1969 Buick GS 400 Stage 1 Convertible Emerges as Muscle Car Market Star
A highly collectible piece of American muscle car history has come to light in the form of a 1969 Buick GS 400 Stage 1 Convertible, a rare performance model from a brand better known for comfort than quarter-mile times. With only 212 Stage 1 convertibles produced that year, this numbers-matching example represents a significant find for enthusiasts and collectors alike.
Finished in its factory-correct #67 Burgundy Mist Poly, the GS 400 Stage 1 was Buick's no-nonsense answer to the horsepower wars of the late 1960s. Beneath the hood is the model's signature 400-cubic-inch V8, upgraded with the Stage 1 performance package, which included larger valves, a higher-lift camshaft, and a recalibrated carburetor and distributor. Factory-rated at 340 horsepower and a stout 440 lb-ft of torque, the Stage 1 was more than capable of challenging its more common GM siblings.
This particular GS features a numbers-matching engine, an error-correct TH400 automatic transmission, and retains its factory air conditioning system, which has been retrofitted to modern R-134A refrigerant and remains fully functional—an increasingly rare feature on surviving examples. Inside, the black vinyl bucket seats and center console with the signature 'horseshoe' shifter present well, adding a touch of muscle-era charm to its comfortable cruising capability.
Power disc brakes up front, rear drums, and factory power steering round out a ride quality that remains true to Buick's reputation for combining brute force with luxury refinement.
With its scarcity, originality, and unmistakable blend of performance and poise, this 1969 Buick GS 400 Stage 1 Convertible is an investment-grade classic poised for appreciation. As prices climb on Chevelles, GTOs, and Road Runners, Buick's flagship muscle car is earning renewed respect—and higher demand—on the auction block.
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New York Post
15 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump has momentum heading into Aug. 1 ‘reciprocal tariff' deadline after Asian trade deals, experts say
WASHINGTON — President Trump has 'leveraged American bargaining power' with three Asian nations this week — and given himself momentum ahead of the looming Aug. 1 deadline for most 'reciprocal tariffs,' experts predict. Trump secured Japan's agreement to pay a 15% tariff on exports to the US while making $550 billion in new investments in America in what he called a 'signing bonus' — while Indonesia and the Philippines said they would accept 19% tariffs on their goods while applying 0% tariffs on US products. 'I was a little bit surprised by the extent to which the US, at least at this stage of the game, has succeeded in striking what seems to me to be quite a hard bargain,' said Pravin Krishna, an economist at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. 3 Experts say President Trump has 'leveraged American bargaining power' with Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines this week — and given himself momentum ahead of the looming Aug. 1 deadline for most 'reciprocal tariffs.' AFP via Getty Images Robert Lawrence, an international trade professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, agreed, saying he was also left stunned that Trump roped in a large Japanese investment in addition to the tariff terms — likening it to his successful demand for a 'golden' US stake in this year's Nippon-US Steel merger deal. 'He's a wheeler-dealer, our president, needless to say, and he's kind of cutting these deals — but he has scared these people, and he's leveraged American bargaining power,' Lawrence said. 'The next one on the block is [South] Korea… for the Koreans, the auto issue is just about as important as for the Japanese.' Wilbur Ross, who served as Trump's commerce secretary during his first term and at one point expressed concern about administration emissaries potentially over-playing their hand, hailed Trump's trio of Asian deals. 'It's very important that people realize why he yoked the three together and announced them at the same time, and I think that's largely to send a message to China that their hope that his tough trade policy would somehow drive the Asian countries to China is simply incorrect,' Ross explained. 'I think the second importance of it is it puts tremendous pressure on the EU to make a deal because they have a great danger of being relatively isolated and relatively stuck with a worse deal.' Trump traveled to Scotland Friday and will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend to discuss averting a threatened 50% tariff. 