Charkle the 2nd found this Wildcat lurking at the campground next to his over the Easter Weekend. Turns out it’s a daily driver, and has been since it was bought twenty years ago. Is this Australia or NZ? What must it cost to feed this hungry feline? Isn’t fresh meat pricy down there?
I have a soft spot for these ’67-’68 Wildcats. Maybe because of some memorable seat time behind the wheel of a GF’s when I was a youth.
More pictures at the Cohort
I really like styling of the Buick, though I often forget how good it is. On another note, I couldn’t call camping that densely populated “camping.” More of a refugee camp for the non-refugee. The only open space is in that Wildcat!
Yeah, this is how we (often) camp in NZ, when we’re at the beach anyway. Ear plugs are an essential part of the camping equipment.
Mind you, it is a great spot – this photo was taken just over the sand dunes from the gorgeous Hahei beach – right here
The guy reckoned it didn’t cost that much to feed, but with 430 cubic inches under the bonnet, I think he may have been kidding himself a little.
I’ve camped in that campground! A few years ago mind you. It is indeed a beautiful spot!
Why did Buick get the blue rinse image when they made this beauty?I’m not normally a fan of full size cars but I like this.
What place in the Buick line-up did the Wildcat take and which platform was it based off of? Was it a sporty full-size based off of B/C platform or was it a special midsized based off the A?
Whatever it is, it’s just gorgeous.
In between the LeSabre and Electra. Longer wheelbase than LeSabre, but same basic styling/body, but just tarted up some. And only the biggest V8s as standard (430 in this case).
Wow – schooled again! I never knew about the longer wheelbase. I am guessing it was all in the front of the firewall, but maybe not. As many of these were around back when, I never paid much attention to them. And now it shows. 🙁
Actually, not in between. The Wildcat had the same 126″ wheelbase as the Electra (LeSabre: 123″) I meant in terms of pricing.
Another way of looking at it: It was a LeSabre body from the cowl back, and a lightly modified Electra front end. Electra and Wildcat front clips interchange
We showed an example of that here: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cohort-outtake-1964-buick-electra-cat-a-hybrid-of-a-different-sort/
The Wildcat kind of tried to fill the duties of the Century and Super all rolled into one.
That’s odd because Pontiac’s middle-man was the Executive. It had the long wheelbase of the Bonneville but standard drivetrain from the Catalina.
Pontiac did it the other way: it extended the B-Body in the rear for the Executive and Bonneville. But sheet metal-wise, those two were the same.
Paul’s right . . . . . Pontiacs usually on the Star Chief (Executive from ’66 through to about 1970) extended the ass-end. Note the door cut outs . . . . Wildcats were long wheelbase sportsters. Centurion took it’s place in 1971, but Centurions were “tarted up LeSabres” on “B” body LeSabre wheelbases.
The Wildcat was the “sporty” B body, mostly identical to the “regular” B body that was the LeSabre. The Electra 225 was on the larger C body. Buick never had much success with whatever was between the Electra and the LeSabre. The Invicta only lasted a couple of years, then the Wildcat that never sold anywhere near the LeSabre, then came the Centurion – another weak seller.
I always liked Wildcats. However, even though there used to be a lot of these Buicks running around the midwestern US, they were mostly LeSabres.
What I find curious is the fact that the full-sizers low end model, LeSabre, sold the best while for the intermediate models the high end, Skylark seemed to be the best, at least from what i remember.
IINM, the Wildcat shared its wheelbase with both the Elektra and the LeSabre at different times in its history. The bottom line, though, is that it was slotted in between the LeSabre and Electra in terms of price and prestige, and was supposed to have a bit more of a sporty/performance image than the LeSabre and Electra did.
I’ve always viewed Chrysler’s lineup in this era as parallelling Buick’s, with the Newport lining up with the LeSabre, the New Yorker lining up with the Electra, and the non-letter 300 lining up with the Wildcat.
Love love love. The ’65-’68 Wildcats own me. The maroon/red two-tone combination on a 4-door hardtop no less is just delicious. “Wildcat” is my favorite car name of all time and was never applied to a vehicle unworthy of such a name.
