Last of the Legends: All-Original 1972 Buick GS 455 Stage 1 Is a 15k-Mile Survivor

It took years of technological development to get the automobile back to the performance specs of the '60s, and it wasn’t a joyride. On the contrary, carmakers had to make terrible compromises or even horrific sacrifices to carry on their legacy (never mind scoring points).

Although 1973 is generally considered the first year of the Malaise Era, the struggles became evident in 1972, when cars began to show signs of weakness in some critical details. Performance was gagged twice – first by the new Society of Automotive Engineering net ratings for the engine outputs. Crucially, the most painful blow came from the carmakers, who had to pull the reins – ever so slightly – anticipating the shift toward a more climate-conscious paradigm.

There were exceptions – albeit few and far between – but they only confirmed the merciless rule. 1972 is perhaps the last effort from Detroit to throw a punch before the final sentence, and Buick was among the last brands standing in the face of the emissions firing squad.

Although the luxury brand of General Motors had no regular business in the high-performance realm, preferring the calm waters of high-end carmaking, it didn’t run away from a bare-knuckle fistfight if challenged.

That’s how the Gran Sport moniker came into being – initially as a performance package for the Skylark (and then the Riviera) and then as a standalone model. Between 1967 and the infamous 1972, the ‘GS’ badge slapped on the grille, front fenders, and trunk lid of a Buick immediately spurred the drag strip itches in anyone coming across it.

The Gran Sports were good performers on their own, but even so, Buick upped the ante with a performance upgrade for the muscular luxo-barges. It aptly coded said options as Stage 1 and Stage 2 (the latter was seldom asked for, but it was offered as a dealer-installed choice).

The Stage 1, however, was far more spread among the GS-adorned Buicks – but in the grand scheme of things, the hot cars were few and far between. Buick wasn’t pushing its sales numbers off GM’s charts (that was Chevrolet’s specialty), so it comes naturally that fifty years ago, the Gran Sports were scarce among the other creations of Detroit.

Abiding by the natural evolution of motorcars on our beloved planet, those cars are even rarer today. And, should you indulge me in playing the uncommonness game, a Gran Sport Stage 1 is even less so. But if we dig even deeper and set aside the original surviving examples, we are pushing unicorn territory. And, to make it downright annoyingly hard to play, let’s call out the 1972 model year Buick Gran Sport Stage 1 vehicles. Oh, and then there’s the ultimate separator – the engine size.

For all intents and purposes, we will only select the 455-cubic-inch-carrying muscle Buicks that tick all the above boxes. As it so happens, I can point out one – courtesy of a very passionate collector and former Buick dealer, Dennis Doerge. If the name is familiar, chances are you’ve read some past stories about his cars, all featured on Lou Costabile’s YouTube channel.

This time, Mr. Doerge’s latest acquisition is a triple black 1972 Buick Gran Sport 455 Stage 1. The numerical part of the car’s name is the displacement of the V8 – 7.5 liters or raw Detroit might (albeit detuned for emission-compliant purposes).

The massive powerplant was GM’s main gun in the later years of the horsepower wars – but Buick played it against the trend and brought the torque ratings to the table. In 1970, the big-block 455 could have easily been mistaken for a naval engine, boasting 510 lb-ft of torque (692 Nm).

In 1972, the stump-puller of a motor had to be detuned, so Mr. Doerge’s triple-black rarity only produces 390 lb-ft (592 Nm). The drop is not entirely EPA’s fault; remember I specified the shift from ‘gross’ to ‘net’ output measurements after 1971? The 390 lb-ft is the engine’s performance measured with all its ancillaries installed, not the bare-crank score.

Regarding horsepower, the ’72 GS 455 Stage 1 was good for 270 hp (274 PS) – an almost unbelievably high number for that year. Naturally, with insurers hunting down performance, not many of the muscle machines made it out of the assembly lines of Buick.

809 units in total, with the convertible variant accounting for 81 (10%, for statistics lovers), meaning just 728 came with the hardtop body. To put that into perspective, the total Buick GS production for 1972 was 8,575 units.

Here comes the nice part about Dennis Doerge’s unicorn: apart from being all original, it has less than 15,000 miles on the clock. 14,850, to be accurate – 23,893 kilometers – since June of 1972. The car was initially bought by a Buick dealer and stayed in climate-controlled storage all its life. Knowing the nameplate would go into history, the original buyer optioned his Stage 1 well. The base price for a standard GS was $3,225.45, and the long list of extras on the 455 Stage 1 totaled $5,091.45.

The late built date could make this special Buick the last Stage 1 ever built – a history passionate could shed some light on this matter. Its current owner bought it last year, and I found the car advertised for sale by a classic car dealer from Florida for $65,000.

Apart from the already-stated 455 V8 with its single four-barrel carburetor, this Buick has the Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 three-speed automatic (a far more frequent choice than the four-speed manual alternative – 627 hardtops had it). A 3.42 Positive Traction rear axle and the Stage 1-standard dual exhaust complete the package. Optionally, this particular GS 455 Stage 1 has the ‘through-bumper’ exhaust tips (a one-year-only feature).

The options list is long – see it in the gallery – and the only things on that list that are not present on the car are the tires. Dennis replaced the originals with new rubber, strictly for safety – but he kept the super wide oval white billboard-lettered tires.

The current owner has nothing but appraisal for his latest addition to an already impressive Buick collection – see him drive the incredibly spectacular original. The A-bodies from that era were acclaimed for their stance on the road, and the power disc brakes and power steering on this survivor make cruising a motoring delight.