Here’s a GM coupe that will make a few people around here drool! Disregard the “small block” 301 comment (even though it is arguably true: if Pontiac ever had a small block, it was the 265/301) and consider the idea that a showroom condition ’79 Regal exists in half-vinyl roof, rally-wheeled glory.
VERY CLEAN!!! For sale is a 1979 Buick Regal. Everything in this car is original and it is from southern Kentucky. The original owner was an elderly woman. It has an automatic V-8 301 small block, just freshly rebuilt this winter. The body has 130,000 original miles. The vehicle is very clean, has absolutely no rust, and runs very well. It has power seat and windows. This car is in great shape for its age and is show quality! Serious offers only please. $4,500 O.B.O.
Why does every used car have to be “very clean?” Either way, this one seems to be.
The interior reminds me of my grandpa’s ’77 LeSabre Custom Coupe (also with 301). I’ll bet it even smells the same. Ticking electric clock, velour everywhere…this one even has fake wood trim! Classy!
Does anybody know how long Buick used silver-faced gauges? My parents’ ’83 LeSabre did not have them. Is that a CB radio? Eastbound and down, good buddy!
Limited visibility from the rear seat, ’70s style? Check!
Finally, a trunk with plenty of space for anything but plastic porch boards (I just did that…those boards are LONG!). The weatherstripping even looks new! I’d be a little concerned about the lack of underhood pictures and the “recently rebuilt” 301 (who does that?), but otherwise it looks like a nice car. Happy car shopping!
There’s a non-metallic dove-gray with dark gray vinyl top and gray crushed velour example that has been for sale locally for years…I would love to have it, but my bride would have a cow…
I would be very surprised if that CB even picked up any signals. The GM CB radio/AM-FM radio combos had the CB antenna embedded into the fender mounted radio antenna. It was a regular looking antenna with a gray/silver thin cylinder type thing that was attached to the antenna at about the mid way point. On the bottom section of the antenna (unseen due to it being in the fender) were two ports(one was for the regular radio and the other was where the cable from the CB to the antenna screwed on)
The current antenna on this car looks like it is a aftermarket antenna and the CB part most likely has been disconnected.
Did the AM/FM/CB-equipped cars not have the embedded windshield antenna for the AM/FM? The only ones I’ve seen in person were all Cadillacs with power mast antennas.
Buick Electras , Oldsmobile 98s they all had the optional AM/FM/CB radio combination . Even Corvettes.
Fender-mounted antenna? Pffft. Not on an A-body. It was most definitely embedded in the windshield in Malibus, and I can’t imagine the more expensive Regal would have done it differently. Maybe this one is aftermarket, or maybe the CB used that and the AM/FM was in the windscreen?
(While very nice in terms of a clean design and not having to worry about car washes, reception could be a bit chancy at times…)
And WOW what a great find this Buick is. 135.000 miles? Looks more like 35,000. Plus I love the midnight blue paint with white top. Great combo. And depending on what the seller means by rebuilt, why not? On a car that survivor clean, it’d be a shame to ruin the originality by dropping in a 350, even if it’d be better to drive.
Though the windshield antenna was standard, a fender mounted power antenna was optional for these A-bodies, maybe this car had one originally, or someone found a nice Delco CB radio on the electronic bay and decided to upgrade this car.
I think that you did have to have some sort of mast antenna in combination with the CB radio option, I think it all came as part of the package, GM called it the “Tri-Band” antenna, the CB radio package was usually the priciest radio option you could get at this time.
Yes it was called a tri-band antenna. I had forgotten its name.
Here is a bad pic of the part of the antenna that was the CB antenna. It is the gray part closest to the top.
Here is a pic on how both the CB and the radio plugged into this antenna. The jack at the bottom was for the radio and the jack above it was for the CB. The antenna body is hiding the rest of the cable that would attach into the CB.
As it turns out, power antennas were optional on all the A-bodies in ’79, including the Malibu. The power antenna was included with the tri-band radio.
Thanks to our friends at oldcarbrochures.org…..Here it appears that the tri-band power antenna was also available as a standalone option for any radio which I assume made it possible to connect an aftermarket CB. IIRC only Cadillacs had the AM/FM/8-track/CB option….
