I am a Cadillac fan but I do love me some Buick. My first ride at 15 was a 1971 Centurion convertible that I didn’t really fully appreciate (of course I would love to have that car now). I wanted an Electra as it was longer and looked so cool with fender skirts.
More recently I had a 1970 Buick Riviera GS that was unfortunately written off by a careless driver in a Suburban.
I remember seeing lots of Electras on a family road trip that took us through Memphis. At the time these cars were only four or five years old. So I guess I wanted one of these even before I was smitten with 1959 Cadillacs.
My favorite Buick of all time (71-72 Riviera boat tails are darn close) is the 76 Electra Limited Landau coupe. The last of the big Electras before downsizing in 77 and also the last for the mighty 455 mill.
The 76 Electra Limited Landau coupe is surprisingly rare, I have only seen two for sale locally over the last decade or so. The original owner had after deciding to blow a wad of cash on the top of the line Buick had to upgrade to the plusher Limited model and then spend even more when he checked off the Landau roof option. So when a friend was selling his former one owner, never winter driven Electra coupe I jumped on it, promising “J” the spring will see the departure of some of my other cars.
The Deuce and a Quarter slang name for the Electra refers to the base Electra’s name, the Electra 225. The over length of the car was 225 inches, the name was retained even after the length increased 233.3 inches in the seventies.
Hugs,
April
Here is a clip from the movie I Got The Hook Up with a car chase involving a rather worn but still fast 76 Electra Limited Landau coupe:
