Vehicle Description
SOLD.....Buick entered the muscle-car fray in 1965 with the new Skylark Gran Sport 400, which boasted a healthy 325 HP from its Riviera-based 401 CI “Nailhead” V-8. While equal to its division rivals in terms of horsepower, the new Gran Sport enjoyed one very important advantage: torque, 445 lb-ft to be exact, a full 35 more than the Chevelle and available at 2,800 RPM versus the Chevelle’s 3,200. In 1967, Buick replaced the Gran Sport’s 401 V-8 with a new 400 CI engine rated at 340 HP and 440 lb-ft of torque. It also had the advantage of being some 85 pounds lighter than the 401, and it had one of the coolest air cleaners ever bolted onto a production Detroit V-8. That same engine powers this 1967 Gran Sport coupe, a ground-up nut-and-bolt rotisserie build completed by Classic Auto in Kingsley. A product of what is arguably GM’s greatest design era, the car retains its original sheet metal, which is now finished in deep Black and complemented with a new Black bucket-seat interior, and remains outwardly stock in appearance with the exception of lowered suspension and 19- and 20-inch Bonspeed Big Block wheels and low-profile rubber. A less obvious but important upgrade is the substitution of SSBC four-wheel disc brakes. The car’s 400 CI engine—complete with its distinctive finned dual inlet air cleaner and aluminum intake and valve covers—is teamed with an automatic transmission and Positraction differential. Factory air conditioning, power steering and brakes also add to the cruising experience.
