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September
30, 2004
Help Has Arrived!
I spent this afternoon with
my friends Nick and Nate Seybold at their shop and learned a lot of new things,
both about the mystery trim and Buick restoration in general. Nick and I talk
frequently, and when I need answers, he has always come through. In light of
that, I wanted to help them out any way I could. So here's one thing you can
do for me that will help them:
Buy this car!
It is a 1969 Buick
GS 400 convertible in pretty decent condition (click thumbnails for
larger photos). It has a new frame under it and new floorboards installed by
Seybold, so you know it's done right. Though it was originally a 400, it now
includes a complete, running Buick 350. It is very complete and straight, but
needs some work. I think it would be an easy project to put together a great
driver that you can enjoy as you restore it. You can contact them either through
me (E-mail me and I'll forward it to
Nick) or you can call Doug Seybold at 440-835-1193 to find out more.
As far as my oddball rear end
(hey!), I am very much relieved after my visit. The Seybolds have
a large yard behind their shop where the remains of dozens of old Buicks are
waiting for new owners or people looking for parts. I took my trim piece and
held it up to the back of many of their cars: An A-series Special convertible, a
Limited limousine, an A-series Special sedan, a B-series Special sedanette and a
B-series Special sedan (the latter two being identical to the Century bodies).
Ultimately, we decided that my trim was for a Century sedan (model 61), as the
Sedanette body had a narrower, flatter opening than the sedan. In addition, my
trim was tweaked slightly. With that mystery solved, I gave them my trim piece
in hopes that they'll have one for my car in their secret stash and we'll trade.
Ultimately, I now believe that the back of my car is in reasonable shape and not
as far out of whack as I initially thought. Problem solved--and I promise not to
abuse the Seybold Signal in the future, guys!
You need a part? I'll bet they have it here
behind the shop.
And as usual, they had a
stunning array of beautiful restorations-in-progress in the shop and some cool
things to talk about. Here's more:
This '41 Special model 41 sedan was out back
awaiting restoration. It
looked OK at first glance, but you could see that somebody loaded a lot
of bondo into the body and hastily painted it. I took this photo simply
because it was a Silver French Gray over Monterey Blue paint scheme
as I intend to use on my car. I think the silver was too silver, but as
Nick says, nobody's really sure what the original looked like so use
what makes you happy.
Oh, man, was this car pretty! A 1940 Super
convertible sedan (51-C)
that is being prepped for its debut in Hershey. The car is flawless top
and bottom in the finest Seybold tradition. My camera didn't capture
this car's incredible burgundy paint very well, but in the sunlight it was
stunning. Also dig the creamy butterscotch-colored leather--I felt like I
was cheating on my wife just touching it!
Click the thumbnails below to see more of this great car.
Here's a 1940 Century convertible coupe (66-C)
which is among my
favorites. However, Nick pointed out that in 1940, the Century and
Roadmaster bodies were very different, despite both being 2-door
convertible coupes with a trunk deck. Look:
Well, OK, the photo on the right of a
Roadmaster isn't quite as ideal as I thought it would be,
but the Roadmaster is clearly a little longer in the tail with more of a torpedo
shape. Interesting
that GM would build two such similar yet different cars.
Last up is this cute little '41 A-Series
Special convertible coupe, which
used a Chevrolet body on a shortened 118-inch Special chassis. They
are quick to point out that these cars are some of the toughest to
restore because almost every part on it is unique, from the stainless trim
splitting
the windshield to the trim behind the trunk that has been giving me fits.
Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did. And seriously--somebody out
there wants that GS convertible, right? Step right up!
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E-mail me at toolman8@sbcglobal.net
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Last modified on 02/06/2005
Thanks, Fidget!
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