Completed Pics 900 hour Resto 66 GS

[JZRIV]

A handful of folks have been wanting to see more pics of the recently completed project. About 900 hours in my labor plus 180 or so hours at the body shop. One popular question I have received is people do not think the shadow turquoise is a factory 66 Riv color because the color was uncommon. The Sherwin Williams Automotive factory paint rep worked for about 2-3 hours mixing and doing test sprays to get a perfect match to original color chips. Of course the gloss and quality is higher than factory paint which I knowingly pursued and accepted as an over restored condition. The car was originally Riviera gold which was a lighter shade. Much thought went into color selection. Don't be mislead by the original CA black plates as that's just for show but were original and belonged to this car from day 1. The car is registered in PA. For those who aren't familiar with the car or project, this is 1 of 179 factory dual quad 66 Rivieras built in 1966. Engine code MZ. I have much documentation on numbers and date codes for many components I did not even know had date codes. This car amazingly had all of its original wear items like alternator, starter, master cyl, 4 headlamps, voltage regulator, 1 complete side of exhaust system front to back, and on. Most of it is seemingly useless info but figured better to document during the resto because its very difficult after its done should there ever be interest. The wood steering wheel was the only option I added. The car originally had door guards but I have not had the nerve yet to install them because once they go on, they don't come off without taking paint with it. Open for opinions on if they should go on or not? As you can see the car was a mess when I got it even though there is convincing evidence it had low miles. Very poorly stored outdoors for 30 years. While the body was pretty solid it had some damage and repair + major RR quarter damage which probably kept most people from buying it until I came along as a gluten for punishment or sucker as some might say. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2016 by JZRIV (see edit history)

[RivNut]

LIke WOW!  If a picture is worth 10,000 words, these leave me speechless.

 

Congratulations.  It's no wonder that you took the Best of Show at the most recent ROA event.

 

Ed

[Schmiddy]

10 minutes ago, JZRIV said:

One popular question I have received is people do not think the shadow turquoise is a factory 66 Riv color because the color was uncommon.

 

You know what, I give nothing on what people think... This car just blows me away and the color is absolutely awesome!

I really can imagine how many hours you put into this project - its all about passion and when one loves, one doesn't count! Don't know if this is the right expression... here we say: "quand on aime, on ne compte pas!" A french expression I really love and live. Looks like you do the same ;-)... Congrats, that Riv is truely a jewel!

[epriv]

Outstanding. Needs to be in a museum. Thanks for preserving a piece of history. (love the red lines BTW)

Mitch

[Rivman]

VERY NICE!!!

 

I wish I could have spent more time looking it over at the meet, no doubt BEST of SHOW was well deserved!!!

 

Just need a vertical picture for the Riview "cover" shot when your Members Showcase come out! Ray might like something along the lines of the third or ninth picture for that, who knows?

 

Again ... VERY NICE!!!

[68RIVGS]

Thank you Jason !!

That is one beautiful restoration, and well worth all the blood, sweat, and tears.

The pictures speak for themselves - over restored? maybe, but absolutely drop dead, show worthy gorgeous.

Just another 'labour of love', thanks for sharing !

 

p.s. don't forget to add these pictures to 'my garage' on v8buick, so the GS and Skyhawk crew can appreciate a special 'E body Riviera'.

 

[alini]

awesome!! thanks for the update  wish mine looked that good

 

[JZRIV]

Just now, alini said:

awesome!! thanks for the update  wish mine looked that good

 

Thank you but trust me Chris, you don't want yours to look like this. You then get into the don't want to drive mentality. From a collector's standpoint that would be great. I am not a collector but rather a driver and now that's its done feel some days like I created a monster.......ie, a car I shouldn't drive

[lrlforfun]

OK Jason: If this was a CA car originally wouldn't it have had an air pump?  Was an air pump not necessary for the D-Qz?  Mitch

[JZRIV]

15 minutes ago, lrlforfun said:

OK Jason: If this was a CA car originally wouldn't it have had an air pump?  Was an air pump not necessary for the D-Qz?  Mitch