I’m pretty sure that the AM-FM 8-track CB was available on full size Oldsmobiles and Buicks by the late 70’s too, probably not ordered often, but I was available.
Yes A Bodies had an optional power antenna. Even the Malibu in 1979 had that option. With one of the following you got the power fender mounted antenna:
UP6- Delco AM-FM Stereo Citizens Band Radio
UP5- Delco AM-FM Citizens Band Radio
Here is a info kit on the 1979 Malibu from GM
http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/docs/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits/Malibu/1979-Chevrolet-Malibu.pdf
On Buick and Oldsmobile A Bodies, there was an option for power fender mounted antenna, fixed mast fender mounted antenna and windshield mounted antenna. by 1983 most of the Oldsmobile and Buicks came with ether fixed Mast or Power fender mounted antennas.
Here is a pic of my 1985 Cutlass Supreme showing the antenna. On this car it was a power antenna.(Please ignore the damaged grill this pic was taken when I first brought it home)
I had a 1987 Cutlass Supreme which had a fixed mast antenna
The popularity of CB at the time hadn’t occurred to me, I suppose that it would make sense to run all the wiring through the mast in that case.
(That info kit is quite interesting btw–I’d never seen that before–thanks!)
These antennas didn’t work worth a crap, and neither did the CB unit, truthfully. A dedicated set and antenna was the way to go.
You know these are a g body car I hope
Yep.. my 77 Chevelle has a windshield antenna, my 76 had an aftermarket mast on the fender. The 77’s reception with the 1980 Delco AM/FM Cassette is pretty much limited to about 80 miles, the mast equipped 76 with the exact same radio could go for 100+ before it lost signal.
It sure does look better without the mast though, and it works well enough for me, thanks to the tape deck, I can run tunes from my ipod/satellite radio if necessary, or even my discman.
Chris M:
I installed a fender-mount manual telescoping mast on my ’81 Century because window-embedded aerials are CRAP.
And the FM they do pull in is NEVER in stereo unless you’re within 20 miles(12km) of a transmitter. Heck I’d fender mount my 2008 Kia, but the route – and wiring – from fender to behind that dash in a modern car is scarrry!
Chris, take it from a previous owner here: they definitely had a power antenna option that was in fact, fender-mounted. ‘79 Buick Regal was my first new car.
Just a side note on these AM/FM/CB combo radios & why you don`t see them much. I own a 1978 Grand Prix SJ with the factory CB radio combo bought new by a friend with all the original paper work and the price of that radio option was $570.00 while that may not seem like much now, but 1978 my Grand Prixs base price was around $5500.00. So these radios cost an astonishing 10% of the vehicles base price.
That isn’t that different than today. How many cars priced in the low to mid 20’s leave the dealership with a $2000+ “infotainment” console with Nav, internet connectivity, etc? It’s the modern equivalent of the all-in-one CB unit.
They were very expensive, the top of the line Cadillac am-fm. stereo, 8 track, CB with the digital CB tuner on the mic was something like $600 or $700.
CARMINE: And were dealer CBs ever on the performance
par with aftermarket sets?
I wonder what the little old lady’s handle was…
“The Good Witch of the North” of course
How is it possible that the headliner is not drooping?
That’s probably been redone. A properly recovered headliner will look factory, or close to it, and stay up. My ’79 had the headliner recovered in ’96 or ’97 and still looked perfect when I stopped driving the car in 2001. In its 13 years of sitting since then it’s started to sag again, but hasn’t completely let go.
I think how bad the headliner gets may also depend on how it’s treated. When I was a kid I was delighted by how the headliner seemed “squishy” due to the foam backing, and would hold thumb impressions etc. for a while before eventually returning back to shape. And, sure enough, the first section that started to droop was over the passenger side back seat, where i was usually sitting…
The headliner in my ’77 Electra is not drooping. Not even loose. Never been redone. In fact, none of my big old Ford or GM cars have had drooping headliners. Based on my experience, it is 100% probable it would not be drooping.
