Duane Heckman wrote an article on buickperformanceclub.com website (http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/SportMirrors.htm) about identifying the correct Sport Mirror assemblies for the 70-72 Buick Skylark GS.1 As an owner of a ‘70 Buick GS myself and wanting my car be equipped with sport mirrors, I decided to follow his guidelines and find a set of these mirrors. During my search I found even more information that could be shared to help identify the desired mirrors for the Skylark/GS as well as other GM A-body cars. I decided to do some research and create this document to further expand on the original. This article is specifically designed to correctly identify the early 70-72 mirror assemblies, or as I will refer them in the article as the 298 series, for the Buick Skylark/GS as well as the other GM A-body cars from that period. There is simply too much information to cover all the differences in the 73 and later mirrors as well as the other GM variations. You will find information about the Chevelle and X-body cars later on in this document as these are very similar. If you are a purest or want a no-hassle experience when purchasing and buying mirrors for your 70-72 Buick skylark GS (or any other 70-72 A-body) then use this article to locate the original mirror assemblies and/or parts. Duane’s approach was to take information from mirrors that were known to be correct and compare them to the many "parts'' mirrors that he had accumulated in his inventory. While doing this he found at least 3 different mirrors (different casting numbers) that could easily be mistaken for the correct mirrors and in addition discovered that GM had also slightly changed the mirror glass assemblies over time. He even tried to install these "later" mirror glass assemblies into the earlier housings and discovered they were larger and would not fit correctly. My approach was to find out what the original GM part numbers were for all of the components and mirror assemblies for the Buick GS and see if anything was the same across the different GM manufacturers. I figured the best way to do that was to purchase original parts manuals from the early 70’s. Therefore I purchased early Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and Pontiac parts manuals and became very familiar with section 10.185 which lists everything related to the exterior mirror assemblies. The Buick parts manual was key as it listed all of the necessary parts required to mount the sport mirrors to a 70-72 GS. I then looked in the other manuals to see if there were matching part numbers and there were. Next, I looked for NOS mirror assemblies to verify casting numbers from Duane’s article and used those mirrors to compare with other sport mirrors from random cars. I was fortunate to locate an original set from a 72 GS with original gaskets to take apart for further verification and identification. Duane said in his article that Sport Mirrors are one of the most popular options owners like to add to their 70-72 A-body cars. They not only look nice, but with good examples of standard chrome mirrors getting more expensive and harder to find, they are gaining popularity. You can find Sport Mirrors for sale in many places, however the main problem is finding the correct ones. These mirrors were optional on almost every GM body style from the early 70's through to at least the 90's, and the differences between many of them are not readily apparent. One of the reasons for the mirror differences had to do with the outer door skins. When installed properly the tops of the mirrors are parallel to the ground as shown in the images below provided by Duane. (The images above are intended to show how level the mirrors are supposed to be) To accomplish this GM needed to take into account the differences in door skin angles for the various models. They did this in one of two ways: 1. They left the mirror assemblies the same, and changed only the mounting gaskets or 2. They changed the base/pedestal that mounts to the door skins. Then, to further add to the number of variables, as new models were introduced, GM often changed the mirror designs. Normally this would not create an identification problem, but many of these changes were so slight that unless you place the mirrors next to each other you cannot see the differences. The result is that people/vendors have trouble telling the mirrors apart, and are constantly advertising mirrors for the wrong applications. Often this "mistake" is not discovered until the mirrors are repainted and installed on the car. Then the owner notices the tops of the mirrors are tilted inwards towards the center of the car or even outwards, and they look stupid. (The pictures above show a correct passenger side mirror mounted on a Buick GS