“Don’t mess with that guy — he drives a Buick Wildcat.”
😀
It does make you scratch your head about why GM doesn’t make more use of some of these great old names.
What would you rather drive: a Verano or a Wildcat?
Well, if it was short and dumpy like a Verano, they could call it anything, I suppose, but Wildcat would seem quite inappropriate to me.
Verano should be Skylark, Wildcat should be reserved for a more performance oriented car.
Personally I’m glad they didn’t reuse those names. I like remembering a ‘Wildcat’ for what it was. It seems sacreligious pasting “Wildcat” on any of the plastic silver/gold blobs that GM is currently pumping out. The Enclave, Verano, etc names are serving their purpose quite well IMO.
Thankyou, this is my car, (owned for 30 years now) & I now have 5 Buicks, a ‘66 Skylark convertible with a 425 Nailhead & SwitchPitch Super Turbine 400 auto, a ‘67 Electra 4DrHdTp, a ‘63 Wildcat Sports coupe, this ‘68 Wildcat Custom HdTp & a ‘68 Wildcat Custom Sports coupe I’ve nearly finished painting
My first car was a 1965 Buick Wildcat hardtop sedan similar to below but the paint was Astro Blue Metallic sort of a light blue metallic. It was nicely but basically equipped 401 NailHead, SuperTurbine automatic, split vinyl seats with armrest AM radio and air conditioning and a cruise control that you set on the speedometer. That is where Buick got its famous “CRUISE” light from. It had power steering and power brakes but those four way drums were stopped by a one chamber reservoir unit. Now it scares me to think how we drove like that then. Although it was basically a LeSabre, with the windows down on the hardtop, vents open, sitting in the semi bucket seats with the armrest down and cruise on it did seem fun.
Wow, that’s pretty. The sort of GM car that must have made the Other Two’s designers – and salesmen – jealous.
Mine was a hand me down it was 9 years old when I got it, the NC climate kept the body nice but it showed wear. But to a 17 year old it still was something. Part of why I got it for $500 was because the first gas crisis just hit and the market for big old used cars dried up. But considering I was living and working to roll around in that car I did not mind.
The picture below is of a 65 Riviera but of the same color and similar wheels. So you can superimpose that color on the above picture and get the idea.
North Carolina’s state color is light blue so that color along with contrasting whites were very popular in the state.
Beautiful car. I really love that 60’s pillar-less look. And with 4 doors no less. GM really had the styling nailed in the 60’s in my opinion. Ford and even Chrysler had some hits, but most of the GM’s were perfect. I grew up 2 decades too late.
Wildcat started off as a Buick sort of Pontiac Grand Prix in ’62. Buick being Buick, with a more conservative clientele, saw fit to expand the bodystyles from ’63 on to include four-door hardtops and ragtops. I saw a decent number of these as a kid growing up in the S.F. Bay Area. Of course, our Little League team was “Don Collins Buick”.
I saw mostly coupes. A gold ’69 coupe with black vinyl top and interior belonged to a customer on my paper route (’72-’74). Gran Sport wheels; whitewalls – looked sharp. Guy didn’t really take care of it, so during the two years I had that paper route, I saw the black vinyl top and gold paint sun bake, peel (the top) and oxidize/dull out (the paint).
I believe the Wildcat was actually a sub-model of the Invicta in ’62.
One of my automotive regrets is turning down a mint, low miles 1968 LeSabre that I could have had when my great aunt passed in the late 80’s. I live in Connecticut, the car was in Nebraska and it seemed like it would be alot of trouble.
When I was a small boy my grandparents ordered a new 67 Wildcat Custom. Before it had 5,000 miles on it we were in a small accident. My granddad then ordered a 68 Wildcat Custom like the one in the photo. It was a greenish blue with a black top and interior, same as show in the 68 Buick sales brochure. I remember it was fast and a very good driving car. Very special memories recalled from seeing this article. Thank you!
Black and silver plates its been here some time @ $2.14L it could be an expensive car to drive here.
