There has been a lot of B-body GM convertible love here on CC this week (when Paul is away, the Broughams will play), but this week, like all others, must come to an end. Let’s celebrate yet another Friday with this mint ’75 LeSabre convertible–in silver, my least favorite color.
But on this car, it looks good. Great, in fact. I am of the opinion that Blob Era cars (let’s say 1993-95 to the present is the Blob Era™) look horrible in silver, but older cars, like this one, look nice and clean. The red interior on this one doesn’t hurt, but I also can appreciate a W112 Mercedes coupe/cabriolet or Porsche 356 in that most popular of grays.
This one recently was featured on ebay, and is a lovely example, as you can see from the pics. I imagine a LOT of these 1975 GM convertibles were socked away with low miles, for an anticipated huge return in the future. So, lots of these are about, in varying conditions. This is likely one of those, with only 44K on the clock. It even has the parade boot!
Considering they were the end of the true full-size convertible era, you’d think that they’d get a big two-page spread, but that was not the case. In the ’75 Buick brochure, the convertible had its thunder stolen by the hospital-green LeSabre sedan taking center stage. With the exception of Cadillac, all the ’75 GM brochures–Chevy, Olds and Pontiac–had teeny pics of the convertible models, almost as an afterthought.
The Grand Ville remains my favorite (I love the quad rectangular lights!) but this Buick is also quite the looker. I really like the 1974-76 full-size Buick dash, as well as the clean taillamp treatment. One thing is for sure: No matter which one is your preference, you really can’t go wrong with any of them if you want a big, brash summer cruiser and have lots of disposable income for gas!
All photos are from the original ebay listing.
The Buick is my least favorite, but WOW this one could change my mind. Guess it’s the red interior and the fact that the silver paint on this one makes the whole car look like it’s made of chrome. Very sharp.
Beautiful way to cap a great week. Thanks for posting.
I started to get sick of silver cars about this time when they started to become very popular. This one, however, with the red interior, I think I could take. It helps that this is such a clean, bright silver (in contrast to the dingy silver on early 2000s Tauruses).
Do I really count 12 warning lights on the dash? There is all kinds of room for extra warnings like “Your 8 track tape has broken” and “Crappy radio reception because of the windshield antenna.” I guess they would have to come up with a pictogram for these things.
Last thing – those Buick rims were just fabulous. These and the Pontiac units were always (to me) the best looking of the bunch. I never thought the Olds wheels were as good looking.
As for the green sedan in the brochure shot, I cleaned and detailed a neighbor’s 75 LeSabre sedan in that very color one summer. I didn’t care much for the color, but it cleaned up nicely. It always seemed a throwback to maybe 1950.
re. warning lights: that’s GM for you- my ’76 Coupe DeVile has a row of warning lights that stretch half way across the dash, Quite a light-show when you turn the key.
I believe my 78 Eldo has the same dash. A real show, as you say.
It always annoyed me that US carmakers since the ’60s have either omitted most gauges or made buyers pay extra for them. Was it petty cost-cutting, fear that they might mess up the stylistic line of the dashboard, or the thought that owners shouldn’t be distracted with tedious things like engine conditions?
I suppose that is one miniscule point for Lincoln: many of them have had temperature gauges. Even basic ’60s Chrysler products had a full set. I am distressed to see that Japanese models are now starting to delete the temperature gauge, e.g. Honda Fit, Mazda3. Consumer Reports quoted an industry expert who said that the Japanese no longer have the production cost advantages they used to, which might explain this as well as the trend to cheaper-looking interior trim.
Japanese manufacturers aren’t the only ones–the newest incarnation of the VW Jetta also has done away with the temp gauge (all gauges except the speedo and tach, IIRC), based on a couple of rental Jettas I’ve had. And why dump the temp gauge and keep the tach on an automatic car? I’m more concerned about heating/overheating than I am about revs, if I’m not shifting…
Perhaps we should start eliminating fuel gauges. Just drive until the low fuel light comes on.
Please, don’t give them any ideas.
Do you play chicken with the gas tank, seeing how far you can go with the Low Fuel light on? I did that while on family vacation one time, mistakenly thinking a gas station would appear soon, & the Camry’s engine sputtered out in the middle of nowhere on I-8. Providentially, there was a Border Patrol checkpoint at the bottom of the hill.
