Lavendar Mist '63 Buick Wildcat

[electra225]

I'm not sure this is the original color, given the red interior. But it is Lavendar Mist, the 1963 version of Lido Lavendar. Two-toned with black, my favorite Buick color combination. The hooptie wheels need to go, but the whitewalls are the right width.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnbk2oNfabk

[19&41]

My folks had a '61 electra that was at least close to that color.

[electra225]

We had a '60 Electra 225 that was Lido Lavendar. Fantastically beautiful car, but not as fast as his '56 Century. The 1957 to 1962 version had a tad more pink than the new-for-1963 Lavendar Mist.

[William]

I have never seen a Buick that color. It must not have been popular here in my neck of the woods.

Bill

[Firedome]

IMO pale lavender is the absolute best color ever for a late '50s to early '60s car. Either metallic or non-metallic. The shade on the '56 Lincoln Premiere and the similar Lavender & Heather I was going to paint my '58 Olds if I'd kept it (pic).
I even considered a pale metallic shade on my '69 Cutlass but a color change is expensive and it wouldn't have been original.

[walyfd]

1969 Cadillac had Chateau Mauve you could have used on the olds. It was a beautiful color seen on a lot of Eldorados.

[electra225]

Pontiac, Chevrolet and maybe Oldsmobile called their version Evening Orchid for awhile in the middle 1960's. Lido Lavendar was most popular on Buick from 1957 thru the 1960 models, waned a bit, then got hot again in 1963. The body styles started getting more square and had less chrome, so Buick toned down the pink hue, adding more black to make the lavendar more purple.

When the Riviera was introduced in 1963, the Buick Motor Division made a series of show cars with bucket seats and floor shift console to advertise not only the new Riviera, but also that Wildcat had become its own series featuring bucket seats and floor shift console, available in every model of Wildcat for 1963, and even the Invicta wagon. And the Electra 225 series got its own body. They built 8 each Electra 225 convertibles, model 4867, 8 each two door hardtops, model 4847 and 8 each four-door four-window hardtops, model 4839 with bucket seats and floor shift console, an option not available in regular production on Electra 225 jobs. They were all built in different colors. I have the black one. The white one is in west Phoenix, the Lavendar Mist one is in Flint. I have also located three of the convertibles and two of the four-door models. The bucket seat cars Buick used for advertising were loaded to the gills with options. Buick introduced several new options in 1963. Comfortilt steering column, cornering lights, AM-FM radio. And, of course, Four Season Air Conditioning, the biggie. You could also get vacuum-operated power door locks on the four door sedan models 4819 only, for some odd reason.

[TC Chris]

Oh, come on... the right color for cars is red. I've had a red 4-4-2, red Mustang, red Datsun wagon, and red Ranger. Had a sort of red-wine Corvair and a maroon Ranger; they're acceptable substitutes when the real thing isn't available. I do like my Jewel Blue Chevy. The '38 Buick is black but that was the approved color in those days. The Starfire is and my '60 American was white and that color does not show dirt. But really, cars are supposed to be red.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

There's a reason that car dealers call it "Resale Red". Great color on sporty cars like the wife's 'stang convert.
For the late '50s I like the way-out pink & purple pastels and other unique colors of the era.

[TC Chris]

There's a reason that car dealers call it "Resale Red". Great color on sporty cars like the wife's 'stang convert.
For the late '50s I like the way-out pink & purple pastels and other unique colors of the era.

My Mom's neighbor, a former prosecutor, called it "Arrest-me Red." But I drive like my father now.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

The only red vehicles I have ever owned have been trucks. I had a '71 International 1600 with a 2000 gallon propane tank that was red, and a '72 Mack R model that was red. I like the pastels on the big cars, Lido Lavendar, Sea Foam Green, Astro Blue, Silver Mist. And black. Every model of big car looks good in black, no matter the make.