I have already profiled the addition of an Apollo White 1970 Buick GS-X to the Drag City Muscle Car Fleet. That was the year that Buick-of all labels!-introduced a ground pounding muscle machine that shocked everyone by exceeding the torque rating of pretty much everything else on the road-including GM’s own Chevrolet 454 LS6-and started a legendary battle for the street with the Chrysler 426 Hemi that can still be seen playing out on drag strips across the country even to this day. But the story doesn’t end there; there was a GS-X in 1971 and ’72 as well, although considering how few were made, you might never have seen one! The 1971 GS-X was an afterthought for Buick once the hammer of government came down on the car industry. Beginning that year, emissions controls came online and fuel lost its lead; chrome bumpers would still be with us for another model year, but compression ratios were way down to cope with that low-calorie fuel, so the first trumpets were sounding the death knell for the muscle car era. Sad, then, that for 1971, the 455 Stage 1 compression ratio dropped to 8.5:1 and gained a pointless air pump, and sales tanked to a mere 124 units for the year. That makes for a very RARE muscle car
The news wasn’t all bad, though; the color palette was dramatically expanded for ’71 which gave the smart first owner of this particular car a chance to choose no color: basic black, where the graphics turned from black to gold! Auto World made a real effort with this one, and I’ll give them credit: they didn’t just change the color and label the package “1971.” They actually took the trouble to make changes to the mold in the area of the grille and rear bumper detail just like Buick did, going from a divided grille to a single horizontal –barred piece at the front and moving the license plate from below the bumper to the center of it at the rear.
As with the blue ’67 GTO I profiled a few days ago, this isn’t as much a “build” as it is a “swap,” since this chassis was already prepared and set up all the way down to the tires; the gold tone American Torque Thrusts and Firestone Wide O’s were never meant for this car, but when they became available, the choice of what to mount on it was just obvious! As to what happened to the car that was previously mounted on this chassis, well, that’s a story for another post that will be coming up very soon!
This black beauty, named “Dark Horse,” is an original “Stage 1” 455, but has had its original TH400 automatic replaced with an M22 4-speed for the track, linked to a 3.42 rear axle. As the fall 1984 racing season gets underway, it is in the hands of one Monté “Jackhammer” Jackson, a Mississippi-born transplant raised on a farm who learned to wrench by keeping the family equipment running, and learned to drive in a way not uncommon amongst rural people in his boyhood in the mid 60’s. While this understandably leaves some checkers in his past, he’s out to eliminate any doubt about where he stands now! As a new driver making the scene in the California sun, this badass Bu-ford has a lot to prove, but it clearly has the gonads to prove it! It’s a “Dark Horse” until the crowd sees what this country boy can do!
I did want to say that you have gotten so good at your photography!