Part of it was that, but there was a time that idiot lights were a WOW feature on cars.
There are a bunch of warning light spaces, not all of them are used, you get the standard, oil, temp, gen, belts, brake, plus lights for cruise, hi-beam, washer fluid, rear defog, air cushion( think of it as the airbag warning light, but with bell bottoms) but not low fuel, its in the face of the gas gauge.
The row of lamps across the top of the Cadillac dash is awesome, bookended by the gas gauge and the clock, reminding you how little you have of each…
What I always found surprising were the cars that had a full set of gauges as standard, namely the 1974-76 Ford Elite and Mercury Cougar. They were as broughamy as anything else on the road back then, but there were cars with sporting pretensions that had far less in the way of instrumentation on the dash.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the Torino family. They & the Mustang got gauges, but not the Pinto, Maverick, Granada, or LTD. Are there any industry insiders who can tell us how they decided such things? If only I were a fly on the wall…
“Corporate policy is for the Torino to have round holes in its dash, so we need to fill them with something…”
“But that would upstage the LTD then.”
“How long you been working here?”
Way back when of course you HAD to have gauges because cars required more care to drive. Early on it was common to add water to the radiator regularly and so on whereas today you hardly have to do anything to cars except periodically. So in the late 1960s, it became a fashionable thing for automakers to stress the least effort of driving in cars. Advertising was made to that fact both for the general improvement in performance but the reduction in attention the car needed. Remember HEI did away with semi yearly tuneups points and constant adjustments. The late 70s were a high point for simple efficient engines before computer took over. They were less powerful due to smog regulations but you could drive a 77 Impala for many many miles with only an oil change.
Digital clocks in radios did away with dash clocks but they appear periodically on higher end models as a fashion statement.
People don’t seem to wear watching anymore these days anyways.
Not all Elites had them, you had to order the Interior Decor Group. The standard interior was not so broughamy.
Not much to look at here.
Five dashboard holes to fill!
Frequently, makers offer a clock w/o other gauges, as if drivers don’t wear wristwatches.
Yeah, but I’ve never lost a dash clock…unlike a wristwatch! I “accidently” leave my cell phone behind when I go for an occasional cruise and it’s quite nice to have something to tell me how long ago I should have returned home.
Plus, I’m guilty of sometimes sitting in one of my old rides, listening to and watching its old clock tick. It’s cheaper than drinking.
Hmm…maybe the gauges were standard on the Cougar but optional on the Elite. I know I’ve seen quite a few Elites that had them.
@ Grange Rover
“Hmm…maybe the gauges were standard on the Cougar but optional on the Elite. I know I’ve seen quite a few Elites that had them.”
That’s exactly what I was trying to say. The above pic is the standard Elite. If you wanted gauges you had to order the whole interior decor package, like this. This dash was standard on the Cougar, minus the “woodgrain”.
Most Elites came with this option, as the standard setup was nothing to write home about.
A couple of points:
1)The 1974 Cougar may not of had the wood applique but it did have a “padded leather look”…..a different luxury look. In 1974 I thought it was one of the coolest dash boards…my dad had a new 74 Gran Torino Elite Brougham (quite a mouth full! The next year it was shortened to Elite and Elite Brougham). I thought of my 1974 Mustang II Ghia as Junior Brougham….a very similar dash and gauges.
Recently I had a 72 Montego Brougham, but it was, in a rare instance, UPcontented by 1974.
2) Most cars today, even with gauges, have essentially idiot lights. My 1999 Miata has a full set of gauges, but the temp. is “weighted” so it doesn’t fluxuate. Apparently people worried too much about minor changes! I had a radiator go out, and only then did it go above 3/4….and then H. it’s a slow Idiot 😉 I ran out of gas a couple of years ago when it was just touching the the top of “E”……..wtf! No warning low fuel, seems redundant anyway. I assume the oil pressure and volts are equally approximated.
If a car doesn’t have a temperature gauge, that’s a deal-breaker for me. Engine temp is one of those things that you need to monitor. It’s like not having a rear-view mirror!
I think the red interior really sets of the silver paint quite nicely. Part of the dullness of silver on modern cars is because it is so ubiquitous (seems almost mandatory on German cars).
