Power Antenna?

[Black wedge]

Will a power antenna fit in the stock location on a 65 Skylark/GS?  It would be nice not to deal with manual one anymore.

[mdkd]

Black Wedge

Welcome to the group.

Good question with 22 hits already.

We are not the only two with your question.

Again welcome to the group.

Milton

[gearhead46]

I bought a universal power antenna at O'Reilly.  I took the manual antenna out and tried to put the power one in its place.  I gave up after an hour or so.  It looks like the rf fender needs to come off to mount it properly. Definitely not a drop I , but should work if the fender is already off.

[Brian]

If the car does not have factory AC on it, then yes, you can put a power antenna in it.  The mechanism has to go down into the cowl area to the outside of the passenger side kick panel.  If the car has factory AC, then the evaporator core box occupies this area and you cannot install a power antenna. 

[Black wedge]

Thanks for the replies and warm welcome!  I'm currently disassembling the front end to clean and paint the wheel wells, firewall etc.  The fenders will be coming off so I figured it would be a good time to look into a power antenna.  The car does not have AC so it looks like I'll pick up a universal power antenna and give it a try.

Thanks!

[Loren At 65GS]

As Milton said , seems to be a fair amount of interest in the idea.

Keep us updated and pictures are always great.

  Welcome,
  Loren

[elagache]

Dear Black wedge, Milton, gearhead46, Brian, Loren, and 1965 Buick music lovers,

Not to digress too much but I could help but chuckle reading this thread.

Will a power antenna fit in the stock location on a 65 Skylark/GS?  It would be nice not to deal with manual one anymore.

I bought a universal power antenna at O'Reilly.  I took the manual antenna out and tried to put the power one in its place.  I gave up after an hour or so.

Around 20 years ago I got a universal unit from J.C. Whitney and . . . . also gave up.  I don't think I tried for an hour - it looked plenty hopeless.

At the time, my wagon was kept outside and so I had a car cover over her most of the time, so the antenna was a problem.  At first, I cut a slit in the car cover for the antenna.  On later car covers, I removed the antenna before putting the cover on.  This wasn't so bad, because I only used my wagon once a week to get groceries and go to church.  Eventually, I came back home and my trusty wagon is back in the garage.  So having an antenna isn't a problem anymore except for the worry of it getting snagged by a branch.

Nonetheless, the antenna situation still feels really silly, because I've gotten so used to playing music from my smart phone to the Custom Autosound 630 stereo in my wagon via Bluetooth.  So in the end the antenna is only there to fool the public at car shows!

Nothing about a classic car is as simple as it looks!

Cheers, Edouard 

[GS66]

The ones I have seen on cars like ours have been mounted on the rear quarter panel instead of the front fender.

[schlepcar]

I should be cringing at the thought of a non-original part on a 65 GS. It does sound like a cool idea if you are not going back all "restored". The problem is that most GM cars have a power antenna in the fender or in the rear quarter panel. Our cars actually would have to have it installed inside of the cowl to put it in stock location. I think it could be done,but the question is the finish of the job. You would either have to weld in the fender to make a smaller hole or use a factory teardrop bezel and make the antenna fit it for height and diameter purposes.I would not even attempt it with the fender installed.I think it would be a trial and error to make it look like it was meant to be. You would probably have the fender off and on several times to make it a successful fit.Basically you would be mounting the antenna solid and adjusting the height until the finished bezel or hole was aligned and tightened.

[Black wedge]

I should be cringing at the thought of a non-original part on a 65 GS. It does sound like a cool idea if you are not going back all "restored". The problem is that most GM cars have a power antenna in the fender or in the rear quarter panel. Our cars actually would have to have it installed inside of the cowl to put it in stock location. I think it could be done,but the question is the finish of the job. You would either have to weld in the fender to make a smaller hole or use a factory teardrop bezel and make the antenna fit it for height and diameter purposes.I would not even attempt it with the fender installed.I think it would be a trial and error to make it look like it was meant to be. You would probably have the fender off and on several times to make it a successful fit.Basically you would be mounting the antenna solid and adjusting the height until the finished bezel or hole was aligned and tightened.

True, you might not want to do this to an original GS, my car is a Skylark. 

[Loren At 65GS]

True, you might not want to do this to an original GS, my car is a Skylark.
[/quote]

 I think most of us would agree that " if works for you, it's good".  And there is nothing wrong about a Skylark. Our '65s ,whether it be a Special, Skylark or a Gran Sport are the best of the A body's

There are a lot of different facets to the hobby, just enjoy and don't forget to keep us up on the progress.  It sounds interesting and something I have thought about also.

  Loren

[schlepcar]

It seems like the trick would be finding a small enough antenna to fit in the area. I think you would also want a high quality part because you will not want to try to find a replacement if it quits on you. I was wondering if you could buy or create an escutcheon to sandwich the teardrop bezel in a fixed location and just use a delco antenna that pushes up through the hole. It would be nice to use a factory piece from a corvette,riviera,etc...because if you mounted it permantly fixed in the cowl it may be easy to replace without messing with the fender at all once you are done.

[elagache]

Dear Black wedge, Loren, and mid-60s Buick creators of something "special" (no pun intended.)

True, you might not want to do this to an original GS, my car is a Skylark.

I think most of us would agree that " if works for you, it's good".  And there is nothing wrong about a Skylark. Our '65s ,whether it be a Special, Skylark or a Gran Sport are the best of the A body's

There are a lot of different facets to the hobby, just enjoy and don't forget to keep us up on the progress.  It sounds interesting and something I have thought about also.

I think Loren is making an important point that everyone restoring cars of this period should consider.  In some cases it is really a good idea to restore a car to as close to factory specifications as possible.  If you have a original car in good condition, that's clearly the way to go.  However, there are mid-60s Buicks who aren't so lucky, but nonetheless can be restored.  If you really cannot put the originality back into the car, why not consider another direction?  My understanding is that the prices for "restomods" are increasing much faster than original cars.  While they still aren't worth as much as a truly original car, there appears to be a new kind of buyer that wants a classic car with modern amenities.  Unfortunately, many of these "restromods" are nothing more of a gutting of an old car to put in a modern crate drivetrain, but you don't have to be crude.  I'm really pleased at how my wagon has turned out even with small updates that nonetheless make driving her more safe and enjoyable.  I got caught in some unexpected drizzle and got to try out the Detroit Speed interval wipers for the first time.  It was very nice to turn the original Buick windshield wiper knob, but have the extra convenience and safety of interval wipers.

It is a different kind of restoration, but it is one that can make a car more appealing to a new kind of classic car buyer and could be a lot more enjoyable for you.  With those modern conveniences, you might drive your that classic more often than a car stuck with all the limitations of 1965.

Some food for thought.

Cheers, Edouard