with the incorrect Camaro/Firebird style gaskets. This is the incorrect inward tilt most common with this install) Identifying the Correct 70-72 Mirrors: According to my parts manuals, the following year/make/models share the same sport mirrors except for the mounting gaskets: 1970-72 Buick Skylark/GS 1971-72 Oldsmobile Cutlass/442 1971-72 Pontiac Lemans/GTO 1971-72 Pontiac Grand Prix 1970-73 Chevrolet Camaro 1970-73 Pontiac Firebird 1973 was a mid-year change year where the casting numbers and some of the assembly parts began to change. After 1972 the A-body cars were redesigned so a new mirror assembly was required. However, the Camaro/Firebirds and the mid 70’s H-body cars like the Chevrolet Vega/monza retained the same design until the end of production in 81. These later assemblies will work fine on the 70-72 A/G-body cars mentioned above as overall size of the mirror assemblies remained about the same but there were subtle casting differences. The passenger side housing became about 3/16 inches wider, the glass assembly mounting configuration changed, the mirror brackets got thicker resulting in differences in the way the brackets fit into the pedestals and other subtle changes. Interchanging parts from the 70-72 to the later model assemblies will not work in most cases. If installing the later model sport mirrors on the 70-72 A/G-body cars be sure to grab the original brackets that came with the mirrors and throw away the Firebird/Camaro mounting gaskets as they will produce the tilted inward look on the A/G-bodies. In 1970 the Oldsmobile Cutlass/442 had a 1 year only “clamshell” type sport mirror but the mirrors mentioned in this article should work as long as the door skin angle didn’t change in 1971. I can assume that the mirrors mentioned in this article will work on earlier model A-bodies as long as the door skin angles were the same as the make/model/year cars listed above. Why wouldn’t these work on a 1970 GTO or 442?. Assembly part numbers: Driver side assembly part number = 9865801 or 9822423 (1970 GSX) Passenger side assembly part number= 9626972 or 9822422 (1970 GSX) I believe the 1970 Buick GSX was the first A-body to receive the sport mirror according to my manuals and they carried a unique assembly part number starting with 982 that year. I obtained an NOS passenger side and found no differences between it and a 71-72 9626972 assembly. The pedestal and base pieces are painted inside out in a rusty red primer and the later NOS GM/Delco replacement mirrors are typically painted in gray primer. Throughout the rest of this document I’m going to refer to the desired sport mirrors as the “298 series assemblies” as the actual housings and pedestals have casting numbers imprinted in them starting with the numbers 298. The Pedestal/Base: The 298 series mirror assemblies use a bracket to mount the mirror assembly to the door skin but, NEVER STUDS. If you see a mirror with studs or previsions for studs, they are NOT CORRECT. Watch out for the 71-72 Chevelle/Malibu and the 71 and up X-body (Nova/Apollo/Omega/Ventura) mirrors as they are also bracket mounting but have a different angled pedestal that is specific to those makes/models. We will discuss those later in this article. As Duane noted, the 1970 – 81 pedestals all have numbers cast in them somewhere depending on the year of manufacture. The desired pedestals have numbers cast into the side of the pedestal, where the mirror housing attaches as shown in the photos below. The mirror assembly must be disassembled to view them. In some cases, depending how much paint was applied or how well the numbers were cast it may be difficult to read them. Just lightly sand over top of them to reveal the numbers. Below is an example of the driver’s side pedestal showing the correct casting number and location. The correct pedestal casting numbers are: Drivers side = 29855, Passengers side = 29845 Tip: Another way to help identify the correct early sport mirrors is to look inside the pedestal. The screws are Philips’ head and contain external locking washers. Note the ribs are unique in the early castings too. Below are photos of some NOS 29845 & 28945 pedestals. Pay attention to the ribs cast inside of the pedestals and the hole geometry for mounting the mirror housing, this is all pretty unique in the early castings but always confirm this by the casting numbers. The 29845 passenger side pedestal should have just two mounting holes for connecting to the housing. There should be small KEC letters cast near the mounting screws on the inside of the passenger side casting (yellow circle in the image below). The 29855 drivers side pedestal has two mounting holes plus an additional large hole for the remote cable. These castings ran from the beginning of production to the middle of 1973. I’ve had several late 72 and early 73 mirror date coded assemblies with these casting numbers. As mentioned earlier the correct pedestals are bracket mounted and the Chevelle/Malibu and X-body mirrors appear the same but are angled differently than the standard. Below is a photo of the different driver side pedestals for comparison. Left = 29855 (F/A/G body), Middle = 32485 (X-body), Right = 32155 (Chevelle)
