- Seller: John and Jill W
- Location: Peoria, Illinois
- Mileage: 84,311 Shown
- Chassis #: 4846764134741
- Title Status: Clean
- Engine: 401 Wildcat 445 V8
- Transmission: Automatic
This 1966 Buick Electra Convertible has been tucked safely away in the seller’s warehouse for several decades. It’s been in their family since it was new, so letting it go has likely been a difficult choice, but they would rather see someone else enjoy it than for it to just stay parked. So, they have decided to list it here as a Barn Finds Auction! It’s located in Peoria, Illinois and you can cast your bids below.
The seller’s inlaws purchased the car new, but by 1977, they weren’t using it much and decided to move it along. John and his wife Jill decided they wanted to keep it in the family, so they purchased it, put the title in Jill’s name, and moved it to their house. It lived in the garage during the summer months and was used as an occasional nice weather cruiser. They moved it to their warehouse during the winter to park their daily driver in the garage. In the early ’90s, the car needed a new convertible top, so they had a correct style replacement installed with the original glass rear window being retained. A few years later, they decided to put the car in long-term storage at the warehouse, so they put the car on blocks, and that’s where it has stayed ever since.
Other than the replacement top, the car is all original. The interior is dusty but appears to be in good overall condition. The Electra 225 was Buick’s flagship full-size luxury offering when it was introduced in 1959, and the name stuck around until 1990. By modern standards, this example doesn’t seem overly luxurious, with its vinyl-covered bench seat, but by 1960s standards, this was a big, comfortable car, especially for a convertible! It features a power convertible top, power windows, and a power front seat.
Under the hood, we find a 401 cui V8. This one is a Wildcat 445 with a factory-rated torque output of 445 ft-lbs and 325 horsepower. It’s paired with a 3-speed automatic and features A/C, power steering, and power brakes. Since the car has been parked, it’s hard to say what will be needed to get it back on the road, but the car was running when it was parked, so hopefully, all that will be needed is a full service and fluid flush.
When it was new, this Buick was a classy drop-top. While it will need some work to look its best again, the fact that it’s all original is a huge selling point. So, if you’d love to be the one to clean this warehouse find up and put it back on the road, be sure to bid. Leave any questions you have for the seller in the comments, and they will do their best to respond.
Bid On This Auction
William O'Day bid $6,500.00 2024-10-24 10:54:44
Tim bid $6,150.00 2024-10-24 08:19:25
oldcarguy5085 bid $5,900.00 2024-10-22 12:43:51
Crazy bid $5,250.00 2024-10-22 08:46:54
66buick electra bid $5,000.00 2024-10-20 15:52:27
Ronn James bid $4,000.00 2024-10-18 18:25:00
showcar57 bid $1,000.00 2024-10-18 08:57:03
Rex Kahrs bid $750.00 2024-10-17 16:06:15
Rob bid $500.00 2024-10-17 10:27:55
We get it, it’s a legit warehouse find. Now clean it up to show people what they are actually bidding on.
Unless the reserve is $2500…
Does the motor still turn over? I have a 70 Buick Skylark I parked in my garage with 75k miles for 5 years and the motor locked up! Buicks don’t like sitting too long
Totally agree. Get it to a reputable mechanic, clean it up and you’ve doubled your price without too much effort.
This is one whammer jammer in the words of one of the writers here. A hardtop Wildcat same year is the bomb but a convertible of any size says Let’s Party.
cool ride. wish it were closer i would go look at it. could be a good investment with some work.
Absolutely incredible! GM was the best in the world. I have forgotten just how great their top end products were from all points, design and engineering. This Buick is a mighty vehicle! NOTHING THEY MAKE NOW COMPARES TO THIS 58 YEAR OLD CAR! America needs reborn. We need to remember who we actually are. We have greatly deteriorated. Just look around. Look at our vehicles and everything else. I remember. We used to be great. Not anymore.
Blame it on outsourcing and union picket lines.
Any pictures of the trunk/underside? Rust? Does engine turn over/run?
