Day Two Build: 1970 Buick GS 455

I saw one of these Buick Gran Sport models on ebay last spring, owned by someone near San Diego. I drove down to look at it. My impressions? The car was a mismatch, with better paint than interior, the inside kind of worn out. But more than that, it was that this model is bigger than I remembered from the last time I’d seen one. I passed. Now here’s the chance again, a 1970 Buick GS455 featured on ebay for a bid price of $16,000 (short of the reserve). There’s lots of time, with bidding ending Thursday. The car is Marion, Indiana, in case you’re wondering where I’d have to go to retrieve it.

The Gran Sport nameplate has existed since 1965, and it generally describes a car with generous levels of equipment mixed with muscle/sporting pretentions. The GS started out as an option package on the intermediate Buick Skylark. A couple of years later, it became a model of its own. For 1970, you could buy a GS as a 350 or 455. This one, perhaps obviously, draws its name from its 455-CID V8 engine as originally equipped, making it a rare and desirable muscle car. However, the details don’t quite match up. This one has apparently long lost its original engine, as this car has been a street racer almost from the get-go. The mill between the fenders dates to 1973. The description of that and its attendant components (carb, intake, rear end, and so forth) sounds like this one is way into “Day Two Build” territory. That’s a polite way of saying that there’s a lot of stuff that’s not original on this car, and it’s hard to know from a distance how well all of these components mix. Further, it’s best not to be seduced by the “Stage 1” sticker on the air cleaner. The seller’s description leaves that status as a “who knows?” If so, it would add a considerable premium to the car’s value.

From a distance, this GS 455 looks handsome. The paint job is said to be thirty-five years old but still to look good. The problem is that the car has rust in some of the body areas, so it needs to be worked over by a talented tech, one who can blend paint if doing spot repairs is even possible. Otherwise, it’s due for a complete strip, repair, and repaint. The good news is that the panels are all original and straight. But the trunk pan is a mess—rusted out but covered in unsightly fiberglass. So by the time you fix that and paint the car, assuming you’re not doing it yourself, you’re in at—what?—ten G’s?

Worthwhile?  Doing a quick internet search turns up a couple of these priced in reasonable territory ($40s), considering where the market is these days. Given all that the present car needs, and its lack of original engine, it might be wise to wait and see when the reserve comes off, if the reason you’re buying is to do a full restoration. But if the price is right, and you’d be inclined to drag strip it and not worry about originality, this is perhaps your next ride.