celebrityrestore

I really need help here. I want to restore a beautiful 1986 Chevy Celebrity Station-wagon, and have been unable to find any of the rubber trim. Mainly, I need the rubber seals for either side of the windup glass for doors, and the seal that is at the base of the windshield – not the windshield rubber.

I have tried various sections of GM corporate, and all of the other possible distributors, online or off-line. No help whatsoever. I am totally frustrated and hope that this forum is different.

Your help/guidance would be deeply appreciated.

Ronin1014

I hate to say this but E-Bay. It's always a gamble but with it's age, body and the parts you are looking for E-bay is likely going to be your only shot. It's a Celebrity Station wagon, It was not really a ground breaking car or a trend setter.

Scrap yards prioritize cars by demand, Newest to oldest, anything ten years or older becomes recycle fodder unless it's a high demand vehicle. Demand is determined by popularity and what is currently on the road. Vehicles like Camaro, Corvette, Silverado and the like are given some reprieve from the crusher pending their condition upon arrival because they are more highly sought after. Every day cars like the celebrity did not hold any real status and as a result many went to crusher and recycled in the nineties. Making your car pretty rare now.

With the parts you seek, if you do get lucky and find a junk yard that actually still has one or two, these rubber parts are likely to be dryrotted and unusable from sitting.


I was forced to do that very thing when a client brought me an 88 Skylark for repair. The owners son drove it to the hospital for tests and the tests resulted in a diabetic episode resulting in the tail light getting smashed out in the hospital parking lot. I scoured all the local yards despite knowing how they work and found nothing. Ended up getting lucky on E-bay and got one from New Jersey for a little over $50

celebrityrestore

Thank you for your very detailed reply. I'm quickly realizing that I'm probably out of luck with this car. It has less than 100,000 miles on it, but was left out in the Florida sun, so the rubbers have really deteriorated. It is clear that my last resort is the junk yard.

Ronin1014

I know the feeling, that Skylark had 60800 on it when it came to me for repair. You can find the stuff, you just have to be willing to look for it, you too might get lucky and score what you need.

celebrityrestore

I had no idea how difficult this would be. I have been at this for the past 6, yes 6, months - and have gotten nowhere!! I really want to repaint the car and removing the cracked/broken rubbers would leave the door interiors vulnerable/ugly. So, the car sits.

Junk yards? No luck. eBay? No luck. Whitney, etc. etc. online, No luck. GM, after contacting many Departments - the absolute absolute worst. Their arrogance is amazingly disgusting!

Life goes on.

Ronin1014

For the time being, just mask it off as normal and paint the car as you see fit. For a temporary hold over until you get lucky and find them, Take the windows all the way down or take them out if you have to and use electrical tape and in a sense mask the rubber off making sure to get the tape on only the rubber and over the top and into the back against the window.

It won't be easy, it is also not a permanent fix but it should retard water leaking into the door cavity significantly without taking away functionality of the windows while you look for replacements.