Colored rubber in side molding?

[73 Centurion]

Hello,

I've finally finished polishing and reinstalling the trim. :beers:

It took me way too long but drilling holes for the wheel well trim had me a bit spooked. There were other excuses that aren't interesting.
:rooleyes2:

During the process one peice of trim has gone missing. I've lost the bump strip from the front fender just above the Centurion badge on one side.

I've found one from a '72 Electra on an eBay auction but the lister says it has blue rubber in the center. He claims it's factory original. Does anyone know if Buick used colored rubber strips in 1972?

Thanks,
John

[Smartin]

Sounds like a dealer install, if in fact the guy bought the car like that new.

[Bob Alberini]

I concur with Adam. Although we have seen aftermarket protective side moldings in other colors, the only color that came from the factory in '72 was black on the B & C bodies.

[birminghamer]

I don't ever recall seeing any ther color than black, what your guy may be referring to is a weird haze that forms on the surface of some NOS parts over time, it does look blue, sometimes almost looks like it's been dusted with flour.
Think I would buy your EBay listing.

[73 Centurion]

Hello,

On a whim this weekend I checked 2 of my favorite salvage yards. I was looking for the last peice of trim to complete the Centurion. All of the trim was removed for the repaint. I was meticulous tagging each peice and taping baggies of hardware to each one. Somewhere along the way one of the peices that is just above the Centurion on the front fender went missing.

I polished everything I removed. It took a long time but the results really sparkle. A couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and drilled the holes required in my prestine paint and installed all of the trim. That's when I found out 1 peice was missing.

In the first yard I found a peice on a Cadillac that was solid stainless. I thought I could paint the center flat black and it would suffice until I found the correct peice.

In the second yard I found an Impala with the side trim intact. It is about an inch longer than the Buick peice but otherwise they are identical. I measured my car and found there was enough room to fit the trim. This is a big yard and the old iron is kept way in the back. After 2 trips between the yard and the car for extra tools I finally got the peice of trim off without damage. :beers:

This little peice of trim is held on with 2 fasteners that clip into the stainless and are held on with nuts inside the front fender. You can reach 1 when you open the hood and reach down behind the fender. The other pokes through a brace on the inside of the fender and must be reached by partially opening the door and reaching past the hinges. The opening is about an inch smaller than my forearm. With some pushing and swearing I can just reach it.

On this old Chevy the nut on the front clip was stripped and would only spin around without unscrewing. I broke one tine off a plastic fork (I found in the backseat of a honda) was jammed behind the nut to provide a bit of pressure and the nut reluctantly came off.

You can normally twist the trim around to get the other clip to release. That didn't work in this case. It was stuck to the fender and I was afraid of bending the piece. The door was closed and locked with the window up. Breaking into these cars is not difficult but there is an amazing lack of coat hangers in the yard. The rear window on the passenger side was missing so I crawled in through that. I unlocked the drivers door and with some gentle kicks I finally got it open.

I was able to snake my arm into the opening and unscrew the second fastener.

The fellow who checks tool boxes at the gate thought I was crazy taking 2 trips and the better part of an hour to get 1 peice of trim about a foot long.

A quick run through the polishing wheels brought up the shine. I had purchased new trim clips when I began installing the trim. A 30 minute search finally uncovered the "safe" place I had hidden them.

Other than dropping the nut into the inner fender brace (twice :Dou:) the installation went well.

Then it hit me. I purchased this car nearly 20 years ago. In that time there has always been 1 or 2 peices of trim missing. When I bought it one Centurion was missing. The rear quarters were rusted and I removed the wheel well trim to bondo up the holes. The drivers door was rusted and the replacement didn't have the 6 inch rocker mouldings. For one reason or another it was always missing something. Until Saturday, August 8 2009. When for the first time it was all in place. All the rust is gone, all the trim is polished and installed. It's as complete as these hobby cars ever get.

I snapped a few pictures with my phone. I'll upload those as soon as I get the software I need for this phone.

It was a good day.

John