I here y'all like Buick

[washernoob]

I was driving down the street here in town, and saw what I thought was a beautiful black Lincoln Continental (from the rear)

I quickly pulled a U turn into the access road, and lawdy look what I stumbled into! I have never seen one of these!

Aside from the Rims, this is a gorgeous Buick Electra. What year is this?

 

[washernoob]

The rear. Very continental esque. The vertical lights remind me of the 60s era continental.

GORGEOUS car. I do want!

 

[wayupnorth]

I know it is a early to mid 60's model. Not sure of the exact year. The number of portholes in the older Buick's front fenders designate a six or eight cyl. engine. They are bringing them back on the newer models now.

 

[swestoyz]

Brandon -

That would be a 1964 Buick Electra 225. TOL Buick of its day.

They truly are gorgeous cars - with equally beautiful interiors. The dash is modeled after the 1963 Rivera dash; the only year that style of dash was used in the full sized line.

More than likely it has a 425 CI "Nail-Head" engine, with a Carter AFB carburetor, however it also may have the Rochester 4GC. I believe the dual quad set-up was left for the Rivera.

Ben

 

[58limited]

You couldn't get a six cylinder in a Buick for many years and the port holes came to signal the BOL or TOLline car for a certain series: Three was BOL and four was TOL. BOL was not really bottom of the line, I just used that terminology, for explanation purposes. Buick usually had two series, small series = Special and Century, large series = Super and Roadmaster, and in 1958 included the Limited. Special had three and Century had four for the small series; Super had three and Roadmaster had four for the big series. The series names changed in 1959: the Special became the LeSabre; Century became Invicta; and Super and Roadmaster became Electra and Electra 225.

 

Without digging out my car books or doing a web search, the car in the picture looks like a '63 or '64 model.

 

[washernoob]

Found the ad for the car. Its a 1964 with a 445 wildcat motor.

Looks like its been dubbed out a bit. I don't know if the interior is original or not. The trunk has been modified. Ugh. I would throw all that garbage away.

http://modules05.dealercarsearch.com/usercontrols/largephotos.aspx?id=1741934
http://modules05.dealercarsearch.com/usercontrols/largephotos.aspx?id=1741934

 

[112561]

Interior is new, but with correct sewn pattern and buttons. I would truly prefer the original vehicle, instead of even a mild custom. I think the car would have had all vinyl, or cloth and vinyl, and that one would have been all blue inside originally. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe leather was available in two door models, but even as luxurious as they still are, leather was rare in the Electra 225 model.

 

[statenislandgwm]

It's a beautiful car...

but has anyone else noticed it doesn't seem to have ac?

 

[swestoyz]

Brandon - I agree. Put the car back to factory original.

HOWEVER, the one upgrade I do praise is it appears the car has received an upgraded brake booster and master cylinder (67-69 style), potentially indicating that it has a disc brake upgrade. I'd leave that in place

Not totally odd to see it without A/C, even if it was originally from Omaha. Most potential Buick owners of the time were still watching the bottom line when ordering a new car - even a TOL luxo 225 - where your Lincoln and Cadillac owners were usually a bit more frivolous with their cash.

The '445' number on the air cleaner is signifying the torque output of the 425 cubic inch V8. Buick did this for a number of years on the Nailhead engines, up until about 1967 when they went to the more modern style 340/400/430 V8's. Even more crazy - in 1970 there was a placard on a few models of the LeSabre that advertised the model of the Turbo-Hydromatic transmission - the 400! My grandfather ordered a brand new LeSabre in 1970 with a 350 CI V8, and the Turbo-Hydromatic 400 transmission.

Ben[this post was last edited: 6/6/2012-15:05]

 

[westingman123]

It's the same age as I am! My Mom bought a '64 Tempest, we had that car forever. I loved the "wing" windows, you didn't NEED air conditioning with those. There were also vents under the dash which, when opened, blew up around you. Cruisin' down the highway was always cool enough, just watch out for flying stuff!

