I don't think I do yet. The shifter I used is a Hurst, its an older Compettition Plus with a reverse lockout feature. It has a straight shifter shaft with a white knob on it. It's sturdy as hell, you can really jam on it.
Thanks for all the other replies guys - I have a lot of time invested in this car.
Nice car. Thats one of my things I have to do on my bucket list. My fathers car was identical in color as your car except his was a 4dr. The car served as a test mule for my first attempts at body work and paint. It also introduced me to the mechanics of the straight six. Remember the Sprint package Ventura's? Thats the one I'd like to get.
Yep, I remember em. You can still purchase that decal kit - it resembles the Yenko Camaro decal really. I have been tempted to pick one up for this car. I can't make up my mind though. See, those wheels would have been part of the Sprint appearance package for it.
lol...well, right now my Regal (not a GN) is powered by a 160hp 307 Olds in front of a 2.56 gear. It also probably a few hundred pounds heavier than the Ventura. The LT1 that's in the Ventura is not stock. I'd estimate it to be making somewhere north of 350hp.
The Ventura is scary to drive, really. It has manual steering with about 6 turns lock to lock. It'll break traction on command - in any gear. I don't drive it much really, unfortunately. I'm a pretty busy guy and I just don't get time to mess with it. I've had that chassis clip for nearly 2 years now and its still not installed. Since this car was completed I probably haven't put 25 miles on it. It spends most of its time parked in a corner of my shop under a nice cover.
However - if we're doing some bench racing here...I'd say the Ventura with a good set of drag radials on it would probably give a stock GN a pretty good run for its money. I've never had it to the track, but the seat of my pants tells me its definitely well within the 12.90 index.
I'm curious how you narrowed down the 12 bolt cause the spline is cold rolled and the axle can't be resized like a ford...and wouldn't a 64-67 fit with no mods?
Beautiful car. IMO these are somewhat rare. I myself have a 73 ventura custom. 455 and 4 speed. I love having it as it was my fathers first car and my buick was mine. my ventura has different tail lights though being the custom model. It came with the 2 thin slit style tail lights on each side. the venturas are my favorite car. hell it was the car i learned to drive a stick in. this one has black diamond tuck interior.
heres an old picture of it. its in need of much love now and will get it as soon as i finish my buick.
I'm curious how you narrowed down the 12 bolt cause the spline is cold rolled and the axle can't be resized like a ford...and wouldn't a 64-67 fit with no mods?
I didn't re-spline the axles, I sh*t-canned them and bought new ones for an f/x body width axle. I simply shortened the housing to that spec. I already had the chevelle axle and couldn't give it away...and an f/x body 12 bolt is just damn near cost-prohibitive to buy. In fact, I could have put a Currie 9" Ford in it cheaper than I coulda went with an original 12-bolt. I didn't have anything in the chevelle axle, so I just decided to use it. Saved a good bit of money. I even cut the upper control arm mounts off of it and grinded them down. Looking at the axle installed in the car you can't tell it was ever an A-body axle.
Beautiful car. IMO these are somewhat rare. I myself have a 73 ventura custom. 455 and 4 speed. I love having it as it was my fathers first car and my buick was mine. my ventura has different tail lights though being the custom model. It came with the 2 thin slit style tail lights on each side. the venturas are my favorite car. hell it was the car i learned to drive a stick in. this one has black diamond tuck interior.
heres an old picture of it. its in need of much love now and will get it as soon as i finish my buick.
455 with a 4-speed huh, I bet that's a fun car to drive. I never cared as much for the 73 and later x-bodies though. They ruined the lines (in my opinion) when they changed the shape of the rear quarter windows - and those bumpers, my god. Still though, the Venturas remained the most attractive of the 4 variations (Nova, Ventura, Omega and Appollo). I was very tempted to install a big Pontiac mill in mine, however in 1971 there was not a Pontiac powerplant option for the Ventura. YOu could get the 250 Chevrolet inline 6 or the 307 Chevrolet V8 that year only. It wasn't until '72 (or maybe even 73) that the pontiac 350 became an option and replaced the 307.
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