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Very Green 1973 Buick Electra Limited Heads To Auction Block

Any of you remember that massive luxo-barge your grandparents used to have? The one with the doors so heavy, if you didn’t have your foot in the car when it was slammed, it might turn you into an elementary school pegleg? You will soon be able to relive all of those childhood memories, as this cleaner-than-your-grandmother’s-Sunday-go-to-meeting-dress 1973 Buick Electra Limited is heading to the auction block in Florida.

This green machine is nearly spotless. Resplendent in what appears to be Willow Green, it looks to have always been kept in rust-free climes, stored indoors, cleaned and loved. With scarcely forty-two thousand miles on the clock from new, this example has averaged fewer than twelve hundred miles per year. Chrome bumpers and stainless trim are brilliant. The paint finish is as shiny as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Glass and weatherstrip are both in fine fettle. The wire wheel covers are still shiny, with no signs of corrosion noted.

The interior of this Buick Electra Limited is in startlingly good condition. The seats all appear to have had grandma’s clear vinyl covers removed yesterday, with no signs of wear or stains anywhere on the green patterned fabric. The carpets are plush and clean, with factory Buick rubber mats protecting them. The dash is free from cracking. An HC Hormosa radio by Retro Sound with 4 new speakers has been fitted. The Buick Electra comes equipped with power windows, power locks, power mirrors, air conditioning, power steering, power brakes, and cruise control.  Everything here looks showroom fresh.

Beneath the hood of the Buick Electra Limited is the 455 cubic-inch big block. The engine bay is clean and appears to be as original as the rest of the car. This is Buick Electra is ready for comfort cruising or long distance travel in style, with room for six and all the luggage you can muster.

This one-owner Buick Electra Limited comes with the original owner’s manual, promotional literature, new car documentations, and service manuals. It is headed to the auction block at Mecum Auctions upcoming Orlando sale taking place this July 28th through the 31st.

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Comments

  1. This would had made a better car than the Black Beauty that Britt Reid, A.K.A. “The Green Hornet” would had used. All it need is Kato in the driver’S seat!

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    1. Beautiful car!!!!

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    2. My first car was a 1973 Buick Century 4 door. It was dark brown with a lighter brown interior. It had a Buick 350 4bbl. It wasn’t as big as the Buick Electra, but it was beautiful to drive.

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  2. I grew up with one of these as our main family car. It was enormous and had power everything, which was a big deal to us.
    My father absolutely hated it though. It got horrible gas mileage, and needed constant work because it broke down all the time.
    I remember it best up on ramps, being worked on.

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  3. I absolutely love this car. What an elegant piece of history. For green, I like that color too.

    A little bit of trivia: I always thought the 1973-1976 Cadillac Deville/Fleetwood were the biggest cars GM produced at that time. I was wrong. It was the Electra! If memory serves me well, I think it was about 2 inches longer than the Sedan DeVille. Also, these things were basically tanks that would never die, but the rust got the best of them in the mid-west where we lived.

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    1. I always thought the ’76 Electra was one of the prettiest, stalely Buicks ever. Prettier than the ’76 Sedan Deville.

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      1. Always loved the style of the 4 door & 2 door hardtops & convertibles from the 60’s and 70’s.

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  4. Had grade school friend whose family was a Buick family
    Father had a Electra and older brother a Wildcat
    The Electra was burgundy
    This was early 1970s

    Olds had its version – the 98

    True Luxo Barge

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  5. Had a great uncle a GM engineer buy a new Electra 225 every year for many years. They were big.

    I recall how he would turn me lose on them as a kid and I would at least find 4-5 things wrong on each cars. From minor to major like the dealer delivering it with no fender skirts.

    I know some like to look back fondly on these but things were no where as perfect as they describe. Yes they were neat cars but they were far from perfect.

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  6. Beautiful car (luxury liner). Always liked the shades of green cars had in the 70’s.

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  7. My Dad’s last car was a ’73 Limited….gold with black vinyl top. He loved his Buicks and so do I.

