So, the story I was told was that my uncle bought this car for my grandmother, brand new, in 1971. She complained that it was too large for her, drove it for a few years, and got fed up with it and parked it in my uncle's yard. This was a huge fight between them apparently, and my uncle refused to do anything with the car. Finally, just a few months ago, i visited him and he said i could just have it if I wanted it. It's only got 26k miles on it. the body is surprisingly good, seeing how it's just sat in a yard for the last 40 years or so. some spots of surface rust. the one fender skirt is totally rusted out in a spot. Hard to tell, but i bet the bottom of the door panels are rusted out beneath the trim. Looks like water was dripping in and rusted out one of the pillars. No idea what to do about that. Interior looks surprisingly good, maybe due to the plastic seat cover on everything, i might not have to do much at all to it, besides fix the headliner. The trunk might be ugly, otherwise the rest of the underbody is solid. One inner fender is rusted out. Looks like what caused most of the rust in the trunk is water coming in through this rust hole. Engine is all there, though it's frozen. I'm planning on just pulling the engine and going over everything, hopefully the bores aren't rusted too bad. Supposedly one of my other uncles pulled the plugs and oiled the cylinders at some point, at least that what's he said. A lot of the wiring has been chewed out by mice. That's bound to be a headache at some point. This is the only other real bad spot of rust. Battery tray and a lot of the inner fender is gone. Looks like there's a body mount right there too that's totally gone. The hood is the only body panel that looks like it can't be saved. The front edge is totally gone as you can see. So...my basic plans are just an original restoration. First i want to pull the engine, go over that, probably have to redo all the brake and fuel lines, maybe new tank. I want to just get it running first, then i plan on a body on restore. My questions are what i can do about the front inner fender, the rear window channel, and the trunk spots that are real bad. Does anybody make repo body parts for these cars, or will i have to basically fab up everything myself?
Very cool car, and it appears to be finished in 1971's "Rosewood" -- a beautiful color that we almost never see on a '71 Buick. Lots of work in front of you, but my vote is to "go for it". Some will disagree, noting that the present market value of these cars is not sufficiently high to warrant the cost of restoration. But I can visualize the beauty of a finished, fully restored '71 Electra 225, and would never discourage you from pursuing that goal. There are not any reproduction body panels for this car (to my knowledge), so your best bet is to find some suitable parts cars or wrecking yards that can yield parts for you. Many of the pieces you need will be the same for both '71 and '72, and you can also look toward LeSabre and Centurion cars to find many of the items you will need. Please keep us posted.
I thought the color was unusual also. Somebody told me that the car was painted as soon as they bought it, because my grandmother didn't like the original color. It definitely doesn't look like it was painted though, all the door jambs and all that are all the same color. I have to keep in mind a lot of that side of the family are getting older and mixing things up, i've been told tons of things about this car that I know aren't right. As for market value, I really don't care, I plan on keeping it until I die. I know it's not a desirable car, most everyone would rather have a chevelle or something, but i've always wanted a full sized buick like this. Plus it's got family history, you can't pass that up. I also got the car for free so.. As for the body, I'm sure i'm going to have to fab up plenty of patch panels here and there, but the only thing i'm going to have to find is a new hood. which models had the same hood as this?
Yes, the color looks like Rosewood. My wife's '71 Z/28 was originally solid Rosewood, no stripes. (Now it's Hugger Orange). I don't know where you live, but I have had very good dealings with CTC AutoRanch in Denton Texas. They shipped me parts to Michigan, no problem. They may have what you need.
Great car but that is a load of rust restoration. I would buy a rust free desert car and swap in the interior, dash etc. and have lots of spare parts .....
