For business/personal reasons, Im forced to sell my 70 GSX (yellow) that I had planned on fully restoring. Im going to try listing it here before putting it on EBay. This is a rather unusual deal, and a car with a storied past. Selling it is not something that Im excited about or looking forward to, but the time in life has come that I need to. Im very disappointed in the situation I find myself in that is forcing this as well the fact that I feel like this car was entrusted to me by the previous/original owner to restore. Many, many people had tried to buy the car before it was finally sold to me. In addition to the car itself, I also an incredibly comprehensive collection of NOS parts for the car, a rust free California parts car, some repro parts, and some very nice used parts. This sale is for the car only. Whoever buys it will have the first shot at everything else. With the exception of reproduction parts, which are easily accessible, I have virtually all the necessary parts to restore this car to any level desired. If it doesnt sell on here, I will put it on e-bay and then have to re-think how I package the deal. If it doesnt sell at all, I will keep it and eventually restore it although I will be forced to sell a good majority of the NOS parts Ive collected (which are worth more than the car). I purchased the car in 1986 and am the second owner. It was purchased new at Brooks Buick in Towson, Maryland (Baltimore suburb) in August of 1970. From what I was told, it sat on the lot/in the showroom for quite a while. It spent its entire life in the Towson, MD area and was very well known around town among Buick guys (some of whom are members of this board). The car was in poor condition when I purchased it and was sitting outside and hadnt been driven for several years. Its rusty in all the usual places, but Ive seen worse. I cleaned it up, did a basic tune up, and ran the car at the track once to see what it would do and it ran a low 13 sec. mile. The car had been used in the 70s as a daily driver and weekend race car, and was apparently pretty heavily campaigned at local tracks throughout the 70s. The rear quarter windows are full of peeling track decals. When the car was relatively new, the original owner installed an Edlebrock B4B (this one is drilled for Holley/Q-jet) and headers. It also had an electric fuel pump mounted in the trunk and Hurst air shocks. When I got the car, it came with the original exhaust manifolds, which are in as perfect condition as Ive ever seen, but unfortunately the original intake was nowhere to be found and the car didnt have the original carburetor. It also appears that at some point, the owner tried to make the car appear to be a Stage1. It has Stage1 chrome valve covers, a Stage1 fuel pump, a faintly visible outline of a Stage1 decal on the air cleaner, and the emissions decal says its a Stage1, but the car appears to originally have been a standard 455 (BA Transmission). The original owner had the engine rebuilt at some point in the late 70s and unfortunately it was decked, so the serial numbers are gone. I have no reason to believe its not the original engine and no reason to believe it was originally a Stage1 car. The engine was also bored .030 and has 11:1 compression pistons. The transmission and rear end (3.42 posi) are original as is the distributor (std. 455). I imagine the engine could be checked the same way the police check for serial numbers that have been ground off as the stamping goes pretty deepits some type of an acid etch that will reveal the numbers. My feeling was/is that it didnt matterthe original numbers are gone. I guess theres some chance this was an anomaly and the factory installed the wrong engine or transmission - stranger things have happened. With the numbers gone, I cant imagine it would add significantly to the value. If psychologically its worth proving that the engine is, in fact, original, then the test could certainly be performed, but the engine would need to be re-stamped. The paint (QQ)/stripe/decals are 100% original and the car has never been in an accident, although there is plenty of evidence that it didnt lead an easy life. The original grill emblem only reads sX (the owner told me he interrupted someone tying to pry it off amazingly, it didnt break the grille, there is very minor damage to the right front of the hood where the edge molding turns the corner (i.e. the corner of the molding is slightly pushed back), the fenders have the telltale dent where the corners of the bumper pushed into them, the front and rear bumpers have minor damage, both doors have a severe door ding, and there is a minor dent at the very rear of the right quarter. I would assume that most pieces of stainless have at least a minor ding. Not only was it heavily raced, but then it was left outside and un-driven for several years apparently with the typical water leaks. There is extensive trunk/rear floor pan rust, not to mention the normal A-body rust points. Its rusted like a car that sat/leaked water, not like a car from New YorkIf youve ever seen a rusty New York car, you know what I mean. The interior was not only well worn, but had mold on it and damage from all the exposure to moisture. They also apparently also used it to tow the family boat when they werent racing. In those days, a trailer hitch meant drilling holes in the bumper and trunk floor (it already had holes for the electric fuel pump). It also had a water ski rack mounted on the roof. That left several nice dents and a slight crease across the back of the roof about an inch forward of the rear window. I used to drive by and look at the car regularly before I bought it and every once in while, they would crack the windows and put a lamp