Flame Orange '72 Stage 1 convertibles - Buick Zone Office Cars - qty 25!

Maybe there should be a thread about the '71 promotional cars:Smarty:

 

I'm a new member here at V8 Buick and am thrilled to learn about the unusual history of our car.

Our 72 GS Stage 1 Convertible is apparently a previously undocumented Zone Office car. It is the Zone 8 Cleveland, OH car. The car is not listed on the Stage 1 registry so this should increase the quantity of Zone Office survivors to six. The car is all numbers matching with original owners documentation. VIN 100868, Order Number RR0131.

Reading the above postings, and others on V8Buick, am I correct that the following 1972 Stage 1 Convertible Zone Office cars still exist: Atlanta, GA, Minneapolis, MN, Pittsburgh, PA, Chicago, IL, and now Cleveland, OH? I wasn't able to locate the office location of the sixth and am uncertain about the Chicago car.

I've attached a picture of our GS taken yesterday.

JC

 

Welcome to V8Buick.com!

Thanks for posting about your car, and for adding a picture. It is a great looking car. When we restore our car we are also going to remove the front & rear bumper guards. In my opinion they are just too big and look like they were intended to be push-bars like a cop car! Your car looks so clean without them. Once again, just my opinion.

So far I have seen these four Zone Office cars:

-Atlanta, GA
-Minneapolis, MN
-Pittsburgh, PA
-Cleveland, OH

plus three others: the car currently on eBay (Fisher body #010120), plus a car on the Stage 1 registry (Fisher Body# 010134), plus the car that is mentioned by "OH stage one" in post #13 on page one of this thread that he thinks is VIN 100092 or 93.

So it looks like there are probably at least 7, but I'm sure there are more. As people see this thread they will continue to be brought to light. I'm hoping to send the info for publication soon, as well as create a small website dedicated to Buick Zone Office cars.

Thanks again for speaking up about your car.

 

I saw one for sale at Mecum Fla auction several years back.

 

The bumper guards were not re-installed on our car. The front bumper guards look like an after thought and diminish the clean look of the car in my opinion.

Also, the headlight bezels on our car are argent not black as is correct for a 1972.

Buick was pushing safety in 1972, ahead of the 1973 DOT bumper impact regs. As the Zone Cars were likely showroom items during the model year, it makes sense Buick added them on as optional equipment.

What's strange to me was the installation of an AM radio with 8-Track and the extra rear speaker. Why not use the AM/FM Stereo with 8-track option?

Thank you Buquick for gathering together info on the 1972 Zone Office cars. Happy to support you in your efforts. Please contact me if I can be of any assistance.

A census of the remaining 1972 Zone Office cars should be attempted. The census would include VIN, Body number, zone office number/city, and perhaps a picture if available.

The eBay car is the same that was sold in June 2011 at Barrett-Jackson Orange County for $23,100. The auction photo from June looked like there was a tear in the front seat driver-side lumbar position. The front seat cover looks fresh now. They should replace the door panels and remove the front spoiler in my opinion.

JC

 

Possibly concerning thecar from dolton...In 1986, I was 16,I purchased a flame orange 72 vert s1 for 1100$ car had typical illinois rust bhind each wheel but overall not bad.I drove car to high school,raced it at union grove,then traded the car for a #s matching 70 stage 1 that was hit in the front.I kept track of the vert for a few years. Last I saw it waspainted like a GSX,sat in suburb of Harvey with a spun bearing,lost track after that.I will look through some old stuff and see ifI have the vin or possibly the build sheet on this car.Everytime I see a flame orange 72 I would wondr if it was my old gs then it seemed to be the only color id see.

 

Please keep your eyes open and if you ever find anything related to your old car, please share. If it was an orange Stage 1 convert, with a white top then the chances are pretty high that it was one of these 25 cars.

 

The guy selling this car says it was at the BCA show this year so it must be the same car you saw. Their ad doesn't have very good photos, so if you have any to share, that would be cool. Board member Atarizona recently called R&R Motors and spoke to them about the car and confirmed from their Sloan docs that this car is the New York City Zone Office car.

http://www.randrmotor.com/inventory.aspx?mk=Buick&md=&lid=-1&newused=&exbs=&bs=&fromprice=-1&toprice=-1&keyword=

 

Well it was 40 years ago today that most of these 25 cars were invoiced to the Zone Offices.

21 of the 25 cars were invoiced on 8/26/71. (one more was invoiced on 8/27/71, two on 8/30/71, and one on 9/1/71)

I'm working to gather content for a small website dedicated to these cars, www.stage1zoneofficecars.com

 

This must be your buddy's car since this one has VIN 100091 and after being the Zone Office car was sold new at a dealer in Chicago. Good looking car.
http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?CFGRIDKEY=SC0512-129785 It will be interesting to see what it brings on Saturday.


So this confirms at least 7 of these cars that I've run across now. Probably still more out there so if anyone sees one of them let me know so I can add it to the list.

 

Hi Gary, I just joined BPG the other day. I purchased my car and received it last Thursday. It is 1/25 zone cars. It's build date was 8/26/71 and I have all the Sloan documents, awards etc. You may have this one on your list already as it belonged to " Oldtimebaseball " a board member on the V8 site. The low VIN 100135 I'm thrilled to have it. Let me know if you have this one.Talk to you soon. Jay.

 

This is the car I refered to earlyer in the post carey sonnenburg sold it to lookers in napoleon ohio they detailed it up and have it up for sale

 

Jay, I'm glad that your car finally found a home and will be enjoyed. Of the 9 '72 Zone Office cars I've seen so far, the car you own is the nicest of all of them in my opinion. Send me a PM with your email address when you get a chance. Thanks.

---------- Post added at 10:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:24 PM ----------

Thanks for the info. I tried to find a website for Lookers but only found a phone # and address listed. I may give them a call next week and ask about the car. Thanks again for the lead.

 

Hi Jay
I once owned your car.
I sold it to Oldtime baseball years ago as a project car.
Great to see you are giving it a happy home.

 

Hi Richard, I knew that a restoration shop in Maryland sold the car to a fellow in Canada who then sold it in 2005 to Oldtimebaseball who happened to be in Maryland also. Am I correct? I'm sure you know that in 2006 in went in for a frame off restoration by Mark Reeves ( then and now ) which was completed in 2008. Mark then took the car to the BPG nationals and the Buick GS nationals and the car won concours gold in both. Along with all the documentation, Sloan, Stage 1 Registry etc. I have a CD with all the restoration photos. It was an amazing transformation seeing what the condition of the car was and all the steps that brought it to it's present form. 392/400 was from the Judges form. Hope to speak with you soon. Thanks. Jay.

 

To The Top...

http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.p...tage-1-convertible-quot-Zone-Office-Cars-quot

 

Update: I've now confirmed that 10 of the 25 cars built, still exist. I'm sure there are more so I'm still looking.

 

Gary ,
Ill email you a lead you may or may not have .
DL

 

Another to your list. I picked up the San Francisco, CA 72 Zone car. Its been in Calf since new, No rust, numbers matching.
Zone 23 .. One of two invoiced on 8/30/71 and one of two Calf cars...


Nelson

 

With Nelson's San Francisco, CA Zone Office car the total jumped to double digits, 10. Now another '72 Zone Office Stage 1 convertible has surfaced on eBay and it has a really groovy paint job. This bring the total confirmed number of surviving Zone Office Stage 1 convertibles to 11 of the 25 made. The survival rate is good for these cars so I'm confident more are out there.

Here's the eBay car: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rare...9622972?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1c318103bc