Secret experimental 1964 GX 455

[elagache]

Thanks Bill for sharing the details of how these trim parts are fastened.  I had to try to chase some of these fasteners after Biquette was hit by a German sports sedan in 2010 - mostly in vain!  I sure hope I won't ever have to do that again, but this information will be handy to all the restorers on this board.   

Cheers, Edouard 

[yachtsmanbill]

Its all good Ed! This guy has the store of stores for vintage trim clips!   Bill

https://www.ebay.com/str/althafastener

[yachtsmanbill]

117 days to go. The trunk lid took two doses of stripper to get to the OEM primer. There was a few gouges down to the steel so that means fillem' up! NO WAIT! Sand the heck out of it instead. way more fun. Thats about 2 hours with #60 on the DA. I have to use my Porter Cable electric since I dont have enough air for the Rodac. Still had to make a few divits disappear, and the figure eight one was two bumps from grammas walker in the trunk.

Got down to close proximity to the trunk lock, so that came out next. Glad Minnie wasnt home! The whole trunk lip was full, and now they are evicted. Air France??? LOL.  Nah... Craftsman Airlines, and a sucker thang. Clear on runway 92R.

Gonna suffer through meal #2 of a 35.00 prime rib tonight!   Bill

[yachtsmanbill]

Slugging it out with a perfect dent removal job versus me LOL... Headliner is due here Tuesday. A while back there was a reference (Walt??) that linked a supplier for the eggshells (ha ha) for the rear window. These are way better that the 70-72's but still died young. I'd like to order a pair. Links again please???   Bill

[elagache]

Thank you Bill!!

Its all good Ed! This guy has the store of stores for vintage trim clips!   Bill

Just added to my seemingly endless collection of bookmarks for 1965 Buick parts!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[yachtsmanbill]

Its seems after some archiving that Robin sent me the link:

https://www.opgi.com/Cart.aspx

Still wondering about the fit and the color; black I'd pressume??   Bill

[yachtsmanbill]

I cant believe how everyone is still sleeping off new years eve! UP N' ATTEM! 

Yeah, so perfection is still sought after around here. This lousy dimple in the trunk lid (from the inside) refused to yield. I tried the hot spot, planishing, hammer and dolly and couldnt get anywhere past a bad case of oil canning. Finally I yielded and banged it in 1/32" and began to fill it. Erred on the side of caution kept me mixing filler by the dab-ful and couldnt get anywhere with it.

Finally dusted it with primer for a really good look and found the dimple in was actually about 6" across. It got refilled, board sanded 4X and a final of primer of which I ran out. I used the light gray since its gotta sit overnight and didnt want any contamination in it.

Also received the Flip Back style paper clips for the headliner job thats coming up. I bought FOUR DOZEN at a knee kickin' cost of SEVENTY NINE CENTS PER DOZEN. Thats right 3.20 for 4 dozen plus a small box for the USPS. 

Still working on paint. A pal with a large account for boat electronics, paint and marine stuff in Florida is helping me with his wholesaler:

FinishMaster.com   Lotsa brands of everything from automotive to marine to fleet and aircraft top coatings. Another link for ya Ed!

Heading for a few spray bombs of primer in the A.M. for a nice 380 sand job and a final wet sand on the trunk lid...   Bill

[elagache]

Dear Bill and mid-60s Buick restorers,

. . . . .This lousy dimple in the trunk lid (from the inside) refused to yield.
. . . . .
It got refilled, board sanded 4X and a final of primer . . . . .

That turned out to be more of a chore than it appeared all right.  Perseverance ultimately paid off! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[yachtsmanbill]

Jokes on the fat man LOL! I left at 0800 today for retards for some more spray paint (primer). I was gonna by a couple of quarts of black but all they make is red and white... Think operation petticoat! Not good. So I buy 3 more spray cans just to get whats bare, covered. I get all the way to the checkout and the kid grabbed me gray. Back all the way to the paint dept for some black. All that was there was 3 cans. One had a wrinkled label like it got too close to a heater in the store.

I get home and sanded all the stuff plus the port side quarter today and found red primer under the paint. Some ones been in there before me. The blue paint was cracked beyond a simple sand job so it had to come down to the red. Sand, sand, sand, and then a quick blow job and then a quick tack job. Shot one can around all the edging and hidden areas, and grabbed the damaged can next. The crap came out like Christmas Tree flocking. UN-BE-LIEVABLE!

After a half a can I quit. Thats going back to retards next time. Tried sanding it and it only loaded up the paper. Theres only a few other minor repairs that need done, and those are getting the black. Then Ill sand the whole car and shoot the bassturd red. At least all the shiny stuff got covered. The round spot on the trunk is a 4x build up with good primer around the repair for a nice feather edge fill when sanding. At least it looks good.

