Quite a few more pictures. Block is a replacement/restamp. That's unfortunate. Still looks like a nice car with a few correctable issues.
Wrong font. You wonder why a guy that never sold his car, would even bother doing that ? Auction closes on a holiday during a major winter blast over a large portion of the US ( people inside on the internet). I bet the bidding is pretty fierce.
Sold for $88,000 (plus 5% fee). Seller made out about $10k (less transportation & any fee) better than Mecum. He also got very lucky that nobody posted links to this or the other thread on here as I'm assuming that would've stalled the bids much lower. I was very tempted as that's what the BAT comments are for but decided against it. Maybe the 2 bidders were both well aware. Caveat emptor or a fool & their money...
Seems like a great car that was a quality resto. Whether it's NOM or is. Congrats to the buyer and the seller.
So this was not the number matching motor and it was a replacement restamp? its also states in the BAT comments that " Reserve was not met. BAT picked up the difference" 88K ?? WOW
It is possible that this is the original engine, but was decked when rebuilt, and subsequently restamped. There are other clues, but would require a thorough examination.
I agree, someone should have stepped up from the community, but I doubt the auction winner was aware of anything he didn't want to be aware of. I have completely stopped following these and painstakingly, pointing out the known flaws, because the mob doesn't like it; the mob on BaT and the mob here. I figured we should use what knowledge we have to help those acquiring and restoring these beauties. Except, the powers that be feel that BUYER BEWARE is a better motto. Lot of great knowledge here, but no spines... (please, no knee-jerk reactions of offense, just accept it)...
Did anybody get the casting date off the block? It only needs a few things corrected. You could not find and restore one for that even if you did the work yourself.
It's a beautiful & unique car. Nobody can deny it those accolades. The seller wanted (& got, or at least very close to) concours/#'s matching $ for it. Congrats to him & I certainly hope for the buyer's sake he got what he wanted & did so w/full knowledge. It was all on here for the taking. But based on the other thread I'm not so sure on the quality, esp. wrt FE sheetmetal and more so vs. the seller's claims. To fix that issue requires paint work on 30 y/o paint. Maybe the new owner doesn't care. You can’t the worst problem with the hood up & you can't see the other w/the hood down. The market is such that the #'s matter wrt value. We don't have to like it but it's the reality & the seller represented it as such with a wonderful story of the car's history and I believe he was telling that story as he remembers it &/or as it was told to him. Again, I hope the buyer knew but if not, the info was here for the taking and so I didn't post links on BAT. I'd have felt bad doing that to the seller. Maybe I should've & had it been a few days earlier maybe I would've. If it was a LS6, 440/Hemi, RAIV, or any other high end muscle car or Vette, the info would've been posted & debated on there all week. Seen it many, many times. IMHO, it's what makes BAT different & makes other auctions seem sleezier in comparison.
The rare color is striking and very desirable so I think it added a substantial premium to the final price. Had the car been exactly the same but triple brown or triple green, I think the final outcome would have been very different and more in line with what most watchers were expecting. If this had been a ‘69 Z28 the comments section of BAT would have been brutal about the restamped block. Those Camaro guys are a tough crowd.
I really like the color on this car and I am FAR away from being able to spend that kind of money on any car. Is it possible, that some collectors aren't as interested in the "over restored" cars? I mean, these cars were far from perfect when they left the assembly line. Door gaps, panel alignment and paint were not all that great on the original cars that I have seen when compared to restored cars. We all want our cars to be perfect but none of them were built that way. Ken
I have found that most buyers don't do much verification and trust the seller/auction house (even though they have disclaimers). The buyer gets lost in 50 useless,3rd rate pics at 10 feet away, a rambling sob story about the good old days, 4 useless 20 second "starting" vids and usually unverifiable seller admissions/omissions...
I don't know much about A body Buicks but as a car collector I wasn't bothered by the possibility the block was restamped because the documentation more than made up for the restamp. Sure, it would have been ideal if the stamps appeared as original but if I had a choice between proper looking stamps and no docs versus the restamp and the volume of docs/history present I would choose the later. Add in the beautiful SCO color and the unique option load and this was a very, very nice unit to add to any collection. Tom Mooney
I'd say most buyers would mind paying an extra $50K+ for a potential fake or that the seller's claims weren't "ideal". Just because a seller has "documentation" that his ultra rare red, 1 owner, only 30K on the odometer, GS455 was a 1970 with the coveted A-1 option, doesn't mean much if physically the 455 was really from a 1973 Riviera and the body itself was a 1971 GS350. Or worse yet, it has obvious "non-original stamps" (to those who understand A body Buicks) that weren't documented by any mechanic/machinist shop. At that price, I don't care what shape it's in.
The car is what it is. It IS a single family owned car, and the story of its damage and repair is restoration is available. It was a restored by a top line restorer (gone now) and the engine was at least repaired if not replaced by a legendary builder (gone now). There is no "50k+" extra.
