By 1973 it seemed that only Pontiac was still in the business of making a stout big-block-powered car with the Super Duty Trans Am. And before you start, yes, I know that the Pontiac mills weren’t different in size. But regardless of that, they weren’t the only game in town. The GM A-body line, new for 1973 after being delayed a year due to a strike at General Motors, was packing big-blocks throughout the range. Buick, oddly enough, was still in the muscle car game with the Grand Sport lineup of their newly re-named intermediate, the Century, and when Car and Track got ahold of it, they beat on the GS like none other. It’s a good sign when an automotive test starts off with a Rockford and includes more spins, drifts, and absolute abuse than a year in a rental fleet would provide. The 1973 Buick wasn’t a small car by any stretch of the imagination and what was acceptable and impressive body roll control then looks like it would cause instantaneous sea sickness now. Bud Lindemann was praising the power out of the 455, but there was no doubt that it was on the way out of the door by then and it was going to get a lot worse before it got better. The brakes are fried, the tires are tortured and the Buick probably had scrapes on the doorhandles by the time it made it back to the press fleet. Shame cars aren’t tested this hard anymore, isn’t it?
“This is as close to a super car as anything we’ve had since breathing clean air became popular”
Best quote ever!
Bud Lindemann had tons of great lines.
I still have my 73 stage 1 4 speed. Those Uniroyal tire were the worst tire ever. The car would come around real quick with those tires.
I know a guy with 5 mint ones like this. One or two are 4 speeds. Nice cars and they run well.