70 gsx lead. 4speed, qq car.

I drove up to Phelps, WI yesterday ( 7hrs. Ugh) to look at this car. Sharing in case anyone is interested. some background

• Original owner, has original title and some documentation.
• 60k miles, restoration in 89. Has pics. New qtrs, fenders, core support. Sand blasted but not frame off. Undercarriage and frame expoxy painted. Floors And trunk looked pretty solid
• Was told number matching, however numbers shaved when rebuilt in 89. Has b4b, correct carb, trans, couldn’t get to #,s on diff but owner said gear was changed.
• Engine bay sprayed yellow was as owner wanted something different to show.
• Paint lacquer. Checking on quarters/fenders, etc...
• Interior pretty much all original except seat covers.
  
• Drove car. Ran ok, seemed weak for a car w 30 over and bigger stage 1 valves and hotter cam. but has been sitting for well over a year.
  
• Seemed really loose, rattling and squeaky which makes sense since all original.
  
• Both doors somewhat sagging and/or never aligned properly when qtr. were replaced.

In Summary, older restoration that needs to be redone. Has a lot of potential. He was asking $60k no negotiation. Attached are some pictures and if anyone wants additional information let me know.

my search continues.

 

Oh, that engine bay...

 

Was a late eighties/early nineties thing. Had a rattle-trap 307 Chevelle then, that had painted yellow, and the bumpers and trims black. Sure wouldn't do that today.

 

Stripping all that old lacquer,poor running,no engine numbers,shoddy 1/4’s work,the engine bay from hell & then restore suspension and everything else at 60k “firm”?
I think you were VERY smart to walk away.
You don’t know till ya know though,thanks for sharing.
What was the interior like?

 

All original except for seats being recovered, however On original buns, backs And foam so you know what that feels like.

 

I'd say the car was hit and a shitty repair, I've never seen a skylark or GS with the door gap like that.

 

Crazy how bad the body color under the hood looks to me.

 

Nice to find a one owner car but why does everyone think they have a Barret Jackson car. It's a 20 -25 thousand dollar car at best. Needs a total redo.

 

Inner fender wells and rear tubs were replaced too when he did resto.

 

The guy fixed it to his own standards. I doubt the car was worth a ton in 1989.

You all want to see a concours resto. Which is fine. He probably just wanted to get his car back on the road fairly economically.

Reminds me of my buddies 86 Iroc in highschool. The heater control failed. We had a friend with an 82 or 83 parts car. We yanked it out along with the door panels. Both were slightly different but they got the job done.. i have no idea what happened to the car. I can only imagine someone looking at it to restore now and scoffing at the incorrect parts.. it was Buffalo, he needed heat!

 

You know the owner would never take that but when you take everything into account I think you are pretty close.

Picture it completed stripped of the paint to the metal because that has to happen anyway,then probably cut the quarters and filler panel loose & look for hidden damage and rehang and regap and repaint everything including that gawd awful engine compartment with the non original numbers motor. It might just be me but unless someone has a video of the numbers matching block stamp as it is being decked then it is not a numbers matching car because the numbers are gone and even with a video (which you know never happened at least on this car) at the end of the day those factory numbers are now GONE, video or not and I would say 99.9% of the people who would pay $60,000 for this car would not except this excuse.
A 4 speed 455 car back in the day when they had little value most of us know were flogged like dogs,shifts were missed,tachs were pegged and "bye-bye" to at least the block.
I can think of three 4-speed GSX's off the top of my head from my area originally that blew the original engines.
When one of those GSX's pops up now after many decades and suddenly has a decked block when I know the block was grenaded and a 70 Electra motor took its place or the owner suddenly is having a selective memory about the motor and asking numbers matching sales prices I just consider that a huge red flag.
Has it been in a hellish wreck and thrown together half a$$ etc etc.

On this carthe whole interior also needs to be gutted and the replaced covers stacked up so all the foams,springs,lacing etc can be rebuilt and the covers reinstalled.

I like seeing our cars increase in respect and value being a life long Buick fan but it is just really frustrating to see a car that some of us that are not as well healed would potentially invest a REASONABLE amount in combined with tons of elbow grease and big dollar items over time but it is an almost unattainable dream these days with huge money on the select percentage of GSX's that are REALLY worth it convincing owners "Well, hell I guess mine is worth at least half of that!"

Okay enough beating on this car from me, it's just the typical car that slipped through the collectors fingers over the years and has dated customizations & less than perfect repairs & an owner expecting a huge payout based on correct cars.

I am just glad I have my "poor touring GSX" with as many original 1970 GSX parts on it as I could buy or kind people donated or loaned (thank you gentlemen : ) over the years. "Too rough to sell but too cool to throw away but perfect for this Poor Tour "GSX".
It will never be anything special except to me but I am fine with that because God willing one day when it is drivable I won't worry about scratches,dings,rust & heavy wear. Hopefully my only issue will be the heavy wear to the tires heh heh

 

Man, that engine bay is fugly. But I get it, there are things I'd do different on my green car as hindsight is 20/20. A few things I did that seemed like a good idea at the time I'm not sure I'd do now, and things I didn't do then I wish I would've now. That's definitely not a $60k car though.

 

non-stage one, no AC, probably shy of other options as well… 15,000 max value

 

I would buy it in $35k range

 

I would have to put my own eyes on that door gap.


One long weekend and the firewall and inner fenders could be black again.

 

Would be a Big Block Buick Buyer's Bloodbath at $25

 

I'd be looking & asking why the rear tubs & inner fenders were replaced too.
I understand doing repairs back in the day when these were sometimes called "Skylarks with the clown package" so you did what you needed to in order to just keep it on the road,enjoying it and not worrying about decades from then in 2020 when they skyrocketed into 6 figures (in SOME CASES such as: Stage,4-speed,fully documented & BETTER than new!).

I really don't care about it's current state because it is missing critical numbers and has obviously had significant rust or wreck damage and general abuse (or ALL of the above most likely) again I don't care about that because after doing ONE car to show standards (my 70 Stage 1, non a/c,3:64 4-speed car I could not drive and enjoy it and sold it a few months after restoring it).

All that said, "Yes" if it was priced RIGHT (instead of priced like a documented, correct,numbers matching, solid original without glaringly poor “restoration “) then I would be happy to own it.
Original motor (carb & distrib,trans,rear?) is all incorrect? "I don't care I got a deal on it" you say there are incorrect year parts on it and the lacquer needs to go down to the metal? "I don't care I got a deal on it" there are very suspicious and sloppy a$$ back in the day repairs and gaps are off? Again I don't care, I can flog it with wild abandon and not hurt it any worse than it already is unless I wrap it around a tree! Why? Because the guy priced it accordingly so I got a deal on it.

"60k FIRM" is not that deal though, drop another 100k in it and STILL have a non matching number non Stage car & you MIGHT get 80 or 90k out of it on the perfect day and only lose 70 or $80,000 IF you leave it parked after a proper restoration .

I am gonna drive mine like I stole it and when it dies I will take all the good stuff off of it and lose very little.

The ONE & ONLY person to make money on the car being discussed is the current owner & I bet he would STILL make money if he even caved to 15 or 20k but whatever.