When looking at a 70 GS specifically, how can you tell what it came with from the factory. I'm also curious as to what kinds of variations are there of this model. Convertible, Sun Coupe, hardtop, post car etc. Did they all have scoop hoods, or were there some with regular hoods, I would assume that there were bench seats and buckets. Automatic trans with shifter on the column and floor. I have a friend that has one with a bench seat with fold down armrest and automatic on the column. I believe that it also came with a regular hood. Can anyone point me in the right direction where I might obtain some of this information. They are wanting to sell their car and I want to know more about it. Thanks
All GS cars came with a GS hood (scoops) AFAIK, in 70, they were either hardtop or convertible. The first 5 digits of the VIN will denote whether the car was a small block or big block GS. 44637 was a GS455 hardtop, 44667 was the GS455 ragtop. 43437, and 43467 were the GS350 hardtop and convertible respectively. You could get them with bench seats and column shift, or buckets and console shift. If you find one of the build sheets, that would be one way to document the car. The other would be the Sloan Museum in Flint, or Wayne Roberts. There were two rolls of Microfiche, Sloan has one, Wayne has the other. There is a charge to research the VIN, and they tell you how the car was built from the factory. I believe the last 6 digits of the VIN, 198000 and under is Sloan, 198000 and above is Wayne. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?th...ail-in-a-request-or-call.338388/#post-2856882 The Cowl tag will give you some information as well. http://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/help-deciphering-cowl-tag.322839/
This 1970 facts book will show you what is standard and optional on 1970 GS and GS455 cars. https://www.gransportstage1.com/buick-sales-literature/1970-buick-facts-book/ If the car you are looking at has a regular hood its a probably a Skylark unless it has a GS model number and the hood went missing at some point.
I believe all GS convertibles in ‘65-‘70 were big block cars-GS340 was a post coupe in ‘67, GS350 was coupe only until ‘71-‘72. All ‘69-‘72 GSs had ram air hoods. Any interior combo was allowed except for buckets in ‘71-‘72 convertibles. (They could be ordered with them though). Patrick
Thanks to each of you for your assistance with my question. I have checked the VIN and it does start with the 44637 so I know it is a GS 455. I guess the hood went missing because the hood that I have on the parts car is the same color as the GS but it is a regular one without scoops. It does have another scoop hood on it now. The person with the car is saying it's rare. Would one with bench seat and armrest and automatic column shifter be rare? Any additional information would be much appreciated. Mark
There were about 5000 automatic ‘70 GS455 coupes built, so compared to Chevelle SSs, GTOs, 442s, etc they’re all somewhat rare, but value comes more from condition than production numbers or interior options. Of course some colors, interior combos, and options are more desirable. That said, 1970 is arguably the most popular year. It’s definitely worth pursuing. Patrick
I have read that Buick built more cold -air induction "ram air" vehicles than any other GM division (which would be the '69 - '72 GS production run totals). Hard to believe there weren't more Cowl Induction SS's built in one or two years than the sum total of four years of GS's.
I found this little article about GS production numbers on this site, don't know if it's 100% accurate... http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/GSprod.htm
All 69-72 Skylark GS's came standard with cold-air induction. It was optional on GTO's, SS's & 442's. I bet less than half (or maybe way more than half) were ordered with it. Nowadays just about every one you see has it because it was added during the restoration or some time after the car was built.
