This is what Ed said about them: The 69 was a 400 inch 4 speed that ran stock class. The 70 455 stage 1 4 speed also ran stock class. The 68 was 455 with stage 2 heads and automatic. Only ran it couple times before switching back to oval track.
I had a chance to buy the white 68 (had cool blue interior). But he wanted 4 grand in the late 70s (it had been returned back to stock) and I thought it was too much money......some lady in California bought it for her son and who knows what happened to it..... He also ran a 71 but is looking for pics of it. Anyone out there know whereabouts of any of them?
Yeah...closed down years ago...they moved to Seekonk. Was a great small town dealer....I spent lots of time hanging out there....till late at night. Was fun to drive by the shop late at night and see lights on and hang out drink a beer and see what he was working on. For years he had a MODIFIED oval track car that he put a Stage 2 455 in and was going to make it a wild street car.....don't think it ever was finished but it took up one bay for many years.
Every year he campaigned a new car 68-71. That's how it was with dealer sponsored cars and this wasn't just sponsored by dealer it was the dealer. I didn't realize how cool it was at the time. But...got the bug....67 Riv GS in 1976 and ran it at CT and NE Dragway, then 70 X in 1978. Never saw Eddie go down the track but I did get inspired. I'm asking him for more details....ETs, modifications, etc of them. He had the 400 running 11s with 4.78 gears and 4 speed, spinning it at times as high as 7400rpm. He says it stayed together!
I know these three cars quite well. The 69 GS was his first race car. It won the IHRA Summer Nationals in Long Island in '69. He had a poster made of it back then. It raced CT Dragway, Long Island, New England Dragway and other tracks in the Northeast. When he was finished with it he sold it to Ricard J. in Barrington, RI who was in my high school class. It had 4.78's in it and whined with Micky Thompson tires on back. I had my GS at the time and we raced a few times together on the street. (he married my high school girlfriend) Richard sold it to a younger guy, John, from the same town. John slid sideways into a tree and crushed the right side door and quarter and it was a total. I bought the car and took the drivetrain out and scrapped the rest of the car. The car was gone for good. Next came his 70 white GS Stage 1 4 speed which was brand new off the showroom floor. He took the front disc brakes off and put aluminum drum brakes with Moroso metallic brake linings. That car was raced all over and never hurt the engine. He sold it to the guy that ran the Getty station diagonally across from their Buick dealership. That guy ran it for years and then sold it to my neighbor in the same town. He blew the engine and I built another engine for him. He ran it in the ground and it got scrapped in the 80's. Then Ed raced a brand new green 71 4 speed stage one. Ran all the tracks up north. The last car Ed raced was the '68 white one. It had iron Stage 2 heads Eddie got from Buick. He took it down to the bare frame when he built it and it had red upper and lower control arms on front and back. It ran it with an Offy intake and two Holley 600's which I still have. I went racing with him with that car. He got in a big argument with a track official (almost a fist fight) over where he was going to off-load the car at NE Dragway because Ed is a neat freak and would not park his trailer in the dirt lot. (That 68 car is in the '74 Kenne-Bell catalog which I still have) That day he quit drag racing and immediately went into stock car racing. Never drag raced again although I want him to drive my GS drag car and he said he would. Ed went on to be a champion Modified Stock Car driver and builder and is in the New England Hall of Fame. He's retired in FL and comes back north in the summer. Bruce (BQuick) knows him well and the stories that go with him. Thanks for posting the pictures. Brings back a lot of memories. Ed got me into my GS racing in 1972 and I have pictures of him under my hood at the track.
St Angelo Buick dealership, where I hung out many nights, was torn down about 10-15 years ago and the land became a big drug store chain and shop/stores. The St. Angelo family still owns the property. Ed still had 455 parts upstairs while there were demolishing the building. He went in one night and gave me a bunch of parts like a NOS oil pan, Stage 2 cam and miscellaneous stuff.
Thanks Dennis for the details!!! What did the 68 car run with the Stage 2 and dual quads? Too bad he got into that argument at the track and quit! He could still be racing Buicks. I was at Seekonk one night where there was a BIG fight around Ed's car. He didn't back down...to say the least! One minor correction it was AHRA not IHRA that he won in Long Island.
back in '72 i was looking for a stage 1 car. back then the dealers had green bar computer paper runoffs of where cars were. local dealer said st angelo had one. went to look at it. it was a white, tan gut, 72 stg1 4spd. optioned out at 4999.95. they brought that can in in the summer of 71. it went thru at 6 prospective buyers. wouldn't wait 3 weeks till my 21 b'day. the car was what i wanted. don't know where it went. never seen it in new england again. went to my local buick and ordered a 73 stg1 4spd. didn't even know what they would look like. 4 months later it came in. still have it. i think there was only 1 gsx, could have bought 3 times, sold in r.i. don't think st angelo sold it. that gsx just got a new owner.
Thanks for sharing. How ironic is it that he leaves drag racing because he had to park in the dirt, and ends up a dirt track champ?