The Mirror Housing: Duane mentions that the mirror housings have casting numbers as well to identify the correct early versions for each side. The numbers are located behind the mirror glass assembly on the outer side of the housings, by tilting the mirror glass inward or toward the car both the number and date code can be seen. Duane says that the "Date Code Clock" has the last digit of the production year placed within a circle, with 12 spokes radiating out from it. Each spoke designates a month, with the longest spoke being January. Often a series of raised dots are used to indicate the month of manufacture, although in this case a single dot is used. Regardless of the number of dots, the last month with a raised dot will be the month of manufacture. In our case (See below pictures) the dot is placed at the end of the 4th spoke, therefore the casting dates for both these housings are April of 1972. (Pictured above is Duane’s photo on the Buick performance club website showing the driver side & passenger side mirror housing casting numbers and date code clocks.) The correct casting numbers are: Driver side = 29853, Passenger side = 29843 Personally, I’ve never come across a clean date code. Typically, I can see the last digit of the year but when it comes to the month, I see a scattered random pattern of dots as shown below. Below are some photos of a 29853 driver side housing. Notice the 4 bosses cast into the housing; this is specific for the early design, same goes for the mirror glass assembly mounting tab on the top side. In later years, these features began to disappear. In the later year housings, the center hole for the remote cable became smaller while the pedestal hole remained fairly large. This is noticeable when viewing a mirror assembly from the inside of the pedestal. Below are some photos of the Passenger side housing. Again, 4 bosses cast into the interior of the housing. I’ve seen these castings in late 72 and up passenger housings which are wider, some with only 3 bosses. Luckily, the wider housing has a different casting number (35013) but they will still work with the 29845 pedestal and mirror assembly regardless. Notice there are only 2 mounting holes, later mirrors began to have 3 for the manual remote option and/or different mirror assembly mounting configuration. Below is a picture of a 1971 passenger side mirror assembly (Top) and a late 1972 housing (Bottom) which is about 3/16” (0.188”) wider than the earlier mirror assemblies. Also, the glass assembly sits deeper into the housing. Those are the only differences and they remained this way till the end of production in the 80’s. It’s hard to tell when the mirrors are mounted on the cars but noticeable when comparing the two assemblies together. The Mirror Glass and Assembly: The mirror glass is also date coded. Duane says that the code is etched at the top of the glass and lists the number of the month first, then the manufacturer's logo, and finally the last digit of the production year. The below example of "2-DMI-2" would decode as February of 1972. I believe somewhere in 1977 the passenger side convex mirror glass showed up and the “OBJECTS IN MIRROR.....” script appeared on the glass making it easy to identify these later passenger side mirrors. Be careful when looking at the date codes for the driver side assembly, there could be a mix-up between date codes of 1969-1971 and 1979-1981 as the manufacturer used this date code marking method through-out production (1969-1981) for this style of mirror. I’ve seen date codes as early as November/December of 1969 for the early mirror assemblies. I found a driver side mirror assembly with a 9-DMI-9 date code and it turned out to be a 1979 mirror assembly. If the mirror glass contains no date code it could be that a replacement glass was installed, or it’s an aftermarket mirror or a GM replacement mirror. The primary manufacturer was Donnelly Mirrors Inc whom was the main automotive supplier for the glass assemblies during that time period.2 (This photo is from Duane's article on the buickperformanceclub website) Mirror glass assemblies carry their own part numbers stamped on the back housings too. Driver side mirror assembly cast number is 29854 and the part number is 9814439. The glass measures 5” x 2 7/8” and 5” in diagonal. Motormite “Look” series replacement glass is part number 51013. Notice