The fifth-generation Buick Electra is a personal favorite of mine, along with the related Oldsmobile and Cadillac. We’ve looked at a couple of cars from this era recently here on Barn Finds and this 1982 Buick Electra Limited looks like one of the nicest that I have seen in years. This ultra-low-mile beauty of a rust-free Buick can be found here on craigslist in Wynantskill, New York and they’re asking $6,995 or best offer. Thanks to Pat L. for sending in this tip!
While I have never owned a C-body GM from this era I did drive, park, and wash dozens if not hundreds of them over several years in a job that I had after high school. I’ve mentioned it before so I won’t bore everyone with the details. I did own a 1973 Buick Electra 225 as my second car out of high school and it was outstanding. I bought it for $750 from the original owner and it was 98% perfect. I sold it a few months later for $750 to buy some band equipment – one of the dumbest things that I have ever done.
The fifth-generation Electra was made for the 1977 through 1984 model years and they were the last of the rear-wheel-drive models. The Electra 225 would go away after the 1980 model year and then they were known as the Limited or Park Avenue until 1990 when Electra production ended. I think that this is a great design – crisp, clean, and elegant.
The seller doesn’t give a lot of information about this beautiful car other than to say that it has a mere 8,200 miles on it, which is absolutely amazing after 38 years. Also, it has no rust which is mind-blowing at least to me, someone who has lived with rusty cars for the last 40+ years. The interior looks almost perfect and there sure isn’t a lot of side bolstering on those seats, not that a Buick Electra was made for aggressive cornering.
As with a lot of craigslist ads (most?), there is no engine photo, unfortunately. They say that it has a small V8 which should be an Oldsmobile 307 cubic-inch V8 with 150 hp and 240 ft-lb of torque. It runs like new and it pretty much looks like new. Are there any fans of these fifth-generation Buick Electras out there?
I’m full up. If this is a real ad, someone needs to snag this one with a quickness. Worth every single penny.
Yes I’m a fan. Going back to my childhood – my grandfather ordered an ’82 Park Avenue. White with dark red cloth (on my mother’s recommendation). He loaded the car with most every option. I remember riding in the back, and he telling my grandmother he didn’t think the automatic overdrive wasn’t shifting right.
A lot of fake woodgrain on the doors, but it’s part of my childhood. I love it…
Perhaps. Probably worth saving, but it’s nothing like them Buick Electrics that made the name famous.
I must reiterate. You are not going to find a car with this much room, comfort, ease of maintenance, fuel efficiency, long term reliabilty and class for anywhere even remotely close to the ask on this beauty. Somebody local, go look at this thing and snag it, very hard to go wrong here.
If this car were in Central Florida, I’d be all
over it! It’s the same price as the two modern Caddys I’m checking out today.
One’s an ’05 with 61K on it and the other
is a 2010 with 121K showing. And while
both are nice cars, this one beats them
hands down. And unlike the Caddys, it
oozes character and comfort. Bet I could
get it for 5K but the shipping and paperwork costs would eat me alive. It’s
too bad too because I WANT IT!
Had an 80 Park Ave loaded 350 4bbl except leather which is a plus as the plush velour is soft and doesn’t freeze or bake you. IMHO 82 isn’t as nice. I still like it.
455 stroker, TH700 and Buick chrome wheels. Store the originals
What he said
A red ’77 LeSabre was my ride in high school and college. Though it was originally my mom’s car, she totaled it and I bought it from the insurance company and had the back fender and axle rebuilt and drove it for three years. Great ride and surprisingly decent power in the 307. I sold it to buy a truck and watched it deteriorate over the next 15 years in the lady’s driveway.
Power was decent probably because it was a 350, the 307 wasn’t available until 1980!
1982 – 1984 I worked for the Buick dealer in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Those cars were so poorly built and miserable to drive that I’ve never owned any American made car since!
For the money this would make a good driver. It probably will never be very collectible, so you might as well just drive it.
Is it just me or is the rear bumper hanging a bit on the right?
I think it’s the angle of the photo. In another shot from the left quarter view, the left side of the bumper looks a little low.
