School me on mirrors!

I need side mirrors and a new rear view mirror for my '65 pickup. What are some of the options? It would be nice to see pictures of what you're using. Part number and/or vendor info would be plus! Mine are old and in sad shape. In fact, I slammed the passenger side door yesterday and the mirror fell off and broke in to a million pieces. Ugh!

This is what I have now: They are held on with sheet metal screws about 4" apart. However, I haven't painted so I can still fill the holes and go with whatever I want.

What are you looking to do, original style or something else?

I'm just looking for ideas at this point. I'm leaning to more original style, but I do want larger mirrors than I have now. Sadly, the OEM mirrors are hard to find and spendy....

Yeah the OEM mirrors are pricey. I went with original round heads with short arm with the circle bases on mine. These are for 1961-63. I believe in 64 they went to the rectangle style heads with longer arms (still round base) and with 65-67 kept that style, but with square bases on the arms.

I'm not sure when the "West Coast" style of mirrors came about. I think these would be the best functional ones and I would have gone that route, but what I'm doing with my van... I need to have the ones I went with.

I think with the second generation Econolines they moved the mounting point back to below the vent window vertical post and still kept the rectangle style for a few years in addition to a couple of other variants. If you don't care about 1st gen originality, this position seems to have a big advantage especially with a rectangle mirror as it's out of the way of the vent window.

Anyway, I might not be correct in all I've said here, but that is what I've been able to figure out over the last couple years looking at pictures/brochures and catalogs.  Also I have seen a lot of neat custom mirror set ups, but others will have to chime in on that as I never looked into those.

Here's a picture of a 1970 Police Van from a brochure with the rectangle mirror with long arm and square base mounted at the vertical vent window post.

When it comes to visibilty the oem jr coast mirrors are hard to beat.

Thanks for the ideas. The West Coast Juniors just don't seem to fit the style of the early Econolines, IMHO. I'm not trying to stay original -- don't know what I want at this point. I do like the round mirrors on your van, Uante. I would also be happy with the second gen mirrors, but those aren't easy to find for reasonable money. There are a couple sets on Ebay right now that aren't in great shape and they're over $100.

I've also seen some really cool ones in junkyards with 40's and 50's cars that fit like the ones you have now. But I bet they are hard to see out of. The round ones I have work ok, the driver's side is good, but the passenger side kind of stinks when driving and needing a quick look for lane changes. I try to pay close attention what's around me all the time so I don't have to rely on mirrors as much.

For what it's worth I pulled my oem west coast mirrors and installed a NOS set of 2nd gen mirrors and I hate them. But I mounted them at the 1 gen position, may be better mounted at the vent window divider. I've got a single nos west coast mirror assy coming, I'm looking for another so I can go back to the west coast mirrors. I'd entertain an offer for my 2nd gen mirrors, but I'm not ready to pull them yet.

Brent, That's not quite right. The square base arms are second gen. 65-67 still had the three screw round bases. Ouote  "and with 65-67 kept that style, but with square bases on the arms".


First gen mirror heads had an offset mounting post. Second gen mirror heads had a centered mounting post. Second gen mirrors used to be a good option for our vans as they were cheap. Not so much anymore. They have climbed in price over the years. They do look good and only purist knows the difference. Original three screw mirrors have been expensive for a long time. Careful searching turns up a deal from time to time. Arms can be found fairly cheap but the mirror heads are very hard to find and most aftermarket heads don't work with the stock arms. West coast mirrors are still fairly reasonable. Ten years ago I gave them away as I didn't think I'd ever use them. Now I search for them. There are some reproduction Chevy pickup mirrors that look pretty good and are priced good. My 61 has these big ugly cheap plastic piles of crap on it. I'd have got rid of them years ago if it wasn't for the holes in the doors. I have a pair of short arm round head mirrors just waiting to go back on it once I get it repainted.





This shows two pair of long arm rectangular head mirrors. One has the correct offset mounting post, the other has second gen centered mounting post.



West coast mirrors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/70-71-72-Chevy-Truck-Square-Rectangle-Chrome-Outside-Rearview-Door-Mirrors-Pair-/231812821133?hash=item35f91ef08d:g:T8MAAOSw3ydVrmgf&vxp=mtr

I like these. They still have that truck look and they are nice and shinny. Reasonably priced and a good option.

Duane

All those mirrors are great to back up with, but look horrible to me. I'd go with some hotrod mirrors!

Everybody's hating on good ol west mirrors, I think they look great on a panel/work truck, or even a window/falcon if they're stainless

Thanks for the clarification about the square bases and offsets Duane. (Do you have a set of the rectangle long are round bases to sell?) Also I like the West mirrors Seth, I'd have those if I could...certainly the best functioning ones.

Sorry Brent. All of those have trucks waiting for them. I just need to restore them.

Duane.

I have the factory west coast mirrors on my 66 Falcon Travel Wagon. They are paint the same color as the van. They make for great visibility and I don't think they look terrible either! Everyone has their own taste though..

if you want west coast summit racing has new stainless ones reasonable in 2 sizes

My truck currently has a mismatched pair of West coast style mirrors, I was planning on replacing them with the summit ones https://m.summitracing.com/parts/ksc-h3541 which look good and cheap but I was also thinking about these universal ones https://m.summitracing.com/parts/ksc-h3511 but I'm still undecided.

I don't like the universal hoops, they have to stick out furthur by the adjustable design, they can only go so short. But if you are going to get aftermarket jr west coast mirrors, these are the best. They're made in the USA by Cham-Cal, all stainless(those ones linked are not, read the reviews) and except for the hoops and the one longer body mounting tab(which can be replaced for the small style) they are identical to oem. Better yet, have some new stainless hoops made and swap all the hardware from these over. That's the route I'm going to go eventually. You can get all the parts individually as well if needed.

http://www.finditparts.com/products/4745306/cham-cal-23901?srcid=CHL01SCL010-Npla-Dmdt-Gusa-Svbr-Mmuu-K4745306&gclid=CLjx7qn_yM0CFQeTfgod-BEGRw

http://chamcal.com/