Buicks Rule

Heine, You might also want to be a little more specific about what parts of CA, NV and AZ you'll be visiting and roughly when. There's a sizeable chunk of real estate in those three states.

Have him talk directly with BCA Office Managers Mike and Nancy Book by telephone so they can talk about options. They can probably work something out as they are very willing to accommodate membership requests.

Box frame. Anyplace where dirt/slush/snow can build up and work its way into the frame. The problem is that there was no paint or primer on the inside of the box frame. There were access holes all along it for various reasons. So, salt and crud goes up in there, can't get out, gets wet and starts working on all that nice unpainted metal. I think the frames, other than wheelbase were the same design from 64-72.

I suspect the interior in person will reveal some surprises. It pretty clearly has been redone. There is also no info concerning the transmission. That could be a BIG deal if it's incorrect. In a couple of shots the paint looks pretty rough-look closely. If you're seriously interested in spending big $$ for it then fly out to Reno and look it over in person. Better to spend $1000 on airfare than get a $$ surprise.

If you go to the main BCA webpage, there's quite a bit of Buick info. www.buickclub.org The Tucson and Phoenix Contact people are VALLEY OF THE SUN (FC) Elden "Al" Snyder # 17408 6701 W. Pershing Ave. Peoria, AZ 85381-5001 602-973-2629 SOUTHERN ARIZONA (FC) Alex Chavez # 33597 1026 E Simmons St Tucson AZ 85719-1637 520-465-2539 The 64 and 65 Skylarks will be very similar in styling/performance etc. Similarly the 66/67 are very similar to each other. For all 4 years, wheelbases and basic body structures are the same but exterior styling and interior appointments changed. For example--64 seat belts optional 65 Front seat belts standard-rear optional 66 and 67 seat belts standard all front/rear seating positions. Decide which year you like best looks/interior wise and then look until you find a good one. The box frame under the convertibles can trap dust and crud and rust from the inside out.

No. I know of a few but they aren't for sale. There is a local BCA Chapter in Phoenix. They used to meet at Childress Buick. You might call there to see when the next meeting is scheduled. They also used to alternate between Coury/Mesa and Childress Phx. My guess is early April will be the next meeting. There have been quite a few Special/Skylark/GS convertibles in Phoenix over the years so keep your eyes open. Grab the weekly used car freebie and occasionally check the Auto Trader or other $ publication.

I think it's actually the nailhead that has the #1 under the A/C compressor and it is a PIA to change. I think one of the reasons you don't hear as much about the Buick 350 is that the Buick 430/455's bolt right in quite nicely with little modifications. So, if one really wants a monster motor, it's easier to put a Buick 455 in there and guarantee monster power than to power up the 350. That said, a high compression GS 350 made 315 hp or thereabouts in 1970. But, it doesn't have the torque of the 455 or the nailhead. Another issue is that the 350 V-8 was saddled with the THM 350 automatic rather than a THM 400. As I recall the Buick 350 was also quite good pollution wise--never needed an Air pump or some of the other plumbing that Caddy and others had to have to pass emissions. It's a good, solid performer and will result in better handling due to lighter weight than the 455.

John--try the 65 accesory glove box book for the listing on the floor mounted 'cool pack' A/C. I believe the "cool pack" style unit was still being used in 65. Think that's where it is. It would probably be hard to find as I recall it has Buick identification on it somewhere--like a tri shield on the control panel. Skylarkvert--where in AZ are you located.

Ben Franklin carries an acrylic paint Pactra might be the brand name? that is available in a large array of colors. If you are dealing with color showing through a clear lens, it works well painted on the reverse. I believe that the chemicals on the acrylic might be a little less rough on the clear plastic than some of the Testors. Testors is made for polystyrene models but who knows what some of the plastics on the older cars were made out of. There is also a stained glass spray paint--used to make clear glass look like stained glass-- available at Ben Franklins that can work very well at re-applying the irridescent finishes that were sometimes used on painted over chromed surfaces--provided you can arrange the part to be sprayable. Model car paint brushes trimmed way down in both length and width of bristles can also work well on painting small detailed ornaments.

