I pulled the body off the frame of my '65 GS this week. Frame goes to be sandblasted and powdercoated this weekend. I took some pictures of it before taking the engine and transmission out of the frame
Grille Emblem Very nice Brian! It appears that your Gran Sport also has the early grille emblem. I haven't seen too many of those. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the earliest '65 Gran Sports had the slender grille emblem that fit in between the grille fins, and then later they went to the much more common emblem with the large "G" and "S." ... At least, that's what I've been told. JM
Wow, very cool. The emblem tidbit is also quite interesting. You learn something new every day with these cars. Plus, that grille is a beaty to boot. Gotta love the look of the nailhead with open headers. :TU:
Yes, that is what I have been told about the grille emblem--that is the original one that was on the car when I got it. My car is definitely one of the very early ones--made the 3rd week of production in Jan. of '65 The grille came off of a '65 Special 4-dr. I parted out several years ago--it was in really good shape, but still took alot of work sanding on the parts painted silver on the tops of the bars and re-painting all of it before it looked like that! The one that came on the car was pit city.
Yep--it is getting a complete frame off restoration. It came red with red interior and a black vinyl top from the factory. Also has factory AC on it. Already done a ton of body work--vinyl top wasted the roof into swiss cheese, so I cut the whole roof and dash off of a regular '65 2dr. ht car and welded the two cars together at the rocker panels under the front seat and where the roof meets the rear quarters. Also put in floor pans. Now I have to get busy and fabricate some lower rear quarter patch panels. Kind of been putting that off hoping some company out there would get a clue and start making patch panels for these cars. I have made them before when I restored my '64 Skylark and my '65 special, but it is no fun. Plan is to find another junk parts car and put this body on that frame to send it to the paint shop once I am done with all the welding/fabrication. While it is there I will be working on the engine and chasis. Like a bonehead I sold the junk chasis I had sitting around that I put my other cars bodies on to be painted!
Brian, My car had a vinyl top too. It was wasted as well, even being a west coast car. There is more time into bodywork in the top than the entire car. The vinyl isn't going back on - I'm painting it black. Didn't have to replace the top tho, thats crazy. My hats off to you guys who can do that. Mark
I enjoyed these pictures, thanks for posting. I thought I had put a lot of work into my GS, you are amazing man. Good luck in the rest of the work. Was that an after market dual four, or dealer added option? Good going Brian. Bill Bailey
Clutch Brian, Do you have any pictures of the attaching points for the clutch linkage? I would like to see where it is welded to the frame as my convertible did not start out as a 4-speed. It would also be nice to see a close up of the linkage to the bell housing in place. I have all the parts, but am not sure of their exact placement, and the Chassis Service Manual drawings leave a lot to be desired. Thanks - Cheryl
Brian, My 65 GS convert is also from the 3rd week of production. Out of the Fremont, CA plant. Gotta love those unique grille emblems! Makes them that much more special. Keep us posted with pics as you go! JM
JM, Welcome to the forum! I was looking at another thread about the GM Photostore and found this. There's another one there too. Garage art in the making. http://www.gmphotostore.com/source/...allery.aspx?L1=buick&L2=12053&imageId=2142785 Mark
Mark, Nice link and picture. Does anyone see the resemblence of the 65 Skylark grill to the 56 Chevy grill? Remove the 4 headlights from where they are in the picture, and move the headlights one on each side and above the grill??? Am I seeing things or were the design engineers stealing from Chevy? By the way I used to own a 65 Chev Bel Air 2 door Coupe. My GS was also built in Fremont Calif, except toward the end of the year if I remember correctly. Take care all. Bill Bailey
Well, I worked even harder last night and here is what it looks like now. Cheryl, this one shows the place where the clutch Z-bar mount welds to the frame. I can take some close ups later when I get it back from being blasted/powdercoated if you need me to.
Another piece of trivia for everyone--the Buick A-body cars have the VIN stamped in the top of the frame in two places. both are on the drivers side, one is on the top of the frame rail right under the drivers seat, the other is on the top of the frame rail right above where the drivers side tail pipe hanger is screwed to the frame. Here are pictures of the two place on my frame--as you can see, age and surface rust have faded alot of it away:
