I am researching how many screws are used for the front door panels along the bottom edge, of a 1971 GS. I am looking for survivor examples, well know preserved original interior. When I restored my interior I had what I believe to be original to the car door panels. I used them as a guide to rebuild / reassemble the new door panels. My original door panels were held in place with 5 screws on the "bottom" edge. Are there survivor examples available and can you share a photo? Are there any drawings documenting this? Thank you for your time and input. Troy
@thepartsman gave me his input that his original '70 has 4 screws and his original '71 has 5 screws. Troy
This issue was discussed about 15 years ago by the BPG at their meet. I had my 70GS 455 convertible in concours judging and I was deducted points for having 5 screws along the bottom of the door panel. I contacted Duane Heckman and provided him with pictures of the original door panels, front and backside, which had date codes on them from June 1970. My car was a late June build. This information was passed along to many of the judging team for future reference. It appears that the change from 4 screws to 5 screws was made late in the 70 production run. HTH, Larry
Troy PM’d me about this and I vaguely remembered a change at the end of the model year, but told him to ask that question here. Thanks Larry for the refresher. It’s been a long time since I thought about door panel screws. Good to hear from you Larry. Duane
Thanks Larry! Good to see you in BG. When was your convertible made? I'm doing a '70 05C car & curious. I'm hoping to use very nice orig. (not orig. to the car) door panels & might have to live w/4 screws if that's what I have.
PS, There are no drawings available to show something like this. For this info you need to look at the cars to get the answer. Fisher Body installed the front & rear door panels on the shell before it was “sent” to final assembly; therefore the assembly manuals, which were developed by Buick to show what they had to do on the line, will not have that information. Duane
My car is a late June car, 06C. If I remember correctly, Rich Johns bought the original door panels from me at the BPG meet in Columbus around 2008-2009. I'm sure I have pictures of the door panels here somewhere, probably from my old cell phone. If I get a chance, I may go looking. Larry
The May 1970 built GS I just finished had 4 screws. So it appears that it was a very late change. Which is probably why most people default to 4 screws for 70 and 5 for 71+
...thanks to all who contributed. My 05B '71 had an interior color change, good to know 5 screws are correct...