Just like the title says I'm wondering how many 1970 GSX stage 2 cars were produced. I've heard that the stage 2 option was dealer installed. Maybe there's no way to be sure? Thanks Rex
All right, so no stage 2 cars were factory produced, but the components were available from the dealer, so the cars do exist. How rare is this? Is this even desirable considering a factory correct car was altered?
Stage 2 packages and GSX cars are two separate entities. No one know the exact number of packages sold. 100 to 200 maybe for all years is just an order of magnitude. Stage 2 packages were available before the 70 model year also. Not many stage 2 packages were made for any year. So it depends on your point of view . You could say there was not a huge demand originally or more would have been made. You could say the run was limited because Buick did not market these packages so well. You could say that over time for reasons of nostalgia they are today more in demand than when they were originally made. Use the search function and search under "stage 2 ."
I would say that 1970 GSX with the Stage-2 option installed from the factory has got to be a very low number. My best guess would be less than 10. I know they did one for factory testing see the GSXtra for the article. Mark
As far as I know there were no production stage 2 cars just a test bed. I think Tom's car was an add on-- meaning it did not come off the production line as a stage 2. Maybe he can jump in on this.
I believe there was only one special Stage-2 car made ever. It was a regular GS maybe a Stage-1 not a GSX and it got smashed by a garage door. It was a four speed and it had the funky hood scoop.
I always thought the only factory built Stage 2 car was the white GSX. The Jim Bell/Pops Kennedy "Reynolds Buick" car, the Jones/Benesik car, and the Tony Branson Stage 2 "tunnel port" car all had factory supplied parts, but were not built at the factory. Duane
That's engineering car #4085 and the whole hood with the funky hood scoop and air pan were taken off when they dismantled the car and given to Tom's "Jones/Benesik" car at the time. Was car #4085 factory built? Was it a factory GSX? When was the run made of the GSX's? (I'm not up on that). I have a copy of an inter-departmental memorandum from Dennis Manner dated April 1 1970. In it, and I will quote, "Engineering GSX Car 4085 equipped with Stage II manual trans engine will be loaned to the Public Relations Department for magazine coverage in the Los Angeles zone". So the car was built sometime before April 1 1970...fall in line with the GSX's built? I think so.o No: Also in the same letter the next paragraph reads, "In addition, full Stage II components will be furnished by Engineering to Reynolds Buick, West Covina, California for evaluation in their GS automatic tranmission performance car". Now Dennis Manner told me (and also wrote me) he also supplied the complete Stage II hood assembly, air/pan to Reynolds for this car. So both my car and Tom's car have the only two Buick made Stage II hoods. His from engineering car #4085, mine from the engineer department. So in "my eyes" car #4085 was built at the factory as a GSX Stage II car. It didn't come off the production line as a Stage II, but none the less it was built at the factory in the engineering departartment. As was so many prototype cars were. My car was supplied from the FACTORY, (not dealer supplied, or not "dealer installed") the FULL Stage II package. Again in my eyes, I think that's a huge difference. Just to recap.The Reynolds/Kenne-Bell car was not built at the factory, but was supplied from the factory the full Stage II package. Including at the time the prototype vertical boss Stage II heads. This was done for testing purposes for the factory. Also, Dennis sent me the letters back and forth between Jim Bell and the factory (Dennis Manner) about the performance changes of the Stage II package. There's more, but I'll stop here and save the rest of the info for the "Build Sheet"....what do you say Duane?
Guy, Well your description is exactly the way I understood it, that the factory retrofitted a GSX with the Stage 2 package, and then supplied your car, Tom's car, and the Tony Branson Stage 2 "tunnel port" car with factory supplied parts. Do you have a picture of car #4085 so the guys can see what we are talking about? "There's more, but I'll stop here and save the rest of the info for the "Build Sheet"....what do you say Duane?" Well I was hoping you would write an article about this and was hoping to get copies of your info for my files. If you get your article done soon it will really mesh well with the article I am working on now, about another not well known prototype car. Plus the article on the Final Stage 2 motor is also coming. Looks to be an interesting couple of "Build Sheets". Duane
