1972 GS Convertible 455 lead

Looks great, it’s come along way short period of time.

 

Really enjoyed meeting a bunch of you and putting faces to names. We have about 6 hours left in our trip back. Somehow I only managed to grab a few pics. The car will remain in its “beater” status for now. We need to get the rear brakes functioning and a couple other things buttoned up, but will drive the hell out of this summer. I’ll let the thread fall into the background for now. In July I plan on sprucing up the interior, redying a few parts, getting a better dash bezel installed, and a new carpet.

@FLGS400 i still owe you a beer

 

Great view. My 71 455 coupe is the same color combination except by way of a black vinyl top.

Cortez gold was a popular color back in the day, likely because it was used in some of the Buick advertisements.

Thanks.

Dwight

 

That’s awesome! 71s are my favorite of the 70-72s. To be honest I wasn’t a huge fan of Cortez gold until we got this car. It’s a very striking color in person and really pops in the sun. There were a few Cortez coupes at the nats this year. All great looking!

 

Hi. Yes, it grows on you. I have had my car painted twice over the years and both times, to the original color. It was always suggested the color be changed to something more popular and leave off the black vinyl roof.

It must be that yellow primer which made the color stand out on my first paint job. It is also a color which can be found on many cars when I checked on the production guide. Now it is seldom seen, but still appreciated by some of us.

My favorite spot is when you look up from the side of the rear tire, to the gold fender, and then black again with the vinyl roof. Rich!

Best wishes with your car, enjoy it.

Dwight

 

Lou it was nice meeting and talking with you guys. Glad you all brought the car down hope to see it again next year.

 

great meeting you guys too! We will definitely be back as long as life doesnt get in the way. It was the best car event I’ve been to. Enjoyed talking!

 

It was a pleasure to meet you and talk about the car with y'all. No worries on the beer, I can collect next year!

 

It received an alignment today and we’ve buttoned a few things up. Dipstick back installed (Woops), Ram air setup back together, etc. my dad has been using it as his daily driver to the bank. We are going to cruise it this weekend. It also hung out with some of our other junk around the shop.

 

80 miles today, including highways @ 80 MPH. This is the smoothest big block car we’ve had. It will never be perfect, but another one returns to the road. Going to start getting interior parts together. Will need to source a few things and hopefully be able to do it all in a weekend. I really need to get the rear windows to work. Hate having a convertible without all 4 down.

 

She is a beauty.

 

Due to the weather this week, we decided to cut our vacation short and come home a day early. Unfortunately that was a Friday which resulted in missing Morgantown. After some convincing from a local car buddy, I decided at 5 PM Friday to take the convertible to Carlisle Saturday for GM nats. With little/no prep, we hit the road at 6 AM and the car made the 250 mile round trip without issue. On the way down we caravan’d with my buddy Rich and his dad in their GMC pickup, and my buddy Frank and his wife in their 30K mile ‘87 GN. Rich’s 86 GN was one of the feature cars in building T for the 120th anniversary of Buick along with @chiefsb30 ’72 stage 1 zone car.

95 miles in we stopped at a gas station and I topped the car off. The 455 with a 2.56 rear did 14.1 MPG cruising around 70. The car did flawlessly except for the possessed wipers. Need to check the ground wire. On the way back, I cruised it around 80 the entire way and the car just wanted to keep going. No rattles, no vibrations, nothing.

Outside of the quick 15 minute downpour, it was a great show. Carlisle’s GM show is one of the most under attended events they have. While that is generally a negative, the staff bends over backwards to accommodate those who do come. In mine and Chris’ case, we hung out with the MAGNA guys (mid Atlantic Grand National Association) and the Carlisle staff couldn’t have been better. They gave us a huge tent to have a cookout large enough for 20+ people. It was a great time even though there were only 6-7 GS’, 2 electras, and 2 rivs compared to 30+ GNs. As always, I got wrapped up talking and took limited pics. Rich and I capped off the weekend attending a local cars and coffee. I even got my wife to tag along this time!

Thanks to Dano, Frank Stage 2 Iron, and John R., I have everything I need to spruce up the interior of this car and plan on tackling that next weekend, and hopefully painting the grille correctly. Whew.. that turned into a longer post than anticipated. Also had to share the ‘56 roadmaster convert that showed up this morning. Wow what a car

 

One of my old cars ('71 GS) parked next to you. Friend of mine bought it back in the mid 80s.

 

Thought I'd add my take on the event. I sold Lou (breakinbuick) some wheels years ago, and we kept in touch since and chat a fair amount. We did GS Nats together this year.

My car was a featured car inside bulding T. Its fresh out of paint correction and ceramic coating, which made a big difference. The Carlisle events staff was pretty great with us, and asked for a ton of feedback, they want to make GM a bigger event. Lou Santiago stopped by to have a livestream chat with the president of MAGNA. MAGNA is always a good time. My next goal is to add a Regal Limited.

I had a great time. I really wish we had better GS representation there, maybe next year we can all shoot for that.

 

@Dano have you spoke to the current owner Dave? He was looking for some history on the car. I’m actually going to be calling him later today. It’s a beauty. He bought it in 2014 from a dealer

 

Car is looking great Chris....

 

I spoke to him @ Cecil in 2017 or 18 and again in 2021. Pretty sure I gave him the history & that has my # (I have his somewhere). I sold the car on here around 08-09 to a guy in OH who I assume re-did it & sold it to the dealer. I'd bought it from my friend somewhat apart after it was in accident (pass. door/qtr damage) & never did anything w/it. He was looking for something w/the VIN (e.g. an old registration) to verify but I'm 100% sure it's the same car. Probably a 1 of 1 color/option combo.

 

Finally getting some time to do a few smaller projects on this. The formerly NOS grille is now going on the shelf as a spare. I made a small repair to this grille and painted it in the correct GS color scheme. Had some help too. I may be in the market for a set of 72 cross bars. The originals were bent in the accident but may be salvageable. Going to work on them this week. After I get the front end back together I have a new carpet, nice original dash and radio bezel, fresh speedometer, and plan on spray bombing some interior parts to freshen it up in there. We also need to get the rear windows and top functional.

 

Spent a couple hours with a vise and map torch to save the cross braces. They aren’t perfect but will be functional. Started reassembling front end. Bumper will need to be tweaked once the braces are painted and reinstalled. The GS grille significantly improves the look of a ‘72 IMO

 

Last ride before interior work. It’s going to need 2 small floor patches where the outer front seat belts bolt to the floor. I also figured out why the top doesn’t work…