I’ve found that its from running with the windows down. Ex GF’s Saturn’s headliner was good up to the point her mom drove it for a week with the windows down (dunno why, the car’s A/C worked great and it was middle of the summer here N. Texas) and where the wind whipped the headliner over the back seat, it caused it to sag.
I re-did it and it lasted at least till she totaled out the car 2 years later.
Interesting. It’s true that I very infrequently drive with all the windows down, so perhaps that’s the cause. At speeds higher than 30-35 mph or so, I find the cross breeze to be distracting/annoying rather than refreshing. If I don’t want a/c I turn the fan way up and set the dial to ECON/VENT.
I notice a lot of people who seem to drive in summer in the Northeast with front windows up (and presumably a/c on) back windows down. Maybe that is the cause in action.
Just FYI: This car is on the Saginaw, MI, craigslist and is dropped to $4,000 today…
Hey just wondering if the car is still up for sale very intrested if so please give me a call or text 5072179246
The silver faced Buick gauge era started in 1974 on the big B,C and E cars, later migrated to the A-bodies in 1978, and the X-cars in 1980, by 1983-1984, the silver faced gauges were gone from all Buicks.
Cadillac briefly flirted with silver gauges in 1974 only, Oldsmobile had silver faced gauges on the first year of their downsized Cutlass in 1978, and the they removed them, the first year of the FWD Omega had them too. Pontiac also had them for a few years starting on the downsized 78 A’s and for a year or two on the FWD Phoenix.
Yes, my dad had an ’81 Regal with the silver-faced gauges. Looked nive, but a bit harder to read sometimes.
The Pontiac A bodies only had silver gauges in 78, went to white on black in 79. Buick did bring them back again for the Rendezvous and the 2004 Rainier.
Yep. Mom’s 04 Rendezvous has them, certain times of the day, you can’t read them if the lights are on, I wind up just turning the panel dimmer down till the numbers are visible again.
Nice car though the retarded half roof treatment ruins it for me that would have to go, otherwise yeah nice car.
Reminds me of my 1981 Regal, it is still the best looking car I have ever owned. However, the 3.8L V6 was a pile of crap.
What are those wires running up the trunk lid? Did 1979’s have remote trunk poppers with the button in the glove box or was that a trunk light? I did not know that donut spare tires were an option on the 1979 A/G body cars. My 1980 Malibu and 1985 and 1987 Cutlass Supremes had a full size spare tire.
Both my ’79 and ’82 Malibus had the donuts. I’m guessing the full-size spare was an extra cost option.
The wires are probably for the trunk light and maybe for a trunk popper, the power trunk release was an option on these.
Were the full size spares in there from the factory? Did you buy them new? Or were they used cars that someone had thrown a full size tire in the trunk?
I ask because most if not all of these cars that I have ever seen have the donut high pressure spare which came out around 1978, some of these did have the option or choice of having the Stow-Away Spare, which was the earlier collapsible spare that was stored deflated, but as far as I know, I’ve never seen one with a factory full size spare in the trunk, I imagine the the 9C1 Malibus probably still had a full size tire.
The 1980 Malibu(base not classic) was my grandparents 2nd car and was a bare bones car. The full size spare was original to the car. I still have all the paperwork from that car and the invoice stated full size spare tire. When I got the car the paint on the spare tire’s rim was still shiny and looked like it and the tire had never been used. If it did not come from the factory with a fullsize spare then maybe the dealership switched them out before they sold them as i know for a fact my grand dad would not have bothered to go out and look for one to switch out. It was a dealership in Philly that is no longer around. I am missing the second page of the invoice that showed the break down of what cost what.
The 1985 Cutlass(the one pictured in this post) was bought in 1985 from C&O Oldsmoble Chevy in St Albans WV. The Oldsmobile side of the dealership is long gone(due to Oldsmobile being long gone) but I did get in touch with a person that had worked there at that time as a sales person in his 20’s and he confirmed that their clientele for the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme sedans were older folks that had no use for those “newfangled skinny spare tires” (his words) and insisted on a full size spare, so they simply ordered them from the factory with fullsize spare tires.
As for the 1987, your guess is a good as mine because I don’t have any info on it. I have just assumed that it had to have had a full size spare.