the wide tab and the “X”, the tab sits in a pocket in the mirror housing mentioned above. This is unique to the early mirror assemblies. Notice the “Y” “R” and “G” letters? They are the first letters of a color Yellow, Red and Green. Each of the adjuster cables, near the knob end, was marked with one of those colors for easy assembly at the factory. The interior Escutcheon plate and remote-control handle were pretty much the same from 70-81 for this style mirror. The early escutcheon plate cast number is 31362 and part number is 1387797 and they are also date coded the same way as the mirror housings. Don’t forget to take the door panel mounting plate and screws! The remote toggle is held in by a horse-shoe appearing clip that pries out of the housing and releases the remote toggle. The remote toggle and control also remained the same throughout production. The knob can be unscrewed for cleaning or replacement. If you look closely at the image above you can see the different colors on the cables. The passenger side cast number is 29844 and the part number is 9814437. The glass measures 5-¼” x 2-7/8” and 5-5/16” on the diagonal. Motormite “look” series replacement glass is part number 51005. Pay close attention to the aluminum mount as it is unique to the early style mirrors. For both the drivers and passenger side assemblies the size of the mirror remained the same through ‘81 but part numbers changed and the mounting configuration changed a few times so part interchangeability is questionable. The picture below shows the evolution of the passenger side mirror mounts. The glass/housing remained the same size until the end of production. The area where these attach in the housing also changed throughout the years. (Front = Early 70’s, Middle = Mid 70’s, Back = Late 70’s+) The Mounting Bracket/Retainer: Per parts manuals these are referred to as retainers. Drivers side retainer is part number is 9814442 and the Passenger side retainer is 9831859 for all 70-72 298 series mirror assemblies. The mounting brackets are driver and passenger side specific. There is a large cutout in the driver side bracket for remote cable clearance as shown in the photos below. Each end of the bracket is angled towards the car. The brackets from the later model years are thicker and the end tab is higher. I found that these newer brackets do not seat properly in the 70-72 mirrors. Pay close attention to how the bracket sits into the groove at the back of the mirror and always verify this fitment into the base and ensure it fully seats into the bottom of the pedestal properly. The bottom of the bracket should seat flush or below the bottom of the pedestal. I’ve even found issues with aftermarket vendor brackets not seating correctly into the early pedestals. There are two other variations of the bracket for the Chevelle and X-body. The bracket ends are straight rather than angled for both versions. The X-body mounting holes are closer together at 1-5/8 inches while the other brackets' mounting holes distance is 2 inches. (Left image shows the correct mirror brackets. Right Image shows correct bracket on the left, X-body bracket on the right) Per parts manuals these are referred to as retainers. Drivers side retainer is part number is 9814442 and the Passenger side retainer is 9831859. (Left bracket is for later model year mirrors, brackets are also thicker.) The Mounting Gasket: THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE!!! Each make and model received their own specific gasket to compensate for the angle of the door skin in order to level the mirrors once mounted. The Buicks have the most unique, highest angled wedged shaped mounting gaskets compared to the other GM models. The thicker side of the Buick gasket measures a little more than 5/16” or about 0.318” while the other side measures a little less than 3/32” or about 0.087” Part number for the Skylark/GS gasket is 9827788 for both left and right sides. As of 2021 I have yet to find any satisfactory reproduction gaskets from vintage car parts stores. I’ve seen some 3D printed reproduction gaskets which are the closest to the original. Unlike other gaskets the Buick gaskets do not have a raised lip around the perimeter. The angle of this wedge gasket is critical, if either side is off a few hundredths of an inch then the mirrors will not be parallel to the ground. Here are some photos of an original gasket from a 72 GS. TIP: When searching for mirrors online or in person hopefully the seller has the gasket or will leave the gasket attached to the mirror assembly. If the gasket is still attached the part number stamped on the gasket can easily be used to identify what make and model the assembly came from as long as it wasn’t changed out somewhere along during its life. Not a full proof