Ford find and lofty loan flashback

Shut off the alarm clock, jump out of bed, clean up, inhale some breakfast, scramble to the car, and drive to the show field. Check. You’re still late…ish – nine in the morning – and there’s only four cars on the field. The overnight rain cleared out, it’s still overcast, but there was nothing on the radar when you left. So, where is everyone else?

It turns out, they were also late – which provided me the opportunity to s-l-o-w-l-y look over the offerings from the handful of vendors that had already set up at a car show I stopped at in Glastonbury, Connecticut, while on assignment over the weekend. Just how slowly did I move? How does 30 minutes in two rows of 200 feet sound? A few models, old Matchbox cars, the usual array of petroleum items from days of yore, the grub truck that had yet to crank up the grille, and very few parts. There was one item that caught my eye, however.

Here was one way someone could open up the hidden performance in the four-cylinder equipped (any year) Ford Pinto. Move over Demon 340 owners: One barrel per cylinder, all thanks to Offenhauser. To be honest, I didn’t know which was more humorous – in the coffee-free state I was in – a four-barrel intake for a four-cylinder Pinto, or the $75 asking price?

Once I woke up, and the show field filled, I ran across a 1970 Buick GSX. Only 678 were made – which might be explained, to come degree, by looking at the window sticker that was stuck on the quarter window:

Granted, it’s not the best shot in the world, but I can tell you that the first two line items were interesting if you’ve never noticed. The first was option code L75, which provided the Stage 1 version of Buick’s 455-cu.in. engine…all 360 (factory rated, mind) horses. It cost $113.75. Not bad. But that was on top of the $1,195.87 fee for WE1 – the GSX package, which provided the hood, body and rocker panel stripes, front and rear spoilers, racing mirrors, hood tach, GSX headlamp bezels, heavy-duty cooling, special paint (Saturn Yellow, here), custom trim, front disc brakes, gauges, super wide oval tires and the Rallye Ride Control Package. Together with the $42 Hydra-Matic trans, $24 full-length console, $121 power steering, $69 Sonomatic radio, $39 worth of tinted glass, $105 for power windows, $45 for tilt steering and another $78 in destination fees, the original owner shelled out $5,117.30 for this car. And incidentally, an overwhelming 400 were built with the Stage 1 455 – so that sticker could not have varied much from one GSX to another (maybe $200 if you eliminate the power steering and windows).