This fourth-generation Buick Century “Aeroback” is a rarely-seen variant that has just 17,000 miles on the clock. This car and its many corporate twins came from an era of automotive dark days at GM, and it’s shocking to see one still on the road in this state of condition. Find it here on craigslist where the seller says it drives like a new car, and he’s asking $2,700 for this slant-back survivor.
The fastback styling was a sales failure for GM. Upon seeing customers defecting for foreign-made hatchbacks, the company deployed this design – otherwise known as a fastback – that offered little in the way of additional utility and screamed poverty-spec to U.S. buyers. Even in the modern era, American consumers associate hatchbacks with “cheap”, no matter how good they are.
Now, models from this generation of GM products had problems all of their own outside of styling miscues. Reliability was abysmal and this platform played a major part in shoppers moving onto the products from Honda and Toyota. The Aeroback styling was also seen on the Century’s twin in the Oldsmobile Cutlass, which even included a 442 variant. This Century is anything but sporting, but it does offer rear-wheel drive and a booming stereo, apparently.
The Century does come with one of the optional engines offered, which is the larger 3.8L V6, an upgrade over the base model’s 3.2L V6. The hot ticket, if you can even find one, is the rare turbocharged Century “Turbo Coupe”, which is effectively a lost car at this point and near non-existent. These cars were major misses for GM when new, but if you have to have one, this is likely the best example left.
I wonder how many people are fooled by the SS badge.😊
It could be a Malibu Grill in the Buick…
What I can’t get past is the just-plain-ugly slantback. Ugh. A more awkward roofline would be hard to imagine.
You beat me to it this is about as plain Jane as it gets. It looks like a retired government car. I don’t think there is much you can do here to make this look better, I can see why sales dropped off. Fugly.
Yet another high point in GM’s rich design history. Apparently the inspiration was someones kid’s Pinewood Derby entry.
I love plain jane cars, on the outside. I need all the creature comforts on the inside though.
I have to disagree with the author, I had the Cutlass variant ( 2 of them, actually, a wagon and a 4 door) and they were both great cars. Again, one of the few that endured my ex-wife wrath against automobiles. The 3.8 was as good a V6 as you could get, never had a speck of trouble. Ok, the fastback was a bit odd, but it did give more room, and these were pre mini-van people movers, nothing fancy about them, and GM sold a bunch. They were generally unwashed, unmaintained, unloved cars, but got you to work and grandma’s without fail. We threw them away when they rusted out, and to see one like this is pretty amazing. Sorry, my vote for great cars.
Yeah, it seems like the author is regurgitating the standard old 70’s domestic car shtick………
Though these slantback A-bodies weren’t popular, that’s true, they were pretty solid reliable cars.
I remember when these aero backs first came out, never a fan. Guess they were trying to be innovative at the time. At lot of these midsizers had stationary rear windows with a vent on the door, which I also didn’t care for.
Imagine one of these w/o a/c on a hot day with cranky kids in the back seat & they wanna open the window but there’s no crank or power window button on the door.
I believe GM did this to save money!
Could be a good cop car to transport a criminal to the slammer in, though. lol.
I don’t wana be in the back seat of this OR a new camaro.
Whoever installed those speakers deserves long painful torture……
Nostalgia can be an odd thing. My teenage self, who would have never given this poor car a second look back in the day, would be ashamed that I am now picturing what it might look like with the front dropped a bit lower. In an era when trim and chrome seemed like it was stuck on haphazardly, this low spec model looks “clean” to me. Sorry teenage self, I like it!
One almost exactly like it on the Nashville CL….Olds variant. The owner of this one put steelies on it and a racing stripe down the hood. Playing up that dopey old-school sedan design.
https://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/d/1978-olds-cutlass-salon-8/6751668655.html
It’s a Chevy Citation with a different grill. Should have seen the melting pot years ago, a galvanized stock tank at least serves some useful purpose.
Not a Chevy citation variant, the citation didn’t debut until 1980 not to mention that this car is rear wheel drive whereas the citation is transverse front wheel drive.
Thanks, Keith!!!😎👏🏼👏🏼😎
And body on frame also.
Nice find, Jeff! I considered buying one of these used back in the 80s. It was the 442 model and the dealer said it had the 403, which according to the Internet, ended in ’77.
This depresses me just looking at it. I can’t imagine driving it.
Straight up ugly.