3 President Trump secured a trade agreement with Japan to pay a 15% tariff on exports, while Indonesia and the Philippines will pay 19% tariffs on their goods, with US products not being tariffed. The president previously announced deals with Vietnam, which agreed to a 20% tariff — or 40% on items sourced in China — while breaking down barriers to US imports, as well as a UK deal that features a 10% tariffs — with British steel and car exports also paying 10% rather than Trump's much higher sectoral tariffs, in exchange for promises to open UK markets to American ethanol, beef and chicken. China, meanwhile, brokered a cease-fire with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — with the US applying a 30% rate on Chinese goods and China applying a 10% rate on American imports. Meanwhile, the impact of Trump's tariffs — which also include 50% on foreign steel and aluminum and 25% on foreign cars — have been slighter than anticipated thus far on inflation, with the annual increase in consumer prices 2.7% in June. 'The same 'experts' that were loudly spewing doomsday predictions are now quietly looking at their portfolios and planning their early retirement or vacation home purchases,' said Arthur Schwartz, a Republican operative with close ties to the administration. Major challenges remain on the horizon for Trump, however, and academics remain divided on the merits of higher tariffs now padding federal coffers. Krishna, the Hopkins economist, said questions remain about whether the Asian nations that just agreed to steep terms are able to ratify them politically due to the fact that Trump seems to have secured such lopsided terms. He also said that India — initially expected to be one of the first nations to ink a trade deal — faces notable trade-talk road bumps due to the potentially devastating effects on poor farmers who comprise about 45% of the labor force. 'It's a very sensitive sector for India. The Modi government itself, a few years ago, tried some reasonably market-oriented reforms in the agricultural sector.. and they were unable to push that through,' he said. 'That is an extremely challenging thing for the Indian government to manage politically,' Krishna said. 'You're talking about survival-level incomes for a large number of farmers. And to mess with that would be, again, politically challenging and even morally questionable from an Indian standpoint. 3 The US is currently charging China a 30% tariff rate on Chinese goods, while they are charging a 10% rate on American imports. AP Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters 'It really is a question of how much of a change the US wants in terms of reduction of protectionism and so on, and how much India's willing to give up,' he added. It's also unclear how talks with China will end — with the temporary deal set to expire in mid-August, though it may be extended. 'There's a real question whether we will make a deal with [China],' Ross said. 'It's hard for me to imagine that they're going to make very big concessions, and meanwhile, we're collecting very high tariffs. So it's not so clear to me that there's a big, compelling motive for President Trump to make a deal.' China also may be politically constrained by an upcoming Communist Party congress next month and a housing crash that has sapped the nation economically, Ross noted. Lawrence, of Harvard, said that the disruption of Trump's trade wars remains worrying for certain US industries — with carmakers General Motors and Stellantis reporting quarterly income slumps this week — and that he's skeptical of an ensuing boom in US manufacturing employment. 'I personally think it's damaging our economy … We have to be competitive to make sales abroad, not to bludgeon people through threats of tariffs. That's not the way you win friends, and it's also not the way you retain customers,' he said. But Lawrence noted that Trump's delays in implementing 'reciprocal' tariffs initially announced on April 2 likely make them more palatable for the American public and less stinging on their budgets. 'By dragging out the process, it's kind of like the famous boiling of the frog who doesn't quite notice it. [If the] net effect of these tariffs would be to raise the consumer price index by one percentage point or even two, that would be a huge increase, right? But if I told you it was take place over a couple of years, it is going to work out to half a point, or less a fraction each month. Are you going to notice it itself?' he said. 'From the standpoint of, 'How do you want to distribute the shocks?' I think… whether it's negotiating strategy or it's dithering or it's intuition, it actually serves to cushion the blow.'
