60FlatTop

I noticed. I think its the car, though. And the entry fee wasn't bad. Bernie

Your neighbor scored if it was this one: 271171457433 Probably doubled his investment in shipping. My Grandfather taught me that there are a lot of good deals out there if you don't have fish hooks in your pockets. Bernie

So you come out of the supermarket and see a neat old Buick in the parking lot. And here's this mid-60's guy standing there taking a picture of a lady loading bags of groceries into the trunk. Well that's what you get from one year in the Boy Scouts and, turning 11 and then hanging around junkyards for the next 53 years.

My '60 uses two and so does the '64 Riviera. One little issue with the Riviera, though. I lost the ignition key about 20 years ago. Its not a big deal because the ignition was unlocked at the time. Only one yahoo ever looked in and knew the difference. He just hopped in and drove away, thought it was pretty funny. Gotta fix that ones of these days. Bernie

I still remember sitting in a checker board or Poka Dot restaurant on Main St. in Normal with my son commenting on the Normal Police car that drove by. That was pre-internet days and we had picked up a customer's Corvair convertible the night before in Peoria. It was July 5th, maybe 1995. My son was about 14. The day before Andy and I had flown into O'Hara and caught a 9 PM local flight to Peoria. That's a 14 year old, first time flying, under 30,000 feet, the 4th of July at fireworks time. You don't forget those trips. We took route 24 to Fort Wayne for the scenic ride. It was so hot we couldn't put the top down and I bought my first bottle of water- to wet my t shirt for cooling. I seem to remember a RT 41 Auto Sales with a '49 or 50 Caddie convert and a Panhard in a barn full of cars. Here's another shot approaching the plant:

Wondering about the emblem?

Those Caddie wheels are hard to find nice. You really can come up with pretty good stuff if you search for wheel covers. This is OK for seniors. Imagine picking up a set of 15X10 wagon rims and screwing these covers on?

Just to let you know New York is not all city, we went over by some little Podunk town for lunch today. Its a 6 hour drive from JFK Airport if you have a layover. If you are old enough for Dr. Hook, Podunk is kind of like Alice. Bernie

Comparing them to Clark's catalog they look like '64's maybe they are mislabeled. Bernie

I took a look at the Distinctive website. I think I will give them a call, at least to find out if they do front and rear foam. For the price, if the ebay covers matched my car they would be a good Murphy's Law item to stash on a shelf. I should be getting around to my interior soon. When I do I will have my complete '65 custom interior left over. It has a split seam at the should area of the driver's seat. I will probably re-upholster that seat back and sell the whole very usable set. I think I will keep an ebay search going just in case a deal like this comes along for my planned repairs. Bernie

To be a real individualist in the custom cars groups there are certain standards you must adhere to. One common one is the use of a satin black to simulate to unfinished or work in progress look. It identifies you as one who is still creating. When epoxy primer came out it was great because you could have the unfinished look without rust bleeding through old style primer. I like the looks of the car myself, mainly because it still looks very Rivyish. My issue, and the first entry wondered what the public would think, is that it looks like cars I saw in the '60's that were accessorized from a J. C. Whitney catalog. The Dakota Digital pieces are standard catalog individualist items. Imagine something like a '61 Chrysler instrument cluster. I'd give a thumbs up to that. The wheels are garden variety Donk. How about Pontiac five spoke steel wheels painted black, 14's in front and 15's in the rear with a simple chrome , not stainless, trim ring and a Buick crest on the cap. They are not on the checklist for today's individualist. A mid '60's T-Bird style interior would be interesting if it was wrapped into a shortened package tray and the console extended. Would anyone be brave enough to swap a late '60's Ford fastback roof? It is supposed to be a custom, be original and think outside the supermarket magazine rack. And a Chevy engine? Maybe I'm just not your stereotypical individualist. Bernie

I had to tow the toilet. The boiler was too big even for a Buick!

