In the July 70 Car Craft and Sept 1970 Road Test Magazine articles, the test car is a stock Stage 1 automatic although the articles do mention Buick having Stage 2 parts available. The interior picture in the Car Craft magazine looks like there is something very small above the radio attached to the underside of the radio bezel. Is the Forced Flow Switch something that is very small, like possible only 1/4" hanging down and maybe only an inch or two wide?
Forced air set up Here is a pic up the set up Gary. It was a fairly small switch that might be hard to see at certain angles. Jeff
Jim- Im assuming that the intake and carb were a later add on. I dont believe the sellers Stage 2 claims. Its possible that it had Stage 2 heads at some early point in its life. Maybe thats where the story originated and got embellished over the years.
Few Q's- 1) Are the motor and/or trans number matching? I don't think that was ever established. 2) Could an early Feb X (produced in normal production) possibly have the clear overflow and plastic rad cover? My 01C Flint GS 455 has the early parts on it. (Freeway Flyer may have come from early regular production). 3) Could the Zone 16 be Buick's internal way of transferring a car from one dealer to another? My GSX reflects two Zone 16 moves before ending up at the final dealer of sale.
It appears that the car in the magazine road test did have the Forced Flow Ventilation because the tiny little switch that you just posted is visible above the radio in a picture in the Car Craft article. Yet another similarity between the test car and the ebay car....
According to the DCR's, only 132 Flint built 455 coupes had I2 forced comfort flo ventilation. Out of those, how many do you think were 10-10 Stage 1's with the options that this car has? Hmmmm....
So you suggest that the SCO was a directive to paint on the GSX stripes and placard and steering wheel. If that were the case it would be a left handed GSX. So does that make the 70 production number now at least 679?
Brad's car has many unique non production features. This car has all production features with the oddity being the early production plastic cover, water bottle and the pointed lens. Would those combined with the fact that it was an early demonstrator make it worth any more or significantly more than another GSX? Then there is the doging issues of proof, import , transport and restoration expenses, and matching numbers questions.
70 Stage 1 Thread Found an answer to my question number two in this thread from The Bench- 2nd week of Feb Stage 1 with clear top overflow and plastic rad cover. Looks original and untouched in the pic.
I guarantee you records can be found using the VIN through the California DMV. I did a title search years ago on my Stage1 convertible and traced it back to '75 to a guy in South Carolina. That state didn't have any more info. Then when the microfiche surfaced, I found out through W.R. that it sold new at Twin City Motors at Alcoa,TN for $4428.30. Tennessee has the rest of the info on the car and will do a title search for $15, but will black out the previous owners info because of the "Privicy Act". My point is, the info is out there. Law Enforcemant, is able to use it for stolen vehickes, it would probably take some "leg work" to find out the history on a '70 model car like this one on e-bay. I'm sure some of you have seen the magazine write up of the '68 or '69 corvette that was recovered by the police when it was about to be shipped overseas. It was stolen back in the day when it was new and the guy didn't have it insured at the time. As said before, the only way to tell for sure is to use the VIN, and do some detective work to find out the history of this car. I'm not a lawyer, but the heck with the "Privicy Act", let's go with the "Freedom of Information Act" :grin:
One thing I'm happy to see is that the bids on this one seem to be coming from real buyers, and it's met the reserve at $30K. Now to see if the deal goes through.
Yes Jim, but his last trans was positive and he bought a corvette. I take that as a positive to indicate that he has the cash to back up what he's bidding.
The last two cars I put on EBay were won by low transaction bidders and neither could execute when it came time to see the Franklin brothers so I am leary of that status.
Tennessee only blocks the information for some people. I have a friend that can get these for me with no information blocked out. He was able to get it for me last year for a lime green '71 cuda. It even have a copy of the sales papers from the dealer and the factory MSO. Really neat stuff to have. If you want I can get your VIN to my friend and see if he can help here in TN, he usually only gets this done a couple of times a year so it might that a while.
Wow I'm shocked that the reserve was only $30k. If it is a numbers matching car (does anyone know if the original engine is in it?), then that price is pretty good even if it was a GS Stage 1 and not a GSX.
Oh Mr Steele, Make you a deal, you get the records for one of our Stage 1s that was purchased new in Thousand Oaks, CA and stayed in California until the late 80's, and I will get you the records with nothing blocked out for your car here in Tennessee. Deal? I can even supply the last California title as a starting point along with the VIN and both of the previous owners names (they were brothers)
Price is still moving up in the last few hours here. Interesting to see where it winds up at. Incidentally Jim, I'm a low trans person too, with just 5. Current high bidder has 198. I'm guessing these are all real bids.
If any of you guys are bidding on here for it, just make sure you predecate the bid on having them get the engine running and it is drivable. It has been sitting a long time. But trust me, this is good advice.
