Dan Konzelmann's 1970 GS Stage 1 Convertible - One of 215 Built

Purchased July 4th, 1987 from young woman in Chardon Ohio, who had bought it from the first owner in Yorba Linda, CA, yes, the hometown of John Force. I am sure John must have known about the car. Being beaten as badly as that would make you want to leave street racing for something better....the rest is history.

I found the original owner, who said it had been a Rose Parade car, which allowed him to buy it at a discount as a college graduation present from Simpson Buick in Downey, CA.  I rebuilt the engine with the help of Randy Seaman and Scott's Garage of Mattoon Il in early 1988 and VERY quickly realized just what a Stage 1 can do.

Over the ensuing years, I raced and beat a wide variety of musclecars with
relative ease, even leaving an LS6 4spd with 4.11 gears so far back in the hole, that I could see him banging on the steering wheel in frustration. He had expected an easy race, had panicked when I pulled away, and fried his tires, making a bad situation worse. Anyway, I eventually rebuilt the motor again with Joe Hampton and Erich Davis after one of the original pistons gave up the ghost. This time we bored it .030, cross drilled the crank, enlarged the oil passages, and balanced and blueprinted it with a club Lunati grind.  It has factory console auto, a/c, pwr seat, pw, ps, aluminum drums, tilt, light group, AM/FM, deluxe bucket interior, and is all original with the exception of a repaint in 1980 and top in 1987. With a little
tinkering, Erich has helped it to run like its old self after years of storage in Okc,

 It now is sleeping in my garage, waiting for the sun to come out. It may get lousy gas mileage, and be a little slow compared to a GN or LT1 car, but for 32 years old, it still gives the rest of them fits.