All right! Definitely shaping up into a THREE RING circus, hah! Looking forward to the CADD drawings and production, count me in for two sets.
STUNNING NEWS! A co-worker, friend, and former owner of a 1970 Buick GS, has GIVEN me his consolette! Too much! Totally free, wow. The consolette was removed from the car in the spring of 1971 to make room for a Hurst Competition Plus shifter. The consolette was placed in the attic and sat there until now. It came with a brand new set of GM 3.90 rear end gears in the original box. The consolette was tenderly wrapped with several layers of newspaper from October, 1971 -- and there on the sports page is me and my high school Division Champion team, can you believe it, unreal. The consolette INCLUDES the upper chrome trim ring, the factory upper shifter boot, the lower black trim ring, the three retaining clips, woo-hoo! I spoke on the phone with another friend, a CADD operator and mechanical engineer. He is going to reverse-engineer all of the parts. Soon, I will be producing the consolette, the trim rings, the retaining clips, and more. Of course, I will keep YOU posted and will probably work with T/A Performance, Year One, and other sources to provide these parts to all Buick owners. The parts will be announced here first, then put up for sale on eBay subsequently as well. Thanks to you all, take care.
The digital camera will be put to use and I'll take complete photos of the consolette, upper shifter boot, retaining clips and rings before and after disassembly.
While your at it why not find someone to do the floor ring and the hump? Imagine not having to make a Pontiac or Chevelle part fit.
Bueller ? Bueller ? In the meantime I need both rings if anyone came across a set they can part with. Thanks, DL
General malaise set in and no one really wanted to help. They suggested going the mega bucks route with a local sheet metal stamping company that produces parts for the Big Three automakers and Harley, so a cheaper source is still being sought. Updates will appear here as they happen. Thanks for tuning in.
eBay has a great consolette with tachometer, shifter rings and more right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/67-68-69-70...ngs-/161679675731?hash=item25a4dc1153&vxp=mtr Buy it now price is $1,100 -- FREE shipping from 427ss67 in South St. Paul, Minnesota.
Thanks for your replies. Yeah, I saw that Ebay listing. I will stay tuned. I am happy to help out how ever I can to make this project happen. Ed
YaButt..the trim ring PINS appear to be gone on that eBay consolette...! Shame too, as its a more rare 3 speed consolette... BTW, a year anda half ago, I sent my set of trim rings to a fello Buick enthusiast and he is also quite surprised at the crazy expenses of reproducing these 2 rings... I had my 3D CADD designer stop the design stage when he wanted A 30% DEPOSIT from me at almost $1100 for his services, which is a typical design charge... Cant see spending $3500 in CADD fees, then 25K in tooling for the POT metal chrome ring and another $18,5K in tooling for the stamped steel ring... NOT including ANY production,. . .THATS JUST TOOLING! YIKES!! :eek2: Ya need to sell a WHOLELOTTA those things for any ROI.... NOT A DEAD ISSUE, however, I am waiting to get my trim rings back, and when I do, I will do some researching on possible COMPOSITE materials for these rings.... GOTTA BE A SOLUTION OUT THERE...:Brow: Wheelz, Tampa Bay
The eBay listing for the consolette clearly describes that both the 3-speed and 4-speed emblems are available with the consolette; it is not a 3-speed consolette by any means, just a generic consolette. The emblems are the variance, FYI. It is becoming more difficult to find 3-speed emblems these days, although those are out there, available loose, for any who desire.
Thanks, Wheelz, YES, the design and tooling costs are astronautic and therefore, too high. What I'm working on now is having a pattern made for a water-jet computer-aided design to take some flat metal stock and make these parts. This should be a much more affordable solution. Breaking news here as it happens . . . . .
I read an article recently about Jay Leno fabricating parts for his rare cars using a 3D printer. That is probably the way to go. Have you guys looked into that?
On eBay right now -- Friday May 15, 2015 -- a complete consolette with both upper chrome and lower black oxide shifter boot retaining rings, and the coveted Buick tachometer as well. Check it out, when you get the chance; starting bid is $900: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buick-Skyla...972-/231555154558?hash=item35e9c3427e&vxp=mtr
I made a couple of sets out of aluminum. Hugger was nice enough to let me borrow his to go by. So I measured them and we made a 3d drawing. The bottom ring was made on the 3d printer and the upper ring that is visible was out of aluminum. They could be polished or I think Hugger was looking to chrome plate them. I thought they turned out good. This was a school project in the community college machine shop where I teach. Material is a little pricey because of the thickness. We are back in school in August, we can look to make some if there is some interest. I owe DL a set of ram air seal plates out of aluminum before we do anything else (DL one is made, need time for the other). I may have a picture if so I will post it. Edit; I found a picture, please notice it has 4 tabs/mounting holes to help hold during machining