One thing I remember is that the malibu had an old school style under the bumper tire jack which a notch on the jack slipped into a slot under the bumper and you jacked it up to change the tires. It was a gray metal jack with a blue base. The 85 and 87 had a spring loaded type jack that you jacked the car up the same way as you would a modern car.
I imagine that there were lots of people that did buy a full size spare from the dealer, I remember my grandfathers disapproving expression as he examined the “donut” spare that came on our new 1982 Regal Limited.
Your grandfather was a wise man. I had a very unpleasant experience with a space saver spare.
My Cruze doesn’t even have a spare, just a can of “goop” and a pump that plugs into the power point. Wonder how grandad would have liked that?
I can understand his disdain on that. With the exception of my firebird(which both space is limited and will not fit a full size spare) all of my other cars have had fullsize spares even at the sacrifice of some trunk room.
My Cadillac driving elderly cousin always ordered the full size as a dealer option which started sometime in the 80s I believe. My ’77 came with the full size standard.
I remember a review on the 1980s Grand Marquis/Crown Victoria noting that they still came with a full-size standard while many other big cars did not, I believe.
Personally any weight the donut saves seems overshadowed by the fact that it is very risky to drive on at speed or for long distances. If I get a flat I like to change my tire and get on my way without having to worry about it, just take care of replacing the other tire later in the day.
Yep, gray metal ratchet jack with blue base, I’ve got one of those. While I certainly believe that it came from the dealership with the full-size spare, I’m a little surprised it fit over there in the side of the trunk. Seems like it would have been too tall…
Very nice coupe. I do like the late 70s Buick models a lot. In some ways I think they pulled off the downsized, square/box design the best of all of the GM makes, leaving a lot of room for curvature and expressiveness (In second place, Pontiac). I think I’d like it in that Buick dark green, with white interior.
I’ve never understood the “very clean” denomination either. I would hope you could at least be bothered to go down the gas station and vacuum the car, if you plan on selling it. “Runs [well] but filthy” would be pretty funny in an ad.
Actually ‘runs and drives’ is another one that gets me. If it didn’t run and drive, then it would make sense to put it in the parts section. That it runs and drives would seem to be a basic requirement if you are selling it as a car rather than parts.
“Runs” is one of those generic expressions, like if Shell advertised their gasoline with the tag line “burns”, well yeah, no shit. Runs like what? A watch? A top? A bag of a**holes?
” A bag of a**holes ”
One of my favorite sayings for I don’t know how long!
My uncle was prone to describe someone who talked incessantly as being “windier than a sackful of assholes”. First time I heard the term, much to my mother’s chagrin, was 1958.
During the early to late 1970 through the early 1990s Buick had many identical sized Automobiles in their lineup but always they tended to be larger in size just as shown here. This only covers the two door coupes since the 1979 Regal shown here is a two door coupe.
That’s a great schematic of how Buick’s design language changed with the changing times, except for the “donk” wheels on the Riv.
To make a subtle distinction between a RWD A-Bodied 1978-80 Buick Regal and the later RWD G-Bodied 1981-87 Buick Regal just like the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix and the Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme from those same years as well, there were such differences in design with those personal luxury coupe versions that this is where a much clearer distinctions between the RWD A-Bodied and RWD G-Bodied versions of those cars. The distinctions however were not clear cut with the Malibu based models since the changeover of the Body Designations were more or less necessities just to make room for the newer FWD A-Bodied Chevrolet Celebrity and its divisional cousins which happened in 1982 and not too confuse those otherwise two different models because they were both still were in production at the same time.
Though it looks great in the photos, I see this as a very clean 35 year old car. Not in showroom condition; I would imagine a droopy headliner was repaired, and the moulding around the door opening is seriously dried out. Add in the 130K miles, questionable transmission (THM 200?), and discolored upholstery and I think 4K is asking a lot. But if this Buick is your cup of tea, you would have a tough time finding one nicer, even here on the left coast.
I knew someone with a ’78 Regal (bought new) with the power antenna in the front fender; it cost him a fortune to have it replaced when it failed.
