After several years of disappointing sales figures, Buick was on the rebound in 1962, a rebound that would carry them all the way through the ’60s in solid shape. Although the redesigned ’62s are sometimes overshadowed by the fact that the flagship Riviera joined the team the following year, they are still beautiful and reliable collector cars for those who want a head-turning classic without the initial buy-in price of something like a ’62 Impala. Our ever-reliable friend T.J. spotted this one on craigslist in St. Louis with a very reasonable asking price of $17,500, which is almost a steal for a driver-quality ’60s convertible.
Two things that are often missing from craigslist and Marketplace ads are pictures and text, and this Electra’s listing has both. The seller is refreshingly forthright about the car’s strengths and weaknesses, but there’s really nothing to scare a prospective buyer away. The car underwent a “partial restoration” back in the ’90s, which included a rebuild of the 401 Nailhead and “Turbine Drive” automatic. The 401 produced 325 horsepower and 445 lb.-ft. of torque, and the transmission (a Dynaflow in all but name) smoothly transferred that power to the wheels; remember, a Dynaflow does not shift in the traditional sense. This car does have air conditioning, but it will need servicing.
Perhaps the Electra’s only letdown is the interior; the upholstery is original leather and is showing almost every one of its 63 years. Fortunately, the seller has replaced the carpet and added seat belts, but they recommend new upholstery and a dash pad. The wipers, radio, and power seat also do not work. (Although it’s not mentioned, we have to assume that the power windows do work; the windows are down in these pictures, after all.)
The undercarriage shows no significant rust, and more surprisingly, no significant leaks. Buick Dynaflows have a tendency to drip from just about anywhere, so a dry one is a treat. You can see that Buick still used its beefy X-frame for 1962, a frame that would carry on in Rivieras all the way up to 1970.
When the car was refurbished in the ’90s, it was stripped to metal and repainted in its original Marlin Blue Metallic; the paint has “some small defects…but [is] still very presentable.” The white top is also in nice condition, and the power top has new “cylinders, hoses, and pump.” The seller says that they bought it from the family of the original owner and has a stack of receipts for the work that has been done. It looks like a fun cruiser that will turn all the heads this summer, and the price seems (at the very least) like a good starting point for some good-faith negotiating. Let us know in the comments if a big Buick is something you’d want to cruise around in.
Beautiful Buick Aaron. Love the color combination. The only thing I’d change is restore the seats. I’d match whats there. It looks absolutely solid otherwise and somebodys going to have a great ride for this summer with the top down for sure. I’d be very happy to have this in my driveway!!!
🎵 It’s Electrafying🎶without even Trying! 👍 A Buick I really would rather have!
@ Rick W….your 2nd reference is why the plates on my ’92 Roadmaster are ‘WYRRHAB’. A QUALITY ride!…when better automobiles are made, BUICK will build’em!
Unfortunately BUICK no longer builds CARS. And I couldn’t bring myself to be the U in SUVS as current advertising declares,
I see Bluto driving off, with his Sorority gal, into the sunset at the end of Animal House.
I thought the exact same thing! senator Blutarski. ;)
Perfect for taking the family out for ice cream on a summer evening!
I always thought the ’62 Buicks were somewhat contrived looking. Not as coherent as the ’61s that preceded them or the ’63s that followed. But hey, this is a Buick and who am I to complain? This car is going to make someone very happy.
The 61s were definitely interesting looking cars (in a nice way) with their Dagmar front fenders. The 62s were a change but I don’t feature any incoherence in their appearance, with 63s looking much the same. All nice early 60s designs. Perhaps a little plain compared to the 61 and 62 Chryslers with their big grills and glitzy dashboards, and more in line with the look of the Fords. I personally think that the Pontiacs were the nicest of them all.
In my opinion, the 62 to 68 Buick styling was the best of any era. Of course, I owned a 62 V8 Buick Skylark, and almost pulled the trigger on a 67 California GS 3 speed!