Buick 3, Willy, zero.   Bill

[elagache]

Dear Bill and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

Sorry about your paint miseries.

. . . . .
I get home and sanded all the stuff plus the port side quarter today and found red primer under the paint. Some ones been in there before me.
. . . . .

People make a fuss about barn finds, but I wonder how many cars that are 50+ years old still exist having never had any accident damage.  Certainly a few barn finds are exactly that, but they must be extremely rare indeed!

Cheers, Edouard 

[yachtsmanbill]

Barn finds are cool, but this pony was rode hard and put away wet LOL. Still though, the worst of the rust was the trunk and lower tail light buckets. Got the flocking done and I had to have a smoke afterwords; then a sammich. It was the best flock I had in a long time haha. It actually gave me the ops to do a little more finesse work to the trunk lid.

After exposing the red primer on the back, I expected the worst. Covered it with black primer and gave it a long boarding, and it actually looks pretty darn good. Sitting there "pondering" (beats pandering!) I sprayed a dust of light primer up to the door edge and found a few very minor parking lot dings. Just barely enough to address, but heck, while Im there I may as well...  


If Im real lucky, Ill get to go to the range and try out my new guns. The purple one is just for primer and cruddy stuff but was only 9.99 at harbor fright.   Bill

[elagache]

Dear Bill and mid-60s Buick restorers,

Barn finds are cool, but this pony was rode hard and put away wet LOL.  . . . .

It has been a struggle for you, but considering the years, this car really was in wonderful condition.

After exposing the red primer on the back, I expected the worst. Covered it with black primer and gave it a long boarding, and it actually looks pretty darn good. Sitting there "pondering" (beats pandering!) I sprayed a dust of light primer up to the door edge and found a few very minor parking lot dings. Just barely enough to address, but heck, while Im there I may as well...  

It is another one of these cases where if you didn't you would eventually regret not having invested the modest additional time and effort.

If Im real lucky, Ill get to go to the range and try out my new guns. The purple one is just for primer and cruddy stuff but was only 9.99 at harbor fright.   Bill

Big spender!! . . . . 

Cheers, Edouard 

[yachtsmanbill]

That darn rustoleum at 10.00 a quart is gonna kill me! Hhaha. I thought there was gonna be an issue; theres a few places that were primed, and then painted before the base dried and caused the top coat to crack. The best challenge about doing this stuff is trying to get away with being "frugal". Theres a few things that need to be bought main stream, but the labor is cheap.

So I managed to get all the windshield trim off without busting the glass. There was a lot of crud packed under the trim so that the clips didnt want to release. They all gave in however. Glad to see zero rot in the corners up front! Dusted the whole car with light primer looking for more dings before the real work started. There was a little parking lot (someone probably backed into gramma at church!) on the front passenger fender. I went ahead and hung the fender last year as is, figuring to get to it later. Later was today. A 6 foot 2x4 against the tire, and a crow bar made the damn thing laugh at me. Grrrr!!

So Ive been watching this youtube series called "Trev's Blog" about old school bodywork. Hmmm. It doesnt look like it , but that ding was in a good 3/4 inch. Not only is there a radius for the tire, but an actual positive flair on the fender. I ended up welding a Longgg U-bolt to the fender and slid a heavy crow bar in there and slammed it home. Seriously folks, fifty swings to pop it back from whence it came including even pulling the welds off the sheet metal a few times. This had to be done with the inner fender attached. YIKES!! Its right where it needs to be. Ill address it tomorrow.Whats another teaspoon of filler??

While I have the welder out and grinders going in the ex clean shop again, I think Im gonna do the tiny repairs to bottom od the front fenders, then the fab work will be completed. Goofing off today left me some time to mount my air hose real (5.00 at a garage sale! Made in USA too!!) and run a new hose from Shop "A".

Just another day at Pleasantdale...  Bill

[yachtsmanbill]

In conclusion, due to pic limits, heres the "epilogue".   Bill

[yachtsmanbill]

Managed to get the ding in the front passenger ding out 3/4 inch, The stickly problems was its way wayy close to the rocker panel that I took a chance and gave it a zap to get it flat again. being as close as it was, I managed to zap the lower rocke with a buzz that touched the two panels together. Ive get to reassemble with some correct gaps. Probably gonna take some bolts out upstairs to gain the clearance and some minot resalignment.

After opening the hole, I also discovered the inner frame also had a minor hole in I which I had to repair to give it some rigidity. One more smaller hole (1/2 the size) on the other side and then I can wrap the welder stuff stuff up. Five hours on the cold concrete was enough LOL!     Bed time!   Bill