Cars from 1951 to 1972

[TC Chris]

Long-time readers may recall that I've got the handwritten dealer invoice for the '61 Chevy that my Dad purchased in Feb. '61. With my Mom's death we are going through a pretty extensive collection of stuff. She was a good archivist, shall we say. One collection of documents contained purchase and loan records for the new 1951 Dodge Coronet, the used '50 Chevy convertible Dad bought in '53, the '55 Ford Country Squire station wagon, the '56 Chrysler Windsor sedan, the '60 Plymouth Fury wagon, and the '66 Plymouth Fury III wagon. Elsewhere I found some papers for the '72 Volvo wagon. Oddly, there was no documentation for the '65 Olds Starfire, although I've got the window sticker for that one, or the '69 Olds 4-4-2.

The trade-in for the '51 Dodge was a '41 Plymouth. The trade-in value was $79.00.

Chris Campbell

[hermitcrab]

Looks like your Dad owned each of the big three , did he have a favorite brand or make ....or buy where he got the best deal?

[William]

Somewhere here in the house I have the window sticker for the 1973 Buick Riviera GS I had. I purchased it used and the window sticker was in the glove box. When I sold the car, and I wish I still had it, I kept the window sticker.

Bill

[Firedome]

Nice series of cars!
Our cars mid '50s to '70s:
We had a neighbor in Baltimore who was the Mid-Atlantic distributor for Freuhauf trailers, a big but now extinct semi-trailer mfr. When I was in 1st grade (1956) they had a gorgeous black w/ red interior '55 Country Squire that I used to ride to school in with their daughter Jeannie. What a beautiful car. My Dad liked it so a few years later he traded our '57 blue & white Country Sedan for a midnight blue '59 Country Squire. Wagons were king for suburban families back in the '50s! The '59 was traded for a Corinthian White '63 Country Sedan (that became my first car in '68) and that '63 for a 'beige 68 Squire. In '71 I suggested he buy one of the new Volvo 164s (by then I had a 122-S) and he sternly stated to me that he would never buy a " foreign-made vehicle with a sewing machine engine". By the '70s we kids were grown and gone so he revered to full-size rwd Buick sedans for the rest of his life, the last was a charcoal gray '96 Roadmaster.

[walyfd]

When I bought my '91 Brougham, it had all the paperwork, the original Royal Seal tires, license frames and the dealer "Hornbeck" plate on the trunk lid. It was the dealer I used to take my '82 to for service so that car was on the lot when I was going there. The dealer closed in '97 so it's the only car I ever left the dealer name on.

When I saw all the original stuff, I had to get it. Today, on a trip to jersey, it rolled 80k... still rides a d drives like a new car. I bought it with 46k. Did a 3k trip from scranton to Tulsa once. Car has been everywhere and I'll never part with it.

[electra225]

I think we still have the picture of the wife and I at Bob Catterson Buick in Indianapolis taking delivery of our new '74 Electra 225 Limited Sedan. I had an afro, wore a dark red double-knit suit with a pink shirt and dark red tie. Red cowboy boots on top of that. The wife always threatened to use that picture in divorce court if the need ever arose. That '74 LImited had everything you could get on a '74 Buick except air bags. They offered front passenger air bags on some of the big GM cars that year, seldom purchased and never seen today. It was Firemist Metallic, a Cadillac color, with tan vinyl top and interior. It had Mark 4 road wheels, Firestone 500 radials, Stage 1 455, positraction, dual exhausts, those little fibre optic lights on the fenders that monitored the lights. The most beautiful car I have ever owned and the biggest pile of garbage ever put on four wheels by GM. The Firestone 500's blew both fender skirts and the lower rocker moldings off. The AC condenser blew and blew the grill out on Interstate 70. The Turbo 400 trans went out three times in 70.000 miles. It got maybe 8 mpg downhill and a well-tuned Pinto would run off and hide from it. The sticker on this abomination was $8485.72. I traded it for a '77 GMC pickup with a 454 which was a dandy vehicle.

[walyfd]

Sorry I went off topic on my '91...

GM also has Track Master anti-lock brakes on the rear wheels from '73 or '74 through, I think. "76. I've heard from people they actually worked pretty well.

The early '70s were horrible for all cars but GM was really putting out some bad stuff. The bodies and interiors were some of the most opulent ever but mechanical garbage.

[William]

ll agree, GM built junk back then. My parents bought a new Buick LeSabre Limited in 1978. It was a beautiful care as far as looks goes. It was kind of a copper/pumpkin color with a white vinyl top and a camel color interior. It rode good, drove good, but never ran right. It had no power, and when you pressed down on the accelerator pedal it acted like it had a bad accelerator pump. You really had to wait for no traffic because you could not trust it. If you turned on the A/C, you might as well get out and push. After a year of complaining to the dealer, and the dealer complaining to GM, they finally came out with a updated carb. That took care of the accelerator problem, but never solved the lack of power.

Bill

[electra225]

I had a '68 Limited that was a hot rod for as big a car as it was. It would kick the butt of almost anything its size except a 429/472 Cadillac or a 440 Chrysler. The 430 in that '68 was arguably the most potent engine ever put in a Buick. The only issue I ever had with the '68 was that it came out with front disc brakes. They proved problematic and the car was converted to drum brakes. It got good mileage, ran like a scalded dog, rode well, handled like a Buick and was a thoroughly satisfactory car, perhaps the best one I ever owned. It was triple black and was special ordered for the wife of the guy who owned the Buick dealership. She drove it six weeks then wanted a Pontiac Gran Prix. I bought it with less than 2,000 miles on it.