I see GM managed to get silver paint to stay on the car,when i was a kid a Ford with peeling silver paint was a common sight on UK roads.The only Detroit iron I saw with scabby silver paint was a 69 Plymouth Fury 2 door.This Buicks a real looker though especially with the red interior.
We had a mid 80s Cutlass that lost it’s silver paint pretty fast- of course we also had several 98 sedans that lost their blue paint pretty fast, so that’s not too unique!
The front end styling on these buick looks so stern to me. I much orefer the prgrad prix front end styling
What?
“Blob era.” Too funny. I describe many of the more recent designs (think Dodge Caliber) as the “chunky ugly school of design.”
Silver may look good, but green is better. Plus, in 1971 the design wasn’t compromised by the awful 5mph bumpers.
I generally like 71s of most cars but GM had that flow-through ventilation through the trunk that caused some grief to owners. It was a one-year-only thing and you can always tell a 71 from the trunk louvers.
That is a beautiful convertible.
Yep, make mine a clean ‘n mean 71 Centurion convertible with a 455 Stage 1! I don’t CARE what color.
Silver is so much more effective in hiding the abundant road salt we’ve received from our local road crews this week.
That’s a beauty! The color combination is the same as a 1966 Chrysler ad that i particularly like.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8073928@N04/2327077337
You will probably appreciate this. I have an 81 Imperial in red (I like red cars in general) but if I was going to have an older one it would be a 64-66 like this.
Yep, that Imperial looks great. When I get my hardtop repainted it will be a similar maroon.
You should try the 65 color Deep Plum metallic. My 65 is painted that color and it’s so dark it could almost be black.
I’ve already chosen the color and the engine compartment is already sprayed out. It’s a mid-80s Cadillac color called Autumn Maple Firemist.
It is the color combo, most notably the deep red, that makes the silver pop. Put a dark blue or a black interior in this car and it would have a completely different curb appeal. My first experience with this was in 1993 when I needed to finally trade in my 1988 Ford Escort GT that I had purchased out of law school for an actual family car now that my wife and I had two little ones. I was a Ford guy at the time. Fortunately, for the car guy in me, my bride wanted nothing to do with either a minivan or an SUV. Settled on the 1993 Taurus wagon. I had never thought of a silver car before. My Escort was red, as had been almost every other car I had owned (LTD Landau, Mercury Bobcat, Mazda B2000 SE5). The Ford dealer had a Taurus LX wagon in Silver with a Cranberry interior and a cranberry pinstripe. The LX aluminum wheels along with that deep red color made the whole thing pop – well, as much as a family truckster can anyway. At the end of the row was a Taurus GL in the same silver with a gray interior and standard wheel covers. The visual difference between the two was impressive.
A silver car with a red interior can be a very stunning color combination.
Beautiful. Silver is not one of my favorites, but on this extroverted convertible, with rich red upholstery and whitewall tires, it really comes into its own. Love this car.
That silver 1966 Chrysler convertible does look great in that color combination. I can’t remember ever seeing any silver 65 or 66 Chrysler though.
A red interior can help lots of colors – our 1992 Accord was Seattle Silver, actually a sort of pale reddish brownish metallic gray, and the deep red interior set it off well.
I once got to see a silver 66 300 2 door hardtop that was part of an estate. Black vinyl roof and white bucket seat interior. Cool car, but I never liked the silver car/white interior combo.
I like the color combination, but if I were looking for a big ragtop cruiser, this would still be toward the bottom of the list. The exterior detailing feels like a migraine and the generic Malaise Era American interior treatment depresses me. Dashboards of the late ’50s and early ’60s may have been gimmicky, hard to read, and none too safe, but at least they had some panache, which the near-universal dime-store-plastic-and-Di-NOC look of the ’70s and early ’80s really doesn’t.
Silver exterior with red interior. I don’t care what car it is, it’s cool ratio is ratcheted up quite a few notches when it comes in this combination. Doesn’t matter what car it is.
The problem with Japan and Germany and Detroit is they saddled the modern day silver car with the blandest and most depressing of interior colors: shades of gray and the old standby; black.
What a wonderful and beautiful find this car is for a Friday afternoon!
A fair number of BMW Z4s and 1- and 3-Series are silver, white or black with red leather interiors. I see them around here all the time.
Now this is a convertible!
I love the advertising…”There are only six convertibles built in America. The LeSabre Custom is an excellent example. [Although we stuck it way in the background of this ad.] In the foreground, the LeSabre four-door sedan.”
