 4 quadrants from all 4 doors. I could see water trails running down into the front floors from behind the dash somewhere, behind the back seat, trunk, etc. The most frustrating part is that the weatherstripping didn't look all that bad. But nothing I did seemed to have any impact on the flooding. I drilled holes in the floors to allow the water to drain. I decided it would take too much effort to fix all of the leaks, and by the time I bought new carpet and padding, and replace the catalytic converter to get it to run better, I would have so much money and effort in it that I couldn't sell it. And I don't know if I would ever be confident that I had all of the leaks fixed. BTW, this seems to be a common problem with the mid-1990s LeSabres. There is a lot of articles on the internet about it. So, the bottom line is that I sold it to a salvage yard for what I had paid for it. He said he would try to fix it and resell it, but I doubt it. Oh, well, I guess I can't save them all. At least I know I helped the lady I bought it from.
Stay tuned for another rescue project. I'm sure I'm stumble across another one soon.