Brian You might pass this along to your professional car buddy. He might be able to supply some additional information. That looks to me like a flower car which would have been done by Flxible or one of the other hearse companies. These could be loaded with flowers and would accompany the hearse on fancy, public, funerals. I believe the movable load floor could also accommodate a casket if the desire was to have the deceased move on view than a closed hearse could provide. Looks like someone found a neat way to give the car additional useful life as a tow truck after its funeral home duties were complete.

Trevor, Is this a 300 2 bbl carb or 300 4-bbl carb? I've been using AC R-44-S for years and not had any more pinging issues than normal with mine. The 4 bbl is a 10.5 to 1 engine so it is NOT happy in hot weather with modern premium gas. England's hot weather and Arizona's are somewhat different. But it does OK most of the time. I've never found any of the octane boosters to make any difference at all in the pinging on heavy acceleration on the street. Once you get the timing sorted out, you might try experimenting with various brands of gas to see if the problem goes away with one brand. Has the timing chain and gear ever been replaced. When they get old, it's possible for the chain to jump a tooth or two leading to an engine that is timed differently than you might think. If it's got over 100,000 miles and hasn't been done, it could be worth doing. If you lose the chain or gear, expensive things happen to the engine. Lastly, could be worth a full flush of engine block cooling passages and rodding out of the radiator--maybe even a new radiator core--possibly a 3 row if it has a 2 row or even a 4 row if it has a 3. It could be blocked just enough to slow heat transfer.

With planning, foresight and organzation,and a car for which lots of repro parts are available, I believe it could be done. You would also have to have 'experts' in almost all phases so that everything comes out right the first time. Solid body with little body work helps a lot. If an interior kit is available, is pre-ordered and on hand at the beginning, same for glass, weather strip, etc..... A machine shop CAN redo an engine ( or tranny, or axle ) on a couple days time line IF 1. They are very, very good. 2. They have a head's up to get a line on parts or have many in stock all the time. 3. The have a head's up to schedule it into their production as a priority job. Same for chrome, paint, upholstery if not a kit. That one week miracle probably takes about a week of planning/ordering/logistical support some months prior to the 1 week "overhaul." That's the part we don't see on TV. Mustang, Camaro, GM-A body, 55-57 Chev--all could be done on a compressed timeline and come out authentic and probably a consistent show winner in a 400 point system. But--it would HAVE to be well planned in advance.

Remember those film strips with the record and the beeps to tell you when to flip to the next still picture from grade school? Buick used to use a similar method for their saleman training information. Dart has transferred the years that he could locate to a video tape. The filmstrips are very rare. I have a couple of them however unless you have access to an original style film strip projector, there's no way to watch them unless someone like Dart converts them to video. Quality is decent, especially considering that the films and record disks are 50 years old or so at the time of transfer to video.

I've had good luck with Meguir's Car Cleaner/Wax combination--NOT RUBBING or POLISHING compound. This is a one step, clear coat safe product that might be strong enough to remove the overspray without hurting the plastic.

Lamar, Call Mike/Nancy again. It's very unusual that they wouldn't have gotten back to you. The BCA Board meeting is this weekend so it's possible that the final revisions to the manual will be approved then and a production schedule adopted. I don't KNOW that is the case but it could be that they are waiting to have something new to tell you. The judging manual very long--no way to summarize it well into a Bugle, unless it took up the whole Bugle. While you are waiting, jump over to the AACA side--www.aaca.org. They have their judging manual online. It is not identical to the BCA but they are kissing cousins so in general a car that would judge well under one system should do well in the other one also. If there is an AACA National Meet close by you--Gainesville Fl this weekend??--the judging school will be on the Friday. Again, it won't be identical to the BCA but will give you a good idea of what to expect in Batavia. By the way, the Board meeting this month is in San Diego so if it was just in the past few days that you emailed the BCA Office, they could be traveling to the Board meeting and unable to check email. Hope this helps,

