If you didn’t take a closer look, you’d be forgiven for glossing over this listing for a 1973 Buick Century Gran Sport Stage 1 in the classifieds. This car, with its plain-jane Century design, has both the Stage 1 package with the 455 V8 and the exceedingly rare 4-speed manual transmission (and no A/C), making this one of just 42 cars equipped this way, according to the seller. You’ll find the Buick here on craigslist with the price unlisted.
In doing some additional homework around the seller’s claims, it would appear he’s right: this car didn’t find many takers when new. However, I kept seeing a figure tossed around for 92 4-speed Stage 1 cars, but then realized the seller is also breaking out which of those cars had air conditioning from the factory, which brings the total production number down even lower. This being a non-A/C car makes it one of 42.
This Century is currently in Vancouver, and I believe this amounts to being a registration sticker from Canada. The seller doesn’t state whether this was a Canadian-built model, but perhaps one of our VIN sleuths can figure out which plant this Buick was assembled in. No word on the presence of any rust, and the seller says to simply lob your best offers at him instead of listing a price.
Sometimes, rare doesn’t equate to special or valuable, but this car with its optional 455 V8 and Stage 1 features is worth saving. The four-speed manual is a huge bonus, and is one of the best reasons for giving this Buick a proper restoration. Hopefully, the seller can find a way to step up his marketing and sales pitch game to inspire potential buyers to make an offer on this rare big body coupe.
Amazing find!
Rare, desirable & from limited photos viewed on a phone screen looks to be complete-ish as far as what can be seen.
I’ve never seen a 73-up GM midsize with a manual in person, just photos of a few 3-speed & 5-speed bare bones models.
Definitely needs to be saved & enjoyed but no clue on value (an ignorance which seller seems to share).
What a crummy ad. You’d think, a car this rare, they’d have pictures of the motor AND the actual 4 speed and no price, IDK, maybe they do it different in Canada,hey.
Thank you for not “Annexing “ my country. Please don’t ever think of doing that again. As for the ad and the car, well yes, the ad is pathetic. Car is interesting, but hard to see what’s really there. It’s in my hometown, and cars here can be decent survivors.
the time is now to get started on saving this one! She’s one to conserve and keep!
Based on the second picture from the left in the listing, it looks to me like it was assembled in Flint, MI.
Rare does not always mean valuable. So buy it because you think it’s cool and want to drive it until the wheels fall off.
1 of 42 of anything pretty much merits saving anything. Parts may be a problem, but it could send you on an adventure that begins at a wrecking yard in Alabama and ends at an abandoned Buick dealership in Idaho. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!
It’s 1 of 92. Breaking it down further is minutiae.
Multiple unhelpful pictures and a one sentence description. Yep, it’s got to be a Craig’s List ad.
1973, 728 Gran Sport Stage 1s were built, with only 92 having the 4-speed. Fourty-five Gran Sport Stage 1 Sun Coupes were built, but only nine came with the 4-speed.
Read more: http://gmauthority.com/blog/2014/12/a-sunny-1973-buick-gs-stage-1-rescued/#ixzz5gIwAVBPX
Awsome car. I like the basic GS but a stage one and a 4 speed to boot. Now would that be the m20 ? I had a 73 cutlass s 4 speed car. It had a m20 in it.
The “Transport Canada” sticker means that it met all Canadian Federal Requirements to be sold there new, so most likely a US made Buick sold new in Canada.
Whenever I see these Buick’s I remember the 70s Tv show Kojack starring the late Telly Savallas !
My favorite of all the colonnade cars, and with a 455/4-speed. Seller proves that you don’t have to be ‘Murican to be Clueless.
This is too cool a car to be so cavalier with the information and presentation. It’s as if the seller doesn’t really want to maximize his return.
It did take an American to say it, “You can’t fix stupid.”
I owned a Black 73 4 Speed Stage 1 Colonade Buick GS about 15 years ago. Had a 73 Oldsmobile Cutlass S 455 4 Speed Colonade as the same time. These 2 cars were really unknown types of cars back then as all the production numbers were just speculation at that time. The only parts that were a big problem then as now was the plastic interior parts that went to schidt when the cars were a couple years old. Now as then nobody makes much of anything interior wise other than seat covers for these cars.
Although a lot of base Buick Skylarks and such were made interior parts which are the same as on this car as those base cars are virtually none existent making this a tough restoration. The cost of restoration would be more than the car is worth in today’s market with what it takes to properly restore this car. This car would have to be a labor of LUV to restore!
