(first posted 3/7/2018) Welcome to another semi-regular series from me. I have – at last count – captured six different GM colonnades around town. That’s quite extraordinary given they weren’t officially imported here. Even more extraordinary when you consider their immediate A-body forebears, particularly the performance variants, should theoretically be more popular. But I don’t think I’m up to six on those.
The last GM intermediate to reach our shores in an official capacity was… never. We got the fullsizers in very small numbers, but this middle range was inadequately covered locally by the Holden Brougham, then more adequately by the Holden Statesman. There was just no reason to bring the colonnades over here.
Instead, we got it on television.
At that time, though, I was not of an age to watch Kojak – according to Dad at least.
Thanks to Corgi Toys, however, I was not denied the pleasure of a Buick Century.
A particularly guilty pleasure. This shape is not considered a classic, but in truth I really like it and I think the Corgi version got it just right. I never actually had one, but spent many hours gazing at such wonders at Robbies Toys in Chapel Street, Windsor. Now long gone.
Only thing is, I always thought it was a fullsizer. That might have something to do with it being perhaps a tad oversized compared with its playmates. Of course, a prolonged exposure to CC has set me straight.
As the cover shot shows, this example was first glimpsed from afar; up a driveway and deep into private property. I did manage to catch the eye of its owner, who allowed me to get closer and photograph the car. Unfortunately it was parked in such a way as to cramp my profile shot opportunities.
This very clean example in Bamboo Cream sported the more formal roofline in the coupe class.
Consulting this eye chart leads me to the conclusion that our hero car is a Luxus and not a Regal. Interestingly, both examples here appear not be-slathered in vinyl up top, and yet all the brochure shots for this roofline that I could find sport that extra skin.
Like this one. The rear lights seem to have some pinstriping missing on our example, or is that the work of an overzealous brochure retoucher?
I prefer the four-door shape; the two-door looks a bit too truncated in the middle.
71, 712 Luxus coupes were made for 73, fewer than the 91,557 Regals. Ours is naked up top.
And it has a front bench which, along with the 350 under the hood, makes me think this is one of the more strippo examples of that year’s formal roof coupe production run.
This one was purchased over here in the mid-1970s, so it must have had a short first ownership before being sent away on a ship. As per the laws in this state back then, it was converted to RHD and still sports its original license plates. It shares a garage with a 1948 Buick four-door (no, I haven’t had the pleasure), but it’s not getting much road time at the moment.
I’ve managed to capture at least one colonnade from each of the CPOBs, so stay tuned for more in this enthralling series.
Further Reading
The taillights appear to be reversed, with the reverse lights on the outer edge instead of inner as we know here in the states> Is that due to some law requiring them to be placed as so? or ore theyserving as outer turn signals with an Amber bulb. as per Euro regs?
I’d guess you’d be right there. Amber indicators would have been required then for it to be registered here in Victoria. Often they’d make use of the reverse light lenses with amber bulbs – I’ve seen that on F150/250s when modified for sale here. It’s a lot neater than using add-on accessory-type indicators.
Certainly looks like they have amber bulbs in there.
Looking forward to these Don, it will be interesting to see if you find any that I have seen too. Apart from doing posts on a couple I think I have shot a couple plus seen a couple that I couldn’t snap. As you say very, very rare.
Here is one that is almost a twin to this car, but a darker brown colour!
Dashcam to the rescue!
Yep caught that one too. And in the same location!
High Street Armadale just west of Glenferrie Rd
There were a number of 70s to 90s American imports in this part of Melbourne popular with the ex pat New York Jewish community based down the road in Caulfield, mainly Buick and Cadillac. Chapel conversions to right hook, but there aren’t many left on the road these days
Interestingly, the owner of our hero car says his wasn’t a Chapel conversion.
High St Armadale just west of Glenferrie Rd Armadale. There were quite a few 70s to 90s American cars imported around this part of Melbourne. Mainly Buicks and Cadillacs they were popular with ex pat New York Jewish community that was centred around Caulfield, the adjoining suburb. Chapel conversions to right hook to be eligible for registration as noted. They’re a pretty rare sight on the roads these days.
Yep. In 1959 Australia was one of the first countries (along with Italy) to require amber rear turn signals.
Here’s what the ’74-’77 Japan-spec Century looked like from the back:
That’s a Pontiac LeMans, unless they were rebadged for Japan?
