THIS 1968 BUICK GS 400 STAGE 1 HAS BEEN RESURRECTED

When it comes to muscle cars, Buick doesn’t get the credit it should. Detroit’s ground-pounders, born in a turbulent and distant decade, were all about the small-d democratization of power—the cheaper the better. Buick was about 10 percent spendier than the best-selling Chevys, Pontiacs, Plymouths, and Fords that locked horns nightly at any given green traffic light, and for whatever reasons sold in far fewer numbers. So, the idea of a Buick isn’t always what pops to mind when the collective American hive-mind thinks of when they hear “muscle car.” 

This is both dumb and wrong. If anything, Buick did it first: for 1936, the year Buick boss Harlow Curtice dropped the massive Limited/Roadmasters’ 130-horse Straight-8 into the smaller Special-sized chassis and called it Century, he created the big-car-engine-in-a-midsize-body muscle car formula—something other GM divisions would rediscover decades later. He also tripled Buick’s year-to-year sales. 

To kids born after the war, however, this was ancient history. A quarter-century later, Buick still knew how to build a torquey engine, but in 1960 the smallest car it built was the Le Sabre, a 123-inch-wheelbase brachiosaurus whose lightest version had a near-4,100-pound shipping weight. For ’61, Buick offered both the 2,800-pound “senior compact” Special and a 401-cube Wildcat V-8, but the division either couldn’t (or more likely wouldn’t) mate them up and sell them to the public. 

By 1964, the Special had grown into an intermediate, and the Riviera’s mill had 425 cubic inches and 465 lb-ft of torque at hand—but GM still forbade their mating. Once Pontiac showed everyone how to tiptoe around GM’s rule book in the fall of ’63, every division with an A-body was off to the races. Buick’s version, called Gran Sport, arrived for the 1965 model year. 

Looking back, the post-GM-cube-restriction, ’70-and-up GS models get the bulk of the muscle mavens’ attention as Buick’s engineers managed to coax an era-high 510 lb-ft of torque out to those poor screaming bias-plies. Similarly, the turbo V-6 coupes of the ’80s—particularly the intercooled ’86-’87 G-bodies—scared Corvettes regularly and have developed their own following. More recently, people have been doing amazing things with supercharged 3800s. But somehow monsters like this ’69 four-speed GS Stage 1 (with air conditioning, no less) get lost in the sauce. This, also, is dumb and wrong. 

Buick launched its all-new 400-cubic-inch big-block for ’67, rating it at 340 horsepower and 440 lb-ft. Whether this sounded impressive or not depended on how you ran the numbers: Chevy’s 396-cube big-block in a base Chevelle Super Sport was rated at 325 horses—and in the buff books and their corresponding ads, horsepower was what got potential buyers all wide-eyed and slack-jawed. But torque is what launches you—and Chevy’s 410 lb-ft lacked when compared to the Buick. For the ’68 redesign, the GS’ new cowl-induction hood sucked cool dense air into the carburetor from the base of the windshield. Buick still advertised 340 horsepower and 440 lb-ft—that is to say, no power gain. Cue furrowed brow—if it didn’t work, why do it? 

For 1969, the comedy continued. Another new cold-air-delivery system, this one called the Cool-Dual Induction System, featured a pair of functional mid-hood scoops that closed onto a pair of foam-rubber-topped air-cleaner snorkels to cram cooler outside air down the carburetor’s throats. Motor Trend claimed that the new system “provided 6½ percent more power in peak torque and 8 percent more in peak horsepower,” yet the GS was still advertised at 340 horsepower and 440 lb-ft. This was a lie on par with Charles Ponzi’s postage stamp gambit, or maybe the Easter Bunny. 

But Buick’s engineers, the very ones who both designed the 400 and chafed against GM’s self-imposed cubic-inch restriction, had developed an over-the-counter engine package for 1968. Known as Stage 1, its cylinder heads featured big 2.12/1.75-inch valves, with stiffer valve springs. Stir in a high-lift cam, a re-jetted GM Q-jet carburetor fed by a higher-capacity fuel pump, new pushrods, a larger-diameter exhaust, and a re-curved distributor, and Stage 1 was instantly the hot ticket among tri-shield fans. For 1969, Stage 1 became a factory-installed option, complete with flashy chrome valve covers and a couple of badges. Power? Why, 350 horsepower—ten more than stock. Hmm… The torque figure was unchanged. Really? Wink, wink. Four-speed Stage cars required a 3.64:1 rear with limited-slip (or 3.42 when equipped with air conditioning), and an improved cooling package. Still, not bad for $199. 