in the car in some attempt to dry it out. When I bought it, the windows would frost up on the inside at night. There are several white paint drips on the rear end of the car where they painted their house at one point, but didnt bother to cover the car. I had originally planned on re-bodying the car and purchased a 1970 Skylark from California for such purposes. As time passed though, and I learned the art/skill/patience of replacing panels on a couple other restorations, I had decided that I would salvage the original GSX shell and use the parts car for exactly thatparts. My intention was to replace the entire rear clip (Quarters/inner fenders/trunk floor/rear floor pan) from the parts car as well as the roof panel/rear filler panel. It would truly be a labor of love and a lot of spot weld drilling, but it is very doable. Unfortunately, in my younger days (I was only 19 when I purchased the car), I was a bit overzealous to restore the car and took it apart. An act that I very much regret at this point, but it is what it is and the car is about 95% disassembled. I have kept everything that came off the car together and I was smart enough to label every piece of hardware and many small parts as it came apart and have extensive photographs of the car coming apart. The only missing items that I know of are the windshield (it broke as I took it out) and radiator (I have no idea). I did run the engine, wheels and rear end for a very short time in one of my other cars in the late 80s, but put everything back with all the parts for this car when I pulled them back out. I have about 200 pictures of the car as it sits now in pieces, about 15 rolls of film worth of pictures as the car came apart, and pictures of the car as I got it before and after cleaning it up. I have not sent the data plate info to Wayne Roberts (Ive actually been pretty much out of working on cars for a while as my business/marriage/2 kids has been all-consuming for the past 10 years), but there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that this is an original GSX. As I said, it is 100% original paint/decals/emblems, etc. and very obvious to anyone who knows these cars that it is a real GSX. I would have no problem having it verified as a condition of purchase, but also dont see it as necessary either. It would probably be fun for the new owner to go through the process. It was not a heavily optioned car. There are people on this board who knew of the car when it was brand new. The build date, serial number, assembly plant (Flint) options, etc. all fall in line and of course the Q-Q is GSX only. From a documentation standpoint, as rusty as the car was/is, it had/has an amazingly near perfect build-sheet that was found under the gas tank mat. You couldnt ask for a nicer one. I also have the bill of sale (they traded in a 1964 Skylark on it) and protect-o-plate and it came with no other documentation. The dealership it was purchased from is no longer in business. The car has the following options (of course GSX options were few): TH 400 Power Steering Speed Alert (I always found that rather odd) AM/FM Air Conditioning It had no option for the mirror map/trunk light package (again, odd) As an interesting side note, the original owner liked the car so much, that in the mid-70s they purchased a second GSX for his wife to drivea white one that came out of the Boston, MA area. Sometime in the late 70s, the new car was sitting on the street in front of their house and was rear ended by a drunk driver. The car sat at the dealership awaiting repair and several of the key parts were pillaged. Insurance ultimately totaled the car. I wound up with the hood off that car (its absolutely perfect) and the rear spoiler, which had been repaired. I dug them out the front of a 40 storage trailer at the owners place of business on a very hot summer day (of course, it happened to be a day that I was a bit hung over toonothing like being hung over and crawling on your stomach into the depths of a storage container to retrieve car parts) the summer after I purchased the car. My guess is that this is where the various Stage1 parts that wound up on my car came from. I ultimately ran into the original owners son after I purchased my car and he still had the engine from the wrecked car under a tarp in his yard. I dont think he was too happy that his father had sold the car and was in no mood to part with the engine. Its probably still there (an original 70 Stage1). He also told me stories of how he and his brother used to take (steal) my car out at night without his fathers knowledge and street race it. As I said, I bought a parts car to aid in the restoration. It a 1970 Skylark from the San Jose California area. I specifically searched out a car with no vinyl top and air conditioning so that the sheet metal would reflect the GSX as closely as possible. That car has been stored inside since I got it in the early 90s and is rust-free. It is a mostly complete car, but was purchased from a junkyard so some parts (front end sheet metal and interior) were pillaged, but the shell is 100% in-tact and there are a lot of trim parts that will come in handy. It also has very good doors. It is not included in the sale, but would be available for purchase. I have some very nice used parts and a handful of reproduction parts that I bought and/or accumulated for the car. I didnt spend much money on repro parts, figuring they would always be available (or Id find NOS) and instead concentrated on NOS and used, figuring their supplies were limited. I have been collecting NOS/NORS and used parts for the restoration since I bought the car in 1986 and probably have one of, if not the most extensive NOS parts collections for one of these