Details about this rare Buick GS455 For Sale:
We are very proud to offer for sale at the St. Louis Car Museum an impressive and fully restored 1970 Buick GS455 Stage 1 Sport Hardtop Coupe. This stunning classic muscle car is wonderfully cared for and finished in its original factory color code (RR) Fire Red over (178) Black vinyl bench seat interior! Featuring an original, numbers-matching 455ci Stage 1 Ram Air V8 producing 360hp and ground-pounding 510 lb. ft. of torque paired with a Hurst-shifted 4-speed Muncie transmission and upgraded 12-bolt rear axle. Being only 1 of 664 Stage 1 hardtops produced, this unique GS455 was special-ordered loaded with factory options including Stage I Performance Option, air conditioning, power disc brakes, power windows, Sonomatic AM radio with Stereo 8-track and rear speaker (working AM/FM radio now installed), custom front & rear seatbelts with front shoulder belts, tachometer & instrument gauges, 14" chrome plated wheels with Wide Oval billboard lettered tires, convenience group with trunk light, door edge guards (removed after restoration), tinted windshield, and interior carpet savers.
This very rare GS455 Stage I Hardtop was originally delivered as a SOLD unit to its first owner through Dickerson Buick in Lynchburg, Virginia, in early November 1970. The early ownership history of this classic Buick is unknown, but it likely led a typical life as a potent muscle car, roaming the streets on weekends. It comes to us from the former owner of 19 years. He located this special Buick in Petersburg, Virginia, in August 2006 with 76,203 miles showing on the odometer and ready for a restoration. He would have the car delivered to Thorpe Body & Restoration Shop and commission a complete nut-and-bolt disassembly and restoration.
The body would be media blasted with all efforts to remove any rust and replace with OEM factory sheet metal borrowed from a donor 1970 Skylark. During the process, the original factory black vinyl top would be deleted along with the door edge guards. The repaint of the exterior would be done after tedious hours of body preparation and finished in base coat/clear coat fashion, color-sanded and polished to a high gloss. The reassembly of the entire car would be meticulously documented in invoices provided with the sale.
The original, numbers-matching engine would be sent to Buick specialist, TA Performance Products of Scottsdale, Arizona, for a professional rebuild. This included cleaning & magnafluxing the block and heads, align bore and hone the block cylinders and torque plate, drilling the oil pick up gallery to 5/8", balancing the rotating assembly, grinding the crankshaft and chamfering the oil holes, resizing the connecting rods, ARP rod bolts, new cast pistons with chrome moly rings, new rod and main bearings, complete competition valve job with stainless valves, Viton valve seals, bronze guides, correct Stage I valve springs and retainers, Stage I hydraulic camshaft, new Teflon-coated cam bearings, high performance oil pump, new water pump, rebuilt distributor, all new gaskets, timing set with TA performance cover, etc. all fully assembled and stand tested to properly break in the camshaft before returning it for installation into this GS455. Today, it has approximately 600 miles on the engine and continues to perform excellently! Power steering was added for additional driver comfort and ease of operation, along with upgraded 15" chrome wheels.
The lengthy restoration was completed alongside several other high-end project vehicles at Thorpe's Body & Restoration Shop and was fully sorted and finished in August 2024. The owner had enjoyed it for the past year and only recently elected to sell it due to health reasons. This Buick GS455 will come with a reproduction owner's manual, two window stickers (one faux-aged), an original Buick brochure, Sloan Museum historical documentation, and all restoration records from Thorpe's facility. It is a remarkable opportunity to own a piece of General Motors' finest from the muscle car era! Make no mistake about the rarity of a factory-equipped Stage I GS455 with a 4-speed manual transmission in combination with working air conditioning and power windows! They just don't appear on the market and are exceptionally rare! Contact Jon Faust at (314)993-1330 to schedule a test drive. Vehicle is located at St. Louis Car Museum & Sales.
History of Buick's Gran Sport model:
The Gentlemen's Muscle Car that you could drive fast with class! Buick's Gran Sport name became synonymous with high-performance power as soon as it started production in 1965 with its 400ci V8, which was the largest engine permitted by General Motors. In 1970, power increased even further with the addition of the Grand Sports' big block 455ci V8, producing the most torque of any American production car of its era. The Stage I Performance Option bought you a high output 455ci with ram air cold air induction, ported heads with larger intake/exhaust valves, aggressive high lift camshaft, stiffer valve spring & damper assemblies, high volume fuel pump, rejetted Rochester carburetor, special built TH400 automatic transmission (if equipped), heavy duty radiator, low restriction dual exhaust, and performance axle ratio with positive traction. Publicized as having 360 horsepower, most felt Buick clearly underrated its true output. Only 664 GS455 Stage 1 Sport Coupes were produced in 1970, making them one of the hardest cars to find on the market today! With insurance and emission standards on the rise, these powerful cars became even more desirable as production cars after 1971 just weren't the same.
Buying or selling a classic car? Financing and trading options are available on all available vehicles at St. Louis Car Museum & Sales. Contact Jon Faust @ (314)993-1330 or email [email protected]
