So I had to go to N.E. Iowa for a family reunion 2 weeks ago and I decided to pick up the blue parts car on the way back. It was Sunday night [June 27] when my wife and I rolled thru Gresham, Neb. at 9:30 pm to pick up the car. I get to Howard's house and it's pitch black, light sprinkle starting, neighbor's dog yapping like crazy and me dead tired from a weekend of driving. I got the trailer lined up in close enough to drop the ramps, pull the winch cable out and then the rain starting coming down. After several attempts, we got the Rust-bucket pulled up on the trailer, the rear wheels on by only 3 inches! I said f--- it, and threw the heavy ramps under the car trying to make as much noise as possible to wake up the yapping dog owner who wouldn't check on his dog! [ you just had to be there].His porch light came on as we drove away! We drove slowly thru town [about a mile] praying the winch cable would hold till we got to the CO-OP station with the covered gas pumps. Once out of the rain, I pulled the GS all the way on the trailer, tied it down, secured the ramps, and started for another 5 hours for home. Here's the irony of the story, 2 miles out of Gresham we drove out of the rain right on to dry pavement! My wife turned to me and said to me 'The Buick God's must hate you for some reason tonight" I just laughed at her and said 'another GS saved but soon to be a parts car for the 73 4-speed car! It was long tiresome ride home and we rolled in about 5:00 am and at daybreak I finally saw what a real POS the Buick really is. I'm talking rusted out everywhere and everything, it looks like the hood is the only save-able metal left on the car. Larry.
Here's an update, I just went to Chamberlin, S.D. on Sunday and brought home a 73 GS 350 car that will be my 2nd parts car when this project gets started later this year! This green 73 has a white bucket seat interior [rough] console floor shifter, sport mirrors, tilt wheel, air, and a homemade trailer hitch added. It does have a really good trunk floor, some usable pieces of the 1/4 panels and a lots of small parts that will come in handy when it's time to reassemble the 4-speed car! I'm still looking for white interior trim parts for a 73 plus a rust-free bodyshell if anybody knows of anything? Thanks, Larry.
Yes I don't check in much but this was one thread I went to - to see if the car was saved. Howard (the last owner) - no sense of urgency, been down that road too many times, so your perseverance is beyond admirable. You have the car. Pundits like me sit on the sidelines and say stupid stuff like "that car needs restored!" but this ain't the 1980's. Even with talent and a nice man cave shop that car will take considerable resources of time and money. I toyed with pushing it further. I talked to Howard. But I am an old man at 58 and more suited to easier projects and / or finished cars, so after an initial "go get it" period, I am not that guy. Just saw a 1964 Wildcat 425 2x4 4 speed car for $30,000. I need to step back from even that. At the end of the day - and I don't know you or your collection or your age (big factor) but if I was say, 40 years old and had adequate garage space, I would conduct a thorough but non concourse amateur restoration. Forget the need to win trophies, whatever that would mean, and just restore it. It will go fast, still win awards if you want, and draw admiration everywhere you go.
Thanks for the kind words Roadmaster 49, the plan is to do a complete body-off restoration on the car later this year, since the car is a end of era type of car. {last year for the Buick 4spd. StageI cars}.And since this is a low option car that was probably special ordered by someone before the big gas crunch of 1973 hit and sent muscle cars and prices into the toilet during the 73-78 era, I feel that this car is worth it and has been neglected long enough and it's time to get it back on the road again, I've never undertaken a huge project like this but I've always wanted to try my hand at it {at least once} before I die. Since I can't afford a GSX or a 70 Stage conv. to do a body-off resto. on, I'll just have to go with what I can afford. This 73 StageI fills the need to challenge myself. Next month I'm taking the Gresham car {as I call it} out to my new place south of town, A place that I call the 'Buick Farm'- a 40 acre spread with buildings, a house, and solitude away from the wife. Both the 73 GS350 cars are already there to be used for parts and resources during reassembly, ---hey, this could take awhile!! Watch for updates in the future , I'll be getting a camera phone soon. Larry.
