1976-09-02  The photo shown above was the GSX's first day home after I purchased temporary tags.  I was happy to have the car home and took it to the car wash that night.  After a good power wash,  I pulled out onto Hampden Avenue and did what anyone else would do. I put my foot to the floor and ran it up through all (3) gears.  I immediately got pulled over by an Englewood Police officer.  He asked me to bring my license and registration and get into his patrol car.  I told the officer I just purchased it and was excited to take it for first cruise.  We had a good talk and he actually let me go with a warning and no ticket.  This is just the first of a few  [stories] I have provided below.

A Brief History

A few months later he found the 1971 Buick GSX Stage-1 a few blocks away from our home while driving through the neighborhood.  I hadn't heard of the GSX model but wanted to see if I could buy it.

We went to the home where the GSX was parked and knocked on the front door.  The original owner answered and I asked her if she would sell me the car.  She said no!  I stopped by a number of other times to see if she had changed her mind and the answer was always no!  I think she got frustrated with me on my final stop.  She said she would sell it to me for $3,000 and told me "Don't come back again if you won't pay that price."  She told me she would buy a new Toyota Land Cruiser if I bought the GSX.  I was able to sell my Ford Fairlane for $1,000 and get a loan for the remaining $2,000.  In comparison, other GS 455's like my brothers were selling for about $1,500.

I purchased the Buick GSX Stage-1 from the original owner on September 2, 1976.  She had worked for Mesa Motors, the Buick dealership  in Cortez, Colorado.  She special ordered her GSX and it was delivered to the dealership on June 12, 1971.  She subsequently moved to Denver and it had about 38,000 miles on the odometer when I purchased it.  I used it as my daily driver for a couple of  years but gas prices were still high and it only got about 10 MPG.  I decided to purchased a 1970 Buick Skylark that my brother also found.  I used it as my primary driver to save on gas.   I purchased the 1970 Buick Skylark for $50 and the GSX has been garage kept since then.  I drive it on special occasions but not as much as I would like.

The car is original and has never been restored.  I had to replace a water pump, battery and maybe a few other minor things I can't remember.  I also installed stereo speakers when I changed out the factory radio and optional 8-Track tape player with a new stereo cassette player.  I tossed the original radio and 8-Track player in the trash and have regretted that ever since.  I never had the ambition or time to do any restoration work.   I will leave that decision to my children, grandchildren or the future owner.

Stories from the Good Old Days

1981-10-01  By the early 1980's, my brothers and all our friends in the neighborhood had purchased a Buick GS 455.  My 1971 Buick GSX Stage-1 and my brother's 1970 Buick GS Stage-2 are the only ones left.  The brown GS-455 that started our 'GS Obsessions' is shown in the photo above, second car from the right.  Some of you reading this probably have one of the others that our family or friends had. 

1977-04-01  My brother borrowed my car one night to go cruising.  I went out the next morning and found the rear window shattered and a large boulder sitting on the passenger side front floor mat.   The boulder was thrown through the rear window at an angle that went between the front bucket seats and rolled onto the passenger side floor. It was a miracle the boulder didn't hit anything else on its way through the car.  My brother finally told me that he had been street racing and someone he raced probably did it.  I was upset at the time but would love to chat with the person who threw the boulder.  I would compliment them on their accuracy and buy them lunch just to hear their side of the story. 

I took the GSX fishing and pulled into a small dirt parking area.  I drove over a boulder about the same size that was thrown through my rear window a few months earlier.  It started making a scraping noise and I immediately turned off the engine. I used my bumper jack to raise the car just enough so I could see what happened.  It scraped the torque converter cover just enough to start making the noise.  I jacked the car high enough so I could crawl under the car.  I used a bottle opener to bend out the scrape and that fixed the problem.  The second I crawled out from under the car, it fell off the bumper jack.  If the bumper jack had failed when I was under the car, I might not be here to tell this story. The small scrape is still visible and it will remain a reminder to "Safety First!"

In 1977 a local newspaper published an article and photo about County Line Road located at the South end of the Denver metro area.  The road was two lanes with steep rolling hills.  You couldn't see city lights from the road at night and it was very dark.

I took a friend for a date and drive down that road on a moonless summer night.  The speed limit was 50 mph but she kept asking me to "go faster" until I was doing about 70 mph.   She was having fun but I wasn't sure what her speed limit was and didn't want to find out!  That was the only time I was ever afraid to speed in the GSX.  I wonder how fast we would have gone if she was driving.

One day my brothers and I were goose hunting and observed a small flock of geese flying into a strong headwind over a farmers corn field. We quickly drove down the dirt road where we thought the geese would cross. We jumped out of the car and my brother shot one of the geese and it fell into the farmers corn field. Apparently the farmer saw us and was not pleased with our trespassing. He was driving very fast towards us to most likely have 'a few words'. We jumped back into the GSX and headed away from the farmer who now was chasing us. I was able to stay ahead of him until he gave up the chase. We never heard the feedback that he most likely wanted to provide.

The car now has regular collectors plates but they only expire every (5) years.  I also don't need to get emissions each time I renew.  Having to renew and get emissions tests each year was a big inconvenience and probably the reason I forgot to renew them.

How do you jump start a car with just a bumper jack?  A friend of mine and I just came out of a bar after closing time to find my battery dead.  Neither of us had jumper cables and everyone we asked didn't either.  We were taking a Electronics Engineering class at that time and used some basic DC circuit principles.  He pulled his car forward just enough to touch our chrome bumpers together making a common chassis ground with both cars.  Bumper jacks back then were very long.  We then took our bumper jacks touching together in an upside down "V" configuration to make a connection between the positive side of each battery.  We where then able to jump start the car.  There is no way you could do that with the plastic bumpers they manufacture today.  I wonder if anyone else has ever tried that trick.

The GSX had original Goodyear Polyglass GT tires when I purchased it.  I replaced them with new Goodyear Radial GT's not long after buying the car.  After the radials wore out,  I purchased another NOS set of Goodyear Polyglass GT tires and they are the same ones currently being used.  These tires are now over (45) years old but are still in very good condition.  For safety reasons I should purchase new reproductions.

I ended up selling my 1970 Buick Skylark 350 to my next door neighbor.  This is the car I mentioned earlier that helped me save on gas and mileage by not driving the GSX every day.  My neighbor was driving the Skylark on a highway and drove over a larger boulder.  He wasn't as lucky as I was with my previous boulder encounters.  This time it took out the oil pan, transmission and rear differential.  I was lucky with my boulder encounters but my neighbor wasn't!  What is it with boulders anyhow?