Good Observation. Don't think the DQ cars got an air pump but one would think it would have CA CCV closed crankcase ventilation as we know the 65 GS cars did. That remains a mystery on this car. Tom Mooney has a CA MZ car so maybe he will chime in. The 1966 registration sticker you see is original. The SCF registration is consistent with cars registered in the time period this car was built. I peeled layers of sticker-years off to get down 1966 without destroying it. I have CA DMV documents with this registration number tying it to the car. I know of 7 (I think) confirmed MZ cars and info exists on 3 of them that indicate they were given away in a drawing for top sales peoples at Buick regional sales events. Is it possible this car was one of those and maybe came from regional event held in Nevada, Oregon, etc?  Or since DQ cars would have been in short supply, it could have been purchased from a dealer in an adjoining state and brought to CA and registered. Just a couple possibilities. I spent many hours and $$ trying to track down ownership prior to 1976 but came up empty. I believe someone is alive somewhere that would remember this car when it was new. My last clue dried up in Stockton CA

Edited July 15, 2016 by JZRIV (see edit history)

[jj5794]

Jason,

 

Absolutely gorgeous! 

 

Impeccable restoration you can be all the more proud of as you did so much yourself. 

 

Thank you for sharing the photographs as well as the articles in the Riview. 

 

Thank you also for your service to the ROA.

 

Jim Vesely

BCA # 39477

ROA # 7437

 

 

[RivNut]

Jason,

 

Could you give us some clues as to how you chose to pose the car for the pictures and what kind of camera you used.  The pictures look very professional as well as the restoration of the car.

 

Ed

[lrlforfun]

OK Jason: If memory serves me correctly my 65 Riv GS has a closed system with a breather tube going into one of the air cleaner snorkels.  Most 66 California cars had air pumps.  The 401/425 had ports in the cylinder head and of course, the 66 was the only year for this.

 

Is there any way to find out if your car was built as a California or 49 state "Federal" unit, from a character in the vin, data plate or other documentation?  I believe if it were a California built unit it would have both a closed system, breather to air cleaner, pvc and the air pump regardless of one or two carb set-up.

 

There is another way to cross check this. Although far from conclusive, the Corvette people who specialize in 66-67 might know.

 

Mitch

[JZRIV]

3 minutes ago, RivNut said:

Jason,

 

Could you give us some clues as to how you chose to pose the car for the pictures and what kind of camera you used.  The pictures look very professional as well as the restoration of the car.

 

Ed

Ed,

Rhonda and I are just weekend wannabe photographers so no expert advice here. We took maybe 75 pics to get a handful of decent ones. took some in the afternoon since it was overcast with no bright sun but still struggled with daytime lighting and shadows. I also used a ladder. These were decent but not great. The steel bridge pics were taken close to dusk and I personally liked the result better. Was able to setup tripod and play with shutter speeds slightly. Again, took a bunch to get various effects. Camera is just a Canon EOS Rebel SLR nothing too fancy.

[johnrex]

Quote

Pictures will never give your restoration justice!

 

[Eric's.64.Superwildcat]

Congratulations Jason.  

 

That car is one of a kind.  

[68RIVGS]

Maybe not planned, but that green paint on the bridge grating and structure compliment the color of the car for some striking results.

Even simple DSLR digital cameras are quite capable of professional results, as your Canon EOS Rebel clearly shows !

I attended a local airshow event last week and took over 600 shots which eventually were culled down to 60 keepers.

That's just one of the advantages of digital DSLRs.

. . . yah done good Jason !

 

Edited July 15, 2016 by 68RIVGS (see edit history)

[Pat Curran]

Jason, your car is simply awesome!  The color you chose is a personal favorite.  Leave the door guards off.  Like you said, they never come off without some paint.  I wish I was at the meet to see this car in person.  Good luck with it and thanks for sharing the pride!

Regards,

Pat Curran, ROA # 67

[Seafoam65]

                    Jason, the main thing to consider regarding the door edge guards is how thin the paint film is on the edge of the doors....

if you have too much paint thickness on the edges the paint will chip out on you when you put them on beyond where the guards will

sit and ruin your perfect paint job. I love door edge guards, but on your magnificent paint job resto I don't think you can afford to risk

a chip disaster so I would vote leave them off in this case. As I already stated on another post, your car is as good as it gets, bravo and

well done! As for driving your car, my advice is to drive it on the boulevards but stay off the highways....stick to 50 mph and slower. This is what I do with my 100 point restos and in 26 years of doing that I haven't hurt the cars enough to keep from winning best of shows every

so often. For out of town meets, you must use an enclosed trailer for a car like yours. I know it's scary, but get out and drive the car once in a while, a car you can't drive is no fun in the long run.......trailering everywhere and sitting in lawn chairs next to it gets old after a while! To

ease the scariness of that first trip out on the streets......here is a pic of my GTO that I restored back in the late 80's.......I've driven it on boulevards since then for 20,000 miles and I won a best of show PAINT award last July 4th out of 250 cars with it, so you can in fact have your cake and eat it too!

