Back home It was a pretty uneventful 170 mile drive, aside from several massive downpours. I cannot believe how well the car rides. Except for a Carhex steering box (which is awesome, I had forgotten how nice this car steers) this car is riding on almost 40 year old suspension components. This car seems better than I remembered which makes me glad I was able to buy it back. I can't wait to address a few of the small issues and get out to some car shows. It has a long way to go before it is fully restored, but it drives great.
This is great Jacob. This year at the GS Nationals I saw zero 1967 GS400s (maybe there were a few but I didn't see them). So let's make a deal and hold each other to it, you and I will both bring '67 GS400s next year. Don't worry about your car not being restored because the '67 fans will still love it. The '67 GS400 I plan to bring is in very similar condition to yours. We've got 11-1/2 months to prepare.
That sounds like a great idea Gary! I was surprised there were no 67 GS400s there myself. All I could think about was having mine there for next year. Honestly, the hype leading up to this years GS Nationals had me really wishing I hadn't sold the 67. I had even thought about throwing a number out there to the previous owner. It was wild when I saw his message the following day for the exact price I had in mind. Meant to be I suppose. I didn't even bother haggling on the price, I was just glad to have the opportunity to own it again. The hardest part of restoring my 67 will be taking it apart, because it just works so darn well the way it is now. I know it needs to happen since there is some rust, but I will have a lot of thinking to do when it comes down to how this car is restored. I honestly think a frame off may be unnecessary in my case. The other tough choice will be deciding what I want to do for an engine. I think the original 400 needs to be built, but being a Fremont car with no engine vin stamping, it is impossible to prove it is the original engine. I forgot how awesome BBB torque is. It is addicting how just a light squeeze of the throttle puts you back in the seat. I averaged about 15mpg on the 170 mile drive home though, which seems crazy. I kept speeds around 65mph as I didn't want to put too much stress on the rear. It starts to get noisy when it heats up and I think it is due for a rebuild. This carb needs some love too, I think one of the primary well plugs is leaking because it develops a bit of an uneven idle once it warms up. It is funny that the 40+ year old service replacement carb worked better than a fresh rebuilt unit. I don't mean that as a reflection upon the builder, I think it just shows some of the issues these early 67 quadrajets had, and why so many cars ended up with service replacements. The carb that came with my car decodes as for a 67 396 Camaro, but it has the correct linkage for the ST400 trans. The only reason I removed it was to put a correct casting, rebuilt carb on since the replacement had some leaky gaskets. I may just re-gasket that carb myself and put it back on for now. I appreciate all the well wishes! I feel lucky to own this car again and can't wait to get back to working on it. I will likely post future updates in the original project thread I started. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/1967-gold-mist-gs400-project.323140/
