There are plenty of old cars still motoring around that were quite impressive in their day – and still are! And…many won’t cost you an arm and a leg. For example, take this 1964 Buick Wildcat two-door hardtop. It projects an attractive but understated style, runs on big V8 power, possesses Buick, GM’s near-luxury division, workmanship, and its asking price is a-not-out-of-line $14,995. OK, intriguing, maybe? Let’s do a deep dive and see if this ferocious feline can back up my assumption. Los Angeles, California, is where you’ll find it, and it’s available here on craigslist. Thanks go to Jimo for the tip!
Buick had a good year in ’64, producing 510K vehicles and placing fifth in the great domestic auto production race. The Wildcat, a performance-oriented B-body model, managed an output of 54K units with the two-door hardtop, such as our subject car, accounting for a bit under half of that total, or 23K copies. Other Wildcat body styles included four-door sedans and hardtops, as well as a convertible. Hierarchy-wise, the Wildcat was positioned between the range-topping Electra 225 and the entry-level LeSabre. One of this car’s more notable styling features is the creased convertible top-look of its steel roof -a Fisher Body trait, dating to the ’62 model year and now in its swan song performance. And it wasn’t just Buick, as Chevrolet, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile all got in on the styling cue. This Wildcat actually looks pretty tame. The finish, chrome, and stainless presents excellently, and there’s no indication of rot lurking deep in any recesses. There are several underside images included in the listing, and they’re all worthy of two thumbs up. Capping off the visuals are Buick’s iconic road wheels – they’d make a lawn tractor look good.
“Flawless interior and new carpet,” is how the seller references the interior, and it is way sharp for a car that’s lived 62 years and traveled 100K miles – it almost seems too good to be original. The quality and condition are reflected not only in the two-tone vinyl upholstery but also in the door panels, headliner, and instrument panel – it’s all as good as new. It’s nice to find the original Sonomatic radio still in place, and noting that it hasn’t been replaced by a cheap aftermarket DIN unit stuffed into a raggedly cut opening. Yes, this is an upscale Buick, but no, there’s no A/C.
What makes a Wildcat Wild is its standard “Wildcat 445” V8 engine, which is a 325 gross HP, 401 CI powerplant. It’s connected to a first-year Super Turbine 400 (Turbo-Hydramatic 400) three-speed automatic transmission, which helps it to be “very reliable…. comfortable on the freeway, tracks straight down the road, and does not get hot.”
The seller claims, “We are ‘THE KING OF AFFORDABLE CLASSICS’!” which I guess one should take with a grain of salt. That said, this Buick seems to measure up well, and that aforementioned price of $14,995 is in the ballpark. A close inspection, of course, is always warranted, but this Wildcat is so far beyond the dreck that Buick builds today that it casts a pretty long shadow while just standing still, wouldn’t you agree?
Once again, I have to laugh at the glove box door. The lock design was evidently failure-prone, which is why you see EVERY 63-65 Riviera with a butchered glove box door from someone prying on it to get it open.
Of course, there is one example that wasn’t pried open, and that belongs to our own John M. Loughry. But the other 119,000 Rivs all have the mangled doors, as do the Wildcats too, apparently.
Glove box doors were a problem on all the GM cars in these years. My 65 Corvair has had issues too. It’s a simple adjustment, but the box has to be opened and most people don’t have the patience to do it without damaging the door.