I'm in central NY and just added a 1968 Electra 225 Convertible to carriage house with my 1971 El Camino and 1976 MG Midget. The midget has proved so enjoyable since moving here last year that I decided we needed a friends and family sized convertible with which to share the joy and I don't think anything beats the Big Buick for that. I was looking for a driver and found a decent one not too far away. Solid car with driver pan repair and a single rust hole in the trunk. It had been been "rust proofed" at some point and still bears the brand sticker in the rear window. I've got some tinkering to do with little stuff and I have some questions for the experts, but I've put about 300 miles on it in a week and plan to drive it until they spread the first salt. Here are a few photos of how I found it.
Thank all of you NY'rs for the welcome, if any of you are close to me and know a good exhaust shop in central NY, please let me know. I am willing to pay appropriately for good service and quality work. When I bought the car it had an exhaust leak on the driver side down pipe at the flange that someone had fixed in the past with some JB Weld Extreme heat past. The flange was stuck to the down pipe spigot with JB weld and there were pinhole perforations. Both of the manifold studs had essentially corroded away in the middle. Since I don't have a lift or a welder I took the Electra in to the local (read only) custom exhaust shop around. I asked that they repair the studs in the manifold and fix the down pipe and told them I was willing to run all new dual exhaust if that made it worth their while. The told me to bring it 8AM on a Tuesday and leave it. Left it with them for the day, I called them a few minutes before they closed and asked for an update. The told me the single exhaust was in good shape and they didn't think I needed any more than a repair They gave me price of two hours labor to fix it and told me to come pick up the car and bring it back the next Monday and leave it. I dropped it off the next Monday. I didn't hear from them Monday. Tuesday they told me Wednesday. Wednesday they told me Thursday. Thursday they did not answer the phone, but I left a message. On Friday they did not answer so I showed up 15 minutes before they closed and my car was on the lift. They said it would be fixed by Saturday morning. I got a call Saturday morning that it was done. On Saturday morning it was sitting in the parking lot. I couldn't see the repair, but I took their word for it as this is a very well regarded shop. I started the car, it was quiet, but about half way home (10 miles) the exhaust leak was back... So now I need a new exhaust manifold since they broke the ear off of it and still need the down pipe repaired. Can't safely drive it like this. Enjoy this photo.
