My grandpa had a similar Buick Landau Coupe in navy blue and it was quite a car. I used to wash it every time we visited them whether that car was dirty or not. This 1974 Buick Electra Limited Landau is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Friendly, West Virginia, and the seller is asking $18,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Ted for the tip!
This is a very big car at almost 19.5 feet in length and 4,800 pounds! The fourth-generation Buick Electra was made from 1971 through 1976, the last of the giant sedans from GM, which downsized almost everything for the 1977 model year. Landau vinyl tops aren’t for everyone but I grew up in this era and would have been 11 years old when this car came out, so I was of driving age, sort of, if you lived in the country as we did. The seller mentions doing a few touchups on the paint in various areas, probably from storage dings, or that’s my guess.
For a federally-mandated 5 mph rear bumper, this one is pretty stylish compared to a lot of them of the era. The seller says this car was bought new in Iowa and stayed with the original owner for 48 years until they bought it two years ago. They say that the original owner owned a storage facility and this time capsule, with just 14,200 miles, spent most of its life parked out of the sun and it shows. Although, is the right side of the rear bumper pulled down a bit? There’s a big gap between the bumper and the right quarter panel. They say that since buying this car, they’ve replaced the rear bumper filler material and added NOS taillight lenses.
This burgundy Lombardy cloth (velour) seating material looks perfect both front and rear or at least from what we can see. The photos aren’t the best, unfortunately, with a lot of high contrast and cut-off portions. But the seller hits the highlights so kudos to them for that. As a 14k-mile car, it sure looks great inside.
The clean engine is Buick’s 455-cu.in. OHV V8 with 245 horsepower and 360 lb-ft of torque. It sends power through a THM-400 three-speed automatic to the rear wheels and there has been a lot of maintenance work completed, including rebuilding the AC system and much more. I’m not sure if they’ll get their asking price, but that’s up to the potential buyers. What are your thoughts?
Wow, lovely Landau Gilbertson.
Big 455, and 400 automatic. Style and speed. Beautiful Buick coupe.
Needs some wide white walls and some curb feelers .
A neighbor of ours had one…”life saver” green with white landau top and white interior with Buick mag wheels.
Nice options:
Mini console on the transmission tunnel.
And I also spotted a Buick “Max-Trac” switch under the dashpad, above the clock!
I was unaware of their early traction control system, but its reviewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKozAIgESPw&t=239s
I read somewhere it retarded the ignition timing to reduce engine power(?)
This is a nice Buick and rare. It looks to be in really good condition. Buicks never got any larger than this. It represents the culmination of decades of advancement. 1977 would bring a reverse trend leading to nothing but Chinese SUV Buicks. Maybe someone can save Buick?
Big beautiful Buick. Big bumper and all. All the equipment and a classic color combination. No converter but would prefer the hardtop to the landau. Styling dropped off a cliff after ’74 IMO.
Good write-up Scotty. Nice Buick. I enjoy seeing the big luxury cars of this time, in hindsight they are really something.
Envision is the only Chinese model on our shores. They’re the ones keeping Buick afloat.
Actually Buick sells more vehicles in China than the USA. How did that happen?
I always felt like the front ends of these harken back to the ’58 Buick styling. Great time capsule.
I knew nothing of MaxTrac. I had to look it up. Wow…The first computerized traction control system.
The Max Trac worked fairly well. My 1971 Riviera GS had it. It especially worked well when the car had the positive traction differential.
Back when a Buick was a Buick. Now they are a Kia clone.
nice piece. shame they did not put air cleaner lid in right way for the photos.
Agreed. If that lid was flipped over it would make an extra 30hp.
nice piece. looks good with the whites and spokes. shame air cleaner lid was not put on straight for the photos
Speed warning speedo, rear defogger, and auto temp control, too. Seatbelt interlock and smog pump both appear intact. The contours of the hood of this and the boattail Riviera are the same. I stole the ventiports off one of these for my ’73 Riviera, but never had the nerve to cut metal.
My parents had a white one like that, but it wasn’t a limited, it was a hard top. I liked your story, it was parents first Buick and our first to have power windows and seats, antenna. I was in 5th grade, and also washed it a lot. Was just fascinated by it.
My folks bought a new Limited in 1976, had every option dad could get. I was with him when he picked it up, he said it was the first car he owned over $10,000.00 dollars. 2 weeks later we took it to Disney World in Fl. That car floated like a cloud. I was 25 and just out of the Army, so I got to do a lot of driving in it.
Great, I remember my neighbor had a yellow with a black vinal top,was always garaged it was a beautiful 4 door.
I was really a Buick guy back in these days. These were my all time favorites. I’ve only seen a handful with the landau top option. I worked at a Buick dealership in the mid 70’s. We had a customer who had a super loaded 4 door. It had leather seats and a padded top that included the center hood molding with stand up hood ornament. I would gladly take this one though!
I like this. I saw it on Facebook before this post. I much prefer the 73 Buicks. 1974 got too heavy looking. I am trying to find a decent 73 Centurion convertible.
That’s a tough call on the rear bumper being somewhat askew. Can’t tell because it’s a photo but I think it’s the new bumper filler as the bumper seems even under both taillights. But since the photo is to the right and not straight on from the rear it’s difficult to tell.
Early and mid series Buicks are my favorite. Pretty much all of GM was stylish in the early mid seventies.
Love these in White. A friend had a ’76 Electra 225 convertible in white. His roommate had a ’75 LeSabre convertible in brown. Love the General Motors land yachts of the 70s.
Love the last of the big GM C body Coupes. What a bruiser. Road wheels would be icing on the red velvet cake.
This brings back lots of memories for me. I had one of these in shades of brown with a light tan interior. It was such a luxury car. One of my friends always referred to it as my “Zzzzz Car,” since she always wanted to go to sleep when she rode with me. It was the first used car for which I paid cash, so it was a bit of a milestone for me. I bought it in 1980 to replace my ’76 Estate Wagon that got T-Boned in my driveway by a drunk guy. Thanks to GMs 70s malaise era, I had to replace nearly everything but the engine and transmission within the first six months of ownership. I remember carrying a starter and an alternator in the trunk until they had to be used. It was handy when it actually happened, since I could just do it in whatever parking lot I was in at the time. The car had less than 40K miles on it. I moved to the city where I currently live in 1982, and the transmission had to be rebuilt almost immediately. It’s also the first and only car in which I got a speeding ticket. I was showing off that crazy 455 to a friend and hit my top speed right in front of a hidden highway patrolman.