Forbes
20 hours ago
- Forbes
AGCO OutRun Autonomous Tillage Digs Deeper Into Driverless Operations
An OutRun driverless farm tractor in a tillage operation. The OutRun suite of tillage products is taking on one of the key pain points in mechanized agriculture. Workers are becoming increasing hard to find, yet the time windows for preparing the ground for planting, called tillage, can be quite short due to weather and other factors. Autonomous machinery changes the game. Most autonomy products for agriculture have focused on the harvest cycles. With OutRun, AGCO has expanded their offerings to tillage. The key benefits lie in addressing labor availability shortages to achieve consistent, automated operations. The upshot? Skilled labor is freed up for jobs that require human know-how. OutRun is offered by PTx Trimble, a joint venture between AGCO and Trimble. Earlier this year, OutRun was awarded the Davidson Prize from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. The award recognizes breakthrough innovations in agricultural engineering that improve efficiency, sustainability and productivity. OutRun was recognized for its ability to help farmers maximize yield and combat the labor shortage many farmers are facing around the world. OutRun will be compatible with AGCO brands and other OEMs/brands. Specifically, the initial product launch of OutRun tillage will support retrofit solutions for both Fendt 900 series and John Deere 8R. OutRun is a single platform covering multiple applications. The retrofit kit requires no changes to low-level machine control. Tillage products for fall operations are coming in 2026. AGCO's driverless grain cart operation is available now. Why Autonomous Tillage? Effectively done tillage is vital to a successful harvest. Tillage can happen in both the spring and fall depending on the needs of a particular farm. The major value in spring is accelerating the planting window. Deploying tillage just in front of planting can free growers up – so they can do both of these tasks at once, resulting in more timeliness of planting. In fall, tillage can often be the last priority, as all hands are on deck to focus on harvest activities. Timely tillage after harvest increases the nutrients that are worked into the soil, which will improve fertilization for next season's harvest. With autonomy, farmers can deploy tillage at the optimal time, while still having their skilled labor deployed to harvest operations. This maximizes their benefit for both the current season's yield and preparing the soil for next season's crop. In fact, according to AGCO, OutRun tillage tools help avoid costly delays, 'up to 1% yield loss per day when planting is delayed outside the planting window and up to 50% nitrogen loss if fertilizer isn't incorporated in time.' Addressing Key Challenges in Autonomous Tillage OutRun addresses challenges in mission planning. The workflow requires a full pre-planned mission to cover entire field yet with the expectation of optimal paths with flexibility for farmer input. This includes accounting for zones with special handling (e.g. slow zones). AGCO addresses these needs with a coverage path planner that allows user customization as needed. There are also tools for remote start, pause, and resume that mimic in-field decision-making. Mission monitoring entails smart alerts, remote visibility, and leveraging live and historical data. The system must operate independently by default, but be ready to engage the user when needed. It needs to accurately define what needs attention but avoid over-alerting the operator. In essence, as AGCO puts it, 'the experience should make the user feel like they're 'riding along' remotely.' OutRun provides system notifications tailored to context and severity, including support for custom notifications. Also, live data and video feeds, plus access to still images and historical metrics, are available to the user. Nevertheless, where possible the autonomy handles minor issues without interrupting the user. This latest OutRun product offers wider detection zones and dust resilience, compared to previous iterations. However, the use of wide implements changes sensor field-of-view requirements, which can be exacerbated in a dusty environment. If there are too many interruptions due to false-positive detections, the user is frustrated and the costs are real. OutRun addresses these challenges by validating the full range of existing sensors, as well as evaluating tillage-specific sensors. Methods for dust filtering are applied. An OutRun driverless farm tractor in a tillage operation kicking up dust. Nevertheless, it is essential to design perception override capabilities that allow remote handling of false-positives by the farm crew. Dinen Subramaniam, product launch manager of Outrun, noted that monitoring quality of tillage is extremely important, 'because you don't want to find out something was off deep into a tillage operation.' He emphasized that autonomy's next stage is addressing logistics on the farm. Autonomy can allow a shift from sequential activities – which has been the way of farming from the beginning -- to parallel activities that can encompassed disparate tasks. In wheat harvesting, for instance, the combine needs to be constantly on the move capturing wheat which is dumped into a grain cart traveling alongside the combine. When a cart's capacity is reached, it pulls away and another cart sidles up to the combine. A full cart trundles to a nearby truck with a commodity trailer behind. When this tractor-trailer is full, an empty rig must step in to keep things moving. But there's more to the logistics dance. The fully loaded trucks are off to a grain elevator somewhere in the region, where there can be traffic jams which in turn affect the ability of the truck to return to the harvest field for the next load. All this on just one farm. Imagine how these factors combine when the entire farming region is doing the same thing. And there's an economic angle – the grain elevator operators compete with one another on the price paid to every load of grain. The closest grain elevator may not have the best price, so that a longer drive to a better-paying elevator becomes attractive. This is a time versus money play that can be found in any logistics operation. It is a continuing dance. Mr. Subramaniam noted yet another benefit based on customer feedback. The customer divulged that, during harvesting, he needs to keep over one hundred tires inflated across the various wheeled equipment in play. So, if a former grain cart driver could do nothing but take care of tire inflation, that alone is a significant benefit. Or, the prior operator of grain cart can switch to fall tillage tasks. There's a human angle as well. An OutRun customer in Nebraska shared that juggling farm and family becomes easier with autonomous machines. He was recently able to leave his equipment running in the field and, while monitoring operations on his phone, he could cheer on his daughter at her championship volleyball game. In the end, autonomy needs to improve quality of life.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Where Will Ford Motor Company Be in 3 Years?