A stock GS was already well-equipped, as you’d expect a Buick to be: heavy-duty coil-sprung suspension at all corners, including a 15/16-inch solid front anti-roll bar. Eleven-inch aluminum front and cast-iron rear drum brakes were also standard, as were 14 x 6-inch steel wheels (with hubcaps) and 7.75-14 whitewall rubber. A total of A total of 7,602 GS Sport Coupes were built for ’69; 1,256 had the Stage 1 option. How many with Stage equipment, the four-speed, and air conditioning in one car? Best estimates are around 80. 

So, you can imagine the surprise and delight when Charlotte, North Carolina, Buick enthusiast Paul Haddock found one of those 80 languishing in a barn. “My parents were Buick people,” Paul says, “and my dad got a company car every two years in the ’60s and ’70s.” Prime time for preteen car nut Paul to absorb any information he could get—even the annual new-car section in the Sunday paper’s Parade magazine insert—and offer his input. “He liked bigger motors. I’d want him to order a Wildcat convertible, and he’d get a Wildcat—but a four-door hardtop. In 1970 the leasing company made a change and stopped offering Buicks, so, before they stopped, I helped him pick out a Diplomat Blue Le Sabre with a 455. He drove it for a couple of years, then bought it from the leasing company. Then it was my mom’s car for a couple of years, then it was my (and my siblings’) high school and college car.” He says simply, “That’s how I became a Buick nut.” Today, Paul counts more than half a dozen Wildcats and GS models in his collection, all dating from 1967-’72. 

As for this A/C-equipped Stage 1 four-speed GS, well, Paul just asked the right people the right questions. “About 30 years ago, I was with a friend who found a GSX in Pacolet, South Carolina (just outside of Greenville). We went with a trailer to pick that up, and I asked the seller whether he knew of any other Buicks available. He knew of a ’69 Stage One that I could buy cheap. I pursued it.” 

Once Paul connected with the seller, he understood why it was cheap. “The previous owner used it as a drag car—just an amateur racer, no credentials or history to it. I discovered that they had cut the floorboard around the shifter to change the clutch with the transmission still in the car. It had a spun bearing and it also had nose damage—they were flat-towing it, the tow bar came loose, and soon they saw the GS passing them in the other lane. Then it ran into a gulley and hit a tree.” 

From that incident, the hood, front bumper, and all of the front trim were smashed in. What’s more, the Southern sun had oxidized the paint from its original Signal Red to something closer to Burgundy Mist. But it also came with an NOS bumper, hood, and grille, which helped sweeten the deal. Paul dragged the ailing beast home, knowing that it was rare. He saw what it was and knew what it could be. 

And then he sat on it as-is. For a quarter-century, he moved it from storage unit to storage unit, always with the intent of restoring it properly but never quite finding the time. It didn’t come with a build sheet under the seat cushions or carpet, and Paul hasn’t tracked down any of the previous owners, but he believes it to be a Southern car from new—the relative lack of rust and the inclusion of air conditioning suggested as much to him. Its appearance in the “Barn Find” section of the 2018 MCACN extravaganza, turning up unrestored and with the front end pushed in, quite directly led to it looking how it does now. 

“At MCACN in 2018, a buddy challenged me to bring it back for the 50th anniversary of ’69 cars,” Paul says. He immediately accepted and got together with Roger Carroll of Carroll’s Customs and Classics in Kannapolis, North Carolina. “He was just starting his business then, and he worked on it a lot. He did most of the heavy lifting; I’d gather parts.” But getting things ready inside of a year? “Well, if you think about it, the engine builder has nothing to do with the transmission, and on these you can work on the chassis separate from the body. All of these can be in process at once. The problem is paying for it all at once!” 

Along the way and aided by the notion that there was no build sheet to be found anywhere, Paul took a couple of invisible liberties. “When we did the engine, I decided to get some 430-cubic-inch pistons in there.” Wildcats of the era ran a 430-cube version of the 400 that was denied Buick’s A-bodies for being too large, according to GM’s own imposed limits (which would be dropped for 1970). Since both engines shared the same 3.90-inch stroke, an overbore enabled use of the 430 pistons, yielding that displacement. “Since it was invisible, the engine still looks totally stock. I mean, why wouldn’t you?” Paul says. 

