If the seller is correct, this is a 1976 Buick Electra Limited Landau Custom Coupe–what a mouthful! That’s like the kid in school that got every family name added in the middle somewhere and hated to have their full name read out the first day of class! This long-named long car is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is up for sale here on eBay, where the buy it now price is $4,500 and even lower offers are being considered.
That’s a lot of car! The 1971-76 Electra was the largest ever offered by Buick and it sure shows! As a matter of fact, next year the model was downsized by almost a foot in length! This one looks very original but not perfect–more about that in a moment.
When you look closely at the paint, the horizontal surfaces show some weathering, pinstriping is faded, and there’s even a few spots where rust is starting to peek out. Again, a basically solid car that may respond to buffing, but I would count on an eventual paint job. On the bright side, there’s probably not any bodywork hiding!
The half vinyl top looks pretty nice, though, although again there’s a little rust poking out just below it.
Holy cow, what an interior! I found others like this on the internet, so believe it or not I think this is the factory upholstery, although I think it’s faded, along with the carpet. This is an Alabama/Arkansas car before being taken to Oklahoma, so I’m guessing it was left in the sun for a good while to fade that much. There is a damaged spot on the driver’s seat.
Looking under the car, things are pretty good except for the exhaust system. I don’t know if this is the result of a bunch of short trips or what, but you are going to have to replace it all. Please don’t buy the car and drive it with the holes like this!
The 455 cubic inch V8 was somewhat emasculated by 1976 due to emissions equipment, but still was good for 345 ft-lbs of torque, even if it only had 205 horsepower. The seller has done a lot of basic mechanical refurbishment like the fuel system, cooling system and some brake work. Overall, this looks like a great cruiser that you could improve over time if you wanted to, or just enjoy it as is. Do you agree?
Just like driving your favorite chair down the road…great cruisers
I had a similar one a few years back. Mine was a Le Sabre. The Electra was the top shelf. Mine was a couple steps down.
Nice cars for road trips.
Inside
Front
those are not V6 emblems on the front fenders are they?
Yes, this monster had a 231 Cu. In. V6 in it. It ran good but it was under powered. They fellow I sold it to replaced it with the same year Buick 350 V8. That’s what it needed. Much better road car after the swap.
My grandpa had this exact car (sans the wacky interior fabric) in the late-’70s in what I thought was just a touch darker shade of blue, which may have been Continental Blue Metallic. What a car!
Love the 75/76 Electras. It looks a little rusty under the car. 4500? 3000 would be a fine buy. Make mine a 75 black on red super plush interior Park Ave please with a moonroof. The Park Ave interior makes this car’s interior look like the inside of an old dump truck. Watch out, those padded tops hide alot of rust issues.
The Electra Park Avenue was only available as a 4 door hardtop. Therefore, there is no such thing as a 75/76 Park Avenue with a moonroof.
swell cruiser, who cares about the exhaust it needs a proper set of duals anyway!
No Buick expert but a big fan having owned an 80 Electra 225 Park Avenue sedan back in the day. TTBMK the limited and custom are different trim lines and this one according to the vin decoder is a limited (shown below) which leads me to believe that the actual model name is 1976 Buick Electra 225 Limited Hardtop Coupe. Although the landau script appears on the vehicle I believe that it indicates the presence of the partial vinyl top which TTBMK all the limiteds had. It may be a misnomer in this case because in modern automobile nomenclature it usually means simulated convertible or having the rear enclosed ala a hearse, or having a landau bar ala 1967 Ford Thunderbird which this lacks but is close in style being a rear partial. More nit pickin’… this being the shorter coupe disqualifies it from being the longest.
Decoding: 4X37Y6H461192
Digit Usage VIN Decoded
1 Mfgr 4 Buick
2 Model X Electra Limited
3-4 Body 37 2 door sport coupe
5 Engine Y V8 455-4v 205/225hp
6 Year 6 1976
7 Plant H Flint MI (Buick)
8-13 Sequential Serial # 461192 461192
Electra 225 and Electra Limited were separate models in 75/76
I don’t get the interior. The ones I found in a Google search were all tufted like this one, but solid colors. Not sure what is going on with this one. are those white places all threadbare, exposing the backing fabric?
Fred, I found a couple like it googling…one in dark red and another one in blue. It looks like dimensional fabric with the light areas plain fabric and the colored areas having a “nap” like carpet. Odd!
That is a factory interior. I worked as a porter at a Buick store around this time and remember those seats. Link to a YouTube video below showing the same interior in Gold on a YELLOW Electra!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d86p-AWsMe8
No this was what Buick called Mahogany woodgrain velour. It was offered only in the 1976 Buick Electra, Riviera and maybe a couple other Buicks. I have one in red.
