I was working on my 71 GS the other day and was looking at the cowl tag and noticed that the body color was a little wierd.The code was for 11 F.I got to thinking that this didn't seem right as the F meant that this car should have a brown vinyl top and the lower color was Arctic white.The problem is that the lower part is indeed Arctic white but the vinyl top is black.I am positive that the top was never replaced as I have pictures of it from when it was taken out of the garage that it was in since 1986.The owner owned it since the car was only a couple years old and said the top was black from the beginning. I had ripped it off a year ago and the top was the correct type with the yellow fuzzy on the underside.I am absolutely certain that this was original to the car.Has anyone else run across this situation? The second one I have is for my 1st 72 GS too.It was wrecked and I kept the cowl tag from this car.On the cowl tag the body color was 48 48 but the car came with a white vinyl top from the factory.I know the guy personally who ordered the car and he said it was the Hunter green with the white top from new.Was this a common type of error or do Ijust seem to be getting the wierd ones? Pat
Mine,too.... My 1970 is burnished saddle and has trim code for dark brown vinyl top. I know the cars history back to around 1976-77-78 (a classmate got it as his first car) and it had a "parchment" colored top that was, in my mind, original to the car. The car's interior is light/medium sandalwood. I always considered it a matter of "money talks" at a dealership in the early days, until I read in the build sheet this month that fellow board member Larry Hymowitz's Stage 1 was originally equipped with a cream colored top, but coded for a dark brown top. Now I wonder if maybe it was some kind of problem perhaps with the supplier of the tops.o No: By the way, I put a light colored top back on mine. I just didn't think a dark top would go well with a dark body/light interior. It does, however look good on Larry's dark body/dark interior:TU: .
Dwayne - Shoot me an email address and I'll send some shots of my 70. (Can't figure out how to get anything to load on this site yet.) It's burnished saddle with the tan top and dark interior too, just completed the restoration a couple months ago. In time to mothball it for the season actually :ball: I think I enjoyed about 4 miles on it in all this year. Sooooo, next year we'll make the rounds. Anyway, I kept it all stock and am happy with the results. Steve
I dunno Pat There are MANY reasons the top may have been replaced once it left the factory prior to the owner you know. It may have been damaged during transit to the dealer. It may have been damaged while for sale on the lot (so the dealer put on the top he HAD in stock). May have had a problem and the original owner had the dealer replace it (under warranty or not). Black is a FAR more common color than brown. I'm more inclined to believe the top was BROWN when it left the factory. Look at it this way, what IF the car was ordered by the customer. Buick builds it and sends it to the dealer with the wrong color top!:shock: I wouldn't take it.:Smarty: And would have been :stmad: :stmad: :stmad: after waiting all that time. I just can't see that slipping thru the cracks.o No:
Dan, I was thinking along these lines too.I wish Sloan had the documentation then maybe it would get straightened out.Either way,I changed the interior from Sandalwood(interior pieces were shot) to black and the top will be black.I can't see me liking the brown too much as I have seen pictures of one.I look at it like this,even if its not correct,It still will look good.It will look better with black in my opinion.I really wish the top was straighter and didn't have the chrome holes as I would paint it like an X.Thanks for the help. Pat
Re: Mine,too.... I always considered it a matter of "money talks" at a dealership in the early days, until I read in the build sheet this month that fellow board member Larry Hymowitz's Stage 1 was originally equipped with a cream colored top, but coded for a dark brown top. Now I wonder if maybe it was some kind of problem perhaps with the supplier of the tops.o No: By the way, I put a light colored top back on mine. I just didn't think a dark top would go well with a dark body/light interior. It does, however look good on Larry's dark body/dark interior:TU: . [/QUOTE] Dwayne, Glad you enjoyed the write up of my car in the Build Sheet. I really like the way the car looks triple brown as opposed to the top that was on the car when I bought it. When I spoke with the guy that I bought the car from, he told me that he installed the parchment vinyl roof because he liked the color, and the original dark brown roof was ripped and in generally poor condition. So the car did have the correct roof on it, but was changed, and now is correct again. Thanks:TU: Here's a picture of the parchment and dark brown roof samples.
Steve- Thanks, sent you a PM:TU: Well, now I'm really confused about my own caro No: Your car looks super, Larry! I used it as desktop wallpaper for quite a while. I did consider putting a brown top on my car when I got the work done, but just decided that a light top would look better with my light interior. But at the time, my car had not been painted for very long, and man, it seemed like a lot of brown!. After years of looking at nothing but putty and primer on it, I was probably suffering from a little paint shock:eek2:!
Dwayne, I'll check out those pics in a bit - let me know if you got the shots of my car. Good to be back! Thanks! Steve:3gears:
Re: Re: Mine,too.... Dwayne, Glad you enjoyed the write up of my car in the Build Sheet. I really like the way the car looks triple brown as opposed to the top that was on the car when I bought it. When I spoke with the guy that I bought the car from, he told me that he installed the parchment vinyl roof because he liked the color, and the original dark brown roof was ripped and in generally poor condition. So the car did have the correct roof on it, but was changed, and now is correct again. Thanks:TU: Here's a picture of the parchment and dark brown roof samples. [/QUOTE] Larry, Where did you get the material for your top? I have a friend with a bamboo cream car who wants to redo his top, and he wants to make sure he gets the correct material. Can you please let us know? Thanks, Chris
Pat, Original vinyl tops for our cars have cloth backing, the ones with the fuzzy backing are replacements. The originals also have the ink "Naguhyde " logo with the month/year date code stamped on it. This date tells when the vinyl was produced for the top. Duane