I’m given to understand (by the Japanese gentleman who sent me this photo) that this car was sold in Japan as the Century, but I wasn’t there to scrutinise the badges.
…wait a sec, come to think of it, there’s a flaw in that idea. Toyota were already selling a Century in Japan; they started in ’67. H’mmm. I can’t get a clear read on the name badge to the right of the licence plate recess, can you?
Thats a Ponch Daniel. Much like one that’s coming up in this series.
The pinstriping on the taillights is, or I should say, was, bright chrome like accent. It’s not uncommon for it to rub off, especially if the lenses have ever been polished, and it seems some still remains on the left lens.
It took me a while to come around on the Collonades, when I was a kid they were dumpy old relics, with most surviving examples being of the later boxed up rectangular headlight varieties. Now I find myself appreciating the 1973s quite a bit, as that year was the purest expression of them and the differentiation brand to brand was at it’s strongest, stronger than the 68-72s in fact. I prefer the fastback roof on the Buick, but without the puffy vinyl top they all seemed to have with the formal roof, the formal roof even looks really nice on it. GM allowed this bodystyle to accumulate too much gingerbread, without it they are quite handsome.
yes on the pinstriping, I keep a silver paint pen handy for my 77 Chevelle’s tailight pinstriping, it takes a couple years for it to wear off enough to need to be touched back up, and mine is dang near a daily driver.
I have to do the same on my Cougar, but with the reverse light lenses, which are supposed to have red paint on the louvered segments for the white light to shine between.
I am fan of Kojak & everything 70s of course! Regarding classic Buicks my latest purchase Is A body 72 Buick Skylark coupe emerald green exterior color with black vinyl bench interior 350 4B, Factory AMFM radio, Factory AC, rally wheels 1 owner since new has 55K original miles with all documentation wondow sticker and manuals.
This car reminds me that the Buick version of this body got more details right than any of the others in 1973. So long as one is not terribly opposed to the basic shape, the Buick does the nicest job with all of the details.
OK, with one exception – I always wondered about the low upper edge of the grille. The light color makes the seams of the trim panel really stand out. Would it have killed them to take the grille up that next ridge? Otherwise a really clean car that looks like a Buick.
I have to say that this has been one of my least favorite colors ever painted on a car. And this butterscotch shade was very popular on GM and Chrysler cars at the time. Ford’s was a little different, though no less offputting. Sometimes there is good that comes out of a color chart limited to black white gray and red.
I have to disagree with the color assement, these non-metallic butterscotch/butternut shades are among my favorites on old cars, a go-to color I’d use in my model building days in fact, and it looks great on guitars for that matter(very common on Fender Telecasters). I feel like metallic beige/champagne pushed this color out on cars, and I have never forgiven it. Now the only shade of yellow available is the one bright tacky one used on taxis, and virtually reserved for sporty/muscle cars. Blah.
I think that the low upper edge of the grille, as well as the wide spaced headlights are reminiscent of the 1947 Buick’s as well as several other years. Vertical grill bars would have looked better, but the production grill was right for the times.
Awesome find / post / pictures, Don – I’ve been waiting for you to write this one up since you posted your lead-off picture in a comment a few years back.
About the reversed taillamp lenses, it just goes to show that once you’re used to things looking a certain way, sometimes even a relatively minor change (like this one) can just look so wrong.
I am a fan of these ’73 Buick Colonnades, but I’m squarely in the coupe camp – with either roofline.
A friend of mine bought one of these brand new in 73, I thought it was a strange choice for a single guy in his early 20s. His was a sort of medium pastel blue with a lighter blue vinyl roof….not a bad looking car. I would guess it had the Buick 350, but can’t say for sure. I also don’t remember the interior, whether it was blue or white, had a bench front seat or buckets.
I didn’t really care as much for the “fastback” 2 door or the 4 door sedan, while the wagon was OK.
My uncle would also own one of these, trading a no longer needed Chevrolet wagon for it. Uncle Don’s Regal was a lovely pale yellow with a white vinyl roof. He liked the car enough that when it came time to replace it, he bought another a few years newer (one of the downsized Regal coupes).
One of the few instances where any of my 9 uncles had a car I really liked…and he even replaced it with another nice car. But then, most of my other uncles drove wagons.