[Firedome]

IMO GM assembly quality took a dive in the early '70s, but most of the ones I had ran quite well, considering the emissons junk on them after '73, but somewhat improved after '76. Less power than earlier, but ours were actually not bad with 350 in a lighter body by 700 lbs. Our '78 Electra 225 that we bought with 62K in '1993 was owned by the parents of Stan Hollinger, the owner of Davis Buick in our small MD country town near the PA line. As you can imagine, as his wife's parents that car was serviced as God and GM intended and was in immaculate condition, white with light blue velour. Bought for the wife to drive in safety from the country 52 miles each way, to the Baltimore hospital where she worked and back every day, much of it on the Baltimore Beltway. 350 Buick engine with 350 THM (not the crappy 200). Complete with a bag phone (remember those?) for safety on that long commute to SE Baltimore and back. At 190+k it still ran great but had developed a rear main seal leak (due to synthetic oil probably) so we sold it a week before moving to Vermont. Replaced by a new 4wd Montero. That Electra was great car, imo the downsize C's were the best to drive GM luxury car, still had the space, ride, classy timeless design, even if not the best quality materials used by then, particularly crappy interior plastics. We had equally good luck with my own driver. a lt green '77 Olds Delta 88 w/ 350 Rocket 350 THM, bought with '70k miles from a steelworker, it ran even stronger and would have been kept longer if a deer hadn't decided to total it in 1998 at 120k miles. I think 77 to 79 GM B & C body cars were some of their best ever to actually drive, but would have been even greater if built like their '70 and earlier cars! That is why I love my '69 Cutlass.

After '79 body quality really went to crap, they lost another 300lbs. My folks new '85 LeSabre Collector Series was so tinny that when Dad closed the trunk lid on a suitcase it actually bent the lid!

My friend Phil in Quebec has a beautiful dark green '75 Electra Park with ACRS airbags, yes, super rare! He also has a
'67 Riviera GS (430s DID have some issues compared to the old nailheads) and a '65 Wildcat, and recently sold his '74 LeSabre, he's a real Buick man. I'll try to find pics of his ACRS Electra.

[William]

I love Riviera's, especially the early ones. IMHO, they have some really classy lines and styling.

Bill

[electra225]

The 430's had oiling issues, particularly if the oil wasn't changed when it should be. The oil pump was in the aluminum timing cover and it would score if the oil got really dirty, causing low oil pressure or sometimes no oil pressure. Crappy design shared by at least Cadillac and AMC. The 430 was arguably the more potent of the big Buick wedge V-8's. It took a good 455 to run with one. The 430 was basically a stroked version of the 401 and was its worthy successor.

Buick make a Lesabre Luxus in 1974. It had the 455 engine, standard two barrel carb, four barrel optional and fancier trim than a regular Lesabre. My FIL had one and it ran better and was a better car than my Electra.

[walyfd]

The GM tri-seven C bodies have a huge following. Cadillacs are especially hot sellers and there's a lot of them still in great shape. Friend of mine is on his second '78.

I had a 77 and my aunt had a 78. Both were linden cars and we thought they rode hard. Going from a 76 town car to that was a big switch for them. But the 425 was a bullet proof engine. And everyone complains about the rattles in the dash but they continued that dash up to '92 in the rwd Brougham. I owned 4 of those cars and it's so nice knowing where everything is without looking for it. Plus it makes me feel like I'm still 20 driving the "same" car I had then...

[Firedome]

My Dad had a '77 Electra Park he bought new, and we had the always babied '78. I thought both of them rode better than a friend's '77 Coupe de Ville she bought new, though while of course the great 425 would smoke the SB Buick 350, Buick & Olds 350s did run well though until after '79, and while down on power compared to, say, 1970, the weight reduction made the cars still reasonably quick. My '77 Olds 350 Rocket (not the Chev engine one) ran so strong you almost didn't realize it was emission controlled, about as well as our '73, though with far more emission junk on it.

By '77 GM had eliminated a lot of the driveability problems of '74/75/76 with HEI, cats and better tuning, each year of got a bit better. We had a '73 Delta, '74 LeS, '75 LeS and '76 Delta, all 4 dr hardtops, then '77 Delta, and '78 Electra. I can see why '77-79 Cs and Bs are still sought after, they were the last real GM full size rear drive that were truly great road cars. '80 and onward lost quality and power imo. And we won't even mention the Cadillac gas and Olds diesel engine debacles. GM really became shite in the 80s.

Dad was General Manager of the Bethlehem Steel's Galvanized and Galvalume Sheet Steel Division that sold sheet to all the Detroit mfrs. He said they'd specify thinner and thinner steel, but Mopar was the last to do so, around 1982, while GM started with model year '80. With the downsized '77s they made panels smaller, but still maintained thickness gauge. If I could find a mint '77/78 Electra I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

[19&41]

Ah, Bob Catterson Buick. "Nooobody But Nooobody , can sell you a used car for less than Bob Catterson Buick. Between him and the Shane hawking for Shane Co. Jewelers, they had to be the most identifiable pitchmen in Indianapolis.

[electra225]

"If, yes IF anyone can sell you a new Buick for less money than Bob Catterson Buick, you buy it". Yep, I bought two new Buicks from Bob Catterson. A '71 Limited and the '74 Limited. Bob Catterson was a pitchman, but he was a nice guy and an honest auto dealer. I really liked him. There was a Cadillac dealer of that vintage, Ed Tutwiler, who was reputed to also be Dick the Bruiser, an early Big Time Wrestling star. You probably remember Chuck Marlow and Big Time Wrestling on Channel 4 on Saturdays nights.

[19&41]

I remember most of 'em. As a kid, I could've recited them all letter and verse.

[electra225]

Shane Company Jewelers still advertises here on Valley radio. I don't know if it's the same guy, but certainly possible.

[19&41]

Here too, And it's one of the Shanes.

[Firedome]

Thread on cars to "wresting".. that's quite the segue!