70 Buick Wagon - Factory custom color.

[Fred Zwicker]

I posted this information on the 1954 Buick Forum, as am painting a 1954 Buick Riviera 2dr. HT in a similar color (metallic gray with painted black roof and lower trim). Many do not know that GM offered paint in any color at an extra charge at time order was placed. A 1972 picture of my 1970 Buick Estate Wagon is attached, along with 3 pictures of my 1954 Buick Special, now being restored and repainted in the same gray metallic as at present.

Back in 1970 I was looking at the new Buicks and wanted an Estate Station Wagon. The problem was that I did not see any colors that appealed to me. Someone told me that you could order any color from GM for an extra charge (around $65 as I recall). I called GM and talked to an engineer who confirmed that they would paint the Buick ANY color (for an upcharge) and that there would be some extra lead time on such an order.

I stopped at the local Buick dealer in Youngstown, Ohio and the salesman told me it wasn't possible. I mentioned my call to the factory and salesman talked it over with his sales manager, telling me that they would not be able to accomodate me. I was discouraged and then went to a small dealership in a rural area. Their salesman said the color would look terrible and tried to discourage me - also mentioning a very long lead time. I insisted that was what I wanted and they reluctantly took the order for a new 1970 Buick Estate Wagon in a 1968 Cadillac dark metallic gray with black vinyl top. Again salesman kept telling me that I was making a mistake as the car would not look good. Order was placed anyhow.

About 6 or more weeks later I received a phone call that the car was in, so that evening I went to the dealer to pick it up. The car was in the center of their showroom and many people were admiring it. I knew it was going to look good and it was even better than expected! Then the same salesman that told me how terrible it was going to look said that they had so much interest in the car that they were going to give me a new Buick (with full tank of gas and insurance) to drive for a week or two so that the wagon could continue to be displayed. After waiting so long for the car, told him "No Way" and took the Buick home that same evening. I enjoyed this car for about 5 years, even puling my boat. I had a "one of a kind" and to this day wish I would have kept the car. After about 90,000 miles I traded it in on a new Oldsmobile.

So if anyone ever tells you that a GM/Buick cannot be ordered in a special color, I am confirming my experience in 1970. See picture for proof.

Edited March 21, 2011 by Fred Zwicker (see edit history)

[Guest my3buicks]

Neat story!! I think the combo would be very classy!!!!

[NTX5467]

Yes, a very classy color combination!

I suspect the dealership salespeople were both uninformed and/or desired to sell you something on their lots . . . just my gut suspicion.

In the assembly line parlance, your vehicle would have been a "special mask", I believe. In the early 1980s, I found that many Chevrolet Vehicle Order Guides had a page of "Fleet Colors", which would accomodate special paint colors for the national fleet accounts they sold to. Railroads, etc., plus some colors that might become normal factory production colors in the next model year.

Of these "next year's colors", the ONLY place you could find them was in the order guide. But they usually required a production run of about 1000 vehicles, which some regional dealer groups would order to have something other dealers didn't, on their lots. Pity the poor parts person who didn't know about these special colors when a new vehicle customer came in wanting some touch-up paint!

With all due respect, I highly suspect that any of the dealership operatives you talked to had any knowledge of the "Fleet Color" section of their vehicle order guide. At least the second dealership's people were willing to try to get what you desired. You knew what you wanted and went for it, which is great. Far too many times, dealership operatives forget that "Customers have options . . ." and will generally keep on trying until they find somebody (at another dealership) that will try to do what the customer desires--sometimes, it's possible, sometimes it's not, but the key is "To just try".

Great looking cars . . . the 1970 and the 1954! Neat story, too!

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[John_Maine]

Try to do that today. I agree, though, cool story.

[LINC400]

I highly doubt that you could still do that today. The first thing I notice when looking to buy a new car is the lousy color choices. White, black, gray, dark gray, and silver. I would love to know if you could special order like that now. Of course that means you would just get a choice of different shades of gray.