Only if you ‘floored’, which was hard not to do, but if you drove it sedately ( quadrajet 4 barrel has huge secondaries but tiny primaries), so when driving gently it was pretty good, 16-20 miles to the gallon, & in that car, was worth every cent of it !!! That’s why I’ve now got 5 Buicks; a ‘66 Skylark convertible with a 425 cu.in V8, a ‘67 Electra 4DrHdTp, a ‘63 Wildcat Sports coupe, this ‘68 Wildcat Custom 4DrHdTp (now owned for 30 years) & another ‘68 Wildcat, but this is a Custom Sports coupe & I just finished painting it & need to reassemble
What I want to know is what’s that weird silver station wagon in the background?
JDM grey market import. Maybe nissan something?
It’s a Nissan Stagea – basically a Skyline wagon.
Yup, M35 Stagea, the wagon version of the V35 Skyline – and thus effectively an Infiniti G35 wagon. My aunt and uncle have an ’03, and it’s a big and comfy place to be (although the VQ25 feels a bit weak).
Very nice car, but that campground? Except for the vehicles, it could be a Civil War camp, crowded as it is!
We have resorted to camping on our patio around our fire pit listening to music or the ball game, it’s more private, quieter, and we can sleep in our nice, big “permanent” tent!
Campgrounds get very crowded if you want electric and water access, especially on a holiday weekend, but going with a group of friends sure makes it lots of fun, and you don’t mind being crowded if you arrange things right. Last time we camped was almost 7 years ago. Might be high time to do it again, soon.
I love the pillar-less hardtop, and this Buick wears it well.
Thanks
Neighbor next door had a gold 67 Wildcat when we were growing up. If the weather was bad she would drive us to school in it. The cold start was pure poetry for a car crazed kid like me, it literally roared to life.
The mom would drive it with the steering wheel tilted in the full “up” position, like a bus.
Without knowing much about Buicks (I was really young) I could tell it was a sportier version and had a big block engine. Much faster than my grandpa’s 70 SDV. Great car, great engine, great name.
Neighbor kept the Buick forever finally replacing it with an early 80s M-body Chrysler Fifth Avenue in blue and white.
Good friend had a 65 Wildcat convertible with the 465 and 4 speed – newly ordered from the family’s dealership. Red, white top, red interior. Brute of a car, one of the most memorable from my high school days. GM was on top of the world then…
Just finished the resto on a 68 Wildcat Custom 2dr. My favorite Buick. Lots of Boattails here in The Netherlands, but hardly any Wildcats.
I always liked the Buick Wildcat and can’t go wrong with any model although the 1965-68’s are my all time favorites, they’re the kind of cars you’d never see at the car shows yet they’re ranked among some of my top favorite cars, the Buick Wildcat is one of the cars that started out with really good and went out with a bang by dropping the model right before the performance and the quality of the automobiles started to decline.
Hi, I just plugged in “68 Buick Wildcat” on Google, scrolled down, & there’s my Wildcat !!!
The one you’re all looking at. I bought this car 24 years ago for $3250NZD; it had a Pontiac 400 chained into the engine bay, with the original 430 Wildcat engine blown up, & in pieces in the trunk with the turbo 400 trans too. A mate of mine, Gavin Harris (Charger Enterprises) rebuilt the 430, I rebuilt the trans & shift kitted it too; It had a bent hood & right fender, & a bit of rust in the left fender, I brought a front clip for $250USD when I was in Bakersfield CA in ‘1996, (Also bought my wife a ’67 Electra HdTp for $150USD) which is now her daily driver. I panel-beated & painted the Wildcat myself, (It was originally all red).
HaHei was a central meeting place for our 4 Kids & their families who live in 4 different parts of the country, & yes, it does cost a bit to run, but it’s Registration is half the cost of all newer vehicles, & every year it increases in value, where newer cars decrease as soon as they drive out of the car yard.
This car has power, it has looks, it has sounds, it has an appropriate name, it has room, it’s safe & it’s rare, & yes, it costs a bit for gas, but boy, it’s well worth every cent of it, & the bumper sticker says it all, thanks,KiwiJeff
Same ‘68 Wildcat 4Dr pillarless, now owned for 33 years, & my 2Dr Custom Sports coupe I’ve restored
& this is my ‘66 Skylark convertible I’m building at the moment, with a 430 Wildcat engine as well