The wheels were also Paul’s choice. “I had two Road Wheels on one side, and on the other, there was one Road Wheel and one steelie, in a mix of 14- and 15-inch sizes. These dog dishes and steelies are in the spirit of what came on the car. Plus, it seems like every Buick has Road Wheels. It could have been a hubcap car with white walls. That’s not what I would have done [if I was buying it new].” 

Paul also bumped its 14-inch redline bias-plies up one size, from F70s to G70s. The stock steering wheel was replaced with a correct-for-the-year Rallye wheel. 

The result is as you see it here: from wreck to restored in the space of a year and scoring Gold at the 2019 MCACN event with 996 points out of a possible 1,000. Since then, it’s mopped up the awards everywhere it’s gone, including GSCA events, AACA events, and more. As you read this, Paul is preparing this very GS to be included in a special ’68-’69 Buick GS section of the 2024 MCACN event. Let Buick’s mighty efforts in the muscle car world emerge from its under-the-radar status; it’s time for Buicks like this ’69 GS 400 Stage 1 four-speed to stand up and be counted. 

Specifications: 1968 Buick GS 400 Stage 1

PRICE 

Base price: $3,181

Price as profiled: $4,508.72

Options on car profiled: Stage 1 performance option, $199.05; air conditioning, $500; four-speed manual transmission, $185; power disc brakes, $64.25; power steering, $100.05; Sonomatic radio w/ manual antenna, $69.51; ride & handling package (heavy-duty wheels, front & rear springs, shocks, front & rear anti-roll bars, front & rear bushings), $5.27; Rallye steering wheel, $31.60; custom

trim—vinyl Strato Bucket seats, $78.99; destination charge, $94.

ENGINE 

Type: Buick tall-deck “big-block” OHV V-8, cast-iron block and cylinder heads

Displacement: 400 cu.in. (Currently 430-cu.in.)

Bore x stroke: 4.04 (Currently 4.1875) x 3.90 in

Compression ratio: 10.25:1

Horsepower @ rpm: 350 @ 4,800

Torque @ rpm: 440 lb-ft @ 3,200

Camshaft: Hydraulic flat-tappet, 210/224 degrees duration, intake/exhaust; .406/.441-in lift (@ .050), intake/exhaust;

113-degree lobe separation angle

Valvetrain: Shaft-mounted rocker arms

Induction system: Cast-iron dual-plane intake manifold, single four-barrel GM Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor, mechanical pump

Ignition system: GM/Delco Stage 1-specific breaker-point distributor 

Exhaust system: Cast-iron exhaust manifolds, special low-restriction dual exhaust 

TRANSMISSION

Type: GM “Muncie” four-speed manual, all synchromesh 

Ratios: 1st/2.20:1 …2nd/1.64:1…3rd/1.28:1 … 4th/1.00:1 … Reverse/2.27:1 

DIFFERENTIAL 

Type: Buick 8.25-inch 10-bolt, Salisbury hypoid, Positive Traction 

Ratio: 3.42:1 

STEERING 

Type: Recirculating ball, power assist 

Ratio: 15:1 

BRAKES 

Type: Hydraulic front disc/rear drum, power assist 

Front: 11-inch rotor, single-piston caliper 

Rear: 9.50 x 2.00-inch cast-iron drum 

SUSPENSION 

Front: Independent, unequal length A-arms; coil springs; Delco tubular shock absorbers; 15/16-inch solid anti-roll bar

Rear: Live axle; four trailing arms; coil springs; Delco tubular shock absorbers; 7/8-inch solid anti-roll bar

WHEELS & TIRES 

Wheels: Stamped steel, drop center 

Front: 14 x 6 inches 

Rear: 14 x 6 inches 

Tires: Wide Oval bias-ply, red stripe 

Front: F70-14 redline (Currently G70-14) 

Rear: F70-14 redline (Currently G70-14) 

PRODUCTION 

Total 1969 GS 400 production was 8,132, of which 1,256 were Sport Coupes (hardtops) assembled with the Stage 1 engine. Approximately 80 Sport Coupes were built with Stage 1 equipment, four-speed manual transmission, and air conditioning. 

PERFORMANCE* 

0-60 mph: 7.7 seconds 

1/4-mile ET: 15.9 seconds @ 89 mph 

60-0 mph: 149 feet 

*_{January 1969 issue of Motor Trend tested a 1969 Buick GS 400 non-Stage 1 convertible with a Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 and 2.93:1 final-drive ratio.}

The post This 1968 Buick GS 400 Stage 1 Has Been Resurrected appeared first on The Online Automotive Marketplace.

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