You can't ride a Kangaroo when you do this: Andrew must be Harry Butler's replacement. Years ago we watched Harry on public TV just to see what was going to bite him this week. I am hoping to spend next January in the Cook Islands. Jack Kennedy said it wasn't a bad walk over to see you. Bernie

That comes pretty close to my memories of riding in Grandma O'Brien's black '54 Roadmaster when I was around 10. Real close; we had a lot of one lane bridges over the Barge Canal back then and the rule was "Buicks first". Bernie

I looked at the car with an open mind. well, you know, kinda of. The striking thing to me was how little the original design was changed. At least Bill Mitchell chopped to to on his. Look at the last picture. It looks like a High School term paper someone changed just enough to say it was different. And they threw away a Buick nailhead for a SBC? Public taste? Oh, they will all wet themselves. The car has the same creativity of a modern country music song, professional wrestling, home energy audit, or reality TV; just a mediocre collection of individuality concepts. Of course, I'm going out to lunch today on 8.20 X 15 wide whites, so I ain't right either. P.S. If you don't have blackened screws or pop rivets you can use a black felt tip pen to darken the inner window fur strip attachment. Bernie

In New York State Troop E is a friendly place to try. The Commander gave a presentation to our Finger Lakes Chapter on our 25th anniversary. He liked cars ,too. I remember Dodges at our local barracks. Troop E ran the Thruway, maybe Buicks, but I would want to see a document. A LeSabre or base Wildcat would be a good choice cost-wise compared to a police version Chevy 9C1. My '94 Impala SS was a response to the needs for a high performance image. Long faces around a corporate meeting table were trying to figure out what to do and someone said "Let's put aluminum wheels and leather seats in a cop car." Ta-da! I heard one police force, maybe Tennessee, opted for the SS over the 9c1 because they cost less and bought something like 25 of them. Oh, the trooper who talked to our group, he said they liked seeing old cars but sometimes we drove too slow. He left knowing the difference between a Buick and a Ford! Bernie

I have had the pan off my '64 Riviera without removing it. The hard part is the four oil pan bolts above the crossmember. I couldn't get sainted for my patience with the 1/4 drive wrenches, but we do have a new Pope. Here's advice the rebuilder will agree with: "When in doubt, pull it out." Bernie

Mike, I'm curious, did you sell me a UT Models Impala SS 1:18 dieclast? Its on the shelf above me right now. Bernie

Mike, Is it this Ebay # 160994196757? It looks like a pretty nice unmolested car. Good color, too. It looks like a car you can spend time detailing with a toothbrush and lots of polishing cloths. I like it! Bernie

That could be one of 11 rare models built for the Borg collective. Of course you have to be a real geek to get it...... and a bigger one to write it. Bernie

Here is a picture of the original button retainers. They are big and have a tenacious grip. I have not been able to figure out how to salvage them for reuse, still working on it. My guess is that an upholstery shop would have a lesser FitsAll version. Spring is here. I will be wading back into this. Bernie

My Buick friend since I first got online, Tony Gentilcore, sent me a copy of the Australian Buick News. I like to share it with the members of the Finger Lakes Chapter of the BCA so I pump it up to a website I have and email a link. I dropped Tony a note over the weekend and asked if it was OK to share the link. Well, here is Tony's answer: http://www.brockportinternational.com/BCA/buicknewsMar13.pdf This is literally how the other half lives! Bernie

There is an extra 4 inches in the quarter panels on the 225. My car is frequently called a Deuce and a Quarter. It is actually an Electra 221. Look at some pictures shown the area between the deck lid and the rear window. It shows up big time there. Bernie

I was going through some old files and found this one of my '60 from around 2005. Kinda neat: The logical engineering choice. Bernie

It was really hard to get past 3minutes and 15 seconds. Being in the inner circle I know the reason for the shortage of Fords in Sweden. The salt air in the holds of ships turns them into little rust piles. GM's make the trip with ease. Bernie