Hi there my name is Robbee as you can see from my user name I am from the beautiful big sky country or Montana here is a little about me and the buick I have. Please if you can help me with any info it would be greatly appreciated. I inherited this car from my father who was the original owner. He bought it brand new in 1969 somewhere in Washington state. I am not exactly sure where yet but with a little more digging I think I will find the original purchace papers. This car is so special to me for many reasons. But mostly because in the last years of my dads life we spent many hours in our shop working on this car. Not long before he went he told my sister and I that everything was to be split even with the exception of the buick he was leaving that to me to finish. My dad bought this car specificly for racing and thats what he did with it. I remeber as a kid dreamally looking at the photo albums that stored the pictures of his racing days. He said he only got beat once. Now my dad loved american steel and had many muscle cars over the years but this is the only one he held on to. He had many offers to buy this car. But he always said this car was really rare. Something about the headers made it I think he said like 1 out of 12. I know they made very few convertiables that year under 50 I think. The car is all original what my dad did over the years was to obtain a second 455 which he souped up with lunati cams (probably spelled that wrong) and a bunch of other stuff that I would have to get the specifics on. So I have the original 455 with all the original parts and accesories as well as an additional 455 thats been upgraded. So I have been trying to do some research to find out exactley what this buick is and I am finding it pretty tuff. Everything I find says they did possible make the stage2 in 1970 but they didnt keep any documentation on these cars till 1972. Now from everything I have read I know they are rare but I truely feel that mine might be one. I know that my dad actually pick this car up in 1969 which makes me think it is one of the earlier 1970 models and I am almost positive that it was completley assembled when he picked it up. So I thought what better way to really find out what I have here than to reach out to the Buick community. Here is the other thing the car was right in the middle of restoration when my dad passed. The front end is tore down to the frame waiting for paint, The engine's are both tore down to the block for a full overhaul. He had spent about $10,000 on new everything for both motors and a whole new interior for this car. I have so many year one boxes piled up I dont know where to start. We have started the assembley of the non-original block but neither my boyfriend or I have worked on many big block motors so its a slow process. But I am determined this car will run again. The fact is I have never even got to drive this car. Thats really what inspired my dad to start this restoration was so I could enjoy this car like he did. My long term plan is to get this car back to its glory like it was when my dad raced it. So we can get the family together with the top down take it out on one of our long MT roads pin her down and let my fathers ashes fly out the back. I think that would put a big smile on his face. So please if you know of some specific things I can look at on the car to tell me what I have or if you want some specific pictures of certian thing please let me know. Thanks to all you Buick lovers!
A picture of the heads on the side showing the exhaust ports and spark plugs will tell if they are factory iron stage 2 heads. They would have been bought for the car later in life over the parts counter. Also welcome aboard.
Great story I have a big smile on my face right now. Welcome Robbie from the great state on MN. If you get stuck on any issue someone here will know the answer just ask
Here is a thread about over the counter factory cast iron stage 2 heads. They were initially released I believe in 1972. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?t=88540&highlight=iron+stage+heads
We have ran the numbers on the heads and they are stage 1 heads for 1970 I guess its the headers Im stumped I know there is something diffrent about these headers. I know that there were 12 assembled stage 2's sold in 1969 and that there is little to no documentation on them. Do you think everyone of the 12 were exactly the same or that there could have been little customer preference diffrences cause I know my dad custom ordered this car and picked it up in 1969. So there is a small chance this could be one of those 12.
There is no such creature as a 70 factory stage 2. (They did make a race car or two owned by members here.). The stage 2 heads did not come out until 1972. Also the numbers on the heads are the same for both stage 1 and non stage 1 heads. You can get the specific data on the car if it was early in 69 from the A.P. Sloan Museum in Flint Michigan. It could have been a stage 1 car from the factory.
If you buy the parts over the counter a dealer, you or someone else at your direction could install this for you. Part of the confusion here may lie in the fact that you could get an over the counter stage 2 package starting in 1968 or so for the 400/430 but there were no heads associated with it at that time. These packages were comprised of cams, pistons, valve springs etc. This package is listed in the the parts books.
Welcome aboard, great story! It's possible that a dealer could have been paid to do the installation labor after the customer ordered the parts, but that would likely have happened in 1972 or later once the Stage 2 heads were released for sale. There is evidence that prototype Stage 2 heads showed up as early as '69. Seeing photos of what you have will certainly help. Here's some more reading about the two cars already mentioned: http://www.buickperformance.com/Stage2.htm Devon
I will be getting some photo's up soon and thank you for the A.P. Sloan Museam suggestion I will definantely take advantage of that.
They are going to ask you for the Fisher body sequence number off the cowl tag under the hood on the drivers side to make sure they have the records. Otherwise you have to get the information from Wayne Roberts who is a member here. We can tell you some things about it in advance. Is it an automatic or a manual transmission car?
Does the car's VIN have the letter "H" in it? So look on the cowl tag. It may read "446670H" (and then a series of random numbers) If not how is it different?
Welcome Robbee - what a wonderful story !! You will get LOTS of useful information here but to be direct and to the point - for all practical purposes there were no stage2 cars produced on the production line for purchase by the general public. Your cars life started as either a GS or GS Stage1 and then parts were ordered from a dealership to make it a stage2. The only way to document this is to have paperwork from the sale of these parts from the dealership to your father, or a work order from the dealership on the installation of these parts.
Welcome Robbee. Fantastic story for an introduction. If you want you can post the information off the body tag in the "paperwork trail" forum and that will start the process of gathering information and the car. Contacting Sloan and Wayne Roberts is always a great idea to verify the information. There is a plethora of information here that you will find useful in completing the restoration. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want. We'll try and answer as many as we can. There is a lot of natural beauty to be seen from behind the wheel of a GS convertible in the Missoula, Whitefish, Kalispell, Glacier National Park area.
The cowl tag shows the 4th week of September, 1969 as the build date so Sloan has the paperwork. FL1 means it was built in the Flint plant so it "could" be a stage 1 car. If you look on the driver's side of the 4 speed there is a line where the tailshaft mates to the main body. There you may see a partial VIn which may match your car. If it does this is consistent with the car being a factory 4 speed.
Does your car have "MT'' headers maybe? Some cars had to have had them....or there would be no Repros now.
