Did the Flint Built Stage1`s receive the USS Gas Tank Decal? I mostly see them on over-restored cars o No: See pic...... Dan
Dan , That stamp was on the top side . Mine was Pittsburgh. I think some of these resto parts companies are into selling products... DL
The other dumb thing is the black gas tank straps. They are suposed to be galvanized. I wonder who's car that is and when it was built, because if it's a mid-late production 70 thru 72 car then the shocks are wrong too. Duane
Just took my original tank out of my 70. It was also stamped on the top. I couldnt make out the name though. I should take a picture of it and see if you guys can make it out.
If I am not mistaken, that is the George Steele restored Red '70 4-speed car. A rather early build (October 1969?) VIN 446370H150###, so the shocks may be OK. Some other items currently on the car.....as you mentioned.....not so OK. Still a nice car though, high option load. Currently in the inventory of The Last Detail in Illinois.
Dan, The steel company logo on gas tanks is correct and is not something made up for "over-restored" cars. In fact there were at least three different logos used on the '70 models. Glen's '70 Stage 1 and my dad's '70 Stage 1 were built 1 week apart (both in Dec '69) and one had the US Steel logo (dad) and the other had the Armco logo (Glen). As DL shows below, there was a third steel supplier (Pittsburgh) that you might also see on the '70 tanks. There may be even more but those are the three we have seen. My dad had the US Steel stencils made many years ago because we had a good pattern for it, and it was what was on a couple of our unrestored cars.
Actually DL the logo was located on the top, bottom, both, or neither. The logo was was stamped on the coil of steel by its manufacturer and depending on the spacing of the stamps and where the steel was blanks were cut, the logo could end up on either side. Here are some photos. One of these photos is a 20k mile Skylark I saw, the other is one of my '72 Skylark that I drove daily for many years. When this photo was taken of my car it had 168k miles but the car has always been in the south so after wiping away some dirt with a wet cloth, the logo was very clear.
So are you saying that there was never any '70 GM A-body built with black straps? yes this is a trick question, so answer carefully ---------- Post added at 12:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 AM ---------- Jim you are sharp! I didn't even realize which car was in that photo until I read your post. Yes that is a car that my dad restored back in the mid-90s (finished it in spring 1996). It is indeed an October '69 car so I believe the shocks are correct. It is a very high oprion car and no it's not perfect by any means but it still scored a Gold at the 2005 GS Nats despite lots of things that were know are wrong with the car. In the car's defence, it was a budget restoration that cost barely over $20k. My dad only spent 460 hours (at $20 per hour) on the entire frame off restoration of this car and he didn't farm out anything except the installation of the vinyl top and front seat covers. The owner didn't want to spend a bunch of money, or own a nearly perfect car so that is why it isn't nicer. He did bring it back to my dad in early 2005 to freshen it up a little bit since it was almost a 10 year old restoration and had been driven during that time. Even with the additional work, he still had less than $25k in the resto. It was a 99.9% rust free car that was a nice driver so it made the quick restoration possible.
If your logo doesn't look like the Pittsburgh logo pictured by DL or the US Steel logos shown above, then it could be an Armco logo like this one that is on another of my Buicks. It was on the top of the tank but I don't have a clue if it was also on the bottom because the car came from Chicago (rusty on the bottom!) and also recieved undercoating at the dealer, including a heavy coating on the bottom of the gas tank.
Oh one last thing, one of my dad's first jobs after her returned from Vietnam in 1970 was working at a place called Mid-State Steel and my dad ran machines that cut coils of steel and he vividly remembers seeing the US Steel logo and the Armco Steel logos printed on those coils of steel. He said they seemed to be stamped all aong the roll, maybe 5 to 10 feet apart. When we first saw this logo on a gas tank over 20 years ago (on my '69 GTO), it was faint be he rwcognized the US Steel logo immediately and explained to me that it was on the coil before it was ever formed into a gas tank.
Chevy has black straps . Must not be galvanized ? I can't imagine the budget division taking an extra step to paint a galvanized part . They were in business to sell cars , not build show cars . DL
Gary, I have never seen any stencils on the bottom of the tanks before and am fully aware they were stamped on the rolls of steel before being made into tanks. You can tell that from the way the stencils are on the finished units. What I was referring to was the almost centered location of the stamp in relation to the gas tank which really pulls your attention to it. This car makes it look like the factory tried to put it that way and that is not how it was done. I have also never seen black gas tank straps on any 70-72 Buick a-body from Flint. The 70 cars had a pad on the top with galvanized straps. The 71-72 cars have no tank pad on top but still had galvanized straps. Some of the other brand cars had strips of insulating material between the straps & tanks, and felt pad blocks between the tank top & body, but Buick didn't do that at Flint. (My Chevelle came that way.) I could invision hundreds of restored cars at the events with centered stencils & black straps in years to come.ou: This is why I tell people not to pattern their restorations off pictures of cars on the internet. Many assume if something is on a restored car then it must be correct. Your explanation of this being a budget resto brings my point home. I fight this type of battle every day. Duane
At their current price, with shipping from Dallas back to Chicago, they are close to breaking even. I bet they don't purchase anymore Buicks to "flip" :idea2: DL
I bet you are right. They originally listed this car at $89,000 and have steadily decreased the asking price. Plus there is the cost of advertising the car. This is one of the risks that dealers (and all flippers) take. They buy cars at auction, at the peak of the market with every intent to profit by quick resale. The market tanks, and they get stuck. I watched it happen in the early 90s, and then again over the past few years. It is just a cost of doing business that way I guess. If they can afford to inventory the car until the market rebounds, they will be fine. If not, offering consignment services would be a far safer option.