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  8. What wonderful memories of the ‘72-‘75 Electra. My best buddies in high school, twin brothers, had a father that was a sales rep for a local Buick dealer. As high school boys, cruising the streets of Syracuse, the 8 of us considered the newest and “loaded”, deuce and a quarter our second home. The power was incredible only out done by the comfort of the plush seating. Thank you GM Authority for the wonderful walk down memory lane!

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  9. I had a ’74 Electra 225. When it got hot it wouldn’t start, it had starter interlock that wouldn’t reset, I’d have to wait until it cooled down many times, I traded it in for a ’48 Jeep truck, zero bells and whistles on that.

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  10. Love this big boat. I had a 73 green Lexus, family hand me down – poor man’s Electra, but always wanted the big one.

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  11. In a sea of muscle cars nice to see something deferent have the only one at cars and coffee take it on the open hi-way flip the air cleaner lid up side down to hear the 4 bl carb open up 73 run on today’s unleaded gas

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  12. When American cars were real cars not todays crap. Had 75 triple white, wish I still had it.

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  13. My parents owned a 1976 Pontiac Bonneville. What a land yacht! You couldn’t see over the hood! I learned to drive in that thing.

    I wish GM would still make these body styles as they had real class and personality, albeit with light weight and slightly smaller bodies, engines and fuel economy.

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  14. Why they don’t make cars with this shade anymore. As if green was exclusive to 70s.

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    1. I seem to remember every other 90s Grand Cherokee was dark green, and just about as many 90s Bonnevilles.
      Colors come and go.

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    2. @Slider: I agree. This color green is really quite attractive. But what I find even more disturbing today is the total lack of color inside cars. Everything is black or accented with black. 100%. Even when you do find something that isn’t black, it’s normally a variation of tan and it still has the black on everything but the seats and maybe a few patches on the doors.

      In the late 80’s when I first got into auto sales (at the Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Honda store), you could still get two shades of gray, blue, red/burgundy, tan, yellow, white, taupe, green and yes black. Some of those colors were exclusive to Cadillac (yellow), but the white was mostly just Cadillac and at times you could order the Riviera with the white leather. Boy, I miss those days. Guess what Honda offered? Yup, you could mostly get gray or tan. We can once again thank the import brands for bringing us lack of style and choice.

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    3. It’s not easy being or selling green.

      GM has put green out there several times. The ZR 2 in green was great but few takers.

      Today they have a Hunter Green on the Acadia. It is doing better but has a blue tint..

      They are trying but the public is just not responding.

      The only green car to do well was the Bullet Mustang of late.

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  15. I owned a 1971 Electra 225 coupe. I owned her for eight years and the only issue I had was with a replacement of the water pump. I’m not a mechanic but I installed it myself! What a great car she was. I couldn’t hit one hundred with the 8.5 compression ratio. The best was eighty five. Typical for the times but still a Buick!

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  16. At the risk of showing my age, I remember when there were truly luxury family size comfortable vehicles on the roads. Pontiac Bonneville, Oldsmobile 98, Buick Electra, and Cadillac Fleetwood were vehicles providing space and comfort, plus when you arrived at your destination, you did not feel like you had been in a “chuck wagon with square wheels”. Too bad there are no designers today who have the talent to design luxury with current safety and quality features. Yes, the older cars had quality issues, however every day there is another re-call on the current models. Maybe one day someone with design talent will surface and a truly luxury vehicle will be available for travel.

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    1. I am finding what you describe in the 1994-1996 Buick Roadmaster sedans and the Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams. No, they are not hardtops like this, but they do not make cars without the B pillar anymore.

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  17. I owned a 72 Cadillac back in the days, and it’s platform is pretty much based off this Buick large framed GM cars.

    The quality of these cars during the 71-73 model years weren’t that good for GM, IMO especially for Cadillac. Lots of body rattles, and cheap plastics, materials, and vinyl trim that cracked and faded badly.

    But mechanically they were stout cars and very reliable.

    1970 on down model years were the best built Buick’s ever made, especially in the 50’s and 60’s like the majority of all GM cars.

