69-70-71 Ram Air Foam Seals -> market price question

Matt-
PM sent!

 

here's a couple pics for clarity on what I am talking about.

2 piece construction.. the foam, wrapped with a cloth material




JW

 

An observation and a question:

Looking at the air pockets are in those original seals, the NOS seals pictured seem to be less dense and made from foam with larger air pockets. The foam in the NOS seals is also the wrong color.

Jim, is the outer coating a cloth material or more of a rubber coating? It has been 40 years since I looked at any originals, but I thought I remembered it being a rubber-like coating that they had possibly dipped the foam in.

 

I have repor's and they are dark gray all the way through.

 

That car looks mostly original and I would use NOS ones. Thats me, it is one of the biggest things in your face when you open the hood.



.

 

On Ebay, here is a set of ram air foam inserts.
Only $500 bucks. ARE you kidding ME.....
For 69,69 and 71 Buicks. 69???
What happened to 72?
These don't look right, because 71 has a different shape due to a emissions part, I believe. Vet

 

Forgot 70, and added 69 twice.
My mistake. Vet

 

My foams I got with the Stage 1 were like yours. I was wonder what version these are as well. Honestly I like these better then some of the new repops. They look more vintage for lack of a better term.

 

72 has the triangle seal for the driver side

 

These have the two 90° corners also...there were two designs...

 

Jason,
The ones on your car and the other X you posted, as well as the ones on Vet’s car and the ones Redmanf1 posted are all reproductions, or are at least incorrect.

You can tell the repros because they have a different exterior shape. Many/most of the reproductions have all 4 corners rounded and the thickness of the foam stays constant all the way around.

If you look at the pic of the car in the article you can see the ones with the original shapes, which were made to completely cover the fiberglass pieces they were glued to.

Those are the ones we look for when judging.

Mark Reeves was the first guy to reproduce them in the correct shape, and I know someone else is doing them now. Mark’s were molded in that shape with the outside surface being “closed-cell” like the originals. I don’t know how the new ones are that are being done in the correct shape.

The ones shaped correctly with the closed cell exteriors are what we look for as THAT was what was on the original cars…….and as far as judging, historically it made no difference wether they were repro or not, or were yellow or gray, as long as they were closed cell and of the correct shape.

Now for you “survivor” guys you might want to look for some beat up originals.

As to the price of the ones for sale they are hugely overpriced.
Duane

 

in my opinion they are repros that someone made thier own boxes for.sorry but thats my opinion...never saw nos boxes with labels that after 50 yrs werent the slightest bit faded....just sayin....even the staples were nice and shiny

 

That could be true also, but if the ones being reproduced now in the correct shape are closed cell, then they should be absolutely fine for judging.

Of course if some of you guys want to spend big bucks on “NOS” parts, that sometimes are still incorrect, and push your restorations into the $200,000 or above range, then have at it. (I did a whole article about NOS parts being wrong. I even titled it, “NOS parts, the agony continues.”)

Are you guys buying the parts or the boxes?
Duane

 

Do we know who is making the correct ones now? I would like a few sets.

 

he goes by "ramairbri." on here......they are excellent !!!

 

Thanks, I sent him a message.

 

The foam in those seals looks correct to me, but the general consensus is that the rear corners should be sharp instead of rounded.

I never paid enough attention to my original seals to observe if they had sharp edges. The magazine review articles from 1970 show sharp rear corners on the cars that were reviewed.

Perhaps that was a mid-year production run change.

 

I forgot to take more pics of mine last night, will try to remember to do so tonight!

So what is the consensus on market value for a pair of these, as I will be selling mine soon.