Ignition switch bezel nut for a 1965 Special - what does it look like??

Dear V-8 Buick members with the memory of an elephant . . . . . . . .

Cuz you may need it to answer this question.

Along with everything else I'm straightening out on my trusty 1965 Buick Special wagon, I'm planning to replace the ignition switch and lock which was damaged last September. I grabbed the reproduction parts from OPGI because it was reasonably cheap and matched what was on the car now. Alas, I forgot that this ignition lock was replaced after the car was stolen in 1986.

The only thing I wasn't planning to replace was the bezel nut which wasn't damaged. However, upon second inspection, it does look weary after all the years:



My first thought was to just clean and polish it carefully. However, in sharing photos of it with my friend Michael (64 Skylark Mike) I got a surprise. His ignition doesn't look at all like mine. His looks like this example off of eBay:



Okay, that looks plenty snazzy, the path of least resistance is to upgrade to that. However, when I cruise the classic car parts, this ignition lock style that wraps around the key is definitely more an exception than the rule. Strain as I might, I reasonably certain da' trusty wagon didn't have a lock like that before the car was stolen. Instead it had a flat face like the present one. I cannot remember for the life of me what the bezel nut looked like. It certainly seems possible to me that this nut in the photo above really was the factory original. Moreover OPGI does sell bezel nuts for other GM marks (Cutlass, GTO, and Chevelle) that are similar to the one on my wagon and don't have the labeled positions for Accessory and so on. In addition, I cruised some of the photos that folks have posted here of their dashboards and at least one other 65 doesn't have an ignition like the 64 example shown above.

So what should my wagon have as far as the ignition bezel nut? Does anybody know?

Thanks in advance for shedding any light on this historical mystery!! :Smarty:

Cheers, Edouard :beer

 

My 67 skylark has the one just like yours, the flat face version.

 

Thanks (Re: Ignition switch bezel nut for a 1965 Special - what does it look like??)

Hi Jon and V-8 Buick fans of the mid-60s Buicks,

Thanks Jon. Putting Google image search on the case, I found one more example. Not sure why Buick changed the ignition switch bezel between 64 and 65, but at least on the Special, it seems to have been "simplified."

If I can get my hands on a "gently used" version of that bezel nut, I think I'll go that route. That's what I've been driving for 30+ years and - Ya' know, I've gotten used to that!!

Cheers, Edouard :beer