method but it hasn’t failed me yet. Here is a list of gasket part numbers for the 298 series mirror assemblies and the cars they go to. The Mirror to Bracket Screw: Part number: 9878590 I’ve seen all sorts of screws come out of the mirrors I’ve had. Or else they get lost, seized or the head gets stripped. It’s very hard to find an original screw and it seems no one is reproducing them. Here is a reference drawing: Shown is a 10-24 thread Oval head screw with a length of 13/16” which is used across many makes/models and years. Note: the original screw had what is called an “extended tip or full dog point” which was a smaller diameter cylindrical section before the thread starts (not shown in the image above). Be aware that reproduction brackets typically come with different thread pitch and head size. I’ve found a few vendors with these screws but the head diameter is usually too large at 0.365 inches where the head diameter should be around 5/16” (0.31”) in order to sit correctly in the mirror base. I have tried and used some of the larger head screws with no problems as long as the bracket is straight. Summary: Listed below is the information needed to identify the original mirrors for the 70-72 Buick Skylark/GS, 71-72 Pontiac Lemans/GTO or Gran Prix and 71-72 Oldsmobile Cutlass/442: Mirror Pedestal: Casting Number 29855 (Left), 29845 (Right) (Numbers are located on the top of the part, where they attach to the upper housing. Produced till mid 1973) Mirror Housing: Casting Number 29853 (Left), 29843 (Right) (Numbers are located outboard behind the mirror glass assembly.) Date codes anywhere from the beginning of the 70-model year until the end of the 73-model year. (The date code clock is located next to the casting number.) The wider passenger side mirror housing 35013 can be found in late 72-73 housings and will work fine with earlier pedestals/mirror glass assemblies. Mirror Glass Assemblies: Casting Number 29854 (Left), 29844 (Right) (Numbers are located on the black plastic backing of the assembly, on the backside of the mirror.) Date Codes Anywhere from November of the 69-model year until the end of the 72-model year. (Date codes are etched into the glass at the top of the mirror.) ****MOST IMPORTANT: To mount these mirrors correctly the correct mounting gasket must be used to allow the mirrors to sit level, correctly on the door and then they will look awesome!!!****
THE X-BODY VARIANT = 324 Series: While researching for the correct sport mirrors for my GS I came across the X-body mirror assemblies. The X-body version showed up around 1971. The major difference was the angle that the pedestal provides and the mounting bracket/gasket design. While the driver’s side housing and mirror glass assemblies were basically the same, the remote cable is about 4 inches shorter than A/F body mirrors. The X-body also used the wider 35013 passenger side housing. To quickly identify these, look for the convex 9877665-mirror gasket and for the “X” (driver side) and “O” (passenger side) cast in the bottom of the pedestals. These pedestals are also slightly longer and narrower than the A/F bodies mirrors. Here’s a list of the part numbers/casting numbers for the early X-body mirrors: Drivers side assembly number: 9882068 Passenger side assembly number: 9626974 Driver side pedestal casting (71-73+?): 32485 Drivers side housing casting (71-73+?): 29853 Passenger side pedestal casting (71-73+?): 32475 Passenger side housing casting (71-73+?): 35013 Pass/driver gasket: 9877665 Pass/driver mounting bracket: 9847197 Here’s the list of makes and models that share these sport mirrors: 73-75 Buick Apollo 75-79 Buick Skylark 71-79 Chevrolet Nova 73-79 Oldsmobile Omega 71-77 Pontiac Ventura 77-79 Pontiac Phoenix 1974 Pontiac GTO I've come across a few 1975 and newer X-body mirror sets with the same "X" and "O" cast letters so I believe this design carried on to 1980. Sometime after 1975 the passenger side sport mirror converted to stud mounting but it will still work for earlier years. From a Chevy Nova expert Ray McAvoy: While researching part numbers for the interchange listings on my website, I came across the same #9882068 & #9626974 that you have listed for the driver & passenger mirrors. Plus I found: #1701306 which is a remote controlled passenger side sport mirror assembly. I believe this was a fairly rare option (most of the X-body pass side sport mirrors were manual adjust) that was only offered in '75 & '76. #1701309 is the passenger side sport mirror assembly listed for '76 through '78 in the parts catalogs. This would be the one with the stud-mounted base. #20128649 is the passenger side sport mirror assembly listed for '79. I believe this is basically the same as the #1701309 assembly except with convex glass. CHEVELLE VARIANT = 321 