Oh my God! There it is!! Just about like the other one I owned in ’73! And though mine was either a LeSsbre or an Invcta, it was painted a dark Maroon with a White top and white interior.
And it looked like this car only with different badging. Mine did indeed have a 401 under the hood, but I had the Dynaflow tranny swapped out for the much better T-400 automatic that shifted much better than the original unit did. My Mom or my
older sister would drive me down to Champaign Illinois once a week to do The Marvin Lee Show that aired on WCIA channel 3
Saturday afternoons from 4:00-4:30 CST. And though all you saw was my left hand and the end of my guitar 🎸, I made $125 a week doing that show. Just try to be a kid working for McDonald’s back then when the pay there was peanuts. Oh, I had fun doing that show, but I went to work for Marty Robbins
as a member of his warm up band later that year. And the car?
My Mom would drive it at least 2 more years before I sold it in the spring of ’75. Boy, do I wish I had it back now…
This is a beautiful car!
This is a beautiful car!
Lots of potential here. A convertible with a/c was pretty rare in ’62.
My second car was a 62 Wildcat…..same blue color with a white vinyl top and white interior. Really loved this car which my dad sold on me when I left for college.
What a sweetheart! I’m in love.
I’ve told ya’ll before around 1970 my Moms had a 1962 Buick Invicta convertible in mint green/turquoise with matching interior and a white convertible top. At the same time, I owned a 1962 Buick Electra 225 convertible in baby blue, matching interior and white convertible top. The driveway looked so cool when both cars were parked side by side.
When I first saw this car I almost cried. It brought back such great memories of my Electra. In fact at first it could have been my car but mine didn’t have air conditioning or seat belts. Plus if you look at the picture with the firewall, that’s what color mine was. They repainted this a darker blue which is a travesty IMO.
Mom’s and mine both had the 401 nail head, p/s, p/b auto, power top, wsw tires and full disc hibcaps. Mine had p/w, p/tr, duel exhaust and of course all the extra chrome trim of the upscale Electra 225.
This car does not have the Electra hubcaps which are the same as the Invicta, but have added fins all around.
I want my Electra back! That’s the car I traded in for my MG Midget in 1971. Stupid me!
WOW! You should have gotten 2 1/2 MG Midgets! LOL
In the 70s-80s in HS & college, I would go back & forth between large US automatics —> small ‘foreign’ manuals —> repeat. At one point in 1989, I had:
’72 Electra 4-dr HT
’79 Dodge Challenger (Mitsubishi 2-door hatch)
’69 Cutlass S convertible
’65 Fury III convertible
’83 Supra 5-sp
I bought screwed-up cars because they were cheap; I chose them based on the necessary repairs being within my skill-set. I kept at a minimum two at any given time, in case one broke down, so I could still get to work on time and have the time/space to repair or replace the others.
Had I the room I’d love to grab this car. Then put the Electra wheel covers on.
It’s inexcusable & so sad that the original owner neglected the care of those leather seats! Lack of saddle soap & a little elbow grease has shamefully taken its toll!
My parents 62 LeSabre had a dual quad setup that was dealer installed. They bought it just as the 63’s were introduced, it was a dealer “demonstrator” car and the dealer was a family friend. As a 10 year old I thought it was the fastest car in the world…
It’s no ’59 Buick, but it’s still one beautiful car.
To John Frazier: this simply shows how two people can disagree. I thought that the 1959 Buick was utterly hideous, and the 1960 version was only a little better. But then, outside of the 1959 Ford, I thought that nearly all of the ’59s were about as ugly as things could get. By 1962, sanity was returning.
