1 of zero made?

About 20 years ago i bought a 68 GS 400 - 4 speed car from a nice elderly lady that clams to have owned it since around 1972, and had made no changes. It actually had less than 50,000 miles on the odometer. I pulled out the engine, trans. and 3:42 posi rear to put in a go fast 455. I raced it for a lot of years but finally the block broke and now i am putting it back to original, but upon cleaning the grease off of the "original " engine, i find that its a 430. Has anyone ever heard of a Buick dealer putting bigger engines in A body cars like Royal did for Pontiac, and Yenco for Chevy?

 

My dad owned 2 69 gs. The stage1 had a bad tendency of breaking camshafts.......it is maybe possible that this 400 suffered the same fate and maybe gm or someone b4 72 put the motor in out of donor car.

 

Not sure...but i'd love to find the history from the original owner...the dealership it came from is long gone

 

Is there a serial # on the block ? Maybe the first owner raced it. Could even have been the dealership.

 

honestly , i never looked. Just saw the 1381625 casting number on it and stopped looking assuming it wasn't original. A plus side is that it does have the 1382983 big port heads

 

I'm sure others will chime in, but check the serial # & if matching, I beleive it's not unheard of that somehow some 430's found their way into GS 400's from the factory. I don't recall the backstory & could mistaken but pretty sure I've seen some threads on this.

 

That would be very cool if that would be the case...even cooler if its documented somewhere

 

The only documentation would be the VIN stamp on the block. That would be awesome if so!

 

Mike ,
I've heard this same story from our local Buick dealer .
A good friend worked in the service , became service manager and
the general manager .
He told the story of a new 67 GS 400 when it came in for service , all
the mechanics wanted to service the car because it was so fast !
It was towed in with a blown engine and when pulled apart , they
discovered it was a 430 . Factory replaced it with a 400 and the
owner was never satisfied with the performance but never was
aware of the original engine size .
Bill
PS ,
I bought a 67 GS 400 new in 67 , it was a screamer (13.80 1/4 mile )
but I never checked the engine before i sold it in 68 .

 

I'll check it when i get home, that would be awesome. I will say that when i bought it, it was without even hearing it run because it needed a battery and a water pump. When i did get it running, i was impressed with how well it ran, it blew the tires off in the first 3 gears easily. It is a cool car

 

Think it was in 65 that about 120 Pontiacs came with Corvette engines because they ran out of the regular Chevy ones. In Canada Pontiac used Chevy motors. Seen a couple early 409 Pontiacs.

 

My 67 Skylark was a factory 300/ST300 car.. When I bought it, it had a 400/ST400 block in it with the 1231109 heads... According to the 400 cast in the block in the back.. Pulled the motor apart to rebuild it turned out to be a 430 that had been bored 30 over.. Always wondered why anybody would bore a 400 block to 430 then 30 more.. FWIW the main bearings had a manufacturing date of 92. In 92 there were still plenty of 455 motors around.. All that extra boring has never made sense to the machinist or anybody that I've told this to...

 

Mike,
What a cool story, and no, I'm not calling it a "story." I believe anything can happen! Post some pics if you can of the whole car. My 7th grade Civics teacher had a brand new 68 GS400 4 speed when I met him. I learned to drive on that car! I'll send a picture in a minute.

 

Here is a picture of my buddies 1968 GS 400 for speed. I believe this was probably late 1970. I wish that was me in the picture but honestly it's my younger brother.

 

That photo needs to be in the ‘Show us your stepchild’ thread!
Patrick

 

Patrick, you are always awesome! Hope you have a great Friday tomorrow!!!

 

When dad had his 69 stage 1, his best friend bought a boss 302, that just so happened to really be a 429 engine instead......I have pictures of it somewhere......for those that didn't know thinking they were picking on 302 they got a nasty surprise

 

So if a 430 is so much faster than a 400: why isn't a 455 also so much faster than a 430?

 

this is really the only descent picture i have on my computer...this is shown with the 455, but power windows and power drivers seat are still intact and working

 

I do have the protecto plate with the original owners name, he is / was a local business owner and i reached out, they are still in business, but haven't heard back yet. The numbers that i found on the passenger side head surface, does not match anything in the VIN, so it would be cool to hear from the original owner. He took ownership 12/29/67