That's a beautiful machine. I agree, though, the crap in the truck gotta go!

 

[abcomatic]

1964 Buick

Wow, Love those '64 Buicks! I remember in the 60's that if you looked at the bottom or top of the tail light lense, there would be a number like 64 or 63 etc.,
thatwasthe year of the car. Most cars then only used that style for 1 year and were not interechangable. There was also a body style in '63 and 64 called a 6 window hardtop or sedan. There would be a triangular window between the back door and the roof. That body style cost a bit more. Gary

 

[whirlaway]

A?C

If its the one in the pic,it does have A/C,but it would not be unusual for northern cars not to have been ordered without it.

 

[washernoob]

The one in the last picture posted is a 2 door convertible model. The one in my link is a 4 door hardtop without A/C.

 

[norgeway]

425....

The 425 was optional, most had the 401 cubic inch engine.Which was called the 445 Wildcat, for 445 foot pounds of torque.

 

[wayupnorth]

Tail lights

I remember that the older vehicles had the year on each and just by looking close at the bottom, you knew exactly.

 

[pulltostart]

According to "Seventy Years of Buick" by George H. Dammann, this car (Electra 225 4-window Hardtop, Model 4839) cost $4,194 and weighed 4, 229 pounds.  The Electra 225 6-window Hardtop, Model 4829, cost $4261 and weighed 4,238 pounds.  All Electras were on a 126-inch wheelbase and were powered by a 401-cubic-inch engine with 325 horsepower, and 445 pounds of torque.

 

A very sweet ride!

 

Lawrence

 

[thor]

"225"

As I understand, 225 was the lenght of the car, in inches. Can anyone confirm if this is right?
Emilio

 

[passatdoc]

I learned to drive in a 225: it was the car used by my behind-the-wheel driver training program. Once you learned to handle a 225, smaller cars were like child's play.

Was the 401 cu in/ 325 HP engine also used in the Buick Sportwagon? The specs sound very similar to my mom's former 1968 Buick Sportwagon 400.

 

[wayupnorth]

Buick

If I had a huge V8 in this baby Buick it would really fly. But the 3100 V6 has plenty of power. Mine was called an Estate Wagon, not that anyone on an estate would have one.

 

[pulltostart]

In the beginning (1959) the '225' was the length of the car, in inches.  Not sure how long that continued to be the case, but in 1968 (the year of the 'Sportwagon' question, above), the overall length of the Electra was 244.9 inches.

 

Regarding the engine in the Sprotwagon, I can't tell from my information which engine was standard.  Buick had introduced their 430-cubic-inch V8 in 1967 and that's what they put in the Wildcats, Electras, and Rivieras.  In 1968 Buick introduced a new 350-cubic-inch engine that they put in some of the Specials and Skylarks; there were at least 3 versions of this engine (230 hp, 280 hp, and 340 hp).  I think the LeSabre also was equipped with the new 350 engine.

 

L

 

[petek]

My then new 75 225. Nicest car I've ever owned and purportedly the longest car GM made even slightly longer than the Cadillac. I was just 19 when I bought the car. It was sitting up on one of those ramp/show things at the dealers lot, Bow-Mac on Broadway in Vancouver and looked so gorgeous I couldn't resist. It was sort of a now or never thing because by then the word was out that cars were going to be downsized for 1977 and my dream had been that one day I was going to have a new full sized luxury car so I bought it. Course the price of gas by then was skyrocketing and it cost me a fortune to drive it but it was worth it and no regrets. I had some great trips down to California and Seattle/Portland in that car

 

[hydralique]

Buick Sixes . . .