I never quite knew what to think of this era of Buicks and their “rally” wheels, especially on a big Electra sedan. It looks sharp, in a way, combined with the slanting nose of this era of Buick which also gives it a bit more “sporty” look. However, you have the other Brougham styling cues and you think you should be seeing spokes or big shiny caps inside those whitewalls.
It is nice, though the dash and sunvisors have a few ‘waves’. The drivers seat looks like it has a burn mark on the edge. The rebuilt engine is a plus, I would worry if the trans is original. I would offer $2500.00
Aaron, I initially thought of how you have your students edit craigslist ads. This one is ripe. One of these days I would like to see an “automatic V8”. Is that a version of the V8-6-4, so it grows a few more cylinders under full throttle?
While I have always favored the ’81 to ’87 Regal coupes, this one is quite nice and in a very good color combination. Maybe I’m not seeing it, but this appears to have the power windows and fluffy seats but no tilt steering wheel. That seems odd.
Remember, everything was ala-carte back then, I noticed the no tilt, even though it does seem to be pretty loaded, with pw, pdl, cruise, CB, clock, Limited trim, road wheels, etc, also notice that it does not have the super common body colored “sport” mirrors that all of these seemed to have.
Ha ha!!! It’s like a Chia V-8…grows automatically!
Maybe not drooling, but you’ve certainly got my attention 🙂
Speaking of interesting A/G body sights, this seems like as good a time as any to post an interesting brochure pic I stumbled upon this morning. I’ve seen the grand total of two Regal sedans over the years, but never the wagon variation – and I wasn’t even aware of the faux woodgrain option. Wild!
BTW: here in the heart of road salt country, we use “clean” a lot in ads, but for a very different reason: to indicate the relative degree of non-rustiness. I have often referred to southern/western transplants and others with zero rust as being “super clean”.
I think I see Michigan plates on this one(?), so maybe they and I are on the same page.
If you’ve also got a nice interior that’s been recently wiped down and vacuumed, “clean inside and out” applies.
I’ll often use the related term “straight” in the same sentence where applicable, which would indicate its lack of dings, dents, scrapes, and other non-rust body damage.
I’ve seen a good handful of those Regal sedans (though none recently) but, now that you mention it, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the wagon version either. Google Image Search doesn’t even come up with many. Seems a pretty rare bird…
I *have* seen a few of its predecessor ’78 to ’80 Century wagons (before the Century name got moved to the front-driver). The guy who bought my ’82 Malibu from me in 2004, when he came to look at/test drive the car, pulled up in a very nice-looking ’78 Century wagon. Two-tone blue (I suspect it may have once had the woody paneling and, when that started to look bad, the complementary color paint was added). He also owned an ’82 Malibu wagon, which my ’82 was originally destined to be a parts donor for.
There were Regal 4 doors in the 1974-77 era, but the later ones had the ‘square peg in round hole’ headlamp look.
But the G body Regal wagons were short lived, 1982-83. The FWD Century wagons took their place in 1984.
Too bad it has a “rebuilt” 301 since the seller undoubtedly, incorrectly, thinks it makes the car worth more.
Everything makes this car worth “more”.
Nice car. IMHO the Regal really came into its own with the ’78 downsize. As a colonnade it was an also-ran but its sheer lines translated best onto the shrunken platform. The Cutlass Supreme was OK, the Monte Carlo horrific and the Grand Prix extremely dull.
Why Ford didn’t study the scale and lines of the Regal more closely before plopping out the ghastly ’80 T-bird and Cougar is a mystery.
I always thought that Ford probably thought they really had something when they penned the downsized 1980 ThunderCougar, they sized it down to the 78 Cutlass size, still kept tons of broughamy touches, they must have thought that they really had a winner.
Supposedly the 1980 Thunderbird and Cougar turned out exactly the way Lee Iacocca had planned (it’s my understanding that their styling was basically “locked in” by the time he was fired in July 1978).
My 79 Monte Carlo (which I considered the ugliest styling exercise on this GM body) is the reason I haven’t owned another GM car over the last 35 years.
My 1980 Monte Carlo was the BEST car I’ve ever owned… It’s funny how people can have such different experiences with a specific car model… (I also LIKED the ‘shortie’ body style of ’78-’80)
A buddy in high school had one of these, it had the 301 2bbl engine & factory sun roof. He jacked the back end up with air shocks and put the largest tires he could fit in the rear. All show & no go.
