This old Buick has seen better days, including a time when it was still 100% Electra 225. Now it sports a front clip from a Wildcat, which certainly fits well enough, but also has sustained damage. Time to go shopping for a new front clip–maybe one from an Olds 98? Truth is, if I hadn’t noticed the title of these shots posted at the Cohort by bjcpdxCCCohort, it might have slipped by me. How about you? Of course not!
Despite its infirmities, this is still a venerable old barge. Try to find somebody who doesn’t love GM C-Bodies of this vintage. And some express their love for them more emphatically than we’ll ever find words for.
That ’89-90 Celica SR-5 next to it is a bit of a curbside classic itself!
I believe it is a Toyota Corolla two door SR5
Duh – that’s what I meant!
Oh please.
Beautiful car. The owner needs to stop running into things though.
Pet Peeve: Gangster Whites on cars that never had them, ugghhh. Also, circa 1974 Electra wheel covers too, all sorts of Buick DNA here.
I agree. I think 1961 was about the last year you could get them from the factory.
They just look absurd on anything later than that.
I think that 1956 was the last year for the real fatty whites. Then, there was a middle step, 1957-61 (I believe) that was a 3 inch or slightly less whitewall. IIRC, the new 1962 cars were down to the 1 inch that stayed popular into the 70s (other than on the Lincolns with Michelins that used the super skinny (1/4 inch?) whitewall. I, too, share Carmine’s peeve.
I believe you are right, Carmine. Below is the ’74 Electra I owned from 1992-96 (and sorely miss). Same wheel covers.
They were available through at least 1976, my old mans Electra 225 coupe had them.
I grew up after the Brougham era and any association I had with this sort of sleek design was definitely not with Buick, whose offerings had more gingerbread than anything else, other (maybe) than the frilly extended K-cars by Chrysler or some C-body Cadillacs.
This style inspired by cars like this was only really seen in hardtop Japanese sedans. It’s odd to say, but in a way, the most similarly styled cars we’ve seen in the past 30 years haven’t LeSabres, Lucernes, Crown Vics, or Lincolns, but Subaru sedans.
This one fooled me at first. I was so intent on getting the photos that I didn’t notice the lack of ventiports. It wasn’t until I looked at the brochure online that I noticed. Attention to detail is there – note that the rocker trim on the front fenders was swapped so that everything matches.
And Carmine is right about the wheel covers. I knew they weren’t ’64 Electra but just assumed they were from the donor car. The two are vaguely similar.
Was that rear-end treatment the inspiration for Lincoln in the mid=1970s?
That’s a Toyota next to the big Buick, but not a Celica