The GSX Prototype - From Those Who Were There and More

I made the initial post. Would it perhaps, be OK for me to "Edit" that post with a statement like.........."After looking into this so called GSX Prototype I have discovered that the gentleman is stating that this other prototype is his effort to build a tribute to Brad's car as he would have liked it to be built". OR something to that affect.

If I could also edit the thread title I could also say something like "The GSX prototype story". Your thoughts?

After looking into this so called GSX Prototype I have discovered that the gentleman is stating that this other prototype is his effort to build a tribute to Brad's car as he would have liked it to be built

 

How about “GSX stories everyone wants to hear “

 

& the mirrors hadn't been re-located farther back yet like on production (& Brad's?) car. Looks odd having them that far forward.

 

Just realized there were no current exterior Pics of Brads '70 car in this thread - From MCACN in '18:

 

Brett, I’d like to change the header to: “The GSX Prototype - From Those Who Were There, and More”

Sound OK?

 

Do you have any idea if this is the hood they worked on to make the final big scoops?
Was there any evidence of a hole for the tach underneath the hood on Brads car or was the final fiberglass version just on a steel frame with no metal skin?

 

Brad, do you know this man leaning in and touching to look inside your GSX?
When I know i'm going to a car show I were sweat pants or pants with no belts just in case and never lean in anyways. If I come across a show by chance I stay even further away no matter what the shape the car is in.

This Richard Petty looking man is wearing a belt which has to have a belt buckle?

 

"Do you have any idea if this is the hood they worked on to make the final big scoops?
Was there any evidence of a hole for the tach underneath the hood on Brads car or was the final fiberglass version just on a steel frame with no metal skin?"

I think that is a standard production hood that was put on the car for one of the earlier shows before the "Show Hood" was done. I am sure they were always "under the gun" with regards to getting the cars done for these shows. Most likely they had to bring what they had to meet the show dates.

I have not looked at the bottom of Brad's hood closely, but it may have been built like the 442 hoods. Old's took the bottom steel structure from a regular hood, cut off like 1/2" or so from each side, and glued it to the exterior fiberglass skin. They needed to cut the edges off due to the thickness of the fiberglass edges along the hood-fender seams.

Also, the fiberglass hood skin on Brad's car is hand laid fiberglass, and is also a one-off. The 442 hoods I have seen were production hoods and were injection molded, so the bottoms were nice and smooth. I would bet the Old's design study pieces were probably hand laid parts as well.

Brad's car has an in dash Tach and Gauges. I would bet that hood tach was just there for show and was never hooked up.

You need to remember these Show cars were all about image and creating a "Wow Factor". Many were never meant to be driven, and could not be legally street driven without changes.


With that in mind lets talk about Brad's Mirrors. The pics posted earlier of the weirdly striped design study car without the engine, (just to describe it easily) were 70 Old's sport mirrors. That was the only style of Sport Mirror available at the time. The mirrors on Brad's car are the first ones ever designed for the 70 GSX's and the style that GM continued to use for the 71-72 model year cars.

But Brad's are again 1 off pieces, like the front armrests on the doors, they are the design study pieces for the mirrors. These mirrors were solid pot metal castings that were painted and had the mirror glass glued in. There was no way to adjust anything, so there was no way this car was "streetable". As a matter of fact, the mirrors were so heavy they started splitting the door skins. Being solid, there was no driver side remote, and no control mechanism on the inside door panel. That was how the door panel looked in the show car pics, so that is what we did when the interior was restored.

Another piece to the puzzle.
Duane

 

So, when Buick retired Brad’s car and sent it to Len Immke, they sold it with nonproduction mirrors on it?
Patrick

 

My impression would be yes, with the understanding that the car had to be made streetable before being tagged.

I think Brad still has one of those mirrors.

This “insurance issue” is also why almost no design study/show cars made it out of GM.
Duane

 

id like to see the show pic that had the peace colorded convert on it,i bet lot of ppl never saw that one....

 

Just had another thought, although it is probably a bad one.

Maybe the reason Brad had so many 1-off pieces on his car was the Design Studio wanted to clean up……so they started putting all the parts that were laying around on his car.

You never know.
Sorry Brad, just teasing.
Duane

 

Good point in that we're so fortunate that this car even exists today.

 

Just to think if it was anyone but Brad and a few other Buick GS collectors "in a very very small Buick fan base on top of it" who came across these only 2 show cars ever and bought them out of over 200 to 300 million people that populate the US these cars would probably be gone which is kinda mind boggling..

So glad that some high school kid who loved the looks of these cars but didn't know Buicks didn't buy one or the other and beat it to death

 

I always thought the fact that these cars ended up in our "age group" was so amazing.

I graduated high school in 76. At the time we were buying theses cars dirt cheap. The price of Insurance skyrocketed in late 1970, the" Gas Crisis" hit in 73, by 75-76 the guys that bought many of these cars new were starting families. They could no longer afford to keep these "gas guzzlers" and were selling them for fuel efficient cars. No body wanted these cars and they were selling them cheap. This brought the cost of many of these cars down to the point where High School kids could buy them , and boy did we.

Now the highest HP versions were still out of our price range, but we were buying more common examples in the $350-$1200-$1800 range. You should have seen our Student Parking Lot. We had Quite a few Camaro's, including a 69 Z28, a couple of SS 396 4-speed Nova's, a bunch of Chargers and Chevelles, and even a 69 GTO Judge.

There were a ton of 64-68 Mustangs, as a matter of fact we had so many that we made a pact. If you totaled your car the remains went to the group. We would strip the car of all the usable parts, everyone got what they wanted, and we took the carcass to the junk yard. I had a 67 Mustang 289 Convertible, that got a complete duel exhaust system, a 4-bbl intake with carb, better seats, tires, a new battery, and all for free from the group.

Friends from other schools in the area has a 70 SS454 LS5 4-speed Chevelle Coupe, a 440 six-pack car, multiple GTO's and Judges, I mean it went on and on. These cars were everywhere. We were putting liability insurance on them and were just using them up. If something happened, you could just go out and buy another one, and many of these guys did. The fact that any of the common examples survived until today always impressed me.
Duane