Here's another shot of my "new" Wildcat. Should I pinstripe the sweepspear? The blue is the factory colour. The roof is white, as is the interior.
In my opinion, the sweepspear speaks for itself. Accenting it further with a pinstripe or molding overemphasizes it. I considered the same, but afterwards I ended up using a stripe to accent the top of the fender and door instead, and left it at that. It starts as a 1/16" pinstripe at the front, widens very slightly on the way back, then flares at the rear of the door and fades into the body color. The upper body line in the front of the quarter panel sort of carries the emphasis from there. Devon
I struggled with the same decision but decided to go ahead and put the stripe on. I like because it accents one of my favorite lines on the 67 Wildcat ....
My '68 Wildcat came with a white, double stripe from the factory. Really set the side of the car off being red. Sorts like Snorat's car.
Devon, that Cat looks fantastic! Love the deep blue! You're right, the stripe over the top part does accent the lines... Kevin, that is one gorgeous convertible! The red stripes really set that car off! The red Cat with the white stripes is gorgeous too; - So I'm still wondering what mine would look like. I guess the best way to figure it out would be to photoshop one of the pictures. I guess it would have been easier since I'm such an anal purist if if Buick would have decided that every Wildcat with Custom trim would have had a stripe, then it'd be a no brainer. The car looks great as it is now, but I just get this feeling that something is missing that would accent an otherwise "blah" colour. So I don't know... Any others who have these Cats,feel free to chime in!
On my 68 Kitty I put on several sets (it's not a 4 cyl econobox) of side impact strips. Here's a website that has a pic of my car:http://nicolya.livejournal.com/155748.html before it was repainted. And, yes, after the repaint I put a new set on. I really like the look.
Marc, all of the 1967 Wildcat Customs were factory-equipped with the paint stripes. Forty-seven years after the cars rolled off the assembly lines, many of the cars have been repainted and the stripes have been omitted, so it's easy to miss that this was a standard item on the Wildcat Customs. Our neighbors across the street had a 1967 Wildcat that they purchased new -- a Wildcat Custom (4-door hardtop) in the same Blue Mist as your car, with a white roof and interior. The car had the white, double paint stripe along the sweepspear. It looked fantastic! In my opinion a '67 / '68 Wildcat Custom is just not complete without the paint stripe.
I'm thinking that Brian (Centurion) is right, the Customs do look better with the stripes on. He stated that all Customs left the factory with stripes, and looking around at any factory literature and ads I could find would seem to confirm this. So that will probably be what happens, the stripes will be returned. Next dumb question: How big (thick) were they?
I second that! One thing to note is that the factory stripes were two parallel stripes that never joined together at a point on either end. I had a '68 Wildcat with factory stripes so I know that is how it was done. I don't know the exact thickness, but somewhere I have a picture holding a tape measure up to the original stripes. If I can find it, I'll let you know the measurement.