So, if there were six American convertibles in 1975, what was the sixth? Full-size Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick, plus Eldorado….what am I missing?
Corvette.
I didn’t realize the Corvette convertible lasted that long–thanks for the info. So then what was the last non-GM convertible before that?
Non-GM? 1973 Ford Mustand/Mercury Cougar?
Yep, Ford’s ’73 “Pony” cars were their last drop tops, pre 1980’s revival.
Last Mopar ragtops were the 1971 E bodies.
BTW: 1975 was last Vette convertible in the 70’s.
Speaking of final GM convertibles, and the Corvette, is everyone aware that the last C6 Corvette rolled off the assembly line today (Friday, March 1st) in Bowling Green? They didn’t waste any time beginning the re-tooling either; it started minutes after the last C6.
Here it is:
And of course, you know what’s replacing it. Supposedly, a convertible and a lower horsepower version (read: cheaper version, not called Stingray) are coming soon.
The 2014 Corvette Stingray: (wallpaper)
pfsm
I believe the color/colour you are referring to might have actually been Rosewood Brown…..this is what is on our ’92 Accord EX-R wagon. We also have the (immaculate) red interior.
Seattle Silver was much more…..silver. If you ever saw them side by side, it would be obvious that Rosewood Brown was the one that was “a pale reddish brownish metallic grey”…
Great find. Though I’ve driven my share of silver rentals (and as a result would likely never buy a silver car) the red interior sets it off nicely and is a great color combination. For me, it’s a tossup between this one and the red Delta 88. I like the trim styling, and I’ve always loved the Buick wheels of that era. It’s still a big car, but it doesn’t look overweight and it wears its size well. The dash is simple and uncluttered, and it’s one car from the Brougham era that has aged gracefully. I’d like to know what’s under the hood…maybe something more than a 350-2 barrel?
I don’t care what color that car is, it is STUNNING!!!
Despite the well, huge-ness of these cars, there is a certain timeless elegance to these cars, and their stately appearance will always turn heads.
In the early 1970s, unlike today silver and black were not popular colors, especially on cars that were sold to retail customers. People wanted real colors, not cars in the color of bare metal or the color of a hearse. Most cars were sold in real colors like shades of green, red, blue, brown, yellow, gold. Most individual shades were not used for more than 2 years and were another way of getting people to buy the latest models. Also manufacturers did not lend money for new cars (or lease) for more than 3 years and reputable banks did not lend money for older cars. Also the total life span of an average car was much less than today, so the production of cars with colors that would be out of style did not matter. Today manufacturers are likely to wind up with a car with much more life in it after the first owner is done, so prefer to make cars in colors that wont be dated or offend, to maximized resale, so most cars are some shade of grey, white or black.
Cars of the ’60s and early ’70s were available in a wider range of colors than a lot of modern cars, it’s true, but a lot of the colors were pretty low-key: various shades of gold or brown and very muted blues and greens. The most popular exterior color in the mid-60s was white because it held up better with age and there was a perception (right or wrong) that it kept the car cooler in the summer.
right, and Silver was not known for longevity here in Texas. The sky blue on our ’76 Chevelle out lasted the silver paint on our neighbors ’78 Olds 98 and the ’92 LeSabre my parents bought brand new.
All 3 cars were bought brand new and lived almost their entire lives in the same neighborhood.
That is one beautiful car!
The sport mirrors really help the LeSabre. Never understood why the Big 3 used such unattractive door mirrors unless you ordered a top trim grade. Probably had to do with the remote feature still being a luxury item.
The Europeans and Japanese understood the importance of mirror appearance and size. In 1978 the Porsche 911SC and Honda Accord both received jumbo “flag” style mirrors on all grades and there was no turning back. This was one of many little things that pushed the new Accord 4-door over the top.
The faired-in style mirrors that debuted on the Fairmont and then spread like wild fire looked like hollow plastic shells.
Good observation. The thing I really appreciate about many Japanese & European cars is their hinged mirrors, so one doesn’t get a Charley Horse after bumping into them, like in one’s garage. American & some domestically-built foreign models often lack these. Our ’86 Camry, for example, had them, but our Indiana-built ’94 didn’t. Perhaps it’s a supplier thing.
I just remembered, Japanese domestic-market models have their mirrors on the fenders instead. Anyone know why?
