I often wonder which car I would have chosen if I was young man back in 1970 with $4000 to spend. Which would you guys choose,..be honest with yourself we all know the GS is where our heart is but,...i think I would have went with the Goat Ram air IV 4speed
I was a Chevy man (boy - 12 years old) back then so it would have been the SS454, LS6 with a 4 speed of course...
I have to agree with you Ethan, the GS and the GTO are in a different league to me. The other 2 don't do much for me.
Well, I was 18 in the summer of 1970 and my choice was the GSX. And 48 years later, I still love that car. It was a good choice Jim
Dad worked for Buick so I wouldn't have had much choice. But I agree with you Ethan, without Dad in the picture I probably would have gone for the GTO.
I mean when I think American muscle car, the very first thing that comes to my mind and always has is GTO
Dad and Grandpa before him were in the Buick dealership so I would not go any other way. I grew up riding in demonstrators and remember him selling plenty of GS's.
Many people pick the GTOs because, starting with the 64 model year, they received the publicity and had the numbers on the street. But in the real world, the less prevalent 62-64 Max Wedge cars were destroying the GTOs. It was not close. (Three deuce GTOs ran C stock while Max Wedge Plymouths and Dodges ran A stock). In the late 60s 440 MOPARS and Street HEMIs were big. By 1970 the max wedge cars were being used mostly on the strip and were seldom seen here on the street. In 1969-70 the 70 stage 1 Buick appeared out of nowhere and immediately took stock eliminator at the local strips. As long as a max wedge did not appear, the Buick was the new stock king. This status carried over to nearly stock street cars.
In 1970 I was 16 years old and a more of a car guy than anyone else I knew. I had a `64 Ford Galaxie XL in high school and even though I traded it in after graduation in 1972 on a `67 GTO, I never became a Pontiac guy. I suspect blowing 3 engines in the GTO in a years time had something to do with that But being in the restoration business for over 40 years now I have restored many GTOs through the years, half a dozen or so being RAIV cars, and one of them was an almost exact duplicate of the black one shown here. It was a RAIV, 4 speed, 4.33 geared car with not many options but it did have the Rally II wheels. Anyway, I became a Chevy guy and likely would have gone with the LS6 Chevelle given a choice at that point in my life. I grew up near Janesville, WI where a major GM plant was located, and about 22 miles from Belvidere, IL where a Chrysler plant is still located. Needless to say, there were a lot of Chevys and Mopars in this area but I don't remember one single Buick or Olds that anyone had, other than our fathers with the big cars, which I attribute to so many local guys working at these plants.
Knowing what I know now, it'd be the GS without a doubt, but itd depend on how old I was. I bought my Buick because I couldn't afford a chevelle, so at that moment in time, as much as I hate to say it, probably would've nabbed the chebby. But the olds would be a close second in either scenario. Can't I just knock over a bank and buy the whole matching set?!
I was 19 in '70 and, back then, I would have picked the SS as I was much more familiar with them at that time. I do have to admit that the first muscle car I fell in love with was when Eddie, the Olds racing guy in our neighborhood, came home with a brand new '65 dark blue/white bucket 442, 4-speed.
I would have bought Brad's 1970 Chicago Auto Show X when putout to pasture and THEN haunted the dumpster outside of Dennis Manners R&D Lab for some PREMIUM dumpster diving!!! I do like that W-30 though! : )
I was almost a Mopar guy, when I was 15 we found and a made a deal on a crazy solid and straight 72 Challenger 318 3 speed stick car, factory Orange. But when we went back a few hours later to pick it up it was gone and so were the people,..kinda creepy but they were Mopar people and we know how strange they are ha,. Almost as bad as AMC guys
I was 8.... I wanted Speed Racers' Mach 5. But my dentist's son had a '69 Mustang Mach 1. That was the coolest new car I had even seen.
