Although Buick first used the Century nameplate in 1936, it was the GM division’s mid-size automobile in the 1970s. In 1975 and 1976, it was selected as the official pace car of the annual Indianapolis 500. A 2-door hardtop with T-Tops was used as convertibles in this range had been discontinued in 1972. 1,813 replicas are said to have been built in 1975 alone and this is one of them. It’s fallen on hard times in recent years and will require extensive rust repair, particularly to the floorboards.
Actor James Garner piloted the Century Indy 500 pace car in ‘75, and it came with a 455 cubic inch V8. The replicas for public consumption had the (slightly) more fuel-efficient 350 V8 (well, it was the era of awakening for rising gasoline prices). The cars were dubbed the “Free Spirit” as the U.S.’s bicentennial celebration for 1976 had already begun. Bold graphics adorned the cars and different patterns were chosen in 1975 over 1976. The original owner of this example didn’t like the artwork when the car was purchased new and had them all but removed (likely trashed in the process).
We told this Buick runs and drives though it has been out of commission since 1985. It was parked for some reason with 85,000 miles and left to fend for itself – outdoors and near water. So, Mother Nature had begun to consume it from the underside up. They can see through the floorboards in some places and the trunk floor is also rusty along with some exterior sheet metal.
Apparently, the Century has stayed in Washington State all its life and there’s plenty of original paperwork, including the MSRP sticker, to go with the purchase. The listing sounds like a one-family car, but the seller does not say. Perhaps the car was owned by a father or uncle and was parked temporarily, and no one ever got around to moving it to safer quarters.
If you decided to restore this Century, we assume that you would be able to find reproductions of the graphics to bring the car back to Indy 500 specs. And we wonder if the T-Tops leak and that contributed to the sad state of affairs with corrosion. The last photo here is one of what one of these replicas would have looked like back in the day, not this one. From Gig Harbor, Washington, this project is available here on eBay where the current bid is just $610. There is a reserve north of there that must be met.
Looks like the t tops leaked for 20 years and nobody told him!
Lol, got that right Camino.
Hurst hatches were rust waiting to happen.
Had one back in the late 70’s and it was a very nice car but never could get the drivers side hatch to stop leaking. It’s a shame this one was left to rot.
So is this a 455 or a 350? The big blue engine was the same color in 75/76 and are really hard to tell apart just by looking at them. The 350 Olds was gold and the 455 was blue making it easy to tell them apart, but the Buick had to be difficult lol. I know they said the factory clone had a 350 but I know of at least 1 clone that has the 455 because they could be ordered with it and a collector near me has 1 of them.
Isn’t this the 2nd one of these on here in the last couple of weeks? Both of them in poor condition. Maybe the last one was a Free Spirit, just not a pace car.
I would hope that fan shroud/coolant bottle is good, because they are probably impossible to find at this point.
I have always loved the colonnade body style. The Buick wore it particularly well. Too bad it’s not nicer so we could hear how much it needs air.
an anyone say PARTS CAR