1970 Stage 1 Diplomat Blue- with commentary from the original owner

Was fortunate enough to be on the "right place at the right time" when I came across this Stage 1. I bought it and was going to drive out to pick it up.. 2 days before, life "happened" and I had to pass this car onto one of our more esteemed members of the Buick community. Adam (Smartin) was tasked to get it and gave it a once over... got the brakes working, made sure it ran... Then back to the owners home where it sat for months... He said "whenever you want it back, just let me know"... I got it home about a month ago and decided that this would be a "preservation" of sorts- use as many of the original parts as I can to get it to be a decent, SAFE driver. I also wanted to get a history of the car... And was able to track down and speak to the original owner..

In 1970, Mr Miller went down to his local Buick dealership and ordered a 1970 Stage 1 automatic.

"I was mechanically inclined. I knew what I wanted. I wanted something fast, and something to drive the wife and kids around with. So, I ordered it with the comforts I wanted- air conditioning, disc brakes, 15x7 wheels, and so on. I got the power door locks as those were on the Skylarks so I figured I would get them on this car (??). I waited 4-6 months for this sucka to arrive!!! After driving it around 9 months, with maybe 10,000 miles on it, I began to hear a rod knock. I brought it back to Buick and the tech said 'we can't fix it unless it's broken'. So, I left and beat the hell out of the car, eventually clearly spinning the rod. At that time, there was a strike going on at GM. So, Buick rebuilt my original engine. Well, there must have been some kid that didn't know any better sweeping the floors as my rebuilt engine failed at 4500 miles. They found all kinds of metal in the oil pump screen. By then, the strike was over and I got a brand new engine.. Of course, it took about 6 months to come in.. After that, it ran STRONG!! I then street raced it quite a bit.. Not the typical drag racing stuff but the Fast and Furious type of racing, long before Fast and Furious was ever around (LOL). I then contacted Kenne Bell and bought a set of Stage 3 heads, headers, bigger fuel pump, and a recalibrated TH400 valve body. After that, almost nothing could beat me!!! Cuda's, GTO's, Charger's, nothing... There was only 1 car- it was a 1969 Chevelle, had a 450 hp 454 in it that was BUILT. It was stripped down and had a stout motor in it. That was the only car that I couldn't take... There was really no competition around where I was living".

"From there, the fuel crisis hit... and this thing just wouldn't run on cheap gas. I had to drive about 100 miles away to get aviation fuel for this thing. That became a pain so I parked it. I would go out and start it from time to time, take the plugs out and pour some kerosene in the cylinders... I had it partially covered out in my yard. The front should look good... The rain dripped on the drivers side and trunk lid".

"I think I sold it around 1990. I have pictures somewhere of it being loaded on the trailer when I sold it. It had the original heads, valve, and valve body in the trunk.".

It stayed on that trailer from 1990-to the summer of 2022... where it sat in a barn. Mr Miller (and Mrs Miller) were both VERY EXCITED to hear from me and to hear about their old car. I am sending him pictures of the progress. I will see if he happens to have any other paperwork, pictures, etc from his ownership of this car.

Pictures to follow..

 

Original window sticker, order sheet, and receipt for the replacement engine at 10,xxx miles...

 

ALL of those tires still hold air.... LOL

 

Rim low steering wheel wow, and I can still see the red overspray on the distributor!

 

cool time capsule, even with customer upper peak molding.

 

George have you had this car since 1990? Or did you buy it from the guy who left it in the barn?

 

I love these old car stories. Thanks for sharing, George. Best of luck with the car. Sure is a pretty color combo.

 

George, do you have the Kenne Bell parts he mentioned and original parts too?

 

I bought it off the guy who left it in the barn.

Chris – yes, it still has all of the Kenne-Bell parts on it. I reached out to the second owner to see if he had the original stage one heads… No reply yet....

 

The plan for this car is to get it operational and SAFE- using as many as the original parts (from this car) as I can!!!

The Kenne Bell heads were ported so much that a hole burned through on the #1 exhaust port. The exhaust has dumps- which I have to get tail pipes on.... The fuel tank is NEW- but it's for a Chevelle... Need to get that changed. Need to bleed the brakes and go through the lights.

The interior STANK!! There was factory sound deadner on the floors, which was good. On top of that was some type of plastic insulation- which was a moisture trap which "melted" the PS front carpet (some of the stank). I found a small mouse nest in the upper and lower sections of the back seat and one in the rear floor section support piece. With all of that cleaned out, most of the stank is gone...

Here's the interior as I got her....

 

I'd make that stop, steer and start and drive it a bit Possibly not even wash the car, just the windows

 

I then ripped out the interior, evaled the floors (found a little surface rust, wire wheeled, primed, and painted....

 

I cleaned and restored the door panels and got some arm rest bases. I polished the stainless inserts (why not??)... The rear seat base is quite nice. The upper rear seat is excellent... except where the sun killed it...

 

Tested the lights... still has 3 original T3 headlights....

 

For giggles, I did a QUICK buff of the paint... I used polishing compound then cleaner wax.... I need something a little more aggressive....

 

30 years of barn dust....