[jj5794]

Jason,

 

I neglected to mention above that my opinion is not to use door guards.

 

Jim Vesely

BCA # 39477

ROA # 7437

 

[Chimera]

I Personally like the door guard look...

[bodayguy]

STUNNING!

[Lapham3]

Great job, and I know what you mean about 'fear of driving' now. Sunday mornings are the time for me with little traffic.

 Dan   Mpls. Mn.

[1965rivgs]

On 7/15/2016 at 3:29 PM, JZRIV said:

Good Observation. Don't think the DQ cars got an air pump but one would think it would have CA CCV closed crankcase ventilation as we know the 65 GS cars did. That remains a mystery on this car. Tom Mooney has a CA MZ car so maybe he will chime in. The 1966 registration sticker you see is original. The SCF registration is consistent with cars registered in the time period this car was built. I peeled layers of sticker-years off to get down 1966 without destroying it. I have CA DMV documents with this registration number tying it to the car. I know of 7 (I think) confirmed MZ cars and info exists on 3 of them that indicate they were given away in a drawing for top sales peoples at Buick regional sales events. Is it possible this car was one of those and maybe came from regional event held in Nevada, Oregon, etc?  Or since DQ cars would have been in short supply, it could have been purchased from a dealer in an adjoining state and brought to CA and registered. Just a couple possibilities. I spent many hours and $$ trying to track down ownership prior to 1976 but came up empty. I believe someone is alive somewhere that would remember this car when it was new. My last clue dried up in Stockton CA

 

Great question Mitch.... GREAT question!  God is in the details! The answer is yes, a car originally delivered in CA, dual quad or otherwise, should have the closed PCV system which, for `66, consists of a breather hose from the valve cover breather to the body (NOT the air cleaner snorkel as in `64-`65) of the air cleaner. I have encountered many cars which were delivered to Nevada and Arizona which made their way to California. Doesnt indicate the advantages of the California environment are not present, just that the original delivery location may be otherwise.

Regarding the air pump system on a factory dual quad car, Buick must have solicited the state of CA for an exemption for the system on factory dual quad cars to be delivered in CA, probably based on a small anticipated production quantity, as I have Buick literature which documents the absence of the necessity of installation of the AIR system on California destined MZ built cars.

My MZ car was originally ordered for the son of the owner of Peck Buick in San Diego CA but a local dentist plucked it off the dealer lot as a gift to his wife before the car could be delivered to the son..... money talks. Vintage photographs reveal no AIR system but the expected closed PCV breather system. 

GREAT question on a very rare situation ie, a rare option manufactured in a dynamic environment of government regulations.

 

 Tom Mooney

 

PS Jason, have you researched closed versus open Riviera script on the `66 GS (only) cars? As I recall, Darwin Falk originally brought this anomaly to light?

[JZRIV]

7 hours ago, 1965rivgs said:

PS Jason, have you researched closed versus open Riviera script on the `66 GS (only) cars? As I recall, Darwin Falk originally brought this anomaly to light?

No I haven't specifically Tom but vaguely recall a brief conversation with someone over usage of open and closed scripts. This car had an open R script on the left fender and a closed R script on the right fender. There was no evidence to suggest either had ever been replaced so that's how I left it. 

[1965rivgs]

3 hours ago, JZRIV said:

No I haven't specifically Tom but vaguely recall a brief conversation with someone over usage of open and closed scripts. This car had an open R script on the left fender and a closed R script on the right fender. There was no evidence to suggest either had ever been replaced so that's how I left it. 

