Largest Cars of the 1970s: The 1975 Buick Electra Was More than a "225" / Deuce-N-A-Quarter

Naming a car after it's size is the most American thing ever.

Adam needs to be on the History Channel…..This content is factual, historical and a joy to watch😎

I was REALLY hoping the day would come when I saw the Buick Electra get reviewed on this channel. Cool story if you are willing to read it. I was 6 years old in 1975. My Grandmother was an immigrant who came from Greece in 1951. Amazing woman. She and my Grandfather took me to the Buick dealership in Fort Wayne Indiana to get their old Buick serviced. We walked into the showroom and I swear on her grave the exact same car featured in this video...very first one featured in the video, red with a white landau roof (but a 4 door) was slowly spinning around on the showroom floor. She said in very broken English, "Oh my God, Louie (my grandfather), look at that beautiful car. I will never forget how shiny and MASSIVE it was. He said, "no, we are not getting that car." She said, "Louie, if you don't buy me that car I will never cook for you again" (food to die for). Within 2 hours, we drove that Electra off the showroom floor and into history. It was a beast. She gave it to me when I turned 16 and I could pile at a minimum, 10 people in it. I miss her that that land yacht to this day.

We used to set mom’s speed alert all the way down while she was in the store. Always made her jump as she pulled onto the street.

In 1975, my stepfather bought a 74 Buick Limited. Sky blue with matching crushed velour interior. It was the biggest car I've seen before or since. He let me drive it once. I picked up a carload of friends and we cruised around our country town for a couple hours playing with all the power equipment. It was like riding in an ocean liner

I remember in the late 80s and early 90s that few people wanted this generation of large GM cars and that the value of them plummeted to a couple of hundred dollars. One older gentleman in the town near where I lived had a really nice silver with red vinyl top and matching cloth interior 76 Olds 98 4 door hardtop which he had since new but he bought a 2 year old late 80s Crown Victoria with low mileage. He could not get anything on trade in and few people wanted to buy it even though it had little rust and the paint and interior was still nice and it was still mechanically good. He ended up scrapping it at a junkyard. The salvage yard had a number of this generation of GM full size along with the larger Fords and paid him at most a couple of hundred dollars for his Olds. Today that car would be sought after because it was in really nice shape with original paint. My mother had a 72 Sedan Deville that was in nice shape and sold it for $500 in 1984 despite it having only 70k miles. She bought a new 84 5th Avenue loaded with leather seats. The downsized full sized cars were widely accepted and few wanted the larger full sized cars of the 70s. Many dealers did not want these full size GMs even as trade ins. Mechanically they were very good but the mpgs were usually single digits and the larger size made them unpopular. I am glad that they are now getting more respect and attention.

Absolutely beautiful car, truly one of the best of Buick Electra designs

My much older brother, who is no longer with us, had a 1973, blue-on-blue, hardtop-coupe, with that same interior, and the 455 into a TH-400. Loved cruising with him in that yacht, with the 8-Track cranked. Thank you for this trip down memory lane, Adam.

These were the ultimate highway cruisers of the day. There is no way to describe the ride of this car to someone who has never been in a full-size luxury car from this era because there have never been cars built since that rode like this big Buick. It was quiet. The seats rivaled many people's couches at home. It was a magnificent automobile.

Adam, Best of all, these Electras are 100% Buick and 0% Daewoo.

My father had a 76 Electra Limited, Maroon with a white vinyl top. My friends and I loved that land yacht!

My Grandad bought a brand-new 1975 Limited in baby blue with the blue cut corduroy interior. It’s hard to convey how radical those quad rectangular headlights seemed when they hit the streets for the first time on ‘75 model year vehicles.

The four door black on black of this year Electra is epic.

My parents traded their '68 225 for a silver '76 Limited 4-door w/ burgundy cloth interior that used to tow our Terry travel trailer. Definitely liked the '76 front more than the '75. They moved the turn signals /parking lights from the bumper to directly under the headlights. There are three things I remember well. 1-- the digital clock stopped working after about a year. 2 - The glove box would never fully close so the bulb stayed lit...we eventually removed it. 3 - when I started driving it in 1986 I had some yuppy in a BMW 320i challenge me to a stop light drag. I beat him soundly but the 455 felt more sluggish than usual. Turns out I had the parking brake engaged. Ooops.

I remember my Gramps having an early 60's LeSabre with that speed alert needle. I asked him what it was and he nailed it up to high speed to demo. Thanks, Gramps.

My former employer was a Buick man through and through. In 1976 he was like a lot of big car drivers, the end of the big car was upon us. He was either going to buy a 1976 Cadillac Coupe de Ville or a 1976 Buick Electra Limited 2 door. He settled for the Buick and I doubt that a prettier Electra was ever built. It was Independence Red (maroon) with a matching interior and a white Landau top. It had the regular Landau top, not the over the top Landau top that the vehicle in the beginning of this video sports, then it had Buick’s chrome plated wheels. The car never was even driven in the rain for the 13 years he owned it. Thanks for the memories.

I bought a brand new 75 coupe when I was just 19 years old. I saw it at the dealership up on a ramp and well I just had to have it. Gorgeous car, dark blue with white landau top. The interior in mine was white vinyl ribbed seats with blue dash and carpet. I had to work two jobs to pay for it but it was worth it. I knew it was near my only chance to have a brand new real full size car before they downsized in 77, I'd love to have one again but most I see do have those bumper fillers missing or rotted

The '74-'76 Electra's were attractive cars, I think Buick did a much better job incorporating those hideous 5 mph bumpers than most others of that era. I thought the little backup/running lights in the back bumper was a nice touch.

My Mother had a Beautiful 74 Electra 225 Coupe. Green with the Green Velour interior.

My friends dad had one like this, drove down with them from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas and back. GREAT ride! Smooth, killer AC. One could lay down sideways on the back seat. GOOD TIMES.