Im a little confuse by a pic showing what appears as a back up corner crunch, looks like left, driver side rear quarter. But when looking at the whole left side of car, it appears straight & not crunched in??
Also, I thought when blocking, the car shows blocks close to the drums on end of control arms so as to lift the tires off the ground. I thought the purpose of blocking, was to raise the car up enough not just that the tires are off the ground, but that the suspension is such that the springs are not compressed? The pics appear to me, as if the springs would still be compressed where the blocks are instead of closer to the rear end thus letting the control arms, hang while tires arent still touching. Am I missing something? Otherwise, I’d LOVE to have this one to restore & enjoy as a sunday summer cruiser, something as rare to see every day.
Some lucky person is going to love getting their hands on this super rare Buick and hopefully for next to nothing. But I think the more people that see this classic the more it will be bid up. Boy l would love to have this baby. Hope it finds a good home and someone that can do it justice.
Will you look at the size of those rear side windows. The rear seat is massive. Also, the car is so wide it really could use power door locks.
I had a 1962 Buick Electra 225 convertible in baby blue (there’s that Italian baby blue again). I think it was a tinge smaller width wise.
I love my Buicks almost as much as my Cadillacs.
David B. America hasn’t deteriorated, the rest of the world has decided middle class not a bad idea. What we have wrong is the prevailing attitude that we all benefit by making wealthy people more wealthy in the hope the spillage will help everyone else. I am a child of the Cold War and therefore was raised with an ingrained mistrust of China, but I cannot minimize the fact they have brought half a billion people from poverty to middle class standard of living. If we didn’t have the faith and trust of the American dollar and the assurance of our legal system they would inundate us with our own excess. Oh yeah, what a great deuce and a quarter. Even Mao would be king riding in the back on a summer day with the top down.
I highly suggest you go to China, and mingle with the population.Take up a job. That is, if they let you stay in their “paradise” long enough. You may find their version of “middle class” is a whole lot different than ours.
Once again, the disinterested classic car populous (which is reportedly dwindling at a precipitous rate) has joined in the bidding on this 58-year-old bomber, and continues to push the price upward. I was in it myself, but I know when I’m licked.
Hagerty has a #4 example of this car at $8200, and Hagerty is usually high in their valuations. A #4 car “runs and drives, but has visible flaws and may need mechanical and cosmetic attention”. So this car isn’t quite up to Hagerty’s #4 standard. So, Rex’s adjusted value is around 5K, given the unknowns of this car.
I will be interested to watch this auction and see how high these Millennials…no, wait….GenZ folks….no that’s not right…Genx….GenWTF…Gen “video game loser/moochers still living in their parent’s basement” bid this up to. Well, we all know it’s us Boomers that are still kicking and still buying these cars, no matter what you read on the internet.
Apparently $5k doesn’t sniff the reserve..so it is probably overpriced.
Great. Another hero Boomer. Your go-kart got pushed up the hill by the Silent Generation and the Greatest Generation before them. You enjoyed the easiest ride in the history of civilization. And now you won’t help push the kids go-kart up their hill.
Assuming you’re talking to me: lost my father at age 7; moved out of my Mother’s house at age 17; put myself through college; learned the building trades and worked construction for nearly 40 years; raised two kids we didn’t helicopter, and they became successful adults; married 38 years and counting. It hasn’t been an easy ride, but we did work hard and make good decisions.
If you know a young person interested in working on old cars, send them to my house and I’ll show them how.
Hey Rex. Sorry if I was a little… douchey?
Thanks for being more civil. I’m a boomer too ( no class of ’61.)
Raised two self-sufficient kids and worked for everything I got, same as you.
And thanks also for the generous offer to mentor the kids. Have a good week.
This was just a step down from a Cadillac and if you drove one of these in ’66( the year that I was born) you almost “arrived” because these weren’t cheap but you got a lotta car for the money.
this is one car that deserved a 140 speedo
If you have to hit a telephone pole at speed, I highly recommend this model
What car do I swoon over more than an Olds Ninety-Eight? This. What a car!
