The GSX Prototype - From Those Who Were There and More

Buick would not accept an SCO for a GSX vinyl top, true. However the QQ GSX I bought in 1993 had one at one time. Here's the story......................I flew to Houston, TX and drove the car back home to Florida. It was a two owner car with 78,000 original miles and had a number's matching drive train but, a poorly done repaint and very poor rendition of the black striping. I drove it for a few months and was front ended by a driver making an illegal left turn in front of me which gave me the opportunity of having the car repainted on the other driver's nickel. I took it to Goldenrod Auto Body, a trusted shop, to do the work. Dave, the owner called me a few days later to say, "Hey, Ray, do you want me to redo the vinyl top?" What??? So, I ran down to the shop and he showed me where the holes for the vinyl top moldings had been bondo'd over and the holes were clearly still visible after he stripped the car.

So, I called the Seller who was able to put me in touch with the original owner's wife. (her husband, a doctor, had passed). She told me that when they went to the dealer, Compton Motors, in Georgetown, TX to buy a new Electra, she saw the X on the showroom floor and loved it. Her husband said he'd buy it for her but she said she'd like to have it if it only had a vinyl top. Her husband talked the dealer into installing it before she took delivery and they did. I wish I still had the instamatic photo she sent me but, alas, it's gone missing.

I had the car painted with correct lacquer paint and Dave painted the striping himself using the dimensions taken from one of the car mags. The current owner is still a member of this forum. Here she is in front of the AAA world headquarters in Lake Mary, Florida. This photo was used on several commercially available calendars in 1995.

 

This paper work is awsome..

How many extra spoilers if any were available for collision replacement?
The big off the cuff question is could you really get a spoiler option for regular GS?


Iv'e read the 71 and 72 were a little different but not sure if it was the spoiler or the mounting brackets..

 

"How many extra spoilers if any were available for collision replacement?
The big off the cuff question is could you really get a spoiler option for regular GS?


Iv'e read the 71 and 72 were a little different but not sure if it was the spoiler or the mounting brackets."

1. Probably none at first because of the problems with early production, and I will add a little to this. Actually there were two different versions of the 70 rear spoilers put on these cars.
The first ones did not have any vent holes. Under extreme heat, the air inside the spoilers would expand and the spoilers started popping apart at the seams. Later they added a 1/16" vent hole on the underneath, at the center spot of the spoiler to correct this issue.

2. The answer is NO to your second question for 1970.
Only the 70 GSX's could get any of the "GSX" options, ie front or rear spoiler, or a hood tach. This changed for the 71 model year, when all 3 options could be ordered on a GS, and this continued for the 72 model year as well. If memory serves me correct, there were Qty (20) 1971 GS's built with the rear spoilers that were not GSX's, and the 72 model year may have had that many as well. (I don't remember the 72 number off hand.)

Also, and this is very important, Only Flint built vehicles could come with any of the above 3 "GSX" options. It states this in the Factory paperwork, and we have the added proof from the Daily Car Reports. If you get those sheets, from the last day of production, which some of us did, it gives you a total count of all the options the factories put on these cars that year. There were zero built at other plants, so if you see one on a 70 GS, it's wrong, If you see one on a 71-72 GS from a plant other then Flint, it's wrong. (I wrote an article about this for the BPG.)

3. Both the 71 and 72 rear spoilers are different from each other and from a 70. The bases of these spoilers are longer in the front to rear dimension then a 70 and these spoilers have 2 larger vent holes in the bottom. One is centered directly in the center, with the secondary hole offset an inch or so. I forget now, but the 71 has the secondary hole off to one side, while the 72 has it off to the other. They are also different weights.

The brackets, inside the trunk lid, also were lengthened to accommodate the longer bases. They did this because if you tried to push one of these cars by the rear spoiler it could dent the trunk lids, hence the longer brackets. (I also wrote an article about this for the BPG.)

So to re-group, there were 4 different Rear Spoiler versions for the 70-72 Production cars.



While we are talking about spoilers, we may as well talk about the Front ones and the Baffles.

There were 2 different Front Spoilers, and 3 different front Baffles. (Not many know about the "middle" version of the Baffle.)

For the Spoilers, there was a "70" version and a "71-72" version. (As I explain further you will understand why I put these in parenthesis.)

The 70 style front spoiler is shorter in the front-rear dimension in the middle. The center mounting bolt attaches to the center hood release bracket instead of along the core support. The Baffle for these spoilers is made accordingly, to both fit the 70 front bumper and allow for the center hole to mount to the hood brace.