Series: The Chevelle/Malibu Sport Mirror assembly is completely different from the X and F/A sport mirror assembly. All parts are unique to those models except for the screws that hold everything together. According to parts manuals they never made a passenger side sport mirror for this model chevy. So, for you Chevelle/Malibu owners reading this, sorry but you will have to go aftermarket or somehow modify your own for the passenger side. These mirrors mounted on the top flat area of the door skin similar to the X-body but had a greater off-set to clear the window glass. The Chevelle sport mirror was available for the 71-72 model year only and may fit earlier years as long as the door skins were the same shape/angle. Drivers side assembly number: 9878201 Passenger side assembly number: N/A Driver side pedestal casting: 32155 Drivers side housing casting: 32153 Passenger side pedestal casting: N/A Passenger side housing casting: N/A Pass/driver gasket: 9872029 Pass/driver mounting bracket: 9872031 OLD DESIGN VS. NEW Here are some helpful comparison and identification pictures of the newer 73-81 mirror assemblies: In the photo below the left pedestal is an example of the mid 70’s Camaro/Firebird 52812 passenger side pedestal base and the right is the 29845. The biggest difference is the width of the rear bracket mount as well as a missing rib cast in on the right side. Because of this the newer style the brackets and a lot of aftermarket brackets do not work with the earlier pedestals. I believe the ribs went away in the late 70’s early 80’s. Please note they are the same width. I didn’t have them evenly tilted for the photo. Here are some pictures of the 52812 drivers side Camaro/Firebird pedestal on the right this time and the 29855 on the left. Again, the rear mount for the bracket is different but that is the only thing noticeable. The cast rib on the right goes away in the late 70’s early 80’s. Here are some photos of the mid 70’s Camaro/Firebird housings, 52821 driver side and 52811 passenger side: The biggest difference is that the number of casting bosses is reduced. The driver's side housing loses the upper mirror assembly mount and the passenger side housing is 3/16” wider. The casting bosses go away in the late 70’s early 80’s Here’s a photo of what I believe is a late 70’s early 80’s mirror that appeared to look like an early 70-72 mirror: This mirror came with missing mirror glass so it wasn’t easily dated. When I got it I was surprised about the extra screw holding the housing and pedestal together. I should have known it by the casting numbers inside of the pedestal. Physically everything was the same as the early style except for the wider housing and the extra mounting screw. I’ve heard GM may have used alternate suppliers back then so maybe this was a 70-72 mirror from a different manufacturer. I cannot verify this. Below is a late 70’s mirror with a glass date code of 9-DMI-9 Which could be mistaken as either September 1969 or 1979. I don’t think they manufactured the mirrors until November/December of 1969 but the date code format on the mirror glass didn’t change until the late 80’s. So any glass with the last number as 9, 0, 1 and 2 as the year could be mistaken as either an early year or late model mirror. In this case, look closely at the casting inside the pedestal and look for the casting numbers behind the mirror glass. Below are some photos of a December 1969 drivers side mirror assembly that I came across. These mirrors contain the correct housing (Date code 1970) and pedestal cast numbers but the center hole between the housing to pedestal mounting screws is slotted rather than just a large hole to pass the remote cable through. There must have been some kind of change between December of 1969 and February of 1970 to change from the slot to the hole. Everything else is the same. The earliest passenger side mirror I’ve seen is February of 1970 and there are no noticeable differences to the 71-72 mirror assemblies. REFERENCES: 1. “How to “ID” Buick & 70-72 Oldsmobile A-body Sport Mirrors”, Buick Performance Club retrieved February 28, 2022 from buickperformanceclub.com http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/SportMirrors.htm 2. “Donnelly Corporation.” International Directory of Company Histories. Retrieved February 28, 2022 from Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/donnelly-corporation-0
You can either flush mount (No gasket) or make a flat gasket to mount the X-body Sport mirror to the GS/Skylark. Here's a photo of X-body mirrors mounted to my GS with custom 3D printed flat gaskets. I think Buick should have started using these instead of the 298 series! I ended up drilling an extra hole in the X-body mounting bracket to match up to the stock bolt pattern on the door.
