Dear fans of 1965 Buick A-bodies,
There was another desperate seeker of a hood ornament on V-8 Buick recently and clearly this is one item that is desperately in short supply. Last year a used hood ornament went for over $400 on eBay. I have a contact at OPGI and I tried to nudge them to consider coming out with a reproduction, but my nudge clearly wasn't enough.
I did some searching of this forum and the question seems to come up around once a year and the news seems to get worse with the passing of time. I did locate this thread were someone had managed to get their hood ornament rechromed and I assume then painted it:
http://65gs.com/board/index.php?topic=1242.msg7106#msg7106Is that what most guys are trying to do these days, get hold of a decent used one and repair it?
On that other thread I mentioned that Poston was marketing a reproduction and my nudge to OPGI was to attempt to get their hands on the molds Poston used. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of those reproductions that nobody had put into service, so I have some pictures with an original Buick ornament for comparison. Here is the front:
here is the back:
As you can see it is a little bit smaller than the original and isn't as ornate as the original Buick ornaments. I don't know if it would pass at say a Buick Club of America show for originality.
So my question to you all is: If anybody could find this mold and reproduce it, would guys on this forum buy them or not?
Curious minds would like to know!
Cheers, Edouard
P.S. As it turns out I had to partially repaint my Poston reproduction because of a silly accident that occurred when I tried to have it ornament opti-coated. If you've never heard of this product here is the website:
http://www.opti-coat.com/ Opti-coat is a kind of clear ceramic coating that is more like glass than paint. As such, it provides better protection from things like abrasive dust. It is intended to be applied to the exterior of cars, but it can be applied to individual parts like a hood ornament. Sadly the stuff is outrageously expensive and I believe you have to go to a authorized detail shop to have it applied. Still for a small thing like a hood ornament the cost is modest. I thought I would mention this especially if you end up having a hood ornament rechromed and paint it by hand. After all that painstaking work, you want that ornament to last as -
L O N G - as possible!!