Aww C’mon Angel, don’t beat yourself up over trading your Buick in for a sports car. We’ve all done a few bone headed things in our lives so you’re not alone there. From where I sit, you were just another young lady that wanted a sports car to be cool at school. I actually dated a lady our age who did the same thing you did and regretted it in a very big way. And like you, she had a Midget that she bought new. Her regret came one day when she went to the beach with her girlfriends and forgot to put her top up when she parked her car. So not only did she get the sunburn 🥵 from Hell that day, but that black
interior certainly didn’t do her any favors driving back to her home in Bowling Green. She told me that the heat from those seats made her skin blister long before she got home. And me,
I traded my ’66 Calais 4-door hardtop for a POS Oldsmobile Toronado that all but broke the bank. New front tires every week, an engine that kept overheating no matter what I did.
And last but not least, both CV shafts fell out of the car while I was towing a small 10 foot john boat to our favorite fishing spot for a friend of mine. Almost $1,500 later, (in 1970s money) I wound up trading it title for title for my ’62 Buick ragtop. And the second thing I regret, finding alcohol and trying to drink away my problems. Seems that no matter how much you drink and how effed up you get, the things that caused you
sadness will be waiting for you when you sober up. Been sober
for 47 years now and don’t even miss it. Hope that helped honey. Gotta go get some breakfast and finish my laundry 🧺
Don’t feel bad dear, we all do it.💋
Oh I know we’ve all ben there, Ken. So many stories on here, but as you said either we were young or broke or both.
But I really do miss my Electra. It was luxurious as some of my succeeding cars but still, it was a favorite. That’s why I’m a Cadillac/Buick girl.
Oh, there’s a ’62 Electra 225 4 door here in B’more if anyone is interested i could try to find the owner. Brown with white top
Tell you what Angel, if it would make you feel better, I can use this car to make an angeimonile for my Queen. As for that 4-door you mentioned, it’s nice to hear that not ALL the old cars aren’t gone from there. If I were there and in the market for something, I’d be looking at this one REALLY close as it’s hard to evict the tin worm once he gets his teeth into your pride and joy. Well darling, I’m off to practice all pencil ✏️ drawing on a Buick mash up car in one of my car coloring books. You can buy them on Amazon for anywhere between $7-$15. The pictures are of good quality and easy to work with. And it’s very relaxing too. These books are also recommended for people who have dementia as the activity of coloring helps them to focus and keep their minds from turning to mush. These would be great for your car room when you get one. But sorry sweetie,
there isn’t a Cadillac print in the bunch. If you buy them, let me know here BF so that I can tell you what markers and pencils work the best on these books. Give it a try, you may like it.
Hey Ken that would be nice. Thanks for thinking of me.
Yeah, I’m a little worried about the forgetfulness, especially after what I just went through with my friend.
There are lots of classics in Baltimore. Besides that ’62 Buick Electra 225 4 Dr I just saw a 1963 Chevy ll station wagon and a 1969 Mercury Marquise. Just a couple examples.
I’m sorry to hear that your friend is getting worse. I hope you’re coping well with it. Maybe you should try the coloring books for your friend. We did that for Mom and It worked great.
Every time I was working on a print, she would color in the coloring books we got her. At least it worked for a while. Then it was all downhill from there.
I think she’s past that already. She’s living in the past. She thinks her son is her husband who’s been dead for 30 years. She thinks I’m some white woman who harmed her and she hates me.
But that’s would have been a good idea. He’ll, maybe I’ll do it. LOL
Well, as time went on, Mom didn’t even know that my SIL was her daughter! She called her the lady who lives in the back of the 🏠 house. Sounds as though your friend is in what they call
End Stage Dementia. I’m mo doctor but that’s what a neurologist told us about Mom before she passed. Try the coloring books, they might work.
…And that’s what we went through with Mom. She was very aggressive with my SIL and it’s that kind of thing that’s hard to watch. I recall one time I made dinner for the two of us and couldn’t find the silverware. I looked high and low for it and couldn’t find it so I called the girls and let them know. Sis came home and found it all hidden in the freezer! Mom was being a stinker that night. Wish I was there to help.