There’s a guy who did a 350 buick swap in one of these, from a 3.8L, on one of the G body forums. Its a pretty easy swap from what I’ve remember.
Nice clean ride. The rallyes are what seal the deal for me.
*would TOTALLY drop a 350 sbc under the hood of this*
Make it a nice, built to 1971-1972 specs, Buick 350 to keep it in the family.
Anything but a 350 SBC. It needs a Buick engine in it. If it has to be a Chebby engine at least go with a LS and not the ancient 350.
I would think the easiest drop in V8 would be a Pontiac! Maybe a 400 would be a good option. 🙂
Actually, ANY of those would be better than a ‘regular’ SBC. I was thinking like Tim Allen in terms of MORE POWER….
Similar to the Buick Photo Montage which I have posted earlier but themed Buick’s 1979 Mid-Sized lineup. It seemed that in 1979 due to the downsized RWD A Bodied models the year before and the downsized FWD E-Bodies that year alongside the final swansong year of the RWD X-Bodied Chevrolet Nova based Buick Skylark, Buick had built four different Intermediate Size models that year. The shortest was the Buick Century 2 Door Fastback Coupe at 196.0″ and the longest being the Buick Riviera at 206.6″ long. The Buick Regal and the outgoing RWD Skylark were exactly of the same sizes at 200.0″ for the former and 200.2″ for the latter. Just like the previous photo montage compilations, they were all scaled to their actual scale sizes if they were all parked side by side.
Two minor things that would have made these A/G-body Buicks much nicer would have been a more convincing fake wood and round gauges instead of square (like the ’77 B/C-body had). Also I’m not a big fan of cloth interiors in used cars.
Otherwise very nice car! I thought the RWD X-body Skylark was a slightly prettier car than the Regal and think most folks would agree after taking a look at Pedro’s pics above.
Does anyone know what that thing is between the sun visors? It doesn’t look like a map lamp and seems a bit small to be a place for the garage door opener.
I very much like those cars but I do like the RWD 1979 Skylark much more because I like Nova based cars. The Regal I would have to say has its own distinctive looks too but it does resembled its slightly larger Brother the Riviera which was downsized the year after the Regal.
It was a small map light. Years ago my Dad was friends with a guy that had one of these, and I remember as a kid looking to see what that thing was…
I think it is a small map light, we had one there on our 1979 LeSabre Limited.
If this bad boy had the Buick 350 I’d be in love.
But that is one dang nice clean Regal.
I could totally see myself traveling along in this car! Not too big, not too small.
It’s funny how these midsizers are the same length as today’s fullsizers!
I can’t understand how they can call today’s “fullsizers” full-sizers. Fine, I understand, nobody wants a 233 inch long Oldsmobile, but still, a full size should at least be 205 in + or so. They should just admit that the cars they make aren’t full-size because today people who want large “cars” (except reactionaries like me) just buy big SUVs.
Those mid-sizers in fact were considered compact cars in the early to late 1970s.
Starting in 1978, the downsized GM intermediates had the following optional V8s: the Chevy 305 (so a Chevy small block should fit), the Olds 260 (so and Olds Rocket should fit), and the Pontiac 301 (so Pontiac motor can fit).
I guess by that time, GM was phasing out the Buick V8. So, unless they had a common ‘engine mounting’ envelope’, the putting a Buick V8 may be trickier. Then again, the 231 V6 was a Buick V6 minus 2 cylinders….
On these cars, the grille…moves–if you push against it. It’s hinged at the top. I read about it in Car and Driver, and tried it as a 13-yr old, and thought—BMW can make 170 horsepower out of 3 liters and get 25 mpg, and GM gives us 105 hp from 3.8 liters—but the grille is hinged, oh boy!
Still, I would’ve been excited if my dad had gotten a 78 Grand Prix with the Rallye instruments, handling suspension, AND Rally gauges with tach 🙂
Only Buick V8 in ’79 was the 350, which by this time was reserved for the LeSabre, Electra and Estate Wagons – final year for the Buick V8 was 1980. From 1981 on, Buicks with V8s got Oldsmobile’s 307 Rocket or the 350 Diesel.
