Repost: 66 GS Sleeper

I posted some of these images earlier. I tried to post in the pic section but I would have to edit each photo for size and that is more work than I want so enjoy the story and picts.

OK all this talk about 'I remember' cars has stirred me to action. This story has the
facts, figures and documentation to back it up. The car belongs to a friend and is
sitting in his garage at this moment. (Heard it run today). It is a 1966 GS 401 that
ran A/Stock and trailed everything in central florida at that time. This car was a
Buick sponsored sleeper. The individual was an ex Buick employee that had run
nailheads in various configurations. At the time Buick was being kicked at the drag
strips by the 396/427 Chevelles, Corvettes,Fairlanes ETC and they did not have an
answer so they devised a way to cheat(Stroker crank-469ci+cam-head work) and to my
knowledge this was never caught. Buick came to him and said if he would buy a new GS
they would send the car out for some special work to make it competive(One of 14). As
you see he ordered a auto GS with PS and 401. The car was then sent to Crane in
Florida for some special engine/trans work at NO cost to the individual. The engine
modifications are noted on a yellow tag, Sig Erickson cam specs and CSC guarentee,
the rear is a 4:30 rear with some special drum brakes(At no cost to the owner). He
ran at Plant City and Oldsmar in central florida. There are some time slips from
those days that we have not gotten from the widow yet that show 10/11 sec times. In
1968 he was street racing a corvette and spun two rod bearings and parked the
car.(The rods were 'boxed' with a 1/4 sq SS bar welded to each side HEAVY)

In 2000 some friends were talking, as we are, of bad cars that they remember from
their youth and this car came up as my friend remembered seeing it rumble through his
small town in 67. His friend said he knew the person who owned the car and he lived
in the next small town, the third guy remembered going to Oldsmar with some kind of
towed hot rod that he was going to run and some guy with a red Buick came up and
asked if he was going to run, when he said yes the guy said save your gas and tires I
have everything here covered including a cheater 427 Chevelle a Chevy Dealer was
sponsoring. When he put the Chevelle down they left the car on the trailer. My friend
wondered if the car was still around and the third guy said he had seen it not too
long ago sitting in an open carport in the same small town. They went to talk to the
owner and found the car sitting with 4 flat tires looking real bad(It had been parked
in the same spot since 1968). The owner was in real bad health and agreed to sell the
car to my friend as he knew he would bring it back to glory. At the time the car had
4,500 mi on it.

They pulled the engine and trans and had the 3rd guy who runs a machine shop rebuild
it. My friend and the second guy are paint and body types so they stripped the paint
down to bare metal and repainted the car and engine compartment. Once they got the
motor apart they decided to ship out the crank&rods to be balanced. They found a shop
in Ga and called UPS to pick up the crank and rods. UPS lost them and to this day (3
yrs later) they have never been found and were not insured. SOOO they called a
crank company the machine shop owner dealt with and for $3,800 they had a new stroker
crank(469 ci) with Buick mains and chev rods built. Since they had ordered the
pistons before losing the crank they had to sleeve the pistons so the the pins would
fit. The 2 speed trans had some kind of electric lockup switch but my friend wanted
to drive the car to car shows and still keep the 4:30 rear so he had local trans shop
build a bullet proof TH 400 with a ford stick shift OD unit on the back of it.

This car is a real piece of Buick history but so far we have not heard of any of the
other 14 cars. We know one was in Jacksonville Fl and have the owners name but he is
never home and does not return msgs. The cars garage companion is a Green 70 Stage
one 455 also a beautiful car. Hopefully I will get him to take it to the Buick
Nationals in May.

Picture/documentation:

1. Bill of sale. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF_Sticker.jpg
2. Cam spects. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/cam_specs.jpg
3. Engine build order. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/engine_specs.jpg
4. Crank doc. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/csc_doc.jpg
5. Instructions. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/drag_ltr.jpg

The car as found:

1. Car. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF05_Before.jpg
2. Car. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF07_Before.jpg
3. Engine compartment. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF03_Before.jpg
4. Interior. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF_interior6.jpg
5. Original owner. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF_owner.jpg
6. Brakes. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/brakes.jpg

Engine rebuild.

1. Block. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/block1.jpg
2. Block. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/block2.jpg
3. Block. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/block3.jpg
4. Block. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/block4.jpg
5. Block. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/block5.jpg
6. Head. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/head1.jpg
7. Head. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/head2.jpg
8. Pan. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/pan.jpg
9. Pistons. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buic...ons_bottom.jpg
10. Pistons. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/pistons_top.jpg

Restoration.

1. Bare metal. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF01_During.jpg
2. Parts cleaning. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF02_During.jpg
3. Engine. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF03_During.jpg
4. Hood. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF_hood.jpg

Done.

1. Engine compartment. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF02_After.jpg
2. Engine Compartment. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF01_After.jpg
3. Front. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF10_After.jpg
4. Current owner and restorer John Lane.
http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/FF11_After.jpg

Misc.
1. Protecto plate. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/p_o_p.jpg
2. Build tag. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/build_plate.jpg
3. Vin Tag. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/vin_tag.jpg
4. Bobs plate. http://www.sirgalahad.org/tyler/buick/bobs_tag.jpg

Yes it is on the GS site but belongs here too.

Tyler