Buick did offer a 6 cylinder engine through most of the '60s, although not in big cars like the Electra. Their V-6 was introduced for '62 in the Special and made by them through the '67 model year. It was also used by Olds for a couple of years, and starting in '65 they sold engines to Kaiser-Jeep for use in the Jeep. After '67 production shifted to Jeep as GM sold the tooling so anyone wanting a 6 in a Buick got a rebadged Chevy 6. GM famously bought the tooling back around '74 from American Motors who had bought Jeep and preferred to use their own inline 6, as GM needed some smaller engines during the energy crises. Those early V-6s were really nasty with lots of vibration due to their odd-fire 90 degree design. GM and Buick gradually fixed that and in the end it proved to be one of the best engines they ever made, used extensively by Buick, Olds, and Pontiac. I think Chevy used a few as well though I'm not sure. It was the only Electra and Riviera engine for many years in the '80s, but I can only imagine what Buick engineers would have thought in '64 had they been told that their V-6 would one day be used in upper line Buicks!

 

[tolivac]

My Mom and Stepdad had one of those '64 Buicks-visited them in the summer-they used that Buick to tow a boat trailer from florida or Wash DC area to Lake Wnnepesaki in New Hampshire to their cottage.Spent several summers riding that car-and my brother inherited it-learned to drive with that car.

 

[tomturbomatic]

That dash is very similar to the one in Daddy's 63 Wildcat. He was not fond of the DynaFlow. He did a lot of highway driving. Getting it to go into passing mode meant momentarily letting up on the accelerator and then flooring it to bring in the 4 barrel. He claimed the portholes were for the little man under the hood to look for gas stations.

 

[norgeway]

Funny story about a Buick and an Olds!

A good friend of mine said his Daddy bought a new 51 Buick Special with Dynaflow, at the same time his Uncle bought a new 51 Super 88 Olds, Both he and his cousin were 21 at the time and he said as luck would have it, they both had their Dads cars one weekend cruising...he said since a Buick was a higher class of car, he thought he could blow away his cousin who was driving the Olds, well, he said they took off from a stop light, and he said he pulled the Dynaflow in low and floored it, while the straight eight was revving up, he said the Olds burned rubber and left him standing, he said it just ran off and was GONE! He still thinks if both were wound out he might have had a chance, but not from a standstill, he said the Olds would bark the tires when it shifted from first to second!

 

[whirlaway]

Slow is not the word!!!!!!

I had a 48 Chrysler with 4speed semi automatic fluid,it was no rocket.My friend Cabot had a 51 Buick,I could leave him in the dust.Buick also suffered from brake failure quite often too small for that size of car and would fade right out.Smooth running cars,but the nailhead was a very poor design.They would suffer valve failure at low mileage.I have a friend that still has a beautiful 56 with factory-air,it was one of the first GM to have dashboard air instead of the trunk style.Olds had it in 55.Its strange how some of the Gms would have pwr windows in the front,and not all the way around.

 

[blackstone]

Maybe Someday….

…..there will be a thread about 2005 Buick LeSabres. Not yet a classic. Sure is a nice riding car, especially the Limited Edition, with heated leather seats and satellite radio.

Not the best picture of the Buick. I took this picture after the car was hit from behind last year during the winter. No damage, but took photos just in case.

The "Cape Cod Canal Tunnel" sticker is a local joke.

 

[firedome]

The '68 Electra

had a length of 224.9, not 244.9... the latter was only in the realm of Cad Fleetwood Model 75 factory built limos, essentially at around 245 inches.

 

[cuffs054]

Whirlaway,
Thanks for the post about early GM power windows. I have had an argument going for 40 yrs with a friend over this. I know that we looked at a either 53 or 54 Olds 98 Sedan on a crappy little used car lot in the early 70's. It was not in good condition but two things stuck out. FACTORY AIR with airplane type screw-adj vents for passenger and driver and the front power windows. I can still remember the massive a/c compressor and condenser. I wish I had bought that thing instead of the 69 Lincoln.

 

[dirtybuck]

Electra 225 and Wildcat

Those were the Buick's my uncle and aunt that lived in Overland Park, KS had. Don't quote me on what year models they were, but I think the Electra was a '68 (my uncle's company car) in midnight blue and her Wildcat was a '64 in brown.