If I’m not mistaken, the 350 was also available in the Riviera through MY 1980.
I think Buicks were the lightest of the 350s from that era but it could be a tight fit, don’t know how much room there was in there.
I think that it was either or for the Riviera in 1979-1980, Buick or Oldsmobile 350’s, depending on what was available or state requirements? The brochure lists both for 1979, but I think only the Oldsmobile engine for 1980, I would have to double check to be sure. I think there was a push to go with the Oldsmobile engine overall since the Eldorado and Toronado were both going to use the Oldsmobile 350 for 1979 anyway.
There was also the Chevy 267, though that was probably only used in Malibus and Monte Carlos (plus Camaros and maybe the Caprice/Impala). Same sort of deal as the Olds 260 but I think it made a couple more horsepower.
Did the Regal/Century not have the diesel 350 as an option? That was optional on the Malibu. And these engine bays have more than enough room, so I imagine a Buick 350 would drop right in.
Putting a Buick 350 in a Regal is not an uncommon swap, especially if said Regal came with a 3.8.
Since this one has the Pontiac 301, a good upgrade would be just about any other Pontiac V8. The 301, however, is undoubtedly adequate for most people, I would imagine.
I have had several Grand Prix’s with 301’s and they are certainly adequate for most any type of driving unless of course your racing or want to melt rubber. The single biggest hinderance to making any power in these cars was the rear end ratios. They were horrendous. 79 and 80 Regal’s and GP’s that were 301 equipped came with 2.14 ratios which made these car’s loaf at low RPM’s on the highway but stole away quite a bit of power and response. The V6 cars usually came with 2.41 rear gears which was a rare option on 301/305 A/G body cars in these years but I have seen a few. Best bet if you want to keep the stock engine/tranny is to go with a set of 3.08 or 3.23 rear gears with either the 301 2BBL or 4 BBL. That and some carb work can shave off as much as 3 seconds from the 0-60 times stock with these engines but don’t ever expect a 14 second 1/4 mile tire shredder.
The diesel option didn’t appear on other A-body cars until 1980 or so, Oldsmobile A-bodies were the first ones available with a diesel engine option in 1978. Cadillac was the first to start offering diesel 350’s in 1978-1979, then it spread to the other GM divisions starting in 1980.
Seems you’re right about that. The reference book I just checked lists the diesel 350 being available in the Impala/Caprice starting in ’80 and didn’t pop up in the Malibu until ’82. Of course, one must take those engine listings with a grain of salt, as for both ’78 and ’79 it lists the gas 350 as optional in the Malibu. As I understand it, precisely zero were actually produced with the 350. Don’t think any ever made it into the MC either.
I always liked these. I started driving in the early 1980’s and these were quite abundant at the time. These were/are nice boulevard cruisers and rarely found today in good condition. At least in my state anything over 20 years old qualifies. for historic status . That means goodbye 301 and hello 350 and some subtle suspension mods.
I’m surprised no one mentioned the Buick Regal Somerset Limited edition here. A friend bought one new in 1980, two-tone cream and navy blue, with a matching two-tone velour interior. She was a doctor, seemed to match her personality precisely with an added touch of panache for her. Although I always felt it was a bit over the top, and kind of contrived, it was the end of the 70’s, after all.
The Buick Century 4 Door Sedan which was later renamed the Regal to prevent confusion with the otherwise completely different eventual successor FWD A-Body version is shown on this photo montage compilation on the 4 Door Sedans as well to show how the Century/Regal Sedan measured against the RWD X-Bodied Skylark and later on with the FWD H-Bodied LeSabre and FWD C-Bodied Electra since the RWD A/G-Bodied Century/Regal was around when these cars were around at different years though.
Is this vehicle still available….
CAR STILL AVAILABLE?
Interested and Buick Regal please notify me
Interested. Have cash in hand
Is the regal still available?? bailon.tita63@gmail.com ,let me know plz thank u
Is this still available? babyisaac559@gmail.com
Where is the car located at this time it looks very good