From another forum: Hi ! While looking for an A-body frame for another car, I found a 1970 Stage 1 coupe on Craigslist "auto parts". It was sold as a frame as so much of the hard to find parts had been removed from it. I have sent for, and received, the GS Historic Society documentation for this car. The documentation states colors Z for body and 8 for vinyl top, which on the TT would be 58 (Harvest Gold) and F (Dark Brown Roof). The problem is that it does not have a F on the TT but an E, which would be Parchment. But Parchment was not available as an ordinary option in 1970. Still, it has a Parchment vinyl top on it. This car has never been restored or even repainted, so it has original paint all over except for the back part of the right rear fender which has bondo and a layer of paint over it. Now I´m thinking this is what could have happened: an order for this car was sent from the dealer to Buick. Buick checked if everything was ok and sent the order to the only plant that built Stage 1 cars in 1970, that is Flint. That order would be identical to the documentation from GS Historic Society. When the order came to Flint someone by mistake changed the vinyl top color to E and they built the car with a Parchment top and an E on the TT. Now to my question: is this even possible ? I´m asking because I do not think the top has ever been changed.
http://v8buick.com/index.php?threads/the-hartford-frame.346437/ https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1450349#post1450349
OK, I think I have this figured out. I have a photo copy of a 1970 Buick GS and GS 455 Wholesale Car Order Form. It is the Original form (S-525-H-70) with a printing date of June 1969. Handwritten on the back is the following info; "#5 Sandalwood Avail. After Jan. 15th #7 Dark Gold is being Phased Out" Now I also have a Revision #1 1970 Buick GS and GS 455 Wholesale Car Order Form. It is form (S-525-H-70-1) with a printing date of Nov, 1969. This form still has the #7 Dark Gold available. The last 1970 Assembly manual I have dates to December 22, 1969, therefore all the factory info I have, regarding vinyl top trim options only goes so far into the 1970 model year as what was available up to December 22, 1969. If anything changed after this then it would not be shown on anything I have. Now, obviously the dealership that owned the Original version (WCOF), that I have the copy of, was using it as a reference copy and hand wrote down the vinyl top changes that were occurring during the model year. I believe the body build date on your car is sometime in March of 1970, Therefore if your car had been ordered new at the Dealership with the #7 Dark gold top, the paperwork probably went in that way,( because the dealer did not know it was not available any more), but by March of 70 that color had already been phased out. When it went down the line it most likely had the top color changed and Fisher Body put the correct top color code on the ID plate and you have it. Maybe there were a few phone calls involved with the dealer/owner about the change at the time, but we have no way of knowing that now. I vaguely remember tracking down something about this change from when I had my upholstery shop going. I know this is not the first time the question of a Sandlewood vinyl top on a 70 car has come up. Later, if I remember, I can post pics of the (WCOF) form if you are interested. Duane
I like Duane’s theory, and was aware of the ‘H’ code Dark Gold roof option (I once had a December ‘69 GS455 that was Harvest Gold with Dark Gold top). Anders’ car however shows #7 (F) Dark Brown, not #8 (H)Dark Gold. Did Dark Brown go away also? Patrick If not, knowing that the vehicle was built after the paperwork was created, perhaps the buyer saw Sandalwood and asked the dealer to change it and was able to? Or some other post paperwork event?
The info I posted is all I have. On the two 1970 (WCOF) sheets I have it lists #7 as Dark Gold and #8 as Dk. Brown. Another thing to remember is that the info we reference changes throughout the model year. If you don't use the correct dated info then you get in trouble. Years ago I helped The Sloan Museum fix a problem like this. When they decoded the Microfilm for the late 72 cars the options were coming up as both automatic and stick for the same car. What they were doing was using the wrong Wholesale Car Order Form for that time period. The option codes had been changed, on the later sheet but they did not have a copy and didn't know of the changes. I gave them a copy of the revision they needed and then everything was good again. Also, when the codes on the Wholesale Car Order Forms changed they needed to "fix" the assembly manuals. Then when drastic changes took place, like when the GSX was introduced, they revised the majority of the pages for the "0" section. That is why the pages at the top will have the date when they were "Superceeded" from the earlier pages. Duane PS. There is probably also a Dealer Notice about all this. Maybe someone else can find it. I don't even remember where I put those books.
