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Buick built the 1965 Riviera as a luxury coupe, then quietly optioned in a 360-horsepower 425 V8 for buyers who wanted it both ways. Fewer than 3,500 people checked that box, making the Gran Sport one of the rarest true muscle cars of the era. Decades later, Bill Burr got behind the wheel with Jay Leno – and left convinced it might be the meanest car he’s ever driven.
By 1973 nearly every American manufacturer had detuned or killed its performance models. Buick quietly kept the Stage 1 package alive, pairing a 455 V8 with one of the strongest torque figures left in an American passenger car. Only 728 buyers ordered it, and this one adds the low-take-rate Sun Coupe roof on top. Read on for what Stage 1 actually delivered in 1973 and why the numbers get confused with the 1970 GSX.
A 1971 Buick GS Stage 1 Convertible, described as looking just as it did the day it left the showroom, gets the full 4K treatment at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Buick’s factory performance package turned this GS into a genuine competitor against Chevelle SS and GTO buyers of its era. Watch to see a rare survivor convertible that barely shows its age.