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74 Buick Century

71350SS+454

71350SS+454

Well-Known Member
I had a 74 Century with a 350 2 bbl single exhaust really basic transportation. Extremely mundane and boring.They made a 4bbl dual exhaust 350 but they were few and far between plus whenever you found one it was someone's car who knew what he had and they kept the price higher than I wanted to pay.
That car was one of the best handling and braking stock machine I had driven up to then. I tried to find the F41 parts and a 4bbl intake but that was hard to find too. I found an engine at a junkyard with a 4 bbl intake but he wouldn't separate it from the rest of the motor unless I paid the whole engine price. There were no pick and pulls in the 80's where I lived so that made searching for parts difficult,no more like impossible to do.
I found a 73 Buick Century Gran Sport while searching the WantAd Press (anyone remember that weekly paper)that was a 455 Stage II 4 speed with a posi. It was completely rusted out and had half a tree in the trunk and at the back of the hood. Very rusted out including a good portion of the floors. The guy claimed the engine still ran and at the time cherry versions of the Century were about $1000 to $2000 and he wanted over a grand for the engine alone. He said he would sell the whole car for $1250.which was too rich for me considering the shape it was in.
If I found one of the stage II's today I might pull the trigger (if I had the coin that is) I'm always dreaming gives me something to do.


Here's a Hemmings article on the 70's era Gran Sport
 
I really like the '73-74 gm colanade body styles, especially the '73 SS 454. Whenever I watch Kojak, I laugh at how soft that suspension was compared to the body weight. Very easy to make in to a street bruiser though.
 
Driving through Oregon the other day, for a few miles I was accompanied by a Grand Safari wagon in really nice shape. Paint was good, all the trim was in decent shape. By the grill I think it was a 72.

Never realized they had this cool “clamshell” tailgate.

 
71350SS+454 said:
I had a 74 Century with a 350 2 bbl single exhaust really basic transportation. Extremely mundane and boring.They made a 4bbl dual exhaust 350 but they were few and far between plus whenever you found one it was someone's car who knew what he had and they kept the price higher than I wanted to pay.
That car was one of the best handling and braking stock machine I had driven up to then. I tried to find the F41 parts and a 4bbl intake but that was hard to find too. I found an engine at a junkyard with a 4 bbl intake but he wouldn't separate it from the rest of the motor unless I paid the whole engine price. There were no pick and pulls in the 80's where I lived so that made searching for parts difficult,no more like impossible to do.
I found a 73 Buick Century Gran Sport while searching the WantAd Press (anyone remember that weekly paper)that was a 455 Stage II 4 speed with a posi. It was completely rusted out and had half a tree in the trunk and at the back of the hood. Very rusted out including a good portion of the floors. The guy claimed the engine still ran and at the time cherry versions of the Century were about $1000 to $2000 and he wanted over a grand for the engine alone. He said he would sell the whole car for $1250.which was too rich for me considering the shape it was in.
If I found one of the stage II's today I might pull the trigger (if I had the coin that is) I'm always dreaming gives me something to do.


Here's a Hemmings article on the 70's era Gran Sport
Click to expand...
I don't remember many of those,
 
It's taking me forever to respond but anyway. I believe there were only around 2500 of the 73's and not many more of the 74 Buick Gran Sport Century (A-body based).
By 75 they were all done with the dreaded cat converter being mandatory but I heard something about the 455 and up having a break on the emissions for 74 and 75. By 76 all the car makers were screwed in respect to smog stuff.
 
They did when I was younger and had kids, but that ship sailed many many moons ago.

We did graduate to the Excursion 7.3 powerstroke when the kids were like 8 - 10 years old and had it until they started moving out. It was cost effective running my own fuel mix of 80% WMO and 20% diesel. 1 gallon of my fuel mix was costing $1.15 at the time (around 2010 or so), and then people started charging money for WMO. Now the market has fallen out and you can't give the stuff away, but most suppliers will still buy the WMO to keep the business of supplying them with new oils and grease.
 
The vista cruisers and the buick versions were the shit! My buddy had a '70 455 equipped vista that he hauled the family around in style. Woodgrain and working ac and alum. slots with a rake. What a cool car.
 
cheveslakr said:
My '73 wagon didn't have a cat, probably all CA. slated collonade coupes of that era were equipped that way. Here's how mine looked back in 2000 or so, bought it for $600. If it was a 454 car I'd have kept it. Traded it straight for a '68 300 hrdtp chevelle.

View attachment 23898
Click to expand...
That's a good looking 73 wagon just waiting for a Lumina nose
cat converters weren't mandatory till 1975 nationwide and even Cali didn't get them early and some models got them later in 76 or 77.
Also some higher GVRW (wink wink nudge nudge) trucks got them much later than passenger cars leading to models like the big Red Express from Dodge . And then Dodge bragged about being faster than a Vette even though the Vette was strangled with that big GM Cat. Not only did it strangle the engine down it also weighed a lot those bricks were heavy .
 
JohnC said:
Driving through Oregon the other day, for a few miles I was accompanied by a Grand Safari wagon in really nice shape. Paint was good, all the trim was in decent shape. By the grill I think it was a 72.

Never realized they had this cool “clamshell” tailgate.

Click to expand...
My Uncle Ang had a 73 full size Chevy Impala wagon with that clamshell tailgate, I loved that wagon he loaned it to me a bunch of times it had a 4 bbl 400 sbc. He got that car way cheap because the window wouldn't open and so because the window the tailgate wouldn't work right. He fixed it but he had to buy the factory repair manual to fix it right.
Some of the 70's cars were cool even though most were crapola
 
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