OK, so after literally twenty years of sitting in a rented garage, I brought my car home! I had to pull the rubber from all four corners as it was sitting on flat tires for years. With the exception of one tire, all held air just fine (surprisingly) after new valve stems were installed. Some comments on what I found: -No rust. The car is straight and, from what I can tell, rust free. -All door and trunk locks operate smoothly. -Clutch wasn't stuck to the flywheel, trans came out of gear easily. -NOS air cleaner foams in the trunk. I found one, but I think there's another. -Three 14" Buick Rally rims with beauty rings in the trunk. I remember having these, but don't remember where from, why, or what off of. -Front tires bald on the outside edges. :bglasses: -Rear tires just plain bald! :bglasses: -All sorts of college papers and stuff floating around the trunk/backseat. -Twenty year old empties and an empty Reunite bottle (must have been for some special date) -Interior is kinda sticky, assume from platicizers from the vinyl in the closed up car for so many years. A crack in the drivers-side seat bottom. All other interior parts look ok, with a quick visual anyway. -Signs of mice in the trunk, in the interior, under the hood. Hope they didn't chew the wiring harness apart! -Car rolled out no problem. Rotors/drums were free, brakes worked when applied (not sure how many corners). Attached is a picture on the back of the flatbed. I'll post some more pics too. Overall, I'm pretty encouraged. I'm not under the illusion that I'll slap a battery in and go, but I am pleased that it may be less work than I had originally thought to get it road worthy!
In my driveway I gave it a wash when I got it home before rolling it into the garage. My wife snapped this one of me. Gee, I didn't realize I was smiling that much!
After the wash It's wet, don't let the gloss fool you. I think it could be made passable with some elbow grease, but really needs fresh paint to look right, especially considering the primered front fender.
View from the other side Note the front spoiler is missing. The baffle is there, but the spoiler is somewhere in my father's garage. I clipped a curb with it long ago and cracked the lower lip and bent the mounting bracket. Can a '71 spoiler be repaired?
Straight body Here's a view up the driver's side from the rear quarter. The body is nice and straight. The same is true for the other side.
gsx ken: love the story . i guess it is time to spend the coin & bring this baby up to snuff . u have the rare ralley + beauty ring optional rims ! u have any history on this car? :beer :beer
Gerry- I originally posted some info on this car over in the Newbie section. Anyway, the long and short of it is my dad bought this car in '71 when it was six months old. Apparently, some wealthy local girl bought when she turned 21 (and received an inheritence) and drove it while she was waiting for her Porsche to be delivered. He bought it from her for, I think, $2400. I bought it from him in 1977 for $2,000 ( I think he made out on the deal- $400 for 4 years of driving it). I drove it until 1981, went to college, ran out of money, the car needed lots of stuff (radiator, tires, exhaust), some jerk stole parts off it, got married, had no where to put it, stuffed it in a rented garage 5 towns away, had kids... You've heard this story before. I finally bought a house with the space, so it was time for it to come home! I hopefully now have the funds to get it going again! Anyway, other than the first six months of its life, I can account for the complete history. Actually, a long lost friend of mine was bud's with the brother of the girl that originally bought it. He told me stories of how they beat on it pretty good those first six months. :af: PS- The beauty ring rally wheels didn't come on the car. I collected them somewhere along the line.
Its kinda hard not to beat on a new car, especially a fast one. My step dad did the same thing with his 2000 Trans Am WS6. He let everyone he knew, including 16 year old me, drive it and beat the hell out of it for the first few months after he got it. Now he doesnt even let my mom drive it. uzzled: Awesome car though. Ive kinda got a soft spot for a lime mist GSX.:TU: ________ Harmed by prilosec
I have to agree Ken.... .that's a cool story and a SWEET car! Good luck whipping her back into shape.
Just cleaned it out... I just cleaned out my "time capsule" of a car. Among items found: -Mouse turds :gt: -Original acorn lugs for at least three wheels worth -Library book with a return date of April 23rd, 1980 -Temporay Registration for a '64 rambler I had -GS emblem in good shape. Where the heck did that come from? -Both replacement aircleaner foams in their factory boxes -Jury response form in envelope with stamp, obviously unmailed -Love letter from girlfriend saying she wanted to be with me forever, she broke up with me in '83 :Brow: -More mouse turds -The trunk had a rug in the bottom of it. Underneath it was the original trunk mat (like a houndstooth pattern?) in near perfect condition. The trunk itself is rust-free and has the speckle paint in great shape! The jack is in perfect shape and in place under the spare. The spare cover has some scratches, but otherwise in good shape. -A pair of mirrored aviator sunglasses. Hey, baby. Anyone wear those anymore? -Acorns (organic kind) and turds. Anyway, hope I'm not boring you guys. It's just that I'm having so much fun! And I'm way jealous of you guys that can simply turn a key and go...
Jealous of us? You have a GSX!!!! I'm enjoying reading this thread, always cool to see a car like this being prepared to go back where it belongs...on the road!!!! Keep us posted!!!
The Heist Jeff- Back in the '81-'82 timeframe I had the car parked at a neighbors house. I went over one day and noticed a hole in the hood where my tach had been. I opened the hood and saw that the idiots had stolen the ram air set-up. they left the support bracket attached to the intake, but stole the air cleaner assembly. I noticed that when they stole the hood tach that they snipped the wiring harness below the connector! They also spun the tach on the hood to undo one of the screws leaving some nice circular scratches. :af: After walking around the car I saw that they stole the grill emblem. Try to find an original one of those... Wish I coulda found those guys. :blast: Shortly after that it went into the garage where it sat for 20 years.
Cool story Ken. A friend in Monroe, Ct. has a green Stage 1 4speed GSX that was purchased in Canada with all the French writing in the trunk and under the hood. He also has 2 yellow 70 GSX's. I have a 70 white GSX Stage 1 I bought in 1975 for my 16th birthday for $2500.
Filled out the application... Hey John- As soon as I saw your name I remembered that I needed to fill out the application for the North East group. I just did so and will mail it out tomorrow. Thanks for sending the newsletters with the applications attached. I look forward to meeting you guys. Do you mean Carl R. in Monroe, Ct? I met him at a car show a few years ago and we never seemed to hook up to go see my car. He had a GS at the time he was doing a frame-off on. Does he now has a green GSX? I figure it must be. I mean, how many guys in Monroe, Ct have a collection of Buicks? o No:
Hey ken, Where are you in connecticut? Love to see the car sometime. Hope it gets running some time soon. Lars.
Coastal Ct Lars- I'm down in Fairfield. That's doable from New Britian. It would be nice to meet you some time and check out your ride. What's going on with it? According to your sig it seems you're cooking up something good!
I'm in Marco- I was following that thread on the Holmdel event and am definitely interested in coming. I'm not sure my car would be ready by then, but I'd like to come drool with or without it!
