Pictures posted by Hyperpack at the CC Cohort
One of the 1960s snappiest color combinations was black on the outside, red on the inside; however, by the time this 1977 Buick Century Custom rolled off the line, that time was in the past. For most buyers anyway.
Before we begin discussing the “throwback” color scheme of our featured Century, I’d like to say a few words about model-year differentiation in the 1970s. Figuring out a car’s model year was a breeze in the 1960s, but year-to-year changes became more trim-based a decade later. It’s easy to spot a 1976-77 Century compared to their 1975 forebear shown above, as the 1975 Century still used round headlamps.
The 1976 Century introduced these in-fashion-for-a-time stacked rectangular headlamps and a solid eggcrate grille. The parking lamps were similar to the 1975 model’s, but they were no longer positioned inside the grille itself.
Although this has nothing to do with our featured 1977 model, the color-naming system Buick used in 1976 is worth mentioning for the sake of timing; the bicentennial was 50 years ago this year, as many of you certainly know. Judicial Black, Liberty White, Potomac Blue, Musket Brown, Revere Red, and the rest show that the auto industry at least gave lip service to the big anniversary in a fun way. Two creams, Congressional and Mt. Vernon? Get out of here.
The fun was unfortunately over in 1977, when this Century’s black was literally called “Black.” No fun names, no cheesiness, just the facts; I guess the marketing team used up all their creativity the year before. How do you spot a 1977 Century, which was very similar to a 1976 model? For the final year of the Colonnade cars, the 1977 Century got a new grille that was broken up into quadrants and featured wider crates for the eggs.
But back to the color combination. I personally think that the black-and-red motif reached its apex in 1962 with the Chevy Bel Air “Bubbletop,” although I’ll give an honorable mention to a Raven Black 1965 Mustang GT 2+2 with red stripes and red bucket seats.
By 1977, however, you’d expect most Buicks to be something like Musket Brown (simply “Brown” in 1977). This Buick harkens back to those days of yore, when you could order a Wildcat with a 401 and a Dynaflow in this color combination.
Or maybe this beautiful Electra 225 Convertible.
But no, someone was living in the past, and lo and behold, the past didn’t look so bad. This is a fine example of a 1977 Buick sedan, and the interior is certainly original; good luck finding the material if you ever need it. The Colonnade was getting a little dated by 1977; the dashboard still had the coved, driver-centered themes of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and obviously the more space-efficient B-Body LeSabre made the big Century look like what it was, an aging intermediate from another time.
Still, Colonnade sales were strong at 328,196 for 1977; however, a massive 174,560 of those were Regal coupes. Only 13,645 were Century Custom Sedans such as this one. By comparison, 103,855 LeSabre Custom sedans were sold, so Buick sedan buyers seemed to prefer the new B-Body.
Here’s another view of that spectacular red interior, with just a hint of simulated wood trim. This one does seem to be air conditioned, which makes it even more likely that this Century has one of the two optional Buick 350 V8s (a V6 was standard, but those cars tended to have “V6” badges on the fenders, a bit of a humble-humble brag).
You can learn a lot about a car’s owner by their choice of automotive accouterments (or the lack thereof). This Century’s owner is a member of the Antique Automobile Club of America, dislikes EVs, and supports the use of ARP-brand fasteners (see the sticker in the rear quarter window). Unfortunately, the Century also has a common GM malady of the 1970s, rusty bumpers, and there’s a sticker obscuring one of those all-too-common rust holes. The bumper fillers are also missing in the rear, and a quick search tells me that they are not easy to source.
Regarding the rear-end styling of the Century, I’ve always thought that there was more than a little 1966 Riviera influence. The Colonnade isn’t quite as dramatic, but if you’re going to crib someone’s styling, it might as well be from your own design masterpiece.
My propensity to like most offerings from that revered old brand from Flint comes down to the little details. These simple slotted wheel covers remind me of my grandpa’s 1977 LeSabre Custom Coupe, something I would never have thought of if it weren’t for this picture. We can also see that the lower fenders look remarkably solid for a Pennsylvania car; it would be interesting to find out a little history on this one.
But alas, we’ll just have to admire its throwback color scheme from afar. We don’t see enough stock sedans at car events; everyone seems to feel the need to show off with loud exhaust and all the billet and chrome you can shake a stick at. But this one simply shows off a color combination that people seemed to forget about by 1977, and it’s a good reminder why they shouldn’t have.
