Lord Vader - An Unknown Buick Returns

Discussion in 'Members Rides' started by Brett Slater, Sep 16, 2017.

  1. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    I've decided this will be where any further posts regarding the car will be.

    Considering it's the appropriate forum and Photobucket spit the bit, the choice was relatively easy.

    That said, here goes - in no particular order - but first a little back story of how this piece of Buick history ended up in a Masshole's possession.

    Late 2016: the previous owner, Dano here on the board, had posted a picture of it on one of the Buick Facebook pages and I inquired with resident V8Buick crack spider as to its particulars. He gave me a quick but informative rundown of the details. Turns out Dano found it on Craigslist and it spent its whole life - in obscurity - in Lebanon, PA.

    Dano grabbed it quickly from the gentleman who owned it the longest - 35 years, during which time he'd amassed only 8K miles on the car. I guess he was a Mopar guy and wrestled with unloading the car for a while.

    Between the holidays: after crunching some numbers and figuring I was never going to be able to save the amount of cash I'd need to get a nice car that didn't need a ton of work - well, I could've saved but it would have taken way longer than utilizing my excellent credit score and securing a collector car loan - I decided to reach out to Dano.

    Crack spider had floated that he might be looking to unload the car because he found something he really wanted shortly after acquiring this one, so I rolled the dice and began corresponding with Dano. After numerous texts and emails, I flew down to MD in February to check out the car and finalized the sale. Almost 2 months later, after Mother Nature decided to make things difficult, the car was shipped up here on March 29th, via Sean Ryder.

    So, that's a tid bit for now and not only did I get a cool car but I also made a new friend in MD. Win/win. Stay tuned for more as I upload all my pictures from Photobucket to Imgur and add them periodically.

    Shined up and ready for a local show tomorrow.

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  2. OHC JOE

    OHC JOE Mullet Mafia since 2020

    That car is gangster plain and simple
     
    rolliew, David Cooke, OZGS455 and 3 others like this.
  3. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    It's definitely been a lot of fun.

    It still blows my mind that a high school kid owned it when it was only a few years old and that it's still in one piece.
     
  4. Clarkie

    Clarkie Well-Known Member

    Lookin' good, Brett.
     
    Brett Slater likes this.
  5. Postsedan

    Postsedan 13427 L78

    Love It! Thanks for sharing :)
     
    Brett Slater likes this.
  6. TrunkMonkey

    TrunkMonkey Well-Known Member

    The Elephant Stalker...
     
  7. HeavensDevil

    HeavensDevil Well-Known Member

     
  8. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

  9. Guy Parquette

    Guy Parquette Platinum Level Contributor

    Early style B4B! Holley or Q-Jet?
     
  10. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Guy,

    Early style that I got from Wheelz back when I first got the car, with the "dropped sides" and a 650 spreadbore Holley I just rebuilt.
     
  11. BadBrad

    BadBrad Got 4-speed?

    How's the mirror search going?
     
  12. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    It's complete!
     
  13. steve covington

    steve covington Well-Known Member

    You REALLY expect us to believe that ANY high school kid drove a 1970 Buick GS 455 Stage 1, 4 speed, non a/c car... and it SURVIVED?
    Oh, yeah, maybe during the first or second OPEC crisis, when you couldn't afford to drive it. Maybe Daddy was rich, and this was just one of Junior's 'toys'.
     
  14. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    True story. See below.

    February 2017: Dano had text me the names of the 2nd and 3rd owner and after a quick Internet search, I found (what I'd hoped was) the second owner. Last anyone knew, he owned an asphalt company in Lebanon, PA. I called the number listed on the company website and got the answering machine. As I was nearing the end of my somewhat long and descriptive message, a gentleman's voice picks up the phone.

    "Ehh, hello?? Sorry, I couldn't find the damn phone."

    "Yes, I'm looking for a guy who might have owned an all black 70 Buick Stage 1 4-speed back in the mid to late 70's?"

    "Ohhh, yeah, that's me. That was my car."

    The conversation went on for a little over a half hour and he recalled buying the car for around $4,000 - with an installment loan from his father. He even recalled the name of the original owner, who he said is still in the Lebanon area.

    He explained that no one (back then) had a Buick and that everywhere he went, heads turned and people used to ask him a million questions about the car. He also said that he really didn't drive it much because of the "low gearing". His mother lived in VA and he told me he took a couple trips there (in the car) but between the gearing and the feds jacking up insurance prices on factory high-performance cars - especially those owned by young adults, it wasn't economically feasible to use it as his daily driver. He eventually bought another car and kept that until selling it to the third owner - a high school kid - in the very early 80's.

    Owner three blew the original motor and the gentleman told me he'd warned the kid about how easy it would be to "get into trouble" with the car but he said that didn't stop him from "ripping around town in it." The high school kid's father had had enough and this relationship was short lived. It ended up sold to the gentleman who owned it the longest, who Dano bought it from.

    As the conversation came to an end, he told me he still had pictures of it that "he'd look at from time to time". I immediately asked if he had an email address so I could send him some of how it looked now but he replied: "I don't know anything about that email stuff."

    I gave him my address and phone number and he told me he'd send me the pictures so I could scan them and return them. He didn't have any old paperwork or service records but figured the gentleman he bought it from might.
     
  15. Postsedan

    Postsedan 13427 L78

    Great story.....thanks for sharing :)
     
    OHC JOE and Brett Slater like this.
  16. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    March 29, 2017 @ 10:07 p.m.

    Lord Vader arrives in MA after a long trek from suburban Baltimore.
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    Stage 2 iron likes this.
  17. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    Local show today hosted by The Boy Scouts:

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    Stage 2 iron likes this.
  18. Daves69

    Daves69 Too many cars too work on

    Brett don't leave us hanging. Did you contact the original owner?
     
  19. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    I haven't. I have to set aside some time and start cold calling again.

    Trust me - if and when I do, it'll be posted here in almost real time.
     
  20. Brett Slater

    Brett Slater Super Moderator Staff Member

    The dead bug on the grill emblem is a rare, factory Stage 1 only piece.
     

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