My mopar friend and I were talking the other day and we got into the W8 stripe option on the 68 GS cars. He asked how many had them and I have no idea. I tried searching every where and have had no real luck on this. I'm guessing there aren't any real hard numbers to go off of. Does anyone have an idea how many cars left with that option?
Numbers are available, I don't have my production guide handy but someone here should have one and let you know. Otherwise I can check when I get home.
2030 GS400 coupes, 466 GS400 convertibles, 1465 GS350 coupes, for a total 3961 W8 equipped cars. Roughly 20% of each. Patrick For those of you who aren’t aware of it, Mike Trom put these together a few years ago and they’re full of great info!
The Production Total Guide also breaks down how many cars painted each color came with a stripe. example, there were 61 Cameo Cream convertibles with the factory stripe out of 254 Cameo Cream convertibles built.
I had forgotten that! I looked in my copy and see where I made notes about it! (My ‘68, IF it had stripes, would have been 1 of 10 Flint built dark blue verts with it, 1 of 19 total! Alas, I don’t know if mine did. I don’t think it did…) Patrick
I know that mine did not have them originally. Fortunately, I have the original dealer paperwork and build sheet for my GS so I know how it was originally equipped. 49 GS convertibles painted Cameo Cream from the Wilmington plant, 16 got stripes. So mine is one of 33 Cameo Cream verts without stripes You would think that more cars would have gotten them since it was a No Charge option.
Tell the Mopar guy, the stripe ain't why he lost. These guys ... Looking for any excuse for watching the a$$ end of a Buick leaving them behind.
I have a 68 GS 350. It was cameo white with red stripes. (And green interior. I HATE green interiors!) I can still see the end of the stripes on the inside of my doors. Now it is a light blue metallic paint job with black stripes painted on. Black interior now.
Thank you for sharing that! Is that book still available to buy or does any one sell copies? I would really like to get one. On edit. I see Mike Trom is the man to ask. LOL
My Dad has many stories of beating several things with his GS400. Especially when it had the original engine in it. What I always thought was cool about his car was it had a hitch on it and he used to haul his 455 Olds powered Jet boat. The bad thing is, the car being submerged in water a few times probably didn't help it any. My Mopar friend has a few cars that I doubt even a mild built 400 could hang with. His collection is pretty sweet.
I was toying with the idea of adding the Rallye Stripe to my GS. This is an old photo of my car, my son in the car seat is now almost 22. Car looks the same though. What do you think, add the stripe or leave it off?
My vote is to leave them off. Sorry but, to me they they detract from the lines of the car and add nothing to the overall look of it. Plus they remind me of a mid-sixties Mustang.
Looks great either way but you car is beautiful so I wouldn't add them unless it had them from the factory.
One word: Decal. That way you can try them for a while and make a decision before resorting to paint.
I agree with pbr400. It's a very tough call, indeed. I like both. Side note: I recall selling you a NOS stripe kit for that application many years ago. I have toyed with the idea of adding similar to my '70 car instead of the molding.