1970 Buick GS Stage 1 (Orig. Show Car?)

Discussion in 'Cars and Parts For Sale Leads' started by Dano, Jun 11, 2017.

  1. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    Well, Mr. Immke's son, Jim, drove the car for a few years (to high school in fact). Again, at that point it was just an used car and had been damaged more than once in "incidents" let's just say. It was sold, from my understanding, to an individual that moved to Indiana and promptly failed to make his monthly payments to GMAC. It was repo'd and offered back to Immke and they took it back. It was then sold to the aforementioned Greer Rouda and he had it several years. I first saw the car parked at the HER Realty office in Upper Arlington, Ohio with the for sale sign in about 1975-76. The guy named John bought the car and you can follow from there. I think you are thinking of JC's red car, not this one about not being sold. Mr. White has his facts mixed up so don't believe ANYTHING he posts on his FB page. They are all untrue. There was, from my understanding, a MSO for the car. The GSX was sold with the OK from the Immke family.
     
  2. Jim Jones

    Jim Jones Wretched Excess

    I recall when I first saw your white car Brad, although it likely wasn't your's yet. We were taking my mother to the airport to fly to Florida to visit her mother who had become ill. I can't remember the exact year, but would say 1974-75. The GSX was parked in the old long-term lot at Port Columbus, very near the entrance road. I remember my jaw dropping, as it was only the second GSX I had ever seen, but was somehow different than the first, it was that interior. The only X I had seen prior to this was Warren (Kelly) Hartman's Apollo White Stage 1 4-speed. I grew up in the same neighborhood where Kelly lived. These posts are bringing back some old memories.
     
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  3. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    And I was working at the Kroger at Worthington Square in those days, street racing on Morse Road. Those were the days!!
     
  4. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Great stuff!

    I'm sure Dano didn't think his inquiry would end up like peeling an onion. Haha!
     
  5. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    Sometimes all you have to do is ask.... :)
     
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  6. Dano

    Dano Platinum Level Contributor

    You never know...I'd offer $69k & see what they say. Might take a while for them to see it your way, but if it sits long enough & they need to free up the cash.
     
  7. Dano

    Dano Platinum Level Contributor

    Timing is everything. Thanks for the story! Can you imagine street racing the GSX prototype...
     
  8. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    I can assure you it was fun. Just ask the guy with the 427" 69 Camaro or the kid in Bowling Green with the 1970 44o 6-pak Dodge.... :)
     
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  9. Mike Trom

    Mike Trom Platinum Level Contributor

    Brad,

    Are there Buick records for your show car (Sloan docs)? If so, do they show it as a standard GS being sold to the dealer? Same question about the Red show car.
     
  10. ewald1919

    ewald1919 Well-Known Member

  11. Dano

    Dano Platinum Level Contributor

    Wow, that was really bad timing Jim...I would think @ the time that really stung, and then I assume years later to find out what the car really was, being 1 of 1, must've stung all over again. As you said, at least it went to a good home and was properly cared for and restored.

    Back around '86-87 (ish) there was a really nice black '71 GSX that was running around our area. We had a lot of young (20 ish y/o) Buick guys around the north side of Baltimore then and we hadn't all met yet, but we had heard there was only one real black '71 GSX and until we wound up meeting the guy who owned it, we were wondering if that was it. Of course it wasn't...
     
  12. hwprouty

    hwprouty Platinum Level Contributor

    This thread is great!
     
  13. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    Only the regular docs available from Sloan. Nothing special. They looked and had no idea what I was talking about. I'm sure there's something somewhere, but I don't know where it would be.
     
  14. 72STAGE1

    72STAGE1 STAGE 1 & 2

    God yes!.......I'm like you, what good is owning a real deal Muscle Car if you don't put it to the wood and let those ponies run? All my cars get wrung out every time they leave the garage.
     
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  15. Jim Jones

    Jim Jones Wretched Excess

    Morse Road was the place to be on the North side. Hanging out at the Patio Shops, and later the Children's Palace lot, but I eventually tired of all the street racer banter. "Ya gotta gimme 3 and the go". Frankly I had more fun just pulling up to a light and racing heads up without all the negotiation. Morse Road is like little Somalia now. Times sure have changed. Sometimes we would spin down to Central Point, but the racer's banter was worse yet there. The Point is where I first saw the red show car, and met owner Fast Eddie Balling. He was always a character. Oh my misspent youth.

    Brad, do you remember a red Stage 1 car that used to tool around Worthington? It was owned by Mark Taggert who graduated from Worthington high in 1976, a year ahead of me. I was driving the '71 Monte Carlo in high school, and his red GS was the car that convinced me I would own a Stage 1. The Monte was no slouch at that time, and I eventually had it running mid-13s (13.40" best) on street tires, but EVERY time I would race Mark he would beat me by a fender, no matter what modifications I had made the previous week. I ran into Mark a few years after graduation and he was driving a mundane 4-door Olds. When I asked him about the Stage 1, he said "I don't want to talk about it". I left it at that, but that GS was a fast car. I assume it suffered a similar fate to my Monte Carlo.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2017
  16. Jim Jones

    Jim Jones Wretched Excess

    At the time of sale, I just considered that used car dealer to be a real (expletive deleted) jerk, selling a car out from under a deposit. I mumbled to myself all the way home what retribution he deserved. But as Brad said, at that time it was little more than a 10 year-old used car, and I forgot about it quickly. Later, after learning it's provenance, the memories returned, but they were of that (expletive deleted) used car dealer. Frankly I was glad to see the car end up in the capable hands of Brad and his father. I sure would like to drive it again though. ;)

    On a side note, two summers back I ran into one of the local Buick faithful, Tom Ulery. I went up to his place and talked Buicks and old times, not to mention picked up a rather rare NOS part. Anyway, he showed me an old photograph he had posted on the bulletin board in his shop, showing his car parked next to Brads white GSX, and the Black GSX , which at the time of the photo was still owned by Marty. The photo was taken prior to the restoration of the cars, and it was great to see them as I remembered them from way back.
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2017
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  17. GNandGS

    GNandGS Well-Known Member

    Great thread!
     
  18. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    Yep, Morse Rd was "it" in my day. Central Point still had some, but we usually stayed away from there. Figured if they wanted to play, it was up to them to head north, not us going down south. I know about Morse Rd now, like you said, "little Somalia". I have a client that buys and rents crap holes down there...I've ALWAYS got my friend at my side when I go there, and even then, I do my best not to get out of the car to get photos. That area has REALLY changed over the years, especially after Northland Mall was closed and torn down.

    I didn't know Mark, even though he graduated same year I did. I ended up going to Whetstone but would have gone to Worthington if Anheuser-Busch hadn't built the brewery. I grew up in Indian Hills, across from what is now Antrim Park (which in my day was a quarry). When the brewery went up, we were "sold" to Columbus schools in exchange for the brewery's property taxes. Wise move on Worthington's part, very stupid on Columbus'. During that time period, (mid 70's) all I had was the Skyhawk. With 110 horsepower, I didn't go around looking for races very much :) . I didn't acquire the GSX until May of 1978.

    We really need to get together. Steve Hunkins, Jeff, you, me, respective better half's all need to meet up sometime and go over old times. I would really like that.
     
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  19. Brian Albrecht

    Brian Albrecht Classic Reflections

    Not Dodge, '71 Plymouth 440+6 IIRC...
     
  20. Brad Conley

    Brad Conley RIP Staff Member

    Mopar, Slopar...made no difference. He still lost. :)
     

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