page 4 and 5 has lots of car show cruising pictures - and some video of us cruising around the valley
goto 1/24 scale cars for something different
page 11 - Restoration of the Mini Red Riv - 1/18 scale model
Heres she is the "Torque Monster" 
<- unfortunatley I owned this beast during the time when I video taped everything so most of the pictures are video captures and not real great. She went off to Norway and I havn't heard from her since, let me know if you've seen her, and tell the current owner about this page - I still have the protecto plate, and other documents, which I'll gladly exchange for fresh pictures and a chance to drive her again if I'm ever in the right place.
Why the "Torque Monster" road track had an article entitled "Godzillas Older Brother" back a few years ago wher they compared a 69 GS to a 71 GSX - they called Godzilla.
As many people know factory HP ratings in the late 60's early 70's were often lies to keep greedy insurance companies and people like Ralph N at bay, but tucked in under some engine bays was a beast 
- in this case a beast in Buick clothing and luxury, verifying whether she was a stage one required checking internal engine part numbers which i never had too,the build sheet,window stcker, oredr were long gone by the time I got her - you couldn't tell by VIN - don't believe it when someone tells the 444 stands for stage one it only means 44667-Convertible Coupe (GS400). production .....1,776
a beast with 400+ ft lbs of torque and a factory HP rating of 350 - put this together GS 400, 400 turbo tranny, 440 Ft lbs, 4 tail pipes, Quadrajet, what do you think the real HP was? my right foot and the kink in my neck say well over 400 may even close to torque rating. top speed was listed as 120 mph - ya right thats was only as fast as the speedo went - a friend with a magnum 500 charger told me once his speedo was buried and I was still pulling away (mine wrapped around), his went to 150, my son told my wife - my wife took away my keys for two days.
I put her up against a lot of nice cars with engines that dino'd in at 500 + many of them a lot lighter these guys came close
none could keep up,
not even Bobs Bug.
Can you tell what they other are place a message in my guest book - pictures of them later.
Except for the addition of the HEI which requied a slight mod to the air intake, and fresh paint she was all stock and original, stomp the pedal and she made noise like a NASCAR, and tire smoke like an NHRA top fuelie and left the others using excuses light "I dont open her up, its not broke in yet", "I'm geared for low end", "I was low on Gas", "Shes was running Hot", "Its not handling right", "your Freaking nuts" Bob used them all. - the only I actually did brake stands was just before going to buy new shoes, I did three full bore burnouts - took off the last 1/2 of trend and some of the belts, so bad I couldn't even drive down to the fresh ones installed - but the factory documentation says 360 HP.
Other wise I usually at 5 or 10 miles an hour before planting the pedal, in cold weather the back would break as the vacumm control switched from under hood to ram air unexpectely suprising even me.
One of reasons people identify the Red Riv mine, other the number of Buicks I had and the fact that any discussion with me ends up being about how much better Buicks are
is the simliarity of the two 
- compare colour combinations - 
of course the looks inside the engine bays do differ a bit
just for now. After all the torque mosnters heart looked more like this when I first got her
and the interior wasn't much cleaner.
here she is just a couple days after I first got her, before the shinny new paint.
and a few weeks later
right after around 100 hrs of work in the shinny new paint.
Of course what does a guy car guy dream of doing while priming sanding and sanding and sanding, and cleaning and tweaking.
putting down the top
sliding behind the wheel and going for
a spin around the block, or maybe even going to your fresh cars first show and winning that all important first trophy
heres the 1969 Buick brochure
1969 Buick
Approved Accessories
Interested in 1/24 scale cars - check some of mine