Hi Angel, think I told you about my ’62
LeSabre ragtop. Dark maroon with a
white top and interior. And boy, was that car sharp! 401 nailhead 3-speed
automatic, what’s not to like. As I said, the young ladies loved it but it was always my older sister that drove me down to Champaign to record the
Marvin Lee Show which aired on WCIA channel 3 Saturdays at 5 PM.
Great fun even though all you saw was my left hand. I played rhythm
guitar for him for 2 seasons. And the
Buick? I traded it for a ’59 Plymouth
Sport Fury hardtop owned by a family friend. It really bites to be legally blind and love cars the way I do. I never could drive the cars I’ve owned
but with the help of others, I enjoyed
them as much as you do. As for this
Buick here, I could just see myself
And a young lady tooling around town
in it. As we drive, I reach out to hold
her hand. Then, ar a traffic light, I lean
in to kiss her and POOF! Dream over!
Goin’ to McDonald’s for $9.50. Back to work folks
@Kenneth C
The color combo sounds beautiful. Especially since mine was that horrible baby blue with baby blue interior and white top. But, at least it had all the bells and whistles for the time.
Mom had a turquoise green ’62 LeSabre drop top. They looks so cool parked next to each other in the driveway.
Oh, I almost forgot, Kenneth…..
I’d be happy to drive you around, with a couple of conditions.
1) we buy, refurbish and use the 1965 Cadillac hearse for that business you were talking about, and
2) it’s ok with Mrs. Kenneth. 😉
Is there a flirting policy on Barnfinds?
@Rex
🤣
Just friends. If I was going to flirt….. well, let’s leave that alone. 😉
This car has Vice Grip Garage written all over it.
Hi Angel! Sadly, no. I lost her to a massive stroke in 2003. Would’ve been 42 years for us this year. And yes, she’s still alive but confined to a
nursing home for the rest of her life as the stroke left her with very severe
mental health issues that have left her very violent and abusive. I tried to
live with her several years ago only to
find this out. Stupid me! I tried it anyway and had two heart attacks in
the three months I was with her. So
on the advice of my doctor, I walked away and never saw her again. She also tried to harm my SIL and niece
who were helping me out with this
misguided project. And to say that
we all learned a hard lesson was clearly an understatement. We now live in Melbourne Florida, where we share a small apartment together. As
for me, I haven’t tried dating anyone since then. Most of the ladies on POF
or other dating apps won’t even consider dating a disabled man–no
matter how good he might be. So I
work and come up here to sometimes
be a PITA to someone out there. So yeah, if I could, I’d be more than happy
to partner up with you and see where it goes. POOF! Dream over! Chic fila
$7.50! Back to work again folks!
Kenneth,
I am so sorry. I know you loved her dearly to do what you did. Hard lesson or not, bravo to you.
Whan I first started reading your post that you would have been with her 42 years I thought you were talking about the 1962 Buick LeSabre. 😄 dum@ss me. 🤭
As you’ve read in my post I lived in Florida back in the 70s. Orlando, Miami Beach & Gainesville. But I digress.
Maybe, with any luck and money, once I’m settled in Baltimore, I can take a trip to Florida. Might seem strange to some but I would like to me the members of the GALYS!
Did you hear that Rick W? Frog? Anyone else nearby.
Discussions of classic cars, ideas, plans, maybe even a junkyard or two.
Finally I meet a bunch of people who I actually have something in common with.
Sounds good to me Angel! Say, maybe we can make and sell our own
merch too. Right now, I’m putt-puttin’
around my shop trying to finish up a
few things. On my table right now, there is an ’01 Ram 1500 SLT pickup
with a 12 inch lift with Rock Star rims
sitting on 35 inch tires. Just waiting for the paint to dry before I can continue with it. I promise dear, I’ve got a Caddy coming. Gotta get the
customer’s stuff done first.
@Dave Brown Blame it on outsourcing and union picket lines.