Anyone seen this before? Found this stamp on a 1970 GSX hood after removing the paint. Now everyone needs to add this before painting to be correct! Oh by the way, I've seen a tank with different stamps on the top and bottom. View attachment 235160
My dad had them made many years ago. Tried first to buy from Inline Tube because they showed them on their website But they said they didn't have any more to sell. So my dad was forced to have them made himself so h did make at least one improvement over the Inline Tube stencil. The stencils my dad had made have the year blank, and along the edge are all the years, so just insert the one you need. The item Inline tube offered was for 1 year only, so they listed a different item for each year. My dad had to have a bunch of them made (I think 50) so to help recover some of the cost, I listed a few on ebay for sale. Kryta from inline Tube sent me a really nasty email saying that he was going to sue me because he held the rights to the US Steel logo. I thought that was really funny since US Steel is still in busines today. I still have the email from him, it's a real hoot. I meet him a few years later at the GTOAA Nats and he was really nice to me in person, heck he even gave me a couple of small clips for free. ---------- Post added 08-13-2012 at 12:01 AM ---------- Previous post was 08-12-2012 at 11:32 PM ---------- The location of the stencil on the red '70 GS pictured in the first post is where the original logo was located, so it was placed in that location on the new tank. We saved the tank and still have it (it was a CA emissions car) and it would still be a nice tank for a driver condition car so we hated to toss it out. If you can envision "hundreds of restored cars at the events with centered stencils & black straps in the years to come." then you are a very optimistic guy. The concours class at the GS Nats usually has about a dozen cars. In 2012 they were not even 100 show cars total of all models in all the V8 classes combined. Shoot, if there were hundreds of restored cars that actually showed up for any Buick event, I would be so thrilled that I would be willing to forgive the sin of black gas tank straps on them! And patterning a restoration after a car on the Internet is about like using a "Gold" car from the Concours class as a restoration guide. Heck using a "Gold" car might even be worse because then there is a document showing that an incorrect car has been judged to be correct. Example: there was a "Gold" winner at the 2011 GS Nats that had black sunvisors against a white headliner (I'm not kidding). Plus the car was a '72 and should not have even had a white headliner (like a '70). So I guess now there will be trailer queens showing up not only with black gas tank straps but also with contrasting sunvisors and headliners. One last thing, you said "I fight this type of battle every day." Man Duane, that must be a tough existence.
I haven't seen a US Steel logo on sheet metal yet like that GSX hood, but I have seen a different steel company logo. These pictures are of a '68 Nova (L79) fender that had just returned from the media blaster. It was the first time we had seen something like this. We were amazed that the media blasting didn't remove the logo. Was your GSX hood also media blasted?
"One last thing, you said "I fight this type of battle every day." Man Duane, that must be a tough existence." Gary my friend, you have no idea. "If you can envision "hundreds of restored cars at the events with centered stencils & black straps in the years to come." then you are a very optimistic guy." My first steering box sticker (with the letter codes) was put on a Concours car at one of the shows. Within a few hours I had something like 40 requests for them. Guys wanted to add them to their restored vehicles, and many were no where near the Concours level. A lot of guys simply want to get their car as close as they can within their budgets. This same thing happened when we put the first engine/trans code sticker on the driver side valve cover of James Weinmans GSX. So many people wanted them I was forced to develop them for not only the Big Blocks but also the Small Blocks and for the entire 69-72 time period. When pictures of a certain vehicle from the Volo Museum started hitting the internet the car had stickers everywhere. It had stickers in places I didn't even know you could put stickers on. The very next year we had one just like it in Concours and were forced to take points off for incorrect "parts" on the vehicle. It didn't amount to much, and would not have changed the award anyway, but it sure pissed off the owner. PLUS when asked why the car was done this way, the owner responded he took the info off pictures of a restored car he found on the internet. We tracked it down further with his help. Do you have any idea how many times we have taken points off for spare tire covers, which are listed/shown in all the catalogues and were never used on the 69-72 Buick a-bodies? The last thing we want to do is take points off cars on the show field. If we can stop this from happening before the cars are finished, then everyone wins. This is why many of the judges, such as Brad & myself, have such an open policy regarding people asking us questions. You should see how many times I get phone calls about resto questions from the guys and/or Shops that are building the cars. It's funny but I can usually tell when a car is finished by the lack of calls about it. The fact that we are so available is a resource that most people in other shows/organizations don't have and would love to have. When you go to the AACA meets you get no sheet or score, and have no idea where the incorrectness is. This means you have absolutely no way to correct anything, and there is no one to ask. You just have to deal with it. I was not there but you talk about a 72 car with white headliner and black visors as being an incorrect car. Well you are of course right, but you can have 15 points off and still get a Gold award. I have no idea if that was the case with this car on not. Also, when we are presented with a Concours Car to judge, we have to assume it is being represented correctly as shown. That means if a 70 White "GSX" shows up, and has all the right stuff, and was built in the correct time period, we have to assume it is a real car and not a GS 455 car with all the bells & whistles added. We do not ask for paperwork to verify vehicles on the show field. That is not how this Show class was structured. "So I guess now there will be trailer queens showing up not only with black gas tank straps but also with contrasting sunvisors and headliners." You know what Gary, if you live long enough you would probably see it. We have probably seen everything on the show field by now. I have a great Idea, if you are going to this years GSCA why don't you join the crowd and help judge the Concours class. There is no way you are not qualified to do it. If you want to help let me know and I will call Sid. Duane PS. I have also had my run-ins with In Line Tube. But let me also add they make some very fine products.