I agree. Looks like it was stuck on by a high school kid in mechanical drawing who was ordered to design something with no style or visual appeal. If so, he/she deserved an A.
My dad bought a gold 1979 Buick Century “Special” new – very similar to this example, except it had gold body color steel wheels with the the dog dish hubcaps. It was the only non-Chrysler sedan he ever bought (Consumer Reports rated the Century higher, so he gave it a try). Big mistake. Windows in the back seat didn’t roll down, which was brutal with vinyl seats and when the A/C didn’t work (which wasn’t infrequently). He finally got rid of it at 83K miles, when it needed a third engine.
It may be odd looking or ugly to some but it is definitely unique. I prefer unique to the mass of cookie cutter cars produced over the last 30 years.
I remember when our local police department diverted from their common practice of purchasing former KSP cruisers and bought five or so of these cars. The idea was to save on fuel cost.
Since they cost more than the KSP cruisers, they could not buy enough to replace the whole fleet, so they “hot seated” their new cruisers and they basically ran 24/7, and lasted less than a year. Not really bad cars, but not up to task of police work. Twenty years later they tried the same thing with Dodge Intrepid’s, same result.
The biggest problem i remember with these cars was the external oil pumps, which had a knack for failing and effectively killing the engines. This caused a bad reputation for these cars.
This car would be a fun way for a person of limited means to get into the hobby. I don’t think you could get hurt too badly paying $2700 for this car. The money the seller is asking wouldn’t buy a half decent winter beater around here.
Put the correct grill back in it (why is /was it replaced in the first place?) and leave it parked for another 30 years.
And guys…its not ugly…its “homely”….
Actually that’s the correct grille, except for the SS badge.
I agree – after looking at it later it looks like a Laguna SS badge tacked on the stock grill.
Best aerodynamics when driven in reverse.
Off of a cliff.
Make mine the Oldsmobile version in pea green or poop brown with that ugly tan base vinyl interior, no air, no radio, no hubcaps at all and don’t forget, make mine a diesel! May as well go all the way. You can get car sick just looking at one of these beauties. They did offer this body style with the diesel in the Olds. One of the only cars where the 4 doors looks better than the 2 door. These cars were so ugly that they were pretty…. With all this said, I would not mind having one.
Mine was a 2 dr. Oldsmobile with a v-8, bucket seats and a factory 5 speed transmission, believe it was a T-40 top loader Borg Warner, blew it up after about 20 hole shots! It’s like riding a moped, it’s cool till your friends catch you riding it!
I once had a girlfriend who had one of these. I told her the styling looked like a block of cheese. She was not my girlfriend for much longer.LOL
Here’s the rare Turbo coupe, not mine, but belongs to a friend of mine.
If your friend lives in Flint, I know him.
If your friend lives in Flint, I know him.
My folks had one of these as a Cutlass Salon. Kept it about a year. It was a POS! All kinds of problems. Theirs was an upgraded version with power accessories, wire wheel covers, and an upgraded sound system. My mom HATED that car!
Looking back, it’s hard to believe it took them another 30 years to go bankrupt.
And, I’m a GM guy……..even more so when this car was new……
Its different but gawd its ugly.
Only saving grace is the 20 speaker Bose steroid. 😁
Just crush it already
Well, it’s not a hell of a lot the way it stands, it needs whitewalls and wheel covers to give it some oomph, and the interior needs a very good cleaning and
throw the speakers away. New door cards. Try to buy it for $2000.00, match that price on reconditioning and you’ll have a wonderful driver.
I’m with Maestro1- the biggest visual deterrents are those low rent wheels/hubcaps and speakers. Maybe a set of chrome Buick wheels or the finned aluminum examples from an Estate wagon? Blackout the window trim (esp around the doors, tiny the windows and grille inserts for a bit of a faux T-Type look?
In high school, a good friend of mine had an ‘80 Century sedan. I can personally attest how tough as nails that car was. It was subjected to worse abuse than any red-headed stepchild ever endured- and just kept on ticking.
Ha! I may have worked on that car if it was built in the Framingham MA plant (which was shut down in the mid eighties).
It’s not your fault. You had a family to feed.
Took Drivers Ed – Summer of 78 and they used all Cutless’s in
all variations. From the Calis – the Surpreme and etc 🤔 maybe
their were just 2. However they handled excellently in every way
possible. The back end slant was different and definitely 😁🍉 🎸
We were a Buick dealer back then. GM was attempting a Euro-look ala the VW Dasher (remember them?). The 4 doors especially were nearly saleproof. GM promoted them with a two-tone paint scheme to hide how awkard they looked.
