Flame Orange '72 Stage 1 convertibles - Buick Zone Office Cars - qty 25!

We recently bought a Flame Orange '72 Stage 1 convertible with an ultra low VIN (#100048) (I'm going to start a thread in the "Members Rides" section soon). I remembered seeing several other '72 Stage 1 converts in the past that were also Flame Orange with the same options, that also had low VINs. With the help of Mark Macoubrie ("GSXNUT" here on the board, who also maintains the GSX registry) the mystery has been solved as to why there are so many similar (Flame Orange) '72 Stage 1 convertibles. I've put together the facts about these early-build, Flame Orange Stage 1 convertibles, and attached it as a pdf file.

Basically, Buick built 25 identical (yes identical in every way and option) Flame Orange Stage 1 convertibles during the first week of production of the '72 model year, and sent one to each of the 25 Buick Zone Offices across the US. After the Zone Offices got through with the cars, it appears that they were later sold through a regular Buick dealership. I thought this was pretty interesting and thought some of you guys might also like to read the facts.

 

In case you haven't seen it before, here is the detailed production breakdown of all 81 of the '72 Stage 1 convertibles that Mark Macoubrie published on this board earlier this year. If you look at the color breakdowns, a disproportionate number of the cars were Flame Orange with a white conv top (almost 35%). Well if you subtract the 25 identical Flame Orange cars that Buick built during the first week for the Zone Offices, that leaves 3 orange/white cars, which then puts the total of orange cars in line with the other colors.

 

Gary, is That the exact restored car you bought ? Also, seems like there were an abundant of '71 Stage 1 verts loaded up in Cortez Gold. Wonder if it was the same situation?

 

Yes the '71 production was done in a similar manor with the Cortez Gold color. I am not sure about how many were actually produced; I suspect one for every district but there may have been only 13 or so done in total. They are almost all built with consecutive VIN 3's and are very very close in body number as well. The issue in '71 was that they are much more difficult to track given that there is no clear identification code in the VIN for a Stage 1.

I know of at least one '71 car built in March 71 that has all the options of the promotional cars with the exception of transmission. The promotional cars were all TH400's and this one is a 4-speed.

 

Very interesting. Did Zone 16 show up anywhere in the ordering information?

 

The car pictured in the attachment in the first post is the car restored by Then & Now Restorations (Mark Reeves) and formerly owned by a V8Buick board member (Oldtimebaseball). Its VIN is about 75 units later than ours (still the first day of production) and was sent to the Pittsburgh, PA Zone Office. Our car was sent to the Atlanta, GA Zone Office.

The car we bought is an 117k mile, unrestored car, but with all matching #s. I've attached a pic of it from a few weeks ago when I took my dad over to take a look at the car. We've got the original wheels back on the car now.

 

After learning about the '72 Stage 1 convert Zone Office cars, I wondered if Buick did something similar in previous years with Stage 1s. So your saying that Buick used Cortez Gold Stage 1 converts in '71? Anyone know of a documented '71 with proof that it was invoiced to a Buick Zone Office? I think this is really neat Buick trivia. I'd love to hear more info if anyone has any.

 

I don't have all the info in front me, what Zone is #16?

 

Zone 16 seems to be an internal Buick code. Has varying suffix #'s.

 

This is a neat subject, and I thought there sure where a bunch of those flame orange verts out there...:bglasses: It would be cool to find out info on 71, 70, 69, 68??? Who knowso No:

 

There is a 72 orange conv in my area for sale. Listed as a Stage1. Asking for BO over 70k. Could be one of the 25

 

Gary,

Please send your article to the BPG and GSCA newsletters. This is a really neat article.

thanks,

Mark

 

My local buick buddy has a 72 stage 1 convert matching the listed options his vin is 000092 (I think possibly 93) DSO in chicago has to be one of the 25

 

That car would definitely be one of the 25. Please to encourage your friend to register his car on the Stage 1 Registry (www.stage1registry.com ). I just recently sent the info for our car to the registry, which will bring the total to 4 of the 25. Your buddy's car would bring the total up to 5. It would be cool to see how many of these 25 are still out there. What condition is your friend's car? Thanks for replying.

 

I just might, but first I got to get a photo that I have the rights to publish. I lifted the photo in the pdf attachment from the eBay ad when another of the cars was for sale on eBay (the car restored by Then & Now (Mark Reeves)) which was formerly owned by "Oldtimebaseball" here on the board). Our car is not very pretty right now, so it not a suitable car to photograph.

Also, thanks again for all of your work gathering the detailed info about the '72 Stage 1s. Without all of your efforts, the idea of "a bunch" of identical '72 Stage 1 converts would just be speculation, but you've gathered the data to prove it to be true.

 

:gp: Love learning about the 72s. Thanks everyone for the effort.

 

Reguarding garys question about 72 stage 1 its nice no rust nice driver previous owner implyed all # matching but block questionable possibly restamped to look good for sale rest is right he has to register, I also have a 70 burgandy mist / black top interior stage 1 that is in rough shape that should be at least documented

 

BUQUICK,

In the past few years I have come across a couple other '72 Stage 1 Convertibles. Some have been for sale on Ebay from time to time. There was one in Buffalo NY that had a restoration done to it with a replacement frame used. There was one in CO Springs that was a bit questionable but was rumored to be a real #'s catching car. I know there are more out there but I haven't kept track of the '72's.

Marco may have a few of the others on his registry as well.

I suspect that there are somewhere between 20 and 25 '71's still in existance and a similar number of '72's.

 

I owned one of these cars probably 8-10 years ago. I will have to look to see if I still have anything with the VIN number on it. I may have even sent the info on it to Marco at one time....

I received a phone call from a gentleman in either Texas or Alabama who said he purchased my car, that I had consigned to Volo.

What is ironic, is I sold that car outright to them at Carlisle Pa. First car they purchased on a early thursday morning. I sold it within 15 minutes of arriving....

Mine had a '70 model, non-stage 455 in it from another '70 GS. Code SR, maybe? As far as I was capable of knowing, at the time, all the other numbers matched... at least I think they did. I understand breaking the numbers down much better these days.

 

What the heck color top is "covert"?