Want to convert your passenger side sport mirror to remote? Well there was a rare option in the 70’s and 80’s for a remote passenger mirror on some models that were almost identical to the 298 series mirror assembly like the corvette. I think I saw a 81 Vette with electric powered sport mirrors…… Not the best documentation but here ya go! Here’s a list of possible RH remote mirrors that may work. The mirrors on this list share the same size glass/glass assembly as the 70-72 RH 298 series sport mirror assemblies. In theory the mirror guts could be installed into the early housings. You would have to drill a large hole in the middle of the housing and pedestal for the cable and modify the mounting bracket to allow the cable to pass through then just copy and cut away the passenger side door panel to match the driver side. I guess depending on where the original adjuster was located on the cars on the list. Here's a supposed NOS corvette RH remote mirror assembly with a2-DMI-8 date code so it’s probably from a 1978. It has the exact sized mirror glass as the one on my GS. The glass assembly mount was identical to the early style sport mirrors. I decided to use a 35013 wider housing to mount the remote as I believe there is more room for the glass assembly to move around. I ended up drilling a 3/8” diameter hole in the housing and pedestal as that is all that there was room for. Then I disconnected the cables from the remote-control unit and passed the cable thought the housing and pedestal and re-assembled. Well here ya go this is possibly the first 29845 pedestal right hand sport mirror. Pretty easy to do if you can find the right donor remote mirror assembly. Disconnecting the toggle cables wasn’t too bad but I think I was dealing with a remote mirror assembly that was in excellent shape. In summary, I used a manual mirror assembly from a 73 Firebird/Camaro which has the correct 29845 base for our 70-72 buicks and the slightly wider 35013 housing. Drilled the 3/8 holes in the pedestal and base and re assembled.
I'm checking the linked article but does anyone know the screw size (maybe I missed it?) To attach the mounting bracket to the door? Edit: I used #10 3/4 self drilling/tapping screws. #8 is likely the stock size but m to doors were, let's say "used". I think the #10 will work well?
I should have some info on that subject and I’ll update this post. I know rivets were used on the passenger side and sheet metal screws on the driver.
I am restoring my 69 skylark that I have owned for 50 years. I would like to use these style mirrors but the ones I have lean in and almost touch the glass. Any guidance on how to make them wok on a 69? Thanks, Steve
I would imagine that the door skin angle is similar to the 70-72 skylark GS? What mounting gaskets do you have? If you have the correct Buick gasket or the 3D printed ones the thick part of the gasket goes toward the car. Pictures of your application would help. Get someone to hold the assembly with gasket against the car and take a few pictures and post them.
Appreciate the response. The door skin for 69 is different than 70. The 69 has a bit of a scoop at the top where as the 70 has a smooth rounded finish. I restored this car over 20 years ago and used the mirrors but they were always leaning into the side glass. Looking for a way to make them level as they should be. I have attempted to attach pictures I scanned of the car years ago before this latest restoration. If these pics aren't accessible please let me know and I'll try again. Thanks again, Steve
I would need some closeup pictures of how the mirror is currently mounted, gasket part number and need to know what the cast number is on the base.
Yeah probably. Though Chevelle never came with a passenger sport mirror but there might be something aftermarket.
I have seen some passenger side view mirrors for sale which included the phrase "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR". Can anyone tell me what year the phrase became mandated and included on passenger mirrors?