They went back to the drawing boards in emergency mode to design a version with a conventional sedan roof.
With everything the rest of you have said
already being true, the only thing I can say about this car is that my nephew would like it for that booming stereo
system. I can see why it only has 17K
showing. No one wants to be seen
driving it! I KNOW that Sis would say
“No-ahhh” to driving this one.
And it was only driven in the dark.
Offer 2000 grand 🤣😂😁
Offer 500
So plain and ugly, but the price is reasonable. A set of chrome rally wheels and RWL tires would help a lot! Can’t do much with that stillborn blue interior though…
Folks this is what happens when engineers take acid and make a clay model for the metal forms…
This car was so ugly that many neighborhoods put in their home ordinance that if you parked this car outside of the garage a car must immediately have a cover placed over it.
People started telling others this car was friendly and had a great personality..
This car was so ugly and hard to sell salesman got double commission to get it off the lot.😅🤣
Okay enough humor fir the day
Remember these, wondered what kind of person would design such a car, or shall I say ..admit to it. Gotta remember the era they came from, more than a few oddities back then.
Yeah yeah I get it, I’m sick and twisted. No need to tell me. I actually like the funkyness of this poor thing. It would always stand out in this day and age. No I didn’t say it would always stand out in a positive way but it would stand out! Send it to me please…:)
A buddies mom had one of these. 6 of us wanted to go to Disney Land together. So her car was commandeered. ( we all had 2 seat cars) it was a slow 350 mile trip through a lot of desert. But it got us here and back with the A/C cranking full tilt the whole time. We rotated seating positions to keep the rear seat occupants from strangling the front seat occupants. With no air moving back there about 1.5 hours was all one could take. Hers was fairly well optioned out but it was still ugly. It handled amazingly well for being stuffed with 6 adult people. She got rid of the car shortly after as she could no longer stand to look at the car. She asked us to leave the keys in the ignition hoping that someone in the LA region would steal it. So we did and no one else wanted it either!
Looks like it was designed on an Etch-a-Sketch. What a sad statement from the company that gave us the 65 Riviera and the 71-73 boat tails, the 71 GS Stage one and the 1953 Skylark.
I’d love it with a three speed manual…
Here’s the best version of the 1978-80 Century. My 79 Turbo Coupe.
In a world that has a strong Pontiac Aztec following and forum maybe this car isn’t so ugly after all.
Then again, maybe it is.
This is a nice sleeper IMO. I found one and installed a 462 Stage 2 V8. Great sleeper.
These cars can benefit the same mods as the A bodies of the later 60’s early 70’s. There are so many suspension, motor options that can be done to these and they are full framed and have a shorter wheelbase. Chevelles, Cutlasses, Buicks came with 6 cylinders and baby 8’s and people put Monster Big Blocks and LS1’s in them now a days.
I like the unusual and have always liked the Aero Centurys and Cutlasses. A friend of mine used to work at a new car dealership where this ’78 Century Special was traded in. Knowing I’d want it he snagged it for me. I owned it for about five years from the mid to late 2000’s and enjoyed every minute of it even though a rocker arm broke at one point. The car was all original with some 65,000 miles, powered by a Chevy 305. I regret selling it.
’79 Century Limited with a bad frame and my former ’78 Century Special in the background. My ’78 with a 305 had 5.0 litre badges on the fenders. The ’79 had 4.9 litre badges. Could it have had a Pontiac 301?
This local to me and I so want to buy it and LS swap it. Would be an ultimate sleeper.
I have owned one for decades. Second owner and trouble free. Draws admiring crowds everywhere I go.
It’s a beauty!
I have access to a 1978 powder blue 6 cylinder Auto with perfect white interior, built in factory cb radio. Ac. 6125 original miles.
It’s never been registered, held by a dealer was used by the owners mother.. hasn’t been started / driven in 22 years. I’m wondering what it’s worth? If it’s worth replacing all fluids. Minimal to no.gas in tank right now.
Flushing. What can be flushed, ie. Tank, radiator, gas lines, brake lines, transmission fluids, differential, or. Leave as is and auction.as is.. any thoughts would be appreciated.. I should be bringing it home Tuesday.