Details

This is a parts car I picked up from someone in my local Buick club. It has a few parts on it that are not wasted/trashed/rusted, and that will fit on my 1958 Buick Special. It came with a title and the price was right - free. All I had to do was go get it.

The car had been "parked under a tree in 1969" due to suspension damage and a general lack of interest in fixing it. Ownership passed to my friend from the Buick club, and he sold off the trim and some other bits, and then many years later I got the car. The copy of the title I got was the one from 1967 that had been signed by the owner who "parked it under a tree". It had been signed and given to my friend from the Buick club, and then given to me many years later. It's rare to see an old title these days, so I thought it was kind of cool. It listed the license number from 1967 - FBE620 - and all of the usual details of ownership and to identify the car.

The cowl tag has the following data:

1957 MOD         63

STYLE      4639

BODY No BC 967

TRIM       631

PAINT      MC

ACC

That breaks down as:

•  1957 is the year
•  63 is the model: 4 door, 6 passenger, Riviera sedan
•  4639 is the body style, first letter is the GM division, second letter is the series, and the last two letters are the body style: Buick, Century, 4 door Hardtop Sedan
•  BC is the build plant: this should be South Gate, GA but I can't confirm
•  967 is the the body serial number, which is not the same as the vehicle serial number. This is a very low number indicating an early build date
•  631 is the trim code for the interior colors and fabrics:
•  MC is the paint code for the exterior, the first letter is the upper color and the second letter is the lower color: Seminole Red over Glacier White
•  The accessory line is blank except for an odd cutout to the left of the "ACC". The cutout is shaped like a C with an underline, but I can't find any designation for what that might mean.

The VIN on the title and on the body tag is:

6D2008630

The breaks down as:

•  6 is the series: Century
•  D is the year: 1957
•  2 is the build plant: South Gate, CA
•  008630 is the vehicle series number: A very low serial number, perhaps an early year build?

Pictures

Here's the car as it was before we loaded it onto the trailer. Check out the rust issues and the sheer volume of rodent home remnants under the hood and all over the engine. I also like the moss hanging off the interior. I need to add a good electric winch to my trailer...

Here's the car as I got it home. Note that the doors were flopping around a bit, so I ran the tie-down strap extra length through the door handles and over the hood/trunk to make sure they stayed in place during the drive home. It looked funky, but it worked. I don't care about the body - it's just scrap metal to me.

The radiator came with the car, but had already been removed. It came home in the back of the tow rig, and was just sitting here after unloading. It might be worth saving. The core needs to be replaced, but the side brackets and top and bottom tanks are good raw material to start with.

Engine compartment pictures. The power brake setup is the same as the one on my 1958 Buick Special. The engine is a 4-bbl carb, which would be nice if I can save it. The rest is a pretty typical heater setup for the 1957/58 Buick's. The generator and power steering pump both spin freely - though rusty looking, they are not seized. That bodes well for the engine innards being salvageable...

The core support is rusty, especially at the bottom where it's rusted through - more scrap metal. The wiring and connections appear to be the same as on my 1958 Buick Special, with the exception of the dual vs. quad headlights. That's worth hanging onto to get small pieces to use where needed when repairing the wiring.

Part of the trunk lip (almost rusted out) and a random piece of door trim that was laying around. I later figured out that all of the skinny trim pieces were from the interior door panels.

Rear bumper and trunk area. The taillight surrounds are intact, but rusty. The passenger's side backup lens appears intact. Check out how rust the bumper ends are - simply amazing.

The hood is possibly salvageable along with the hinges and the lettering/trim on the front of the hood.

Cowl panel and windshield wipers. These appear to the the "cam-o-matic units, the same as on my 1958 Buick Special. The cowl panel may be salvageable.

Dash bits. Rusty, but intact as far as I can see. The engine turned faceplate is in decent shape, so it might be usable. We'll see what I find when I start removing stuff. I'm hoping I can save the cluster and related bits.

Power Bench Seat

The front bench is a power 6 way seat, pretty standard GM stuff for many years. All that's unique here is the trim bits, and the specific seat tracks to fit this era car. The wiring and the rest is normal GM stuff that is detailed in pretty much any GM body manual from the '50s, 60's, or 70's. If I can save the unique bits, I can make this work in my 1958 Buick Special.

The power seat setup. We'll see if I can save it or not. The side trim pieces are in good shape, though the switch is a bit dodgy and will need to be rebuilt, see below.

The power seat switch. It was already partially disassembled and some bits were falling out. I think I have all of the inside bits... When I was messing around with it, some stuff dropped out, and I found one of the little spring pieces inside laying on the ground. See the next photo for details.

The switch disassembled. Not shown are the four metal clips that hold the back piece to the shell and the center metal plate that covers the plastic piece. I think I have all of the little spring pieces (two shown), but I'm not 100% sure. They appear to fit into the back of the switch handle into formed recesses and give the handle some spring loading to hold it in place against the "underside" of the housing.

The back of the main switch body.

The back of the main switch body as a close-up/cropped photo, and one with labels so you can see what each of the posts are for. I think I reversed the labels for the "rear up/down solenoid" and the "fore & aft solenoid", unfortunately. Doh! I need to dig out the manual again, double check myself, and fix that...

The front of the main switch body.

The front of the main switch body as a close-up/cropped photo, and one with labels for everything. Each section of the switch is basically the same. If you actuate that section of the switch in either direction you will activate the contact for the solenoid for that section (front, rear, fore/aft). You also activate the motor in the correct direction by activating the wire to that part of the motor activation relay. If you compare to the previous labeled picture of the rear of the switch, you'll notice that the two directional contacts are tied together along the top and bottom sections - activating this in any of the three sections activates the motor in that direction. Similarly, the power feed is tied to all three switch sections so they all get power at the same time, and it's insulated where it passes over top of the "up or rearward" contact strip. Thus, it's possible to activate both the front and rear in the same direction at the same time by simply pushing the entire switch face/handle in the proper direction. Combined with the way to activate two contacts at once (solenoid + direction), there's actually a reasonably clever bit of engineering buried inside the switch. The outside chrome is in decent shape, so if I can get the switch working electrically, I think it will be good enough for me to use.

Purchasing Order

This was Car #35. Another parts car, this time a free one. My first experience loading a car that was this rusty and had four flat tires and with the parking brake seized. It was not fun.

Comments? Kudos? Got some parts you'd like to buy/sell/barter/swap? Nasty comments about my web page so far? You can email Mike or Debbie.

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Page last updated 07/26/2009 11:21:51 AM