Now that the other 225 convertible is nearing completion things are starting to move along on Snow White. The rear axle has been completed and the front end is getting close. New parts include a complete front end kit, brake shoes, motor mounts, and transmission pad from CARS (http://www.oldbuickparts.com/), new Coil Springs from Rare Parts (http://www.rareparts.com/), new brake and transmission cooler lines from Classic Tube (http://www.classictube.com/), and a new exhaust from Waldron (http://www.waldronexhaust.com/).
Greg has pretty much completed the engine work…we’ll get the driveline installed as soon as all the parts arrive.
I ordered all new tinted and date coded glass as well as window frames from Auto City Classic Glass (http://www.autocityclassic.com)… but I had a little issue with them. The shipment came in a large wooden crate that was shipped to Greg’s shop. Greg opened the crate immediately after delivery only to find that the windshield had been cracked in transit. The problem was that the crate really wasn’t large enough as the windshield just about touched both sides of the crate so any jostling in transit could easily crack the glass. It’s likely that Auto City uses standard size crates that will fit most windshields…but the huge curved windshields fitted to 1959-1960 GM cars are about as big as any ever manufactured and the crates are just a bit too small.
Anyway, Greg immediately called Auto City no more than 15 minutes after it was delivered. Auto City passed the buck and said to call the shipper, and the shipper said “you should have checked it before you signed for it…it’s not our problem”. Greg let me know what happened and I called Auto City explaining that there was no way to open and inspect such a huge crate in the shipper’s presence. The guy at Auto City didn’t want to hear it. I then told him that since I purchased it on my American Express card I was going to contest the charge, and he told me to go ahead and do it as they always win (really rude). I called the next day to tell them that I had formally contacted the credit card company to contest the charge…now he told me that since it wasn’t his fault he would be willing to split the cost with me and wanted to charge me another $200 for a replacement windshield. I explained that he contracted with the shipper, not me, and I wasn’t willing to pay for their mistakes.
Bottom line…American Express pulled the entire purchase amount (about $1000 including the frames, side glass and shipping) out of Auto City’s account. A day later I got another call from Auto City telling me they decided to ship a new windshield at no cost. I guess some outfits need to learn customer service the hard way!
Here are a couple shots of the rear axle and torque tube assembly:
And a couple more of the front end:
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~ Tom Sidoti
1959 Buick Electra 225 Convertible