Duane Duane, it is interesting information you have. However, I assume color #8 Dark Brown (F) was never phased out so that could not have forced them to change color to E (that would be #5 ?). I guess we will never know what caused the change from F to E unless the person who ordered the car comes forward and tells us what really happened. I will continue my search for a buildsheet, if there is one to find.
At least the processes have been explained. Your car most likely was ordered with Dark Brown and got built with Parchment, and now you know how that could have happened. The ‘why’ may never be known, but you can search more, guess, or make up a good story. I’d print and keep what Duane said as well as document how original the Parchment top looks for future reference, especially after restoration. Patrick
Here are the pics of the pages in case you are interested. The other thing is they may not have had any vinyl tops that color in stock at the time. The assembly line never stops. Duane
Thank you for the pics Duane ! And you are certainly right about not stopping the assembly line. But the TT would have been put on the body before they had found out about what was in stock, wouldn´t it ? So that could not explain the E on the TT, could it ?
At Flint, the shell was finished at Fisher Body and then put on a truck and shipped over to Buick for Final Assembly. At that time an employee of Buick, would have matched the options to the codes on the tag, verified that the car had no body imperfections, and bought it for Buick. If there were any imperfections they either would not accept it or come to some monetary arrangement and purchase the car. I see a couple of different scenarios here, The first thing is this, Humans typed in the info for the microfilm, and to make the tags. If there was a mistake on either piece of info then you end up with what you see. Secondly, just because a car was supposed to be built with certain options, does not necessarily mean it was built that way. I have seen all types of "mistakes" being made with cars from this time period. My father bought a 73 Gran Torino 4-door and the driver side door panel was a different design then the other three. We got the dealership to send another and it came in wrong just like what was on the car. It never got fixed. I wouldn't make a big deal out of this. Things like this happened all the time. The other thing is it is often very hard to read the microfilm. The reviewer may have made a mistake reading the code. If it bothers you, then maybe you can have the reviewer check the code again. Duane
...............and by the way, your car was built to the specifications as shown on the Body tag, so there is no mistake there. Plus the Wholesale Car Order Form I posted above shows that Sandalwood vinyl tops were available after Jan 15th 1970, so again there is no mistake there. Duane
Many times changes were made and the dealer was never nofied for a while so kept ordering the option even though it was avabile any longer. My father in law ordered a 1998 New Buick Park Avenue, the color he chose was dropped before the car was built so it was painted a color close to what was ordered. When the dealer recieved the car my father in law got a call it was ready for pick up. Dad took one look at it and said Nope not the car I ordered and refused to take delivery of it. The dealer offered to reduce the price a bit if dad would take it and he said No way he wanted the car as the paint in the sun looked pinky. They did a computer search and found a new Park dad accepted but it left a bad taste in his mouth and dropped that dealer as he felt the dealer should have knowen of the color they chose being dropped at such a time. I really believe dealers are given option changes lead times but in the case of the the paint color the dealer ignored it because by 1998 very few people were ordering the car the way they wanted it and bought what the dealer had off the lot. Lady at the car show Sunday commented on the order sheet I diplay for our Buick. she said them were the days when you could still go in to a dealer and order what you wanted and have the car built. Some how she go tthe idea you can't do that any more. I suppose some dealers won't do it. Wife was wanting a new Chevy Equinox AWD late 2014. Sales guy said they didn't have one in stock, I said order one for her she isn't in a big hurry. He then said they don't build them right now and ssid he had one out front for her to test drive but wasn't AWD. Wife said why should I settle for some thing I am not intrested in? She said one thing her daddy taught her was they build thousands of new cars every year and she would have a AWD or nothing. She now drived a 2015 Dodge Journey AWD the color she wanted, sound system the same and had pin stripes added in which surprized her as it is different than any other Journeys she has seen, and they have built many many thousands of them. Al
Duane, we will probably never be able to say exactly what happened, but I appreciate your view on the possible different scenarios. What I want is to restore the car the way it came from the Flint-plant, so I will document and also save a part of the Sandalwood vinyl top that is still on this Stage 1. It is also good to know that Sandalwood actually was available when this car was built, even though it is not listed as an option. Thanks for clearing things out ! Anders