Lincoln had 26 color choices in 1976. Don't know what Buick had in 1970, but kind of odd that you had to special order......gray.

[Guest my3buicks]

22 colors mixed across the Buick line in 70 - there was a Silver but no charcoal - although Cadillac had a nice charcoal in 70

[John_Maine]

Yeah, when I said try to do that today, I was being facetious. I agree that color selections today are awful. That's why I stick with red or blue, and some makes don't even offer blue. I also miss color keyed interiors. Gray is drab and beige shows all the dirt, so I try to stick with black leather.

[Fred Zwicker]

You might think that my choice of metallic gray was not a good one, but when polished, the look combined with the black vinyl top, wide whitewalls and plenty of chrome really set off the car. Picture posted earlier was scanned from a poor photo, so does not do much for the car. I chose a 1968 Cadillac metallic gray and wish I still had this car today, as it was powerful with the big V-8 engine, had a great ride and was a gas hog. When the gauge read 1/8 of a tank, I was walking to the gas station (had this happen twice before I finally learned to keep it over 1/4 tank full).

Interior was dark green leather, which wasn't a bad choice, although doesn't sound so good. I never had a bit of trouble with this car and gave it very little attention - in fact, I ran it hard and put over 90,000 miles on the car in about 5 years.

Fred

[NTX5467]

Yeah, when I said try to do that today, I was being facetious. I agree that color selections today are awful. That's why I stick with red or blue, and some makes don't even offer blue. I also miss color keyed interiors. Gray is drab and beige shows all the dirt, so I try to stick with black leather.

I concur on the "color keyed interiors". I went to a new car show last year. There was a new Ford pickup sitting there, a fancy one with the "tan code" interior. It already had "blue highlights" on the edges of the sides of the driver's seat . . . from the "blue" of denim jeans rubbing over it there. Reckon "ride height" had anything to do with that? Just another reason to choose "charcoal-toned" interiors. At least the bright accents look better on the charcoal background, but the wood-toned panels really don't do too well.

Maybe the USA brands need to get away from the "International-sized" vehicles (i.e., narrower) and get back to something more "American-sized" (i.e., wider) so that we can have some more innovative instrument panel designs, with front bucket seats which don't rub the console as a matter of useable seat width and design space? Plus better use of COLOR, textures, and accents! AND rear roof lines which don't end at the tail lights, unless it's a hatchback or station wagon. Even the most base model Chevy Biscayne in 1958 had more color in the interior than a $50K Cadillac does now, by observation, much less comparing it to the spiffier 1958 Bonneville or much fancier 1958 Buicks (any model)! Back then, "luxury" was in the visual treats you experienced as you got into the car, felt the rich seat fabrics, the soft seats, plus the use of chrome and color. Now, "luxury" seems to be more about electronics and gazillion-speed automatic transmissions . . . not to forget multiple OHC engines (which need the gazillion-speed automatics to accelerate briskly in the absence of any real low-rpm torque). But, each of these respective era's vehicles has their reason for being what they are. Just that the earlier ones seemed to be much more distinctive in their total styling packages.

Just some thoghts,

NTX5467

[LINC400]

You don't have to go back to 1958 for that. A bottom of the line 1985 Skylark had a plusher interior and came in more colors than just about anything built today. Not that the Skylark was spectacular, that is how it used to be for most cars.

[wws944]

Didn't GM have a 'five car minimum' requirement for custom colors at some point? At least in the later 1970s and into the '80s?

Edited March 29, 2011 by wws944 (see edit history)

[Fred Zwicker]

Didn't GM have a 'five car minimum' requirement for custom colors at some point? At least in the later 1970s and into the '80s?

I don't know about afterwards, but can say for sure that I ordered my B1970 Buick in a custom color and it was a "one off". No one said anything about a minimum and they took my order gladly at a reasonable extra cost.

Fred