1972 Buick GS Stage 1 in Arctic White Paint & 455 Engine Sound

Dave Murawski has owned this 1972 Buick GS Stage 1 — Arctic White paint, 455 CI engine — since 2010, fulfilling a fascination that started when he was thirteen. Lou Costabile catches up with him at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois, and even commenters loyal to other GM muscle cars admit the GS is winning them over. Watch to hear the full story behind the N-25-optioned Stage 1.

Dave Murawski was thirteen years old the first time a Buick GS Stage 1 caught his eye — and it took him until 2010 to finally own one himself. That’s the kind of gap between first spark and actual ownership that turns a car purchase into something closer to closing a decades-long loop, and it’s exactly the story Lou Costabile pulls out of him at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois. Commenters watching are having their own conversion experience in real time, several admitting they walked in as GTO or Chevelle loyalists and walked out newly interested in Buick.

A Childhood Obsession, Finally Fulfilled

Murawski tells Costabile the GS Stage 1 captivated him at thirteen years old, a detail that reframes this entire car from a collector purchase into a decades-later fulfillment of a specific childhood memory. He didn’t acquire the car until 2010, meaning whatever image stuck with him as a teenager had to survive years, possibly decades, before he finally found and bought the right one. That kind of long-arc ownership story is a recurring theme on “My Car Story,” and it’s part of why Costabile’s interviews go deeper than a typical spec rundown.

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The 455 Stage 1: Buick’s Overlooked Muscle Engine

Buick’s 455 cubic-inch Stage 1 package doesn’t get the mainstream recognition of a Hemi or a big-block Chevelle, but among enthusiasts who know the numbers, it’s considered one of the strongest torque producers of the entire muscle car era. This particular GS pairs that 455 Stage 1 with Arctic White paint, a combination that lets the car’s aggressive engineering speak for itself rather than relying on a loud factory color to draw attention.

Winning Over Skeptics in the Comments

One comment admits to typically not being a Buick fan, but singles out the 1970-1972 GS body style — and specifically the 1970 GSX 455 Stage 1 — as an exception worth making. Another commenter describes a similar shift, saying they’ve “always been a 1970 guy” but that the 1972 is “quickly becoming a favorite.” Watching enthusiasts loyal to other GM divisions or other model years talk themselves into appreciating this specific Buick says something about how well the car and the interview land.

What ‘N-25’ Means to Buick Collectors

A commenter praising “the N-25” as “an absolute work of art” is actually referencing something more specific than the Stage 1 package itself: N25 was Buick’s factory code for the through-bumper exhaust extensions, a menacing dual-exhaust treatment offered on any GS starting in 1971 (it wasn’t even available in 1970) — the kind of build-sheet trivia that lives on window stickers, not in general conversation. Recognizing and referencing an RPO code by number rather than by marketing name is a strong signal of a deeply knowledgeable Buick audience, the kind of viewer who cross-references build sheets rather than taking a paint job at face value.

The Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals Setting

Filmed at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Illinois, in November 2017, this interview benefits from one of the country’s larger indoor muscle car gatherings as a backdrop — an event that draws exactly the kind of serious, detail-oriented collector who would recognize an N-25 code on sight. That setting gives Costabile access to owners like Murawski who might not otherwise sit down for an on-camera interview outside a major show.

Why 1970-1972 GS Buicks Are Gaining Ground

The comments here reflect a broader trend among muscle car collectors: as prices for the most famous names — GTOs, Chevelles, Mustangs — climb ever higher, buyers are increasingly discovering that GM’s B-body Buick GS models offered comparable performance, comparable rarity, and a distinctive body style, often for a more accessible price. A comment calling the 1972 “quickly becoming a favorite” is exactly the kind of shift in enthusiast sentiment that tends to precede a real jump in collector demand.

A Story Bigger Than the Car Itself

A final comment sums up why interviews like this one resonate: “it’s great when a young kid sees a car, then years later is able to own one like it.” That sentiment is the through-line of Murawski’s entire ownership story — not just acquiring a rare, powerful Buick, but closing a distance between a thirteen-year-old’s memory and an adult’s ability to finally make it real.

Buick’s Overlooked Role in the Muscle Car Wars

While GTOs, Chevelles, and Road Runners dominate most muscle car retrospectives, Buick was competing in the same horsepower race with genuinely serious hardware, and the GS Stage 1’s torque figures often outmatched flashier rivals in real-world street performance. That underdog status is part of what makes an interview like this one valuable — it gives a platform to a model that rarely gets the same spotlight as its more famous GM siblings, despite offering comparable engineering and performance for the era.

Why Long-Term Ownership Stories Matter to Collectors

An owner who has held a car for over a decade, like Murawski has with this GS, typically knows details that a recent buyer simply couldn’t — how the car behaves in different weather, what maintenance it’s needed, which parts have proven hardest to source. That depth of familiarity is exactly what separates an interview grounded in real ownership experience from a walk-around focused purely on specs, and it’s a big part of why “My Car Story” built its reputation around finding owners like Murawski specifically.

What Comes Next for This GS

With Murawski having already closed the decades-long gap between spotting this car as a teenager and owning one as an adult, the next chapter for this GS Stage 1 is likely continued preservation and continued appearances at events like the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals, where it keeps winning over skeptics one interview at a time. Few ownership stories carry this much built-in narrative weight, which is exactly why Costabile’s cameras found it worth telling. It’s also a useful reminder for anyone chasing a specific car from their own past: patience, not urgency, is usually what closes that gap. Murawski didn’t settle for the first Stage 1 he found — he waited until the right car, in the right color, with the right history came along, decades after the memory first took hold.

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