Related Reading
Curbside Classic: 1977 Buick Regal Landau – Cape Cod Colonnade (by Brendan Saur)
Curbside Find: 1977 Buick Regal Sedan – CC’s Random Colonnade Generator Runs Amok (by Tatra87)
I will agree that the earth tones were having trouble being moved off stage by the late 70s, but I recall black cars starting to become a little more popular in those years. And red interiors (though not always as bright a red as this one) remained available well into the 80s. A friend of my mother bought a new 77 or 78 Granada in this color combo and I remember liking it a lot at the time.
The thing that makes this Buick more of a throwback is the lack of a vinyl roof. It seemed like every well-dressed car required a vinyl roof back then, and cars without them were not that common, especially among more expensive models. I like this one quite a bit, and consider these Century sedans one of the best looking of the 4 door colonnades.
You are right in your assessment that there still were still an awful lot of black cars with red interiors built in the 1970s, but that most of them also had red vinyl roofs. I remember an awful lot of black 2-doors with red cabriolet-style half vinyl roofs.
I remember seeing a black Granada 2-door with a red interior and red cabriolet-style vinyl roof in my neighborhood, as well as a Chrysler Cordoba and various GM mid-size Colonnade coupes and even some late 70s X-body compacts like a Chevy Nova, black with red vinyl roofs and interiors.
Yea, A friend of mine’s mother had a 77 Monte, Black w/ red interior. That’s all.
Oh, On the Colonnade subject, I prefer the “Round Lights”. Fave being the 73 Pontiac Lemans, followed closely by the 73 Chevelle /Malibu. (Yea, I’m a 2 door fan also, btw).
Weird thing for me is how the coupes in ’76-77 had a completely different front end appearance (with side-by-side headlamps) than the sedans or wagons. It wasn’t like that for the Olds, Pontiac, or Chevy colonnades.
When I was flipping cars on the side in the mid 80’s I bought a ’76 Olds Cutlass 4 door like this with one exception. Along with the red interior, the vinyl top was a matching red. The car really stood out and until this Buick, I never saw another like it.
I didn’t realize that Buick switched to boring, no-name colors for ’77, ditching the Bicentennial names. Too bad. My father’s ‘76 Century was Mt. Vernon Cream… memorable for me because at some point he decided that our house’s radiator covers would look good in that color, so he bought a bunch of Mt. Vernon Cream spray cans, which sat around the house for quite a while.
And it’s funny, I never thought about black/red being an early ‘60s combination, but I guess it was. I wonder if that was true in Europe as well, because when I picture a mid-80s BMW, my first mental image is black/red.
Regardless, this car looks mighty good. A striking combination like this can make an aging design seem much more alluring.
I find the throwback color scheme less surprising on a 1977 A-body than you do. Maybe my reason makes sense, or not.
1977 was kind of an odd year for GM. The all-new, and modern, and exciting B- and C-bodies shared the showroom floor with the now 5-year-old design of the A-bodies, yet GM sold a whole bunch (1 million plus?) of A-bodies. I conjecture that some of the buyers were traditionalists, the people who didn’t like the modern look of the B- and C-bodies, so they picked the older design before it too was gone for 1978. And it’s easy to imagine that traditional folks liked the older color schemes as well.
around 1963 or so I was a crayon car sketching child and I almost always drew black with red interior, it seemed to be the coolest look.
Did it ever really make a comeback? I recall seeing a few Fox body Mustangs in that livery.
I think you’re right; it might be the power of suggestion, but I think I’ve seen a few black ’87-’89 Mustangs with red cloth interiors.
I went to high school in Texas with a girl who drove a hand-me-down Potomac Blue with white vinyl top ’77 Regal 4- door. Her choice was that, or her dad’s Dodge Aspen! I also worked with a girl in her 20s who had a similar Regal sedan, but hers was Mt. Vernon Cream.
The black with a red interior color scheme was very common back in the 1970s. When I was a kid, one of my neighbors had a black Volkswagen Beetle with a red interior. I remember seeing Fiats, Renault Dauphines, and Toyota Coronas in this combination. And Studebaker Larks and Rambler Americans.
Which of the creams is lower in fat?
This color combo was my dad! His 67 Country Squire was black (with wood grain) over red, and his special order 78 Electra was black over red.
I myself have never bought any vehicle based on color. Now my wife has from time to time showed interest in one car over another because of the color! I had a 77 Cutlass Supreme Brougham sedan that was a really dependable car. Nice catch too see one of these still going strong
Kojak (played by the late Telly Savalas) drove a brown/copper coloured Century 4dr in the hit TV series.
Three versions featured as his car with the most expotic being a ;74 with the 455 motor.