cars in existence. Im going to sell the car, complete with all of the parts that were on it when I bought it. As with the parts car, whoever buys the GSX will have the first shot at the NOS parts collection, however I will probably only sell it as a collection. If you read through this list, youll see that the parts collection is probably worth far more than the car itself. The following is just to give an idea of what NOS parts I haveit is by no means complete and to reiterate, is not part of the sale but whoever buys the car should know whats available. Hood Tach Steering Wheel & center cap Grille & Grille Emblem Spoiler (rear) Core Support/Latch/Latch support Front Inner fenders (LF & RF) & RR inner fender WG Wheels (4) & center caps (both correct) Fan Shroud (one just sold on e-bay for $1500) Quarter & Trunk GSX decals, air cleaner decal Ft & Rear Bumpers All lenses (taillight & housings, parking light & housings, marker light, interior, T3 headlights) Seals (Door, roof rail, front & rear of quarter glass, ram air, underside hood insulation, trunk) All exterior trim (Ft & rear Windshield stainless, front of hood, grille surround, drip rail, wheel well, quarter windows, rear bumper plate, front and rear window fuzzies, rocker moldings, bumper fillers, etc.) Hood grilles (outside)/under hood base plates/misc. air cleaner parts Interior trim (radio bezel, rearview mirror, dash bezel, dash escutions, dealer installed radio kit which includes a host of detail parts, A/C trim, Ash trays, door & window handles, console door cover, large chrome console base plate, shifter trim, stainless around console base, shifter cable) Electrical (switches, relays, senders, date-coded alternator, A/C controls, speedometer w/speed alert, correct dist cap, correct battery cables, etc.) Fuel (tank sender, tank straps, gas cap, pump, rubber gas line, etc.) A/C Parts (hoses, switches, valves, fan coupling, etc.) Steering Parts to rebuild steering column/pump/gearbox/linkage/hoses, etc. Brake Parts (e-brake cables, brake Booster from Dealer installed PB kit, backing plates, hardware, etc.) Suspension Parts (control arms, bump stops, bushings, spiral shocks, etc.) Engine Parts (balancer, ft. cover, complete gasket overhaul w/ steel shim head gaskets, water pump) Hinges (door & hood) Hundreds of other detail parts (bolts, nuts, washers, clips, bumpers, switches, vents, supports, insulators, seals, hoses, bushings, retainers, wires/cables, covers, valves, handles, brackets, grommets, boots, rods, etc.) This is not a complete list. There were only a few parts I wanted that I could never find (throttle cable, front spoiler, breather hose, wood grain shift handle and lower windshield mldg. is about all I can think of). Obviously, the NOS parts I have are worth far more than the car (I havent begun to come up with a figure), but are also an integral part of the restoration. Youll notice I didnt include fenders and quarters. Although I do have them and would be happy to sell them, I was going to use the quarters off the parts car and used rust-free Arizona fenders. I have a handful of reproduction parts and also have the following used parts (this list is probably not complete) that again, will be offered first to whoever buys the car. All are rust free and/or in excellent condition: California Rust Free Parts Car Front Fenders from Arizona 70 GSX Grille Emblem 70 GSX hood LF/RF Inner Fenders (In addition to NOS above) Extra rear filler panel, rear inner fenders, and roof panel (In addition to parts car) Set of front bumper brackets 455 valve covers 70 455 Carburetor (not sure of date code) 70 Intake manifolds (not sure of date codes) 70 GS Bucket Seats 70 GS Black door panels 70 GS back seats 73 console/shifter (for all the trim) Transmission Cross member AM/FM Radio Exhaust heat riser Most, if not all stainless trim Misc. Dash parts Misc. Lenses Needless to say, the car needs extensive bodywork and was/is in need of a total restoration. As I said, the car was in poor condition when I purchased it 22 years ago. Taking it apart certainly didnt help, but probably didnt hurt much either. This is not a project for the faint of heart. It is, however, an original paint, never wrecked and undoubtedly real GSX. There are some salvageable original parts, but for the most part, it needs everything. Price: $21,500 (Orig. car only)
I passed this car for 10 years and the guy wouldn't sell it and finally Dan was able to save it!I think Dan is still in the Baltimore area or just north . Dan ,sorry to hear you are selling the "X". If I wasn't building a new house, I would be interested. the parts collection is outstanding,4 NOS WG WHEELS WOW!!!!!!!!!!!! plus caps +++++ Good Luck
Sorry Guys...It's still in Maryland. I'm just north of Baltimore. It's a bit surreal. This car has been a part of my life for over half of my life. I posted some pictures too. I have a lot more (I need to shrink the file sizes - Sorry Mike - I hope you have a good broadband connection). I would need to scan pics of before it came apart, but I can if anyone wants to see it. I'll also post the data plate info. vin# and a scan of the build sheet this week. Thanks for the kind words Bill...I can't exactly say I feel like I saved the car. At least it's been inside for 22 years instead of where it was sitting.
If you will email me the pictures you have to ryancraig205@hotmail.com I will edit them and post them here as well as my website so that people can see them in low res. on the board and high res on my website.:TU: Just trying to help.:beer
I guess the pics didn't upload properly last night...file sizes were probably too large. I made a few smaller...Thanks for the offer Ryan. I may take you up on it. I have a lot more pictures.