    I’ve owned many makes, and my favorite decade in terms of quality, styling and performance is hands down vehicles made in the 60’s, the 63 Rivera being one of my all time fav Buick’s ever made, although the 50’s had the most fun and flamboyant styling and quality of materials of any decade.

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  18. Nice !!!! This is when a car was car ,very simple to work on, parts were cheap back then for them. 1973, wow, the year i graduated from high school.

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    1. I was with my father when he purchased this very vehicle from Lang Buick in Kankakee Illinois. It was always garaged and never driven in the winter. My dad gave me the car 10 years ago. I had a 57 Chevy that I sold and had room in my heated garage. The car was covered in his garage for about 25 years. After some basic maintenance I drove it home. It has won many trophies over the last 10 years. It was only used to go to church on sundays and occasional road trips. The green color was a special cadillac color deep forest green factory applied. Every time I took it out for a drive it would attract a lot of attention. I had to sell it because I moved out of state. This car was loved by our family. The 42,000 miles are correct.

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      1. Thanks for sharing your story 🙂
        I love hearing about when these cars were purchased new and the lives they lived.

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  19. My father had the very same car when we were growing up in Chicago, Il. 😲

    Well, not THIS car, but the same model, color combo, etc. I remember that car like it was yesterday.

    He would be completely floored if somehow, someway I were to gift it to him after placing the winning bid…

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    1. This was my fathers actual car. He gave it to my 10 years ago. I had to sell it because we were moving out of state and it wouldn’t fit in the garage. It was a blast to drive. It got more attention at many shows than the mustangs and Camaros. I hope you were the winning bidder to give it to your father.

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  20. The army should think about converting these HUGE 70’s error* cars into TANKS.

    *Just kidding. I admire them.

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  21. Bring back a dark green Camaro!

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  22. These cars were like “THIRSTY SUMO WRESTLERS “, my GOD , 8 mpg. Maybe 10. Can you imagine your gas bill? 100 dollar fill ups, a gas needle you can watch race to the empty line and all the while wondering, “ Where’s the next gas station?”. In 1973 the “first “ oil embargo hit and “Getting Gas “ was a huge problem, let alone the price. Beautiful cars, designed when fuel almost wasn’t considered. No wonder this one hardly got driven, they couldn’t afford it. Yeah, that oil embargo ruined our way of looking at our cars. They are great in their own right, but now should be enjoyed in museums. 1973 was a tough year.

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    1. I know, having a USS Electra along with the rest of the GM inefficient Naval fleet cause buyers to go with smaller Japanese cars in the ’70s especially after the Oil Embargos. Amazing how these ships drove in the smaller streets in major cities back then. Maybe look at the 1st Rocky see how that scene with the jurassic Olds 98 didn’t crash into the other oil tankers parked in Philly back then

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  23. 305’s,350’s,400’s,455’s,500’s, Man it almost didn’t matter which engine you chose or which car these engines were in, the fuel economy was/is only variable by 3-5 mpg. BAFFLING really, but the real culprit was emissions. The real advancement was the 1980’s for the larger cars. Still big, most RWD, and a lot less weight, the Big Three nearly doubled the fuel economy on their cars. FUEL ECONOMY from 1975-1979 did get a little better in our glorious ALL AMERICAN LAND MAMMALS but with all that weight and lack of technology/efficiency, its no wonder they went the way they did. STRAIGHT to the bone yard or now- A MUSEUM.

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  24. My year!!! Very nice Buick, wonderful masterpiece!!!

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  25. I know I’m late to the game on this one but just stumbled across this beauty of a car. I’ve always liked this era of Buick, big, unashamed and beautiful. What’s really impressive with this one is it missed out on GM’s (the big 3, for that matter) silly stupid obsession with vinyl roofs in those years which I never liked and took away from the appeal and chalked one up for chintz. Not to mention that over time the vinyl trapped moisture resulting in corrosion. I help a buddy of mine back in my early years restore a 73 Ventura. We stripped off the vinyl top, sanded the roof and had it primed and professionally painted. Really made for a nice restore.

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