If its a pattern the upholstery reminds me of the 90s in an MC Hammer sort of way.
So ahead of its time LOL?!
I remember seeing dealer parking lots full of Buicks the size of the titanic when they were brand new. They stayed there for years. No one but no one wanted one of those new! The gas crunch was on and I remember my old man waiting in line with tickets to get half a tank of gas in his 1973 LTD station wagon.
Those big Buick and Chevy and ford tanks gave way for the rising sun cars! GM the king of the hill fell hard!
New foreign brands appeared! Gas sippers such as Honda and Datsun swooped in pushing back on the big three and created a market in the U.S.A. for themselves.
I cant even look at this Buick as it reminds me of how cooperate fools ran Americas greatest companies in to one of the biggest economic blunders that would impact America for years to come!
I do have to admit, years later a friend sold me a 1975 Buick Lesabre for 75 bucks…Best convertible cruiser I ever owned!
I loved that car but man GM executives at that time should have been flogged to death for the betrayal they served the public back in those days!
Contrary to popular belief, the 1977 GM downsized cars were already slated for production beginning in early 1970, long before the OPEC oil crisis. These biggest 1971 to 1976 full size GM cars were already set in stone by mid 1969. Furthermore, the 4 door cars were the last for GM and by 1975-1976 the Buick Electra was the longest 4 door hardtop ever produced by GM. They were longer than even GM’s own 71-76 Cadillac Deville
Wow, looks like moths ate that exhaust! Most cars had awful styling in 1976 but I think these big Buicks pulled it off with grace. A good paint guy could probably do an overspray of the worn top surfaces and blend it with the sides. Seller sounds reasonable too. I think my favorite would be a 4-door ’76 in that sky/baby blue with white leather interior.
I grew up “dragging main” in my Mom’s ’71 Limited, before they were choked to death with emissions. Very few cars could outrun it. Unbelievable performance for a land yacht! A little later in life I found a mint condition ’76 Park Avenue and bought it. Pure LUXURY but that car wouldn’t pull the hat off your head! Buick was at the top of their game in those days and GM was still building a quality product.
These were known as “deuce and a quarter” by many of the brothers…..
Buicks were a big part of my childhood, though my parents never owned one. The cars were so popular that In my hometown, there was actually a ’76 Buick Electra club. I recall there being many more coupes than sedans running around, though the dad of one of my friends had a ’76 sedan (he wasn’t a member of the group) that he converted to run on regular. I vividly remember being taken to the skating rink in that barge. And I’m a sucker for fender skirts! I would love to have this one.
My dad bought one just like this with blue velour seats. Drove it two years and 100000 miles and sold it to my grandpa, his father in law, who drove it from Jersey to Florida for the next 20 years. What a marsh mellow ride.
Nice car! But that padded vinyl roof looks “suspect” to me. More like an add-on situation rather than factory equipment. I don’t ever recall a “Landau Custom” nameplate on ANY Buick. It does look good, but I don’t believe it came from the factory that way. It surely had some sort of vinyl roof, in white, but not a padded one.
That yellow car with the gold interior and woodgrain accents looks totally fantastic! Great cars, great materials, but sometimes the build quality left a little to be desired. The red metallic car in Clinton, NY is another great looking car.
The vinyl roof on this car is very real and very factory. Buick started offering the “Thickly padded luxurious Landau top” in 1974. See attached factory demo video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tBgCD_OVv0
I don’t think that top is factory,either. Probably an E&G or similar. The gut is. I sold them in ’76. First year in the business.
That top is factory. See above ^
Oh my golly,why I remember these when they were brand new. They could cruise around all day long. We used to play the 8-track listening to this fella named Marvin Gaye. He had a hit song called “Let’s get it on”, why Ms.Daisy had me playing that song over and over. Come too think of it,I always told her that song made her frisky. Yes,you might say that Buick got parked behind a
lot of billboard signs. Yea,I sure love them Buicks. Now let me tell you about the DeSoto. Now there was a …………..
I just picked up a 1970 electra 225 convertible ,what a nice car. Needs a little work,like brakes,and i hav to put a heater core in it.She has a 370 hp 455 that that runs beautiful .I had been watching this car for about 4 yrs ,I always thought it would be out of my price range .Then a few weeks ago I saw the guy out side I stoped talked to him for about an hour and a half he saw that I was a car guy and sold me the car for $4200.00 .He new and I new the car was probably worth double that price. He just figured that I was the next guy to take care of the old girl,and I will .My wife already claimed it ,my boys love it and I have another car in My Barn.