Thats something I noticed when I moved to Aussie in the 80s, the lack of American cars, they were always such a common sight in NZ, it was only later I realized what a very restricted market Aussie had thanks to tariffs imposed to protect local manufacturing, Nice Buick there are a couple of these cruising local streets including a very tidy convetible.
I vaguely remember some issues on the early Colonades in properly fitting the roofs. Until they got the production process right, all early cars were fitted with vinyl roofs to cover up the ugly seam.
Ford did that in Australia for their one of their LWB LTD models, a mate of mine stripped off the vinyl and had the roof painted it kept cracking along some welds the vinyl top hid it just fine and moved with the flexing.
What colonnade I WANTED, was a ’73 GrandAM, the the NACA ducts and the 455, and the funky gills on the quarter windows. Never really found one, not that it was an obsession, but I did come across a ’74 Luxury LeMans, as mentioned in another post. In really nice shape, the lacquer paint was looking a bit tired, but the 350/THM combo was great, although I recall it being rather hard on fuel. It was great with the red interior, and buckets, and in the process of redoing the paint, I did the boattail on the hood in black to match the vinyl roof. A damn nice driving car, great ride and handling. I ended up selling to a bud in exchange for his ’67 Dart that I went nuts on. He had it for years, and other than fuel bills, never caused him any grief. Here is a few pix, from the ’84/85 timeframe when I had it.
and
Thanks for sharing the pictures of your car. I have a soft spot for the 74 Lux LeMans as my mother bought one new. It can be seen photobombing this shot I took of my 59 Plymouth in probably the fall of 1979.
I always found the LLM really attractive with the fender skirts. The 74 is (IMHO) the best executed of any Colonnade LeMans. She traded the Pontiac on a Plymouth Horizon the following year when gas became expensive.
Thanks as well! The four door LLM was a great looker, and a good family car too.
This car was one of the first I redid in base/clear, which was uncommon in ‘ 84, but it was pretty decent to use, and altogether less work, at least compared to the full lacquer jobs I mostly did before that.
It sometimes amazes me the various iron I owned over the years, sadly only smatterings of decent pix were taken, although I still have lots for the era. I think I’m at about 55 vehicles owned to date, not counting motorcycles and snow machines. Shocks me all to hell!
Collonades are beautiful cars, IMHO. Not “full size” models, but “plus size” with nice curves and proud of it!
Great find Don. GM did an excellent job maintaining, and justifying, brand identity with the Colonnades. And these were among the best looking Buicks of the early to mid 70s.
The baroque decor of the home lends a 70s era sales brochure quality to the images.
Don, your pics do seem to have a bit too much magenta. So, I’ve color corrected the lead photo some.
Thanks Daniel. These were taken a few years ago on my previous camera which got an increasingly warm bias as it aged. I forgot to correct for that.
My 1976 Buick Century Colonade Coupe. 350 V8 / 375B Turbohydramatic. 190,000 trouble free miles.
Oops! Colonnade, not Colonade!
Colonade, now there’s a name with connotations… 🙂
Teehee! “Bartender! This lemonade doesn’t taste of lemonade at all, in fact it tastes like….”
First year ’73 Regal was ‘Century Regal’, then changed to only Regal ’74 onward. Motor Trend tested a ’73 and gave it good marks for workmanship.
And to non-US observers, yes the coupes were “truncated” compared to sedans. 112″ wheelbase vs. 116″.
The brochure pic is identical to the 73 Century Luxus I had, or at least as it was when it left the factor. When I got it at 10 plus years of age it was of course a little worse for wear and only went downhill from there. After my friend decided he was going to remove the aftermarket sunroof while we were driving at 30mph. July 4th 1984 and I still remember where it happened, made easier by the fact that for several months afterword you could still see the shimmer of the shattered glass in headlights.
As mentioned above that silver paint on the taillights didn’t last too long, it was on a raised ridge so car washes and general contact quickly wore it off.
I had to chuckle at Joseph Dennis comment on the reversed taillights not looking right because we’re used to seeing them the other way around. I was fine with the taillights but my brain keeps trying to tell me the dashboard picture must have been reversed because I just can’t get over that very common (to those of use of a certain age) dashboard with the steering wheel OVER THERE!?
Could be even weirder; if there *had* ever been official factory right-hand-drive Colonnades, GM would have picked one division’s first-year dash and stuck with it through the whole run. That was what they did with the earlier RHD full-sizes, so a ’64 Chevy with a ’61 Pontiac dash for instance.
