400ci V8/Teemu Selanne Owned/Real GS400/Ram Air/TH400 Auto/Great Buick Musclecar

For consignment, a 1969 Buick GS, (Grand Sport), 400...Buick's answer to high performance.  This consignment comes from a collection of a Mighty Ducks NHL player, Teemu Selanne, who collected mostly Ferraris, however owned this as well.  It was sold to a dealer in North Dakota where our consignor had it shipped to NY having lived in a garage, driven only 5 months of the year, and then stored for the winter while the consignor lived in Florida.  It has been restored, is looking great and runs like a champ.  The current odometer reading is 78,798 and these are purportedly original miles.

Exterior
For this year the exterior takes on an Olds 442 look with dual headlights flanking a v shaped grille trimmed in chrome with thin strips on top and sides, and a corresponding bumper below.  The hood has a functional bump up which I'll get to under the Drivetrain section of this description.  Meanwhile, a peppering of more stainless polished to chrome shine trims the wheel wells that frame 15-inch Buick Rally wheels wrapped in BFG raised white letter rubber from the 36th week of 2019 in 225/70R15 form.  Our consignment is a snazzy convertible which presents in clean white canvas, and is power operated.  When down, the side view of this piece of Detroit iron muscle looks like a bullet.  Much of this look can be attributed to the gently sloping rear trunk lid deck which melts into the rear bumper which forms a V shape to the rear quarters and also houses the horizontal tail lighting within it.  All this nicely gapped steel is bathed in Verde Green which has been applied with professionalism.  Perfect contrasting GS 400 badging is on rear quarters, and the central trunk lid.  Dual exhaust peek out the bottom of the rear bumper and a small descending gracefully metal bump-put in the body on the front quarters, dives through the doors to add just a bit of motion while standing still.

Interior
Plenty of factory coverings in Pearl vinyl, starting with the door panels.  This leads us into the passenger chairs, which are sleek low back buckets, nice and wide with tuck and roll inserts and smooth bolsters, along with some integrated and adjustable headrests.  These are also in the Pearl vinyl, and present very clean as does the rear bench, with side flanking armrests with ash receptacles.  A black center console sweeps from front to back through the buckets, and contains a glovebox and an airplane throttle 2 post shift lever.  Upfront, a purely GM dash with a horizontal speedo, black padded dash top, and a strip of aluminum below which houses various knobs and pulls along with vertically mounted dial temp controls.  A trio of aftermarket gauges is hanging below the dash to help keep your eyes on the pulse of the 400 cubes below the hood.  In the center is a factory AM radio.  All this menagerie floats on clean dark green carpeting. The tri-shield Buick badging is noted throughout the interior.

Drivetrain
That bump in the hood I mentioned is functional and we can verify this when popping the hood.  Here we see a 400ci V8, (this cannot be verified as the original as the stamping code and partial VIN were removed when the engine was rebuilt in the past), which has twin foam muffs which extend from the air cleaner as snorkels for the Ram Air system, feed the 400 cubes through a single 4 barrel carburetor.  We can call this an “air induction system”.   A non numbers matching TH400 3 speed automatic, (circa 1973), is on back, and the rear axle codes out to be a 69 Chevelle 12 bolt, 3.07 conventional version.  Overall, this bay is very clean as are all the bolt ons highly polished and supple hoses and wiring snakes its way throughout.

Undercarriage
A bit of patina and slight wear off of the undercoating but no rust is noted, surface or otherwise.  Independent coil springs are on front and in back, a 4 link with coil springs is on.  Power disc braking is in front, and power drums are on back.  Dual Flowmaster exhaust help with the exhale, and these end in back with a flared chromed tip on either side.

Drive-Ability
Late 60's and early 70's muscle is always a hoot to drive, and this car was no exception to this rule!  It fired right up, the interior was nice and comfy, and it ran like it was on fire, (a colloquialism).  Plenty of power, solid braking, and smooth shifting as well as easy power steering. The clock does not work, the AC blows but not cold, and the radio was not able to belt out my top hits, as it was also inoperable.  A nice experience was had by myself and my cohort, who couldn't get his lollipop out of his mouth long enough to comment, but he liked it, especially when he was behind the controls, as he tends to have a heavy foot, and this car graciously obliged.

Buicks answer to the muscle car threats that were coming in late 60's form from all fronts.  This example fully restored, runs great, and it's only rated at 350hp when in actuality it most likely is closer to 395 potent ponies, but Buick was calming the insurance premiums by underrating it for underwriting!  Come on in and take a look, and while you're here peruse our Hallowed Halls.  Or go online to www.classicautomall.com and look at all our top hits which definitely belt out to you!

446679Y102233

4-Buick
46-GS400
67-Convertible
9-1969
Y-Wilmington, DE Assy Plant
102233-Sequential Unit Number