Well, I finally got the 73 back inside the shop last night, [after sitting outside for another year] and I vacuumed all the leaves/crap out of the engine bay and removed the carb. It's going into the carb tank for a few hours this morning and will be reassembled by the end of the day. The carb numbers are 7043240 LA with a 2942 printed below those numbers. It had a remanufacture sticker on it, so I'm guessing it's not original. Meanwhile, today I'm going to install 4 tires and wheels that will hold air and match, and pull the plugs and spray fogging oil in the cylinders, and to start cleaning up that nasty filthy interior. I'll keep you posted. Larry.
We'll, yesterday I worked on the 'Gresham Reaper 'as I call it,[I feel like I'm trying to bring it back from the dead] for most of the day, and I had an interesting discovery in the glovebox. While digging through all the mouse turds and chewed up owners manual, etc. I discovered the original 1973 New Vehicle Warranty for the original owner and that it was sold from the 'Motor Inn Company' in Albert Lee, Minn. and it's in pretty good condition. Their is no actual POP, it's all typed on the policy issued to the first owner. It said the car was sold on 11-11-72 to Mark Fredrickson of Fremont, Nebraska, he took delivery on that date with only 5 miles on the car. So the car was either ordered by him and delivered to that dealership because no Buick dealership would order it for him locally or that Minn. dealer had this one on the lot and cut him a deal? I'm going to see if I can get the Sloan Docs. on it, maybe it will show how it was ordered? Also, the second piece of info shows the car being sold to Jim Schauer from Scribner, Neb. on 5-23-73 for $3600.00, he's the second owner and put most the miles on it [42k] and sold it to Howard in 1992. I bought the car from Howard in 2021. At least now I know the complete ownership history of the car. Larry.
Found the old 'Hurst' shifter knob under the passenger seat while vacuuming up old crap last night. Man, I didn't know you could suck so much plastic interior trim into the shop vac. Unfortunately a lot of the white plastic trim has turned to crumbs of dust. This rare GS [1 of 92 stage1] has seen the worst of care in the last 5 decades, it's kind of a shame. But between 2 different parts cars I think I have enough white interior parts to piece it all together. Let's hope so!! Larry.
I have a good front headliner trim piece if you’re interested I’ll bring it to the nats. The front and rear ones are always dust. When I find goood ones I paint them with the right color interior paint. Are you looking for a 74 quarter extension or just the plastic filler piece? I have both sides 73 quarter extensions , same as 74 but not the plastic between the bumper
Glad to see sone updates on this! Such a cool car! There is just something to be said about taking a neglected car and bringing it back to life. It brings a feeling of accomplishment like no other.
I'll take the headliner piece, mine is still installed and is bad, and I'm trying not to break the mounting fasteners holding it in place. I'll meet you at the Nats.to pick it up. I'm also looking for 74' rubber 1/4 extensions plus the rear bumper rubber [enduraflex?] bumper fillers. I don't need the center one [lic. plate], mine seems okay. I believe the 74 1/4 extensions might be different than the 73 due to the bumper curve, but I'll double check when I get out to cars this afternoon. Thankyou! Larry.
Going out to work on the car today and all day tomorrow. I need to install a battery, rig up a fuel line from the fuel pump to a small gas can, and prime the oil pump with a drill, and I hope the old beast will fire up! The last time it was running was in 2016-2017 according to the last license plate. The interior is gutted out now except for the door panels. I'm going to reuse the front carpet for now, it seems okay, but the rear is shot and my parts cars are the same way. Hopefully my daughter can help me shoot some pictures and maybe some video tomorrow and post up here. I also sent for the Sloan docs. and they should be here next week. I've spoke to the 2nd owner "Jim" twice now and he said the car was never ordered with "Gran Sport "decals on the rear 1/4 panels and trunk lid, he said the original owner ordered it that way. I'll be interesting to see if there's something in the report about that? I'll keep you posted. Larry.