Stavros, There are a bunch of small differences between a Special and a Skylark, including taillights, side trim, some chrome doodads on the car and pretty serious differences in the interiors. The serial numbers/body style numbers are also different. Is there a chance you've mixed up the style numbers in your post? Both appear to be V-8 numbers but you report one car has a v-6. It would probably be worth spending some $$ and getting both a shop manual and a couple of sales brochures so you can see how what you've got lines up with what Buick built, especially since at least one of the cars was pretty heavily modified in one area, it may have been changed elsewhere too. You might also consider joining your local BCA chapter. That's a good way to access other Buick folks face to face. go to www.buickclub.org

All, The single four barrel 425 came on line for the 1963's. It was optional in Riviera, Wildcat and Electra. These all had the 325 hp 401 standard. I believe that dual quad 425's began to be available as well. I don't think the 425 could be had in the 63 LeSabre. In 64, the Riv came standard with the single four bbl 425, with the dual quad 425 engine optional. The Electra, Wildcat came with a 401 standard and could then be ordered with either the single or dual quad 425 as options. In 65, Riv, Electra and Wildcat all had 401 standard with both flavors of 425 optional. In 66, Electra/Wildcat had 401 standard with both flavors of 425 optional. 66 Riv came standard with the 425 and a single spread bore quadrajet carb. Dual quads were still optional on the 66 Riv. The 67 Big Buicks got a 430 which is a completely new engine family.

If any of you has a bunch of old car collector/car classics magazines, you may see this car in them. They did a series on NEW retro styled cars sometime in the past. I think this manufacturer was featured. If its the one I'm thinking of, the poster above is completely correct. It was built by mounting a modified MGB open body onto a different frame with appropriate extra decoration to get that 1930's feel.

Karl, First the bad news--the faceplate opening in the dashboard on a 64/65 Skylark is too small to accept any original style Buick/Delco AM/FM or wonderbar radio. It's the vertical distance that is too small. For some reason, no one at production engineering ever envisioned anyone wanting to spend the extra bucks for FM in a Skylark. There is no way a radio with a slide AM/FM switch will fit in that opening. I would NOT recommend cutting the die cast to make it fit. They can be hard to find in unpitted condition. There may be a dash brace back there that closes off the opening at the top anyway. There is a way around this if you want an original looking ( and basically original AM/FM Buick/Delco radio ). Find an early 70's A body AM/FM radio or AM/FM stereo where the B button is also the AM selector and the K button is the FM selector. I think these were more common in Pontiacs--had one in a 72 LeMans if that helps. You only get a total of 5 pushbuttons but both your orginal 64 face plate, dial and buttons can be placed on the later model radio. Looks exactly right and as long as you can remember which button is which, you'll be fine. I did this about 20 years ago. The radio has migrated to a different car but it's still working. If you can get FM into the car, an IPOD and power cable/antenna provides decent sound out of the car car speaker. Direct link to a cassette player is better but the FM link is OK. Biggest problem with the FM link that I have is finding a hole in the analog radio's FM band that I can tune the IPOD to. There is a lot more bleed through of high powered FM stations making it difficult to keep the in car signal from being over written. Alternative is to leave the original radio as a curiosity and put a modern AM/FM/CD in the glove box. If you can find a place to put the speakers, let me know. I'm fighting that one now on a conv. There is absolutely NO PLACE to put the speakers unless you're willing to cut holes in things like door panels, side panels--which I'm not. Good luck.

All 66 Riv's had the 425 and all 425's were red, so that won't ID the GS. The GS and Dual quad options were separate that year so that won't help either. Console/buckets were optional all cars so out of luck there. The GS Suspension was special springs-possibly sway bars but that will be hard to ID on a 40 year old car. There is one GS badge on the car that is pretty hard to fake. It is NOT repop'd and never has been so can only be obtained from a real 66 GS. Look at the car very carefully. If that badge is there you'll see it and you'll recognize that it's the one I'm talking about. It still could have been moved over from a real GS to make a clone but at that point some of the other GS stuff may have been moved over as well.

