A set of Buick Rally Wheels and white letter tires can solve more problems than the world may care to admit. For example, I’m certain that this 1974 Buick Century Colonnade Coupe (Buick’s words, not mine) would look perfectly fine with a set of standard wheel covers, but with the factory Rally wheels, it looks muscular and ready for action, ready to take on the day. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but either way, it looks like Barn Finder T.J. found us a good one. It’s been a one-family-owned car its whole life and has a reported 57,720 miles on it. Beyond that, the paint, interior, and engine are original, and you can find it here on eBay in Greenbrier, Arkansas. The asking price is $15,000.
Of course, if you expect “ready for action” to include a muscular horsepower rating, you’ll be disappointed: this Century has the base Buick 350 two-barrel, which produces 150 horsepower with the standard single exhaust system. This example has all the goodies one might expect from a 1970s Buick, including power steering, power brakes, and air conditioning (which does not work). The seller points out that the Century “still has the factory smog pump under the hood.” The engine compartment looks great, although it is hard to see the engine beneath all those 1970s accessories.
Perhaps the nicest thing about any Colonnade car is its interior, which looks amazing in this example; the dashboard is what I like best, with its driver-centric instrument cluster. The vinyl bench seat looks new as well, and although the Century 350 was not anywhere near as plush as a top-of-the-line Century Regal, it’s not bad. Given all that vinyl, however, it may be worth it to get the air conditioning fixed.
Is it wrong that I’ve got a thing for classic car fonts? The text on the gauges, climate controls, and even the radio could belong to nothing but a 1970s General Motors product, and the “Sonomatic” AM radio means that it could only be one of those wonderful Buicks from Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately, the radio also does not work.
But that’s a minor issue when you’re dealing with a rust-free car that looks even better in person, according to the seller. The paint color appears to be Nutmeg Metallic, and it doesn’t look like it has 52 years under its belt. The Colonnade bodystyle is not for everyone, but if you like those 1970s intermediates, those fashionable browns, and yes, those Buick Rally Wheels, this looks like a beauty.
Some might denigrate this as a “malaise era” car, a term that seems to have been invented after the fact to describe a period of uninspired styling and questionable quality. Although I was not a big fan of the Colonnade hardtops at the time, I find this Buick appealing: the color, the originality, the condition, and, as Aaron noted, those Rally wheels really make this car stand out.
Colonnade style made the “malaise era” somewhat bearable.
Those wheels are definitely a HUGE improvement. But when I saw the bench seat and auto on the column, I forgot about the wheels.
It’s not wrong to love classic car fonts. I wish buttons still had words on them, instead of head scratching pictures.
A very nice one to say the least. Smog pump is present but unhooked so is it seized up. An easy fix to replace. A/c compressor is hooked up.so not seized again should not be that bad to fix up and even if it coats a few more bucks a/c is a fun thing to have. A nice week end of shampoo’s and waxes will make it look like a million bucks easy