At one time I owned a ’57 Chevy 150 two door sedan that was originally my Great Uncle’s. During the time I owned it I obtained a copy of the factory assembly manual. It covered everything including diagrams of the layout of the RHD export models. Instead of the regular ’57 dash, they used the double hump one from the ’55-’56 models which made it easy to move everything over to the right. It was a clever way to do it, but looked weird to me, since I had been around my ’57 since I was 9 years old.
Somebody else who remembers Robbie’s Toys! I used to haunt that place early Saturday morning, buy a model kit, rush home to St Kilda and build it. Still have ’em all, and lots more.
I’ll never forget the time Robbie took me to Zimblers (IIRC) to look at the models they had there. Could have chosen anything I wanted, wholesale price. Unfortunately they didn’t have anything in stock that I wanted. Nice ride in his Charger too, a white column-auto XL.
Robbie had a Charger! In my time he was a cantankerous sort who nevertheless indulged us with Matchbox catalogues upon their release each year. In truth we (my brother and me) were perpetual gawkers as our mother would send us to Santos coffee for dad’s particular blend – Mocca Arabica, four and a half grind on the Turkish machine.
I could tell you some stories re: the demise of the store, but not online.
Remember Santos, though I never went there. Yeah, I could see him getting a bit like that. He could be a little prickly if you caught him on a bad day, but for a regular customer he’d bend over backwards. Like taking a customer to the wholesaler’s…
Aside from the personal luxury colonnades, I like the Buick version the best (at least the early, round headlight ones), and think that they’re the proof that GM consciously styled the colonnades in a way to inspire consumers to move into a better-looking colonnade personal luxury car if one existed within that division. Yeah, there was the Rivera and Toronado, but they were in a different size (and price) class.
In effect, the Chevy and Pontiac colonnade coupes don’t look nearly as good as the Olds and Buick because the latter two didn’t have an intermediate personal luxury car.
The Chevy/Pontiac PLC’s had 116″ wheelbases and sold as separate models. Chevelle and LeMans coupes, at first, were to be ‘sporty coupes’. But with formal styling so popular, then the Malibu Classic with opera windows came about. Was ‘if you can’t afford a MC, then…’. LeMans never sold that well, and Pontiac tried push them as cop cars.
Seeing this old Buick is a treat – especially for one in Australia.
But the bigger kicker is the Corgi Buick. I have a version of that car but the doors on mine do not open! It started life as a Metropolis police car after the release of the first Superman movie. It’s the blue shown but with the Kojak light. I also loved looking at it as Corgi did indeed get the lines right – or even better than Buick did. It’s down in the basement with my other toy cars.
Got these at the smaller scale. Doors won’t open on mine either.
When I think of Corgi Toys, the model that instantly comes to mind is the James Bond 007 Aston Martin DB5 with the ejection seat, guns and the cutting tools in the wheel hubs. You have that one, Jason?
Great post Don! Love the pics and the car. I always thought the Buick with it’s long body line from the fenders to the front doors reminded me of the late 40’s Buicks. In my eyes, these Buicks were among the better looking Colonnade coupes. It’s neat seeing the car with the RHD conversion. I often wonder how well some of there were done?
Re: the RHD conversion, the owner says it has created trouble in this case accessing the old filter (IIRC).
Simply great photo at the top there, Don. So many colonnades the car looks like a dinky wedding cake decoration.
No fan of the car – the styling is quite clumsy – but quite taken as always by the originality. It appears as if has had little regard for the world since 1973, and still lives there.
Colonnade parked in a colonnade!
This site never ceases to amaze me! I remember seeing that “Kojak Buick” toy car when we were doing our Christmas toy shopping when I was seven years old. I chose an AEC Esso oil tanker tractor-trailer instead, but my father was partial to the Buick.
Regarding “Kojak Buick”, did NYPD really ever use Centurys? Or, was it product placement?
Probably placement. Ed Sanow’s Police Car Encyclopedia shows a few later colonnade Chevelles and LeMans in uniform, but no Buicks plainclothed or otherwise.
Gotta love the juxtaposition of the three cars (Beetle, Checker, and Buick) in the second photo – a 1930s design that was in production until 2003, a 1950s design that was in production through 1980, and a 1972 design that went out of production in 1977. And all in period-correct ’70s earth tones.
Was this found in the Caulfield area of Melbourne?