Hood Ornament

[grgibbs]

Hi all I'm new here, I saw what everyone said about the hood ornaments.   Mine was stollen long ago and I'm in need of a new one.  Any Ideas Im watching ebay.  I'd settle for a reproduction.

[Mark Ascher]

Maybe we should start some sort of crowd funding deal to get a nice repro going.

Mark

[elagache]

Dear grgibbs, Mark and fans of 1965 Buicks,

Maybe we should start some sort of crowd funding deal to get a nice repro going.

I have a contact in OPGI and I mentioned this scarcity a year ago.  I wanted to update my contact again just in case OPGI has the original hood ornament molds.  If they have those molds, that would go a long way towards producing a really accurate reproduction. 

I just haven't had the time . . . . maybe next week . . . .

Cheers, Edouard

[Chris]

I checked into having some made a couple of years ago and there was a company in Chicago that could take a decent original and create a mold that would produce "investment castings".  I can't remember if they told me if the original part would be lost in the process or if it could be returned unharmed.

http://www.avalon-castings.com/investment-castings-ppc?gclid=CJTisNT6tMUCFcGGaQodzlEARQ

http://www.dolphincasting.calls.net/alloys.htm?gclid=CNyIyKP7tMUCFYQAaQodoFIAQQ

They had a a lot of different materials that they could make the parts from so there wasn't any concern of soft parts that would break easily.  The reproductions the OPGI provided before had a tendency of breaking at the point where they attach to the base.  I had one on my car and when I was drying it with a towel, I accidentally caught the emblem and it snapped right off. 

The foils would also need to be reproduced and painted with something that won't fade as quickly as the paint they used before.  My OPGI emblem didn't make it thru a summer and the colors were almost gone (sun and washing maybe).  If a good enough casting was taken from a original and it picked up the detail in the original foil, the colors could be painted in with a quality enamel paint with a UV stabilizer to give the color some more life.

If the price of a final product was reasonable and someone wanted to take on the project, you could count me in for one or two of them.

Thanks,

Chris

[elagache]

Dear Chris and fans of 1965 Buick A-Bodies,

Yesterday I managed to send a quick email to my contact at OPGI to inform him about the $300 used hood ornament that was sold on eBay and Les's $650 NOS sale on V-8 Buick.  Unfortunately, that thread appears to have been deleted.  If I recall correctly, that NOS ornament sold within a few hours of being posted.  So there can be no doubt, the need for these ornaments is genuinely desperate.

The reproductions the OPGI provided before had a tendency of breaking at the point where they attach to the base.  I had one on my car and when I was drying it with a towel, I accidentally could the emblem and it snapped right off. 

Hmm, I didn't know that OPGI ever carried reproductions of the 1965 hood ornament.  Do do you if OPGI also had them manufactured or were carrying a product manufactured by someone else?  Did they appear to be authentic in all other respects beside durability?

I assume the problems with that earlier production run are for "the usual reasons . . . " keeping the cost down.  If OPGI has the molds, they certainly could produce a durable ornament if people are willing to pay the price for the quality materials and workmanship.  I just don't know where that price-point would end up.

If the price of a final product was reasonable and someone wanted to take on the project, you could count me in for one or two of them.

I understand that the reproduction hood ornament I have will suffer from the same color fading issues as the OPGI reproduction.  So I would also be interested in joining a group purchase should someone be willing to take the lead on this.

Cheers, Edouard

[Chris]

I believe that it was OPGI that carried the repro's (they didn't make them only distributed a low run of them and this was 10 years ago) and the part was decent looking.  It appeared as though the mold had been taken from a repaired part at one time and you could make out a faint line in the ring that transferred over to the new parts.

Chris

[genebp]

I sent the hood ornament out years ago to have reproduced , my man can make the casting , but I can't find someone to do the embossed foil , does anyone know of a place that does embossed foil for the Tri - Shield . Hope for a good respond . How would everyone feel if the embossed was part of the casting and just painted ? Thanks Gene .

[65GS]

I have a NEW orig. that I am working on to have cast,poss. out of brass. Then chromed. The tri shield looks like separate piece.
Will keep everyone advised as to how this is going.
Al

[Chris]

I sent the hood ornament out years ago to have reproduced , my man can make the casting , but I can't find someone to do the embossed foil , does anyone know of a place that does embossed foil for the Tri - Shield . Hope for a good respond . How would everyone feel if the embossed was part of the casting and just painted ? Thanks Gene .

Hi Gene and welcome to the site!   

I don't know about others but having the tri-shields cast instead of foil wouldn't be a problem for me as long as the detail was the same.  I think that painted foil was used before because the colors could be silk screened in bulk and then applied to the part.  There is a lot of detail in a little bit of area but someone could paint a cast part if they just took their time.

Chris

[Mark Ascher]

There is a member of this forum who is involved with making engravings for embossing -
maybe he could chime in with some insight!

Calling John Egel....

Mark

[Loren At 65GS]

John and I have discussed this on more then one occasion and as recently as last November.

Maybe after the Nationals are over he will have more time.

  Loren

[elagache]

Dear Loren and 1965 Buick fans,

John and I have discussed this on more then one occasion and as recently as last November.

Well there was another used hood ornament that was not in particularly great condition that nonetheless sold the day it was posted on V-8 Buick:

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?296730-1965-skylark-hood-emblem

So the need is easily apparent!

I had thought about suggesting that the 1965 faithful make an email campaign to give OPGI some additional incentive.  Is that a good idea in the end?  If there are guys with the skills to make a really accurate and well-made reproduction, it may be better to make sure the community gets the quality product everyone wants.  I would think we all can be patient - can't we?

What are people's thoughts on this board?

Cheers, Edouard

[schlepcar]

I think I waited too long to buy the last NOS one......lol....I think our problem is that we have a lot of 1965 ONLY pieces and we will have a hard time creating demand to justify the supply. It is definitely worth a try.

[35chevcoupe]

I wil be needing a hood ornament at some time here in the near future . Not sure if my car will be worthy on a NOS  piece or not but would a least like a Quality reproduction one .

[schlepcar]

I see you have an old 6.2 on your project list John.......mental illness is high in Michigan too...I just dragged in my 86 3/4 ton diesel to work on this week. These are getting as hard as the 65's to find parts for. Dan