1 of 37 BUILT, only one by Flint Mueseum known to exist survival. Park Ave Ex Deluxe, full loaded no options delete car. Right down to 1"deep shag carpet in and trunk. Rare color for Electra 75' ,in bright Red enamel, NO flake, no burgundy, it is red as a Corvette. only seen 1 76 RIV with this color and 1 Lesabre rag with this color ever. Buick sent one of each color chip to dealers as a feeler, to sales for a Park Ave, type console car. This was the only known red done out of the color chart for this proto run. I found her in Iowa salvage yard, red, and black moon vinyl top, elk grain. Inside is black pillow Park Av insides, with the early Shag carpet thick and cant find a loom to get redone. Car is original survivor red, no repaint, needs pits in crack laquer redone. vinyl top should be done too. All the toys, the car has double pad sound definer, was quieter than a 76 duce I had , all stock. sorry no pics at this time, but is big red, 75 electra done in proto type for August 1974. thx
Wow! that thing BARELY made it on that trailer. :shock: What do you mean by '74 trim? The body side molding?
How do you know it was 1 0f 37? Is there any other documentation on this model anywhere? Very interesting.
A few questions. Did the Park Avenue option replace the Limited trim level, or was it in addition to the Limited? In other words, when a car had both the Limited and the Park Avenue equipment, were there both Limited and Park Avenue emblems? Or, did the Park Avenue replace the Limited emblems (in effect)? Is it the W18 Park Avenue DeLuxe package that had the bucket seats and the non-operating console? Is there any info that explains an earlier model year "prototype" W18 Park Avenue DeLuxe package? I have previously read about politics at GM and how different Divisions had to argue for and lobby Corporate Management about how far each Division could effectively reach "up market" in the GM hierarchy ... Chevrolet-Pontiac-Oldsmobile-Buick-Cadillac in terms of new models, options and pricing. What I read was that in the '70's particularly, Cadillac was upset that Oldsmobile and Buick were encroaching on its products in terms of options and pricing. I was thinking that an "ultra" Park Avenue might just play into that scenario. Interesting.
The car I have as far as an older sales and historian for Buick , while alive, sent me all his archived materials to how many of each car, by 4 colors insides to how many of the proto-type cars 37, were built, the early trim side was available in 76 for the 225 only. But all cars limited and 225 for 75 had narrow trim . Mid year option was wide brush trim for 75 , deep shag was stopped in second option list too. By March of 75 the car complaints arose the 70/30 seat in last revise options of which 503bench 70/30 cars were built. 76 all Park Av could get option No console 70/30. The first Parks as option by trim package under Limited cars , were produced in first week of August in 74. The dealer list is in known today , where cars went but was said was to top selling dealers. "Executive Deluxe" is what these 37 were given as a sales production, 9600$ was est sale prices. $7700 was price of Cadillac sedan deville, fleetwood bucket cars were over 10K$. Price and seat design with console was the down cause of sales. 77 year no longer offered the console by Buick decision. Power sunroof and larger bumper-ettes, were offered later in 75 only 2 option ( not available ) my car does not have. ( red car ).
1975 is the longest production car Buick ever made , including the 1941 series Limited 90, , 75-76 weigh in at 5050 lbs, 455 stopped all production in winter of 75 after holiday break, all last 76 cars were 350 Buick motors. I had one 350 in Electra sucked , but the decompressed 7.9-1 Motr had limited power. Scrap the heads put back 71-74 and had better power. With Buick historian and was in sales told me the W18 or 37 cars were all sales proto cars not open to any deletions from option list and sent to Dealers as a sales test. Buick bought Park Avenue name from Cadillac Corp. last used in 1962. This car was built to mimic fleetwood bucket seat car started in 1974. Park avenue was not a formal option name till 1977. Park Ave in 75-76 was a sub option under the Limited name. The 3 places " on dash" by clock, and 2 opera glass only places said "Park Avenue". No Park Ave was built in 2 door limited series cars. Park Ave seats were built Flex-Steel furniture company. On to Buick bolt floor frames which will direct bolt into all 71-76 4 doors. Will not fit 75-76 back seat of 2 door cars. I tried don't fit. I have list of how many cars in Park Av had what colors, inside. ( tan, burgundy , black, and baby blue) . If any wants I will have to look the numbers up. Tan seems to be rarest now, in survival . Always wanted a Park Avenue group , like GS guys have. Be fun to see how many guys here have an early Park Ave, series car(75-76).
a beautiful '76 Talisman on eBay right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cadillac-Fl...0c25bec5:g:TWQAAOSwsFpWS6D1&item=111872949957
