Stacey, It was a pleasure to meet you and see your beautiful restoration. Congrats for the gold award. Well deserved!
I have never liked how the rear curve bulge of fender never matched the front door curve, I asked Stacey if he was OK for me to cut and section the fenders , he was, it was a lot of work, but fender to door gaps are level, true and tight.
Pays off tho.....my dad's black car is as close as I've seen them match for factory sheet metal...but few understand the work that goes into that procedure....excellent work as always from your shop
It's interesting (maybe frustrating is the better word) the variations in bodies/fenders. Had one ('71 GS 455) where the NOS nor any nice used fender we had wouldn't fit. Grabbed the pile of rusty fenders and one dropped on like it was specially made for that car. Still had to massage & wound up cutting up the NOS fender to fix it but it just fit that body. Would've been interesting to see how the original fender fit but IIRC the car didn't have a front clip when purchased.
For all you guys out there, if you want to have some fun, take a cloth tape measure to the front fenders. Measure the overall length from the same spots on both sides.. I have seen them be a much as 1/4 different. Cars like Stacey's are much better than the factory cars were on average, and I agree, that detail looks great. JW
Super nice restored! Crazy but yes, factory color combo. Super oddball car in many ways. Black bench custom (i.e. Skylark type) interior and only options are gauges/tach, 4-sp., posi w/perf. ratio, trailer tow (which got it an SCO 3.64 rear), AM radio, tinted windshield (only) and of all things deluxe steering wheel, deluxe wheelcovers, G78-14 whitewalls, and remote mirror. I'm not sure that the perf. axle ratio option was necessary as I think the trailer tow by itself would've received the 3.64 regardless but the posi would've been required since there was no open 3.64. The assembly manual is clear as mud but regardless it was quite possibly the only '70 350 that came with a 3.64 and between that (350's respond exceptionally well to gears), the light weight (no PS or AC, manual brakes, straight bench) and the '70 HP, arguably the quickest factory GS 350 ever made. Only other thing would've helped would've been HD cooling to get the clutch fan. It's basket case (I affectionately have referred to it as a collection of parts with a VIN) but there is a place where the orig. paint is still there and the trim tag proves it and although it is a recommended color combo on the '70 order form, it has the "Z" on the trim tag indicating a non-recommended color combo, which I've discussed with Rich and I believe it was him or Jim Jones (who also has a "Z" car) that thought the Z could indicate other oddities. Maybe the tag before this one had a Z and the guy at Fisher just forgot to take it out. Oddly, the painted roof didn't show up on the Wayne Roberts report which kinda stumped Wayne. He surmised that it was a clerical error and was never invoiced to the dealer, which was a one that oddly was apparently only in business for a few years. I couldn't even picture the color combo done in my head, but I have a few pics from car shows where there was a Sherwood car parked next to a Seamist car so I was able to see what it would look like and I think it will be really neat looking (or at least really unique). I'm not personally crazy about chrome wheels on Seamist cars and really, the only way I've been able to picture the car in my head is with the deluxe (volcano) wheelcovers although I'm going to add red lines which I think will really look good. Only other additions I forsee are adding the HD cooling option and BB alum. front drums. I'm inclined to ditch the remote mirror (maybe?) and the radio as I always wanted a factory non-radio option car and I can't imagine a more fitting one. I'm pretty sure I'll also add a dealer-installed right side mirror too as I like them (I already have one for it) & it would kinda fit in with the trailer tow. It'll be a losing proposition but I just have to do the car as after not wanting to sell my old 350 4-sp., which was already an oddball, I never thought I'd find an even stranger one. Fortunately I happen to really like green cars plus I have a thing for manual steering/stripper GS's, 350 4-sp.'s and oddball stuff & this one scratches all those itches so I was super excited to get the car and honestly I'm probably more excited about it than my Stage 1 4-sp. (Sherwood/Green vinyl/pearl white) but it'll be really neat if I can get them both done as they'd be two completely different two-tone green '70 GS 4-sp. manual steering strippers. Only thing I can figure is that either someone knew exactly what they were ordering (on the WR it also didn't show as a "sold" car but there's no way a dealer ordered this for stock) and wanted a fast GS 350 or someone wanted a Skylark to tow their trailer and had to have a floor shift &/or 4-sp. so they had to get a GS. I wish I knew that story. I'll post some pics - My phone died and I haven't restored all the pics from backup yet, but I'm glad you noticed. I'm not sure many would find this strange combo too interesting.[/QUOTE] My Reynolds car is low optioned. Only option is tinted glass and Rally steering wheel. It came to me with radio delete as well. Wouldn’t the tag be SCO for the radio delete? It’s not. Unless Jim Bell and Lennie took the radio out and installed the black out plate… left the factory Nov 12’th 1969 as well!
I do. Nothing stated on the radio delete. But from memory nothing on a a.m. radio. It has the correct block off plate. No speaker. Sorry to hijack! Wouldn’t be able to hear it anyway. Came with 14” black steel wheels as well Reynolds didn’t order the car. Bill Trevor did out of the GM training facility
There was no "radio delete" per se as a radio wasn't standard equipment. It's actually just that no radio option was selected so it wouldn't be a SCO. Makes sense on that car for weight reduction (a rallye steering wheel is also probably the lightest) and the car's intended use. It'd be neat to see the Sloan Doc or window sticker! On the other hand, heat was standard equipment so a heater delete car (IIRC that was available on export only cars but regardless was available on other makes) would receive a $ credit & be shown as such on the window sticker. If I'm correct that heater delete was available for export, I'm kind of suprised yours wasn't ordered that way, which would've definitely required a SCO. SCO also isn't always (or even usually) indicated on the trim tag. Suprised yours wasn't ordered w/a a 3.91 (also SCO) rear too. There's a board member that has a very highly optioned '72 Stage 1 Convertible, ordered by the dealership's owner for himself, that came w/o a radio. Seemingly either a mistake in ordering, order entry @ Buick, the intent was to add an aftermarket one, or he just didn't want a radio for whatever reason.
Interesting. I do have the original diff. With really wrecked ring and pinion. I never thought about counting them. Just assumed they’re 3:64. It has a 12 bolt with 4:10 gears, the way I got it from Dave Johnson.
3 91 would be indicated on the docs (I have a Wayne Roberts that shows it but not a Sloan) or just find the code on the axle tube. "ON" would be 3.64. I don't recall the code for 3.91.
That sounds correct. Buick trivia (I may have spelled this out in my earlier post): A 68-69 GS 350/Skylark w/manual transmission & trailer tow got a 3.91. In '70, GS 350 manual/trailer tow got 3.64 but a manual/trailer tow Skylark still got the 3.91, I'm assuming even if the HC engine was ordered. In either case it was a SCO & posi/performance axle was a required option since there wasn't a 3.64/3.91 open rear. As I'd said in a prev. post in this thread, my '70 GS 350 4-sp was ordered this way - Prob. one of very few 3.64 '70 GS 350's. There's some vague documentation of all this in the parts book & assembly manual & no indication on the order form so it must've been handled at the Zone Office level if the dealer didn't know to order the posi/performance axle along w/trailer tow.
The original differential has G.M. Brand 4:78 gears. WTH? They are torn up good. Oz is the code. Obviously they changed them? I do remember in the KB catalog them changing it to the 4:78. If anyone recalls. All the test runs in their catalog, this was that car.
