1967 Buick Sport Wagon

The TH 350 is a direct swap for the ST 300...

 

Sorry I did mean the trans was air cooled behind the I-6's, sorry for any confusion.

 

ok guys looking for some wisdom from the group. The wagon has had a frame off that is about 12 years old. It was disassembled and painted minus trim and front fenders. engine idles quiet and has good power. A/C does not blow cold ( standard answer needs a recharge). Clock does not work, radio does not work and the drivers seat bottom seams are coming apart. Interior is all original, except carpet, and in great shape. Small rust bubble on lower left side of tailgate. Is it worth 19,900? Has anyone had any experience with a old restoration that has been put in service (because I will be driving it)

 

Oy. You went all the way up to TC to look at that? It looks like a nice car and the undercarriage is certainly clean. Most likely when the car was restored they didn't charge the A/C at all. Did you see any evidence that it was converted to R-134a or is it still R-12? If it "needs a recharge" then it "needs a leak fixed before you bother recharging it".

I would say 99% of original clocks from this era do not work. You can or used to be able to buy quartz movements for them. Radio in-op. Meh, they are not too hard to find. I can't see the rust bubble or seam separation in the pics so it's hard to say how bad they are. I didn't look at the price when I looked at the pics the first time and was thinking $15k-$17k, but I have no clue what this part of the market sells at.

 

Thanks for the feedback Kevin. I am not sure how to tell what type of refrigerant was used and I always thought if you ran a compressor without Freon it would harm the compressor. I am going to make an offer of 18K.

 

The original "freon" refrigerant was phased out by the EPA. The older systems are now expensive to recharge and repair. If it is more than just a recharge, converting the system to R134a might make sense in the long run. Still expensive, though.

 

In theory they are supposed to put labels on the system to identify it as being converted to R-134a. It would also have different fittings on the high and low pressure test ports. If there is no refrigerant in the system the compressor should not turn on. It should be protected by a pressure switch. So if there isn't any refrigerant in the system it won't harm anything. Obviously you won't have any cold air though.

 

While production of the old R-12 has ceased it is still available. Granted you need an EPA certification to legally buy it. I'm sure you can still find A/C shops that will service R-12 systems. The issue usually boils down to whether enough of the system needs to be replaced or repaired that you might as well switch over to the R-134a anyway. I know a lot of people don't like the R-134a systems and their performance, but I've never had an issue with them as long as they are retrofitted properly.

 

Pyasher, did you get the Sport Wagon? It certainly is a beauty. I spent some of my youth in the third row of a Turquoise '67 Sport Wagon.

 

I called Friday to make an offer and someone beat me to it. I guess it was not meant to be.:confused:

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I was hoping it would go to a good home.

 

Might be a good thing . When you see a restored car and already rust is coming thru might have been a rust bucket at one time . I have a friend with a 67 that has always been here in CA . I'll see if he wants to sell .