The 71-72 style front spoiler is longer in the front-rear dimension in the middle. The center mounting bolt attaches to the core support not the hood brace. The Baffle for these spoilers is made accordingly, to both fit the 71-72 front bumper and allow for the center hole to mount to the core support.

The above information is well known, however there was a third variety.
While researching all of this I found Factory Paperwork of the third variety, and years later was given one of these original baffles off an original 70 GSX, so I know they were produced.

Anyway it appears that toward the very end of the 70 GSX production, the factory was installing the 71-72 Style spoilers on the 70 cars. This forced the baffles to be lengthened in the middle to cover the bottom all the way to the core support. So these baffles are cut to fit the 70 bumpers at the front, but are cut like the 71-72 baffles at the rear. I don't know how many were built this way but there were some.


One other thing I want to mention here, the information that is being freely handed out here, for all to consume, encompasses years of research by a ton of people, If I started writing out the names of those that helped, I would feel bad about leaving some people out.

I just wanted to let everyone know that it has taken a huge community effort and many years to get us this far, with many people giving information behind the scenes.
Duane

 

So thats why the holes were put in the rear spoiler, I thought it was a moisture thing.
Did the GTO Judge's and winged W30's have spoiler issues assuming they were also made of fiberglass. Now the Judge had 2 years in the making so wondering why Buick didn't study their spoiler design and build.
It's just awsome that everyone chipped in and I wouldn't worry if you missed a name because it happens.
We really need some more emoji's and a stronger "like" option

 

Supposedly a 70 GSX rear spoiler blew open when it was on the lot new in Texas. I talked to someone about it and was told when it blew open it sounded like a grenade.


I don’t know what the Judges had, and don’t remember seeing any on the Olds rear spoilers. (I had a 72 442 fastback with a spoiler on it.)

I do know Buick first used a small 1/16” hole for venting and then changed it to much bigger holes. I have seen where these small holes were filled up with paint, etc. so they would not function. That might be why they made larger ones later. They even incorporated some vent holes in the pedestal mounts on the later 71-72 spoilers.
Duane

 

Wow! That could of been tragic..

 

I don’t think it “blew apart” like a grenade, they said when it split open it “sounded” like a grenade going off.

I guess I should have explained myself better. I fixed my post.
Duane

 

I could see some fiberglass bits flying out though.

 

Heat and expansion can do interesting things. Especially if the parts are held together everywhere and can’t move.

Once we were making one of my front spoilers and we put a little too much hardener in the material. They were made of a composite material with fiberglass and plasticizers, anyway the part got a tad too hot and blew the middle part of the mold across the room. Now the mold halves were over 1” think and were made of mold grade materials, but we did induce failure. No one was there at the time, but I’m sure it made one hell of a racket.

After we re-made the one half of the mold we were back in business.
Duane

PS,
The spoiler that came out of the mold that time was perfect.

 

You guys are hearing all kinds of stories. I think I’ll shut up for awhile and let other people talk.
Duane

 

No worries, I don't mind. It is very interesting to learn all of this!

 

Na, great stuff!

 

I have always wondered that same thing, is there a photo of GSXs in the paint shop getting strips added?


One more question, so is this letter from Buick to John Csordas (a member of V8Buick) incorrect by stating that American Sunroof added the spoilers? This is the only reference I've ever seen that mentions American Sunroof as having a role in the '70 GSX production.

 

Now find us some photos of the spoilers being installed and stripes being applied!

 

Fisher #1, was the Fisher Body Plant on the other side of town from the Buick Final Assembly plant in Flint.

As stated in many other threads, I have talked to the people responsible for striping the cars and this is how they were done.

The rear spoilers were installed on the shells and painted body color, by Fisher, before they were received at final assembly. Once the cars were finished (off the line) they were assembled near the paint shop to have the stripes put on. The “paint shop” had to be reconfigured from it’s production line configuration, to paint these cars. All the cars were striped during the second and third shifts.

The paint shop had to be re-assembled back to it’s production line configuration before the first shift started. According to the guys, there were times when they finished up less then 15 minutes before the first shift started.

Why no pics? Maybe they were too busy, or just wanted to get everything done to go home. Who knows, but it would be nice to see some.
Duane

 

Maybe,
Ok Jason root them out and post them here so we can all enjoy them.
Maybe Denny can help.
Duane