Back in the mid 60's right up thru the 90's, Win Stephens Buick had what they called the "rainbow of colors" display ever spring. The GM of the dealership was the father of a friend of mine, Tim Hol, he also worked there around that time frame. He actually was in charge fleet sales and of ordering the dealership "floor plan cars" back then. In that responsibility was the ordering of the Rainbow of colors cars every winter.. for display that spring. Stephens Buick was fronted by a major highway, so they had a open canopy on the lot, where they would line these colorful cars up every spring, for the thousands of folks that drove by every day to see, and hopefully stop in an look at. I saw it many times, as it was located not far from where I grew up. Tim said he often delved into what Dodge was calling their "high impact" colors about that time..and he personally ordered a number of GS cars in those colors (Plum crazy, Hemi Orange ect ect) so this might be more common that one might think. He knew of the whereabouts of the hemi orange one up till about the mid 80's, when it changed hands, and went down south. Stephens was not the only dealership to do this type of thing, he knew of a couple others in the Midwest, they used to coordinate colors.. apparently it was easier to get a car painted a non GM color, if there was more than one order.. JW
According to the GM daily car reports there were a total of 76 SCO Paint GS cars in 1970 from all factories. 36 455 cars 9 convertibles 31 GS 350 There were 9 SCO paint GS cars in 17 and 11 in 72. Unless cars were painted under some other code or without SCO codes, 76 is the number from GM documentation. These are only numbers for GS "A" body cars. The numbers will be obviously be different for Skylarks and other modes
The letter I saw from Sloan wrt the '72 SCO Charcoal Mist GS I saw (indicted by orig. "SCO" firewall chalk mark) stated there were 24 (IIRC - May have been 23) GS's painted in that color alone which doesn't jive w/the 11 SCO's in the Daily Car Reports. Maybe the DCRs didn't count it as an SCO unless it wasn't a Buick color?
When I add up all of the colors listed in the 1972 daily car reports and include the 11 SCO's it equals the total amount of GS cars built in 1972 . The daily car reports include 24 charcoal mist cars so maybe SCO was only used for non GM colors?
That must be the case - I just happened to see the orig. "SCO" Chalk mark on the firewall where the paint code would normally be... Was a Framingham car so could've been GMAD deemed it as such. My '70 350 4-sp. was ordered w/trailer tow (H1) which got it an automatic/no-cost upgrade to a 3.64 rear (had to order posi @ a cost since there was no open 3.64) which according to the assy. manual was a "SCO" rear for that car so even a relatively minor change could require some form of a SCO. Car was also built at Flint instead of Framingham I assume because if the required rear and I suspect that other than SCO colors that most if not all SCO cars were built there.
I thank you all for your comments and help. I am going to run the Wyane Roberts report that was suggested. Here is the Vin# and some photo's of the car. I was told by the dealer that the restorer added the stage one options, but now I am unsure. Could they have added that from the factory as a SCO? Vin# 44467OH245949
There'd be no need for Stage 1 to be an SCO since ot was available as an RPO. Plus I'd think the SCO designation on the trim tag would be something that involved Fisher Body's responsibility and not Buick. Interesting that it's a convertible but w/no top color designation. Maybe there were other top colors offered by other divisions and it got one of those? Of course hard to say on the interior SCO designation since it's been restored but anything unique/unusual about it?
...VIN decode; digit 1, "4" means Buick, digits 2-3 "44" means Model is Skylark Custom, digits 4-5 "67" means convertible, digit 6 "0" means 1970, letter 7 "H" means built in Flint MI, last 6 digits "Production Number" is your assembly line build number. The factory 1970 "Stage 1 Option" was only available for Model 46, GS 455. It was a Regular Production Order (RPO) option, meaning it could be ordered from the "GS/GS455 Wholesale Order Form." Special Car Order (SCO) was "special" because it was for something not on the order form, meaning not done on regular assembly line. SCOs were usually non-standard paint or trim, taken offline for that part of their build. Stage 1 was for cars with RPO 455 engine, not the non-455 GS or Skylark Custom. Restorer added the GS, 455, and Stage 1 parts...
In the 1970 assembly manual Buick option codes list it shows *8 sales code as "Special Car Order" I agree with Brad SCO = Special Car Order per Buick docs. Mark
The Framingham built Teal Mist Skylark that just sold on BAT had no indication on the data plate that it was anything unusual. I suspect there was no formal standards for how this was done.
Thanks “Dynaflo” that is great info. At least I know that the stage 1 was done at restoration. Car would probably be worth more if they left it as a “Custom”. The car has a unique speedometer with a adjustable dial marker for speed warning that chimes when the needle crosses the marker. I have never seen this option.
When was your car made Fred? I have one of @Mike Trom 's repro window stickers for my 10E Stage 1 & it lists this same option as yours as SCO (IIRC he said it was based on an example he has) which seems odd since this was a RPO option although there were some changes early in the model year with respect to the availability at all of F4/7 (G-60 15's) & with F8 (G70-14 Wide Oval) & F9 (redlines) availability on GS 350 vs. GS 455. This is the revised (REV. 1) order form. I'm assuming the original '70 form listed the tire options differently.
