Part of the joy of being in the old car hobby is getting to mentally drive down memory lane. Many enthusiasts actually seek out cars they remember from their youth to add to their collection to complete a circle of sorts. The 1973 Buick Regal for sale on eBay in beautiful Homer Glen, Illinois, brings back a flood of memories for me. This car, from the vinyl seats to the Colonial Yellow paint, is an almost perfect twin to the Buick Regal that my mother had when I was in elementary school. While the $12,999 asking price is a bit more than I would shell out for a car to relive my early youth, the price is a bargain for such a well-kept car. If one of you buys this 52,000-mile Buick, I will give you some cash for one more ride! Thanks to reader Curvette for this wonderful tip!
Let me take you back to the mid-seventies in Central Florida. Disney World opened a few years before, setting into motion a radical change for what could be best described as a sleepy little part of Florida. We had one interstate, a diminutive expressway, and a one-hour drive on state roads for the frequent runs to the beach. The speed limit was just 55 miles per hour nationwide. It was a time when, believe it or not, you could drive down the road drinking a beer, and car seats for youngsters were just a suggestion. Seat belts were in just about every car but were seldom used. Moms would reflexively throw their right arm across your young body in the passenger seat if an emergency stop was needed. American cars ruled the roads, Volkswagen Beetles were on the wane, and Japanese cars were making their foothold in the area. To say it was different back then would be a massive understatement. Survival was purely Darwinian.
The yellow Buick Regal was the third car my parents owned. The first was a big block first-generation Camaro bought off a used car lot that my mother fell in love with. My father was the one who loved to drag race, so his reluctance to agree to this car was a rare sign of common sense on his part. He thought that a young family should have a station wagon. I don’t think the Camaro lasted more than a week because it overheated habitually. It was returned to the car lot, and a dark green 1974 Buick Electra 225 took its place. Before long, that Buick went to the junkyard after my father was involved in a violent head-on collision.
The replacement was the yellow Regal. We ended up having the car for around four years. Like all GM products of the time, it was pretty reliable and was easy to work on. I have memories of “helping” my father replace the starter and an alternator or two. It was the stereotypical scenario where I was sent to get a specific wrench only to come back with a handful of them. Or the old “Hold the flashlight still!” deal. The good thing about cars of this era was that the average guy with a small box full of tools could fix nearly anything. I remember how insanely hot the vinyl seats got in the summer, and that the car had indents in the glovebox door to put drinks when you went to a drive-up restaurant or, joy of joys, a drive-in movie. In Florida, those mosquito repellent coils you activated with a lighter and placed on the dash were as mandatory as popcorn. Bottled Cokes were brought in a Coleman cooler. Those used to the comforts of today would recoil in horror at our existence back then, but I think I was very lucky to grow up in such a place and time.
What did the Regal in was the Achilles’ heel of many cars at the time: the vinyl top. To simplify the problem, rustproofing wasn’t that great back in the day, and vinyl tops gave moisture a safe place to stay. Rust would form under the top in various places, but most prominently around the edge of the top under the trim that separated the top from the body. Once the corrosion took a foothold, it wasn’t long before the circle of life took the car to the junkyard to provide parts for other Buicks. To add insult to injury, window leaks soaked the passenger rear floorboard when the Florida skies opened up every summer afternoon. I distinctly remember the floormat being out and seeing the road go by through a few small rust holes scantily clad by disintegrating carpet. Adios one good old Buick.
It was replaced by a humiliatingly slow Olds Cutlass Supreme coupe, and I never saw the car again. In fact, I have only seen one other example that was close to the way my mother’s car was optioned out in a write-up I did for this site. The car you see here may just be one of the few surviving examples of that year’s Regal. From what the seller tells us, this car lived a very sheltered life. It has just 52,000 miles on the odometer. Part of the reason for that was a 24-year hiatus from the road due to a blown head gasket. The ad covers the laundry list of parts that were replaced to return this car to the road. Now that it is roaming the streets again, the seller tells us that it has been in regular use this summer.
Is this a car that I would go down to the bank on Monday morning for? Not really. I was too young to get overly attached to the old Buick. I also was born with an unhealthy addiction to sportscars and prewar vehicles of all sorts. I do think it would be a great first collectible car for someone. Cars like this are rolling examples of why General Motors was so dominant in the marketplace in the early seventies. GM mastered the art of producing comfortable, reliable, and easy to own vehicles. They were also affordable, which gave my not very well-to-do parents proper transportation in the early years of their marriage. Despite what you have read on the internet, cars from the seventies weren’t that bad, and neither was life in that era. You kind of had to experience it to get the proper perspective, I guess.
Do you have a memory of a Buick like this one, or of cars from your youth? If so, please share them in the comments.
Kojak era Buick!