Great--That Billion dollars or so could have really made for some great products. Velite Convertibles for the mass market sporty set--( The heck with Velite--call it a Skylark !! ). An exceptionally cool premium moderate priced 4 door and 2 LeSabre with performance options ( dare we say Wildcat ) for the needs room for 6 set that might just want to show the tuners a taillight or two.. A world class top of the line Roadmaster ( dare we say Limited ) to replace the Ultra More performance goodies for the LaCrosse--like maybe a 2 door and turn it loose to go head to head with the the Tuner cars. And, if any $$ left over, put the Blackhawk into limited production at $50K a pop as a draw into the show rooms--to frustrate the Caddy folks and annoy the Vettes as a bonus. Sorry--I think I just described the Buick line up from around 1953 until 1972 which did include quite a few high sales years....... Why on earth would anyone approve a deal to buy FIAT? Sounds like someone at the Renn Cenn should be piping the country music song "What were they thinking" through the PA system for about 3 days at high volume. May the group that came up with this FIAT deal find their golden parachutes changing to solid lead HALFWAY DOWN!!!!

Steve/West, Sorry to hear you got a poison pen yesterday. I hope it's the last one. The new magazine will probably appeal to people outside AACA that have a more modern old car but never joined AACA because they thought it was for pre-war cars only, etc... That's very threatening to those folks who really wish that we could return to the hobby days of the 60's ( or 70's ). It's human nature. You can get 500 positive letters and then it's the one negative one that you remember. Try not to let the negative comments ruin your day. That's really all the person wants to do anyway. Good luck and keep up the great job.

One magazine hit Tucson AZ today. LOOKS FANTASTIC on a thumb through. Haven't had time to read it yet. Has not made it to all zip codes in the city yet. Yeah--the post office. The one I like is the address forwarding expired label on the Christmas card that comes back at the end of January with the correct address on the label telling the sender the forwarding order had expired. IF YOU KNOW THE BLINKING ADDRESS, FORWARD THE BLASTED THING!@!@!