The Colonade GM mid-size cars were neat cars however they are still big heavy boats with dismal performance compared to modern muscle with styling only a 60 year old can like!
NO PRICE in their CL ad means this car must be VASTLY OVERPRICED and they are too ashamed to admit it!!!
Yes, they don’t want to insult us by giving away the price…
The ad implies it is from Vancouver, the map implies it is in Saskatchewan.
Still just a crappy buick. Not a muscle car. Nothing to see here move along.
Clearly you know not what you speak.
This car has more “muscle” than many cars from 1973.
Not much from 1973 to talk about but this would be one of the few. Bull nailed it above, this car will need many restoration parts (probably) that will not be easy to find if at all.
Even though cool and interesting with low production this will be a car that will take a ton, a TON of cash to restore and will never really have the value.
With that said, it MIGHT be worth finding a super clean donor car that you would never want to pillage EXCEPT for maybe in a case like this to save a rare version of the car. The car itself had to have VERY HIGH production….I would imagine.
This car fully restored would be pretty cool AND you could actually put some HP into it that GM did not back in 73.
AND IT’S NOT GREEN !!!!!!!
He must not want to sell it CL in Canada is the red headed stepchild of Kijiji.ca now owned by eBay.
Owning an almost exact car (only mine is one of the 41 A/C cars) I cant let this one go without a comment..
These cars are seriously under-rated. They were fantastically engineered, and handled, steered and stopped MUCH better than their 68-72 predecessors (and I have a 71 Stage 1 too)
They were heavier though, mine weighs 4400 lbs but even with all that weight they were still the last of the legit muscle cars.. Only Pontiac, Mopar and Buick offered a high-HP big block variant in 73, and these Stage1’s are really the re-rated equivalent of the 1971 345hp motors.
Styling is a matter or taste, but they have gained a LOT of popularity in the last 5-10 years or so, and I always thought the Buick was the most understated and handsome of the Colonnade A-Bodies.
This car is rough, but well worth the effort (depending on acquisition price). Drive one or race one, and all of a sudden it all makes sense.
Understated – yes, handsome – meh…I happen to like them though.
One where I live been in a field four years about 20 won’t sell..
Who cares if it’s 1 of 1? Rare does not mean valuable. Well, I guess it does to some people.
Absolutely right Steve. Keep on walking, nothing to see here…..
Wow, this poor car is almost part of the ground! This would take a lifetime of frustration trying to turn this into a usable car, and you’d never get there. Not even good for parts, except possibly the glass. Please crush this car and put it out of its misery. It looks like it is in a junkyard already, based on the stripped El Camino in the air next to it on the CL ad. So what if it’s a four speed if it is in a rusted out 1973 GM frame and body. Parts for these are not plentiful, original or repro.
Mike- so you have seen this car up close? So crushing this car helps our hobby how?
It’s listed in Vancouver but looks like it’s actually in Saskatchewan which is 2 provinces away (about an 18 hour drive)…
Slap a Kojak light on the roof and you can go bookin’ down the freeway at 100 mph. Who’s gonna know you’re not a cop? :)
I believe Kojak’s Buick was a ’73 Century.
The one he used the most was a 1974 Buick Century 455 sedan…of course.
Hagerty says #4 condition is worth around $9k CAD for this heap. This one isn’t even worth half of that to me. Too bad the owner wants us all to guess what it’s worth to him!
Some people on here are never satisfied they complain about stratospheric values & being out of reach of enthusiasts,then in the next breath complain it’s not worth the time/money it will take to restore.
Well as an enthusiast I’ve restored 3 no hopers back to tidy useable condition (no way near concours) but for the love & enjoyment ,I’m lucky I could do the bulk of the work myself in my spare time at home.
I always say you can tell a real enthusiast as the last thing they ask about is value/cost.
Best comment I’ve seen in a long time!!!!!!!!! I completely agree…its not about money…its about the Zen from saving them.
Bud Lindemann liked it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGYg5GuLqXY
I had a 73 century 4 door, optional 350 2 bbL, 3 on the tree, radio and carpet delete, vinyl seats, rubber flooring, heavy duty sway bars front and rear and a shock absorber sway thing in the front making those high speed highway exits nice and flat!!! Manual steering and manual brakes. 1 of not too many I bet! With I still had it. It went really well after removing all the smog stuff!
How does one contact the seller? How much are they asking? Will they ship it to the U.S.? Where are the photographs of the engine and interior and undercarriage? Makes one wonder whether or not the goal is to actually sell the car. Color me confused. :-) ;-)