If my recall is correct many years ago Darwin pointed out that GS cars seemed to be built with the open script versus standard Rivs which were built with the new style closed script. He suggested a possible explanation may be that the GS and Riviera emblems may have been packaged together for installation and that packaging occured either early in the model year (so late `65) or possibly by a particular vendor. Whatever the reason I started paying close attention to this detail particularly on original cars and found there to be a legitimate trend. If your scripts are original, and I know you are very thorough regarding researching original details so that is no doubt fact, your car may have been built in a time frame when the transition from one style script to the other was taking place. I didnt notice they are different side to side on your car, I just noted a closed style script in one of the pics on one side. There is no doubt Buick would have mixed the different style scripts when  building the car. Very interesting....

  Tom

Edited July 17, 2016 by 1965rivgs (see edit history)

[telriv]

Just my input as I know very LITTLE about '66's. Since Jason's GS was an original GS FACTORY car which came out MUCH later in the production year my opinion is they used what was readily at hand. Like original cars have diff. bolts in L & R fenders.

[Chimera]

I would really be interested in seeing the paint job in strong sun light.

[rocky5517]

WOW!!!!

[RoadShark]

A top-notch restoration in a spectacular color!  I'd like to see more pics as well...

[Guest Kaber]

Stunning!

[EmTee]

As beautiful as this car is, the exciting part for me (selfishly, perhaps) is the detailed knowledge of how these cars were originally built that Jason gleaned from the restoration.  That knowledge may now be passed-on to the benefit of dozens of future restorations.  Finding an original, unmolested car such as this one and then documenting the deconstruction is what really impresses me.  Anyone can strip and rebuild a car in 'Overhaulin' fashion -- it takes someone who really appreciates the car, its design and the people who constructed it to take the time to understand how to properly restore it.

[Seafoam65]

1 hour ago, EmTee said:

As beautiful as this car is, the exciting part for me (selfishly, perhaps) is the detailed knowledge of how these cars were originally built that Jason gleaned from the restoration.  That knowledge may now be passed-on to the benefit of dozens of future restorations.  Finding an original, unmolested car such as this one and then documenting the deconstruction is what really impresses me.  Anyone can strip and rebuild a car in 'Overhaulin' fashion -- it takes someone who really appreciates the car, its design and the people who constructed it to take the time to understand how to properly restore it.

Agreed, I think we are all happy that Chip Foose didn't get his hands on this one!

[ronnie27]

Absolutely beautiful, I have to keep going back looking at the pictures. I love the color.

[RockinRiviDad]

Damn! That is one clean ride. 

 

Good job! Congrats!

 

My only hope is that my build comes out half as nice as yours. Ok, maybe not half. I'll settle for 1/3 as nice as yours  cuz I wanna drive mine haha

[Carbuff2]

Absolutely Beautiful .............

[KongaMan]

     

 

If I may ask...  What black finish(es) did you use under the hood for the inner fenders, brake booster, PS pump, pulleys, etc.?

[JZRIV]

 

4 minutes ago, KongaMan said:

     

 

If I may ask...  What black finish(es) did you use under the hood for the inner fenders, brake booster, PS pump, pulleys, etc.?

The hood was professionally applied by the body shop using a chassis black which I do not know exactly what it was but it matches my rattle can paint very close. Everything else I did with Rustoleum 7777 Satin Black which I have been using for 25 years. Takes longer to dry but I am happy with its coverage, less tendency to run, and durability. Unfortunately today the consistency in gloss between can to can will vary a bit but am sure the paint the factory used varied also. 

With 7777 you can make it more or less glossy depending how you apply it.

[rocky5517]

Very cool! I love the engine compartment. What color did you paint the inner fender wells, and did you use a rattle can?

[KongaMan]

2 hours ago, JZRIV said:

 

The hood was professionally applied by the body shop using a chassis black which I do not know exactly what it was but it matches my rattle can paint very close. Everything else I did with Rustoleum 7777 Satin Black which I have been using for 25 years. Takes longer to dry but I am happy with its coverage, less tendency to run, and durability. Unfortunately today the consistency in gloss between can to can will vary a bit but am sure the paint the factory used varied also. 

With 7777 you can make it more or less glossy depending how you apply it.

Very cool -- it looks to have just the right amount of gloss.  What primer (if any) did you use under the 7777?

 

If I may pry even further: have you used 7777 underneath the car (e.g. on steering or suspension components)?  Does it stand up to the harsher conditions or did you opt for a different product?