Well--it depends. I really like that phrase--RESTORED THE FUN OUT OF IT! It's sad but it's true. Between cost of restoration, and possible damage to rare NOS parts used in a restoration, it's often stressful to drive a fully restored ( or even a freshly painted ) car. One of my cars was purchased new as a Christmas present for my mom around 40 years ago. Because it was reliable, easy to drive, practical-large trunk and fun ( rather fast convertible ), she would never allow it to be traded in. It was also the first of that model to be delivered to Akron, Ohio that year.... She was also chased by used car dealers ( then collector car dealers ) for years but had ZERO interest in changing cars. I learned to drive in it. I was driving it the first time it turned over 100,000 miles. My parents put most of the first 100,000 miles on it. I put most of the second 100,000 miles on it. I cosmetically restored it while in high school in the early 80's and received it as a surprise graduation present. In the 1960's, what fun to leave the OH winters in March, arrive on the beach in FL and put the top down as soon as the car was unloaded. My parents were older than those of my friends, but they had the 'coolest' car. My dad created quite a furor when he deemed the convertible "too old" to make the trip reliably in 1970 and we were stuck with taking his NEW Ford ( and stuck was the operative work--along side the Indian River, in the middle of a pouring rainstorm, at night, halfway between no where and no place when the Ford had a bout of Lucas Electrical Disease). After spending most of the 70's as a city only car, in the 80's due to moves across country and national car shows, it made quite a few cross country trips as a restored car. Over a decade after being deemed 'too old' to make the trip from OH to F, the same car made 4 or 5 cross country trips. Dad had to eat those words on almost every trip where we took the "new" car but the "too old " car never skipped a beat. It was also a fun hobby car that was driven a great deal. During its entire life, the car once refused to start ONE time due to a dead battery and was only towed ONCE due to that same dead battery on a winter day in Ohio. The absolute reliability, even in max winter cold/snow in NE Ohio was one of the reasons the car survived numerous trade in talks the first 15 years of its life. When they stopped making new convertibles at the end of 76, the trade it talks basically ended. While getting Mom into a newer conv might have been possible, she was just NOT listening to talk about having a solid topped car. In the middle/late 90s, we did a full, frame off restoration on the car and began showing it in AACA. Unfortunately it doesn't get driven very much since the restoration. It received a junior, senior preservation and National Award and was trailered to most of those meets due to the 1000 mile or more each was travel distance. The car has been towed MORE since restoration than it ever was before hand. It does get driven to local shows ( up to 100 miles each way ) but not as often as I would like. A few weeks ago, we had to move the other restored car ( a fancier Buick that is similar to one my parents once owned ) out to do some work in the garage. I asked my 85 year old mom if she wanted to go for a ride. She did but while exercising the 'fancier Buick,' she commented that she'd rather ride in "THE BUICK--her old convertible." So, we got back, uncovered "THE BUICK," which started almost immediately despite the weak battery and she got her ride in "the best car Buick ever built--her words." Is there a point to this well--getting there. Best Buick ever built--now that'll bug some folks. Bet we won't agree on that one. But, like my mom, of all the cars that I have ever, owned, driven or rented, "THE BUICK'S" road manners always stood out. Whatever was asked of it-running down the freeway maxed out in the late 60's with my dad at the wheel and mom either egging him on or reminding him not to hurt her baby ( the car ); hauling mom ( who was in her late 40's ), my aunt, the elderly neighbor, my cousin and me ( possibly the dog too ) to the grocery store when I was a kid ( top down if you please), ready willing and able to hold it's own at the local stoplight should someone challenge her ( how embarassing to be high school kid in the 60's and be out dragged by an "old lady" or three "old ladies," two kids and a dog), or most importantly, digging itself out of snowdrifts in hospital parking lots when my dad was in the hospital for surgeries ( an all too common occurrence ), "THE BUICK" did whatever was asked of it with no theatrics. It did it's job with style but with absolute reliability. I have spent most of the years since high school looking for a twin to "THE BUICK" that would have similar road manners but that wouldn't have quite so many family memories tied up in it. When we restored "THE BUICK" we restored/rebuilt/reused absolutely every part that could be restored to factory new condition. So, while parts to replace road damage or wear aren't THAT hard to find, I do NOT want to risk major damage to the parts that have spent their whole lives on THAT CAR that cannot be replaced. About two years ago, I was looking for a car to replace my daily driver and just couldn't find a modern car that I couldn't live without. The $42K Park Ultra came close but the $$ was a big stretch and the car just didn't say "buy me." I test drove about 4 and each time brought it back and made the comment, I really wish I could find another "BUICK." Unknown to me, friends and relatives conspired to find almost a twin to "THE BUICK" which is a one owner CA car whose owner agreed to give a new home. Mom was not told because everyone figured she'd throw a fit about another old car. The night the "little Buick" arrived, we took it over to show my mom. Everyone was waiting for the explosion when she saw another "old car." To everyone's surprise, she walked to the window, said "you finally found one" and then she got the keys to her car and seriously wanted to trade. If manual steering and manual brakes ( and NO AC ) were an option at her age, I have a feeling she'd be driving the "little Buick." The "little Buick" has gotten a rebuilt engine at 230,000 miles and will be cosmetically freshened possibly becoming even more of a cosmetic "twin" to "THE BUICK". It is tuned to best case emissions and is driven frequently ( and insured properly for regular driving ). I was using it for awhile as a daily driver prior to the engine rebuild but due to damage/harassment/vandalism ( by other adults on campus NOT by the students ), and the need to put it down while we rebuilt the engine, I have acquired a more recent Buick that is easier on gas and can defend itself a little better in parking lots thanks to ONSTAR. Right about the time I was born, both parents had convertibles. And, we've had at least one in the family ever since--mostly the same one. My mom was unusual in that the top was down whenever the weather allowed-- which meant over 50 degrees and not raining. What a joy to come out of work, put the top down and drive away..... However, the "little Buick" WILL NOT BE RESTORED. We're having wayyyy too much fun!

If you're looking for a good touring tire, go with either Goodyear Regatta 2 or their new tire. Goodyear Eagles are a solid performance tire if it's performance you want. I've run Goodyears on various A-bodies for years, as well as C and E and never had any tire problems despite the extreme desert heat. However, new cars that came factory fresh with Michelins were a different story. After my Mom's Ford performance car started losing a Michelin every couple of months, we switched to Goodyear Eagles. End of tire problems.