Okay the Sloan docs. are in, and it shows there where a total of "10 options" ordered on this car. If you include the "GRAN SPORT" Package it would be 11 options on a base Century Coupe. The V.I.N. IS 4D37V3Z which means it was built in Fremont, Ca. and sold new to a guy in Fremont, Nebraska? Weird huh? The car invoiced for $3,481.45 on 10/26/72. I'd say Brian was right, their is no graphic delete option, the first owner probably had the dealership remove the decals with a heat gun or something. Larry.
$3,057.45 Base Century MSRP. The remaining options you say only cost $425. The Stage1 package alone cost $536. Something doesn't seem right. Do you mean it has a $4,481.45 invoice? My old Black 4 speed with just the Gran Sport Package AC, Rear defogger, Power Brakes and Steering, AM Radio, Rear speaker, Soft Ray tinted glass, Carpet Savers and Handy Mats, Protective Side Moulding with a Sport Steering Wheel also 11 options including the Gran Sport package MSRP was $4095.11 according to my Sloan Museum Documents.
My old 73 only had posi, am radio, rear defroster which was mandatory in NY. That was it! Never saved the window sticker. Manual steering 4 speed car Stage 1. Ran it a few years in BG in the late 90's
Ok, on the 2nd page of the document it shows the invoice price of $3481.45 and it does not mention if that's with or w/o options. The next page is the "Wholesale Car Order" which starts with A1-Stage1 High Performance Option, then B3, the 4-speed manual floor shift trans. then C6-Power Steering, then D1- Sonomatic Radio, also D6-rear speaker, L2-Soft Ray Tinted Windshield, N2-Bumper Protective Strips{front & rear}, O1-Door Guards, O2-Remote Control outside rear view mirror. S4-Tilt Steering Wheel, and at the end it's listed as a 'Sold Order' meaning it was ordered by a person, not a Fleet vehicle or a Demonstrator. The O2 Mirror option is strange because the car has a manual outside driver's mirror with no sign of a inside control on the door panel? The Sloan-Way Museum also sent me 5 pages of GM production reports ending 8-31-73 for Flint, Framingham, and Freemont plants for the AD37 cars. These reports are broken down by color, options, daily percentages, etc. they are kind of hard to understand, I'll bring them to the Nationals for anyone who wants to see them? Thanks, Larry.
Thanks! Neat that for a pretty low option car that it had tilt. Idk about the '73-4, but in '70 (larger dia. Steering wheel too), it was tight getting in/out & I'd say my thighs are average size. I once saw a very low option '70 Stage 1 4-sp that was ordered w/tilt surely b/c the orig. owner realized this. The 3481.45 is what the dealer was invoiced for the car including the options. What @philip roitman is referring to is MSRP (window sticker price). @Mike Trom could make you a window sticker that would show the MSRP pretty closely (the destination charge IIRC is the one thing where there may be some ambiguity). Interesting on the mirror. If it's on the Sloan (or Wayne Robers in late '70), that means the dealer was invoiced for it which if the car was built w/o it, was probably a clerical error in invoicing. I have a '70 GS w/the opposite scenario. Orig. painted top that didn't show up on the report, so the dealer was never invoiced for it but it's on the data tag & there's physical evidence. In both cases, it wouldn't/would've respectively been shown on the window sticker/build sheet & not included/included in the MSRP as the window sticker was generated on the front end before production & the VIN added to it later, presumably at Fisher Body - The engine/trans/frame stampings were done at Buick and presumably not very long before assembly. It must've been a very interesting process and we know mistakes happened at any/all points. Wayne told me a story of a '70 GS 455 3-sp. manual car where something must've happened on the line to the orig. car or chassis the engine/trans. were destined for or installed in. When the line stops because of something happening to a car, they don't care about the car - It's removed junkyard style with a forklift through the window opening. That engine/trans., w/the orig. car's VIN wound up in the next 3 sp. GS 455 that came down the line, which of course was not very often. I was on a tour of the old Baltimore GMAD plant when the Astro Vans were being built there (early '90s) and the line stopped. The culprit happened to be right where I was. It was mayhem in the scramble to get that chassis out. Guys in suits were in the frey getting their hands dirty. Must've been a clause in the UAW contract that allowed management to intervene in such situations. Apparently the order/production & invoicing systems weren't connected (hard to imagine in today's world) & so the cars were invoiced manually & mistakes happened there. As soon as the car was invoiced, GMAC could start collecting interest on the dealership floor plan financing, plus at 1 car/minute rolling off the line, I assume the they were being invoiced in almost real time and the invoice date is the most likely closest thing we have to the date the car rolled off the line. In your case, whether the dealership caught the mistake that they were invoiced for an option they didn't receive is anyone’s guess. Of course mistakes also happened at the front end starting with the dealership when filling out the order form & then when the orders were entered at Buick. There was a formal procedure for dealing w/cars that were built/arrived at the dealership not as they were ordered so it must've been a pretty common occurrence. I'll never know for sure if my low option Stage 1 4-sp was ordered w/a clock (also a "sold" car) or if it was a mistake at the dealer when filling out the order form or a mistake at Buick when the order was entered.
That's the blue car @Mike Sobotka currently owns, correct? I cannot imagine restoring a '73-4 but I like the low option cars & would sure love to have that one. I didn't know that rear def. was mandatory in NY. Do you know when that took effect? My late '70 (05B) GS was orig. a NY car & doesn't have one.
Yes that is the one Mike has. Only thing Original to that car now is the rear end. Was a fun car back in the day. Got it into the 11.70 zone once I put an automatic in it so my son could drive it. I believe 73 the year NY made the rear defrost mandatory.
I have an nos header panel & left quarter panel for sale if anyone is interested. Can bring to GS Nats if someone makes me a deal.
Thx.! It's such an oddball car I wouldn't care about it not being numbers matching. I just wouldn't want to restore it.
I can't get it started, carb is fresh, plugs look like new, turns over good, put gas down the carb but it won't even cough or sputter? I'm thinking electrical, I'll check the dwell, points, and coil today. Anybody have any other ideas? Thanks, Larry.
That has to be the rarest of rare birds. A non power steering colonnade car. I've never seen one, in yards, and I used to buy Saginaw manual boxes with their attendant pitman arms due to their rarity. A manual pitman from that era of cars is Chicken Lips extreme.
Here's some pics of the 73 4-speed car taken the week of the Nationals in BG. I was planning on driving the brown 74 Regal to BG but my business's were short-handed that week [Their always short-handed] and I had to stay here and work. So, I did the next best thing and had my own Colonnade Reunion Show out at my Buick Farm and lined up 4 of my six 73-74 Buicks out front along the Highway and left them out there for a week. [Hey, out here on the High Plains you sometimes have to invent your own fun when there's nobody to talk to.] I lined up both 73's from Nebraska and the brown 74 from Denver and a white 455 powered 74 from a local guy. They all need work but I still like them. Larry.
Still have an nos header panel & left quarter panel I can bring it to BG in May if you are interested
That was an usual car for sure. I think only option it had was am radio unless that was standard & in NY it had to have a rear defroster. Mike Sobotka has it now but nothing original left except rear-end now.