So, Scotty, which lasted longer, the Buick or your band? This is a sweet ride. If it had leather, that would really up the ante. I had the poor man’s version, a ’78 LeSabre that served as my winter beater for years. Paid $200 for it, drove it about six winters, then got $500 on trade for it. I’d pile the office gals into it for doughnuts in the snowy office parking lot. Two summers I rented it to my boss for $200 a month so I made money however you slice it. Anyway this is a sweet Buick, right down to the fiber-optics on the hood. Thanks for giving this full-sized ride the respect it deserves.
It would probably sell quicker if there were a few pictures of the owner in front of the car without their shirt on!!!
This car is thousands of miles away from me. If it wasn’t I’d buy it, and I’m advising anyone near its location to go buy it NOW.
Nice car but unappealing colors. Glossy “primer gray” over puke blue velour? Why are all the best preserved cars the worst colors? Always seems to be the case. Maybe people don’t drive them because of the gross colors. These are nice looking cars in general but they were poorly built and not very reliable. Still, not a bad price for the condition.
I agree on the color comment. What gives? My folks had a 77 Electra 225 and an 82 Park Avenue, with an 80 Pontiac Parisienne in between. Both the Pontiac and the 77 225 had 350’s. The Park Ave had a 3.8 v6. Decent engine, but underpowered in the big PA. They traded it on an 83 Olds 88. Mom liked it so much she kept it long enough to jave the engine rebuilt. I was still living at home and My dad and I pulled it and had it sent to the machine shop and reinstalled. Imagine my (and later their) disappointment when they traded it on an 85 cadillac fwd with the 4.1v8. The body chassis and interior were awesome, but the engine blew a head gasket shortly after purchase. It was rebuilt. Then trans went out. Dad sold it to a co worker with a similar caddy with a bad engine. I think he broke even, which is a miracle!
The 77 225 was silver with light blue velour int. The 82 PA was white with dark blue velour. The Pontiac was bronze with brown velour or cloth, i forget. The 83 olds 88 was champagne with brown vinyl non power bench, but i switched the seats for mom with a brown velour power 60/40 set out of a buick in the local wrecking yard for $100 (!) now all new cars have black or charcoal interior. Bleh!
Deuce and a quarter, that’s what they were called in my Bronx neighborhood, they rode beautiful and had power, but not this generation of Buick, these had that miserable 307 motor in it, couldn’t get out of its own way, I had a new 83 Rivera w that motor, last GM car I bought, pice of trash, now the 69s thru 76, had 455s in them, dual exhaust sometimes too, after 72, not as powerful but the 307 in this car is junk
Piece of trash, sorry for typo
The quality of the 1980s GM vehicles is really poor. We had a 1981 Cadillac my father bought brand new that was a bucket of bolts by the time the warranty was over at 12,000 miles. If this was an ’85’-’90, that would be a lot better. I would think all of the rubber on the engine will have to be replaced.
Ooh 81 Cadillac had the 8/6/4 big reason why America is full of Toyota’s now, that was a bad motor, 1 yr only, yeah GM really stuck it to us
I remember seeing the TV commercials to those 1981 Cadillac 8/6/4 engines. The guy with the white hair said “see your Cadillac dealer” at the end of the commercial.
First, the GM diesel engine debacle, then these. Did GM bother testing their new innovations sufficiently? Or did they only run them for about the equivalent of 10,000 miles, and if there were no problems, they concluded they were OK and would just simply pay for warranty repairs. It seemed that they would rather “do R&D on the cheap”, and let their customers do the rest of their new technology testing, than do serious R&D testing development necessary to get them running right. But I suppose their bean counters told them that would cost too much. Those 1981 Cadillacs that came out with the 8/6/4 engines should have been called the “Gratte-Papier Edition.”
I bought a dark blue 81 Sedan de Ville when it was 10 years old but it was modified to run only on 8. That was my favorite car I ever owned.
The twin to that car has been sitting one mile from my house, for a few months now, with a for sale sign in the window. It caught my eye because it looked so perfect. I was by there today and it was gone. It was identical down to the wide white walls, but I don’t remember if it had that tag on the front bumper. We don’t have front tags here in Lawrenceville, Ga. I love those big cars like that and if I could have used it I would probably own it now. I’m wondering if it isn’t the same car.
my grandpa had one really nice he used to let me borrow it i would buy it!
Everyone is whining about it being so far away. NY to Florida is only about $550 so negotiate that off the price. I own a car shipping company and that’s all it costs.