1970 Buick GS Convertible - Some History
Buick only built 1,416 Skylark Gran Sport 455 convertibles for the 1970 model year, the same year in which the 5,000,000th Buick was built in their factory near Atlanta, Georgia. This was the first year of a new design for the Skylark, and as such a new look for the Gran Sport 455. Contrary to the base Skylark, the Gran Sport featured textured black grille along with hood scoops.
The GS badges were located on the left-hand grille, the front fenders, and the rear-most section of the trunk. An all-vinyl bench seat was standard, while front bucket seats were an available option. A three-speed manual transmission was standard on the base GS, along with a dual exhaust and heavy-duty shocks and springs.
The Gran Sport 455 featured a new big-block V8 that produced 350 horsepower paired to Hurst performance transmissions. The Gran Sport 455 was available with Stage I and Stage II option packages, the second of which was a dealer-installed option.
Midway through the 1970 model year Buick introduced the highest-end example of the 1970 Buick Gran Sport 455: the GSX. The GSX was a high performance package priced at $1,196.00 on top of the price of the GS 455. The GSX featured a hood-mounted tachometer, chrome rims, front and rear spoilers, twin exterior rear-view mirrors, a four-speed Hurst shifter, front disc brakes, and vinyl bucket seats. The GSX package was available with the 350 horsepower engine as well as the more powerful Stage I V8.
We looked at a 1970 Buick GS 455 Convertible in Fort Lauderdale at Auctions America and spoke with its owner who was looking to sell it. Check out our conversation with him and see how it did at auction here:
This car, being offered at Mecum’s Kansas City auction is a 1970 Buick Gran Sport 455, with a matching-numbers 455 cubic inch V8. The engine is paired with a Turbo 400 three-speed automatic transmission. The car is also equipped with power steering and power brakes, as well as factory-installed air conditioning and Buick Rally wheels.
A 1970 Buick Skylark GS 455 Convertible isn’t the most collectible muscle car, but this is a very attractive example finished in triple black. Based on previous sales at auction, the median value of this model is $55,000, however we wouldn’t be surprised if this one lands north of that price due to the apparent quality of the car and the rarity of some of its features.