My right pinkie wished my aunt’s 80 Century had fold-away mirrors twenty-something years ago when I thought I could ride my bike between it and whatever else was in our driveway at the time.
I think I ruined the door on my ’89 Camaro as I was backing it out of the barn and the tip caught one of the support posts. It was a very costly mistake but would have been a non-issue had the mirrors been hinged (or even break-away).
I do prefer the Limited and Electra’s rectangular head lights and fins, over the rounds and sloping deck on the LeSabre but I would love this car, spent many hours behind that dashboard in my 75 Limited.
I do have to wonder about the originality and “low miles” on this one, that engine compartment has been given a crappy repaint. The engine is supposed to be RED not generic GM blue and the brake booster should not be “aluminum” silver.
I’m also betting the top was originally red too, the black just doesn’t look right.
Buick engines are not red after 1974, they are metallic teal for 2 years, before they go to corporate blue.
Though this engine seems to have had a corporate blue overhaul thats wrong for this year, I dont they they make the teal though, its a rare color, the blue spring by the carb and the blue overspray on the belt is a giveaway.
The shot of the window sticker does list a black top, its a KC Fairfax built car, and sold in KC too, a non-Flint built Buick.
Perfect example of why I don’t mind the Buicks of this era.
Very beautiful and I agree about the color, even if I find it boring on brand new cars it looks very classy on these old ’70s boats, the red interior it’s stunning !
My 78 Eldorado is triple silver. The silver interior gives the car a drab appearance. I can’t say silver turns me on in any old car. My 75 Eldorado (which was totalled in 1993 by a guy in a Aries) was white with white half vinyl top, red pinstripes, and a maroon leather interior. It was positively beautiful.
I like silver on older cars if they have either blue or red interior in them. Personally I like the silver on the gauges better — that always looked so classy to me.
That crazy-bent shift lever is such a cool touch — a necessity to clear the new-for-’75 instrument panel….I would not be surprised that this was done in the 9th inning as an “oops!” fix. The Pontiac 6000s had a very similar kinked column shift lever.
What I never could stand about any ’71-’76 B/C/E Buick and the ’73-’77 A/G Buicks were those cheapo cardboard glove box liners. Chevy did it too but I can understand that a little more.
my 76/77 Chevelles have plastic glove boxes. I know this as I drilled a hole in one to mount a floor courtesy light after the tab broke off on the dash. (caused be me being stupid with it after cleaning the dust out of it)
I was the proud owner of a ’74 LeSabre convertible, in the more appropriate red with white interior (with red dash and carpet) . Silver is too much of a Eurocolour for these! The 74 had a nicer front end, narrower grille that made the car seem a million miles wide, the ’75 resembled the concurrent Dodge Monaco to much for my taste.
As I said in another thread, how come nobody ever talks about the PITA scissor-tops on these boats.
I’ve heard a lot of shops refuse to work on them, just because they are a PITA.
http://braithwaitesupholstery.ca/home
These guys will, if you live in Western Canada.
My shop loved working on the top, as I was in there so frequently (wallet in hand!)
my grand pa last car was a 74 version of this green in /out he was in his 90s and ot replaced his cadillacs cus ollie would not drive a cadillac -too snooty 4 that tenn …native…ohio transplant at times
Ollie N herself drove the 68 Lesabre the 74 replaced GV Loved his fleet all buick. orderly. His Last DRiver Took His Last Cadillac. a 66 Black Divided Fleetweood 75….. gv
In his 90s and beyond he let me pilot the lesabe around Daytona Beach.
Here’s a Ponty spotted a few years ago. Lovely car.
Nice! There’s a really nice triple-white ’75 GV on ebay right now. Here’s a pic from the listing:
I love silver. Along with a pearl white, it shows off the subtleties of a car’s design without becoming overbearing. Darker gray irritates me, along with metallic blue. Those look artificial and temporary. Can’t decide between silver or white for the upcoming new car.
Another color I love to look at is maroon – it really shows off chrome very well.
I miss 6 gauges on the dash….sure, I never paid attention to the oil pressure or battery charge, but temp and gas are very necessary. I can accept how some have reduced the size of the tach for a full sized speedometer.
I was scoping out the new RAV-4 – look at the size of the gas gauge….like it’s a ’65 Chevy or something….