Key Points Ford Motor recently announced stellar sales numbers for the second quarter. Tariffs will likely hurt its financials although the automaker should be able to work through it. Higher sales and higher costs may offset each other, potentially limiting Ford's near-term upside. 10 stocks we like better than Ford Motor Company › The automotive industry has been reeling for months following the Trump administration's announced tariffs, which have threatened to increase costs, likely leading to higher prices for consumers. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) approached the situation aggressively, marketing to its American roots and offering vehicle buyers employee-level pricing for a three-month period. It worked. Ford recently announced fantastic second-quarter vehicle sales, including an estimated 1.8-percentage-point gain in market share. Now, the company has followed it up with a new promotion aimed at lowering up-front costs for buyers. With Ford building sales momentum, it's fair to ask where the stock might be in three years. I dove into the numbers to find out. Here is what you need to know. Combating tariff headwinds with volume Despite Ford's standing as a leading American vehicle brand, it is a global business, both in supply chain and in sales. The tricky part is figuring out just how tariffs will affect the company, which is remarkably difficult due to the Trump Administration's inconsistent messaging on policy. As of first-quarter earnings, management was anticipating a net headwind of $1.5 billion to Ford's 2025 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). It appears that part of Ford's strategy has been to lean into the tariff headwinds as an opportunity to leverage its American identity with U.S. consumers. Ford extended employee-level pricing to buyers as part of its "From America, For America" campaign. The promotion, which ran from early April to early July, was a winner. Ford's vehicle sales skyrocketed by 14.2% in Q2 2025, including: The highest Q2 sales for F-Series trucks since 2019. Record sales for electric vehicles. The highest volume for the Lincoln brand since 2007. 20% growth in paid subscriptions for Ford Pro software. Automotive manufacturers have high fixed costs associated with operating factories. Investors will need to see management's updated financial outlook when Ford releases its full Q2 earnings on July 30. Still, it would prove a savvy move by Ford if the company could grow its sales volume enough to offset tariff-related costs, while boosting market share and giving the Ford brand some momentum in the process. Ford's fundamentals remain resilient Tariffs, in some shape or form, are looming. Analysts have already baked a sizable hit to earnings into Ford's 2025 estimates. The consensus on Wall Street is that earnings will drop from $1.84 per share last year to an estimated $1.12 this year. Beyond the effect on earnings, the important takeaway is that Ford can remain profitable. While investors must read between the lines until Ford releases its Q2 earnings, management probably wouldn't follow its Q2 promotion with another campaign if the company were losing more money selling all those additional vehicles. The dividend, yielding over 5.3%, is still just 54% of 2025 earnings estimates, and management reiterated Ford's balance sheet strength in Q1, which ended with $27 billion in cash and $45 billion in total liquidity. Ford should have ample financial resources to weather the tariff uncertainty, and its decision to pursue market share in this situation underscores that confidence. Where might the stock be in three years? It's worth noting that the auto industry is highly competitive, and companies must continually invest in updating, maintaining, and upgrading expensive factories. Ford is a significant industry player, yet its stock has still badly lagged the broader stock market over time. Therefore, even if Ford successfully navigates the tariff headwinds, it's not guaranteed to yield great investment results. Currently, Ford's free cash flow yield is 20%, on par with its average over the past decade. It's tough to envision the stock fetching a higher valuation while tariffs continue to weigh on the business. The hope is that Ford sells more vehicles at lower margins (due to tariffs) to the point that free cash flow grows. Upcoming Q2 earnings will give investors a fresh set of expectations regarding how tariffs will affect Ford's profits. Keep in mind that Ford's current valuation reflects pre-tariff cash flows. I suspect that Ford will be working back to 2024 profits over the next few years. When it all shakes out, much of the tariff-related costs and higher sales volume could somewhat offset each other. In that scenario, the stock price may not change much. Ford's 5.3% dividend could represent a significant portion of the stock's investment returns. So, for now, it appears that Ford stock has limited upside over the next three years. Of course, that could change as the tariff situation evolves. Should you buy stock in Ford Motor Company right now? Before you buy stock in Ford Motor Company, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Ford Motor Company wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $634,627!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,046,799!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,037% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 182% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Where Will Ford Motor Company Be in 3 Years? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
