I got my '73 Electra (4-door hardtop) specifically for the drivetrain. I had intended on driving the car till there was nothing left and then swapping the motor/trans into something smaller. The problem though is I'm feeling guilty because these cars are really nice and mine could be saved if someone really wanted to take the time and money to do it. It's actually alot better off then most of the other cars I've owned. That's where I get confussed and need opinions. How much work would you put into an Electra 4-door before you decided it's not worth it anymore? Would you quit on it if it needs body work? Motor work? Interior work? What would you be willing to take on to keep it alive? No judging and no bias either way. I just would like to know how loved these cars are by people who've had them for more than a month.
I've had my rusty 73 Limited 2 door for over a year, it needs interior, all the chrome is shot, the vinyl top is shredded and the sheetmetal under it is rusty and pitted, there are gaping holes in the floor and lots of previous patches on the body....it's a mess and I wouldn't even think of selling it....it runs and drives great, all the options work and the A/C blows ice cold. I drive it more than anything else I own....just something about the huge cars, plus being a beater just makes it cooler. Probably going to go flat black paint and a set of lakes pipes on it
ive got a 75 electra that i have had since 1995 its been to germany with me i got it in new mexico when i got it it was so bad everything you can imagine was broken, but its slowly getting fixed if you like the car than go for it they are getting more sought after now thanks to the rap videos
wagon gs ive got some 73 parts and im in goldsboro come on up ive got a solid green uncrack dash pad from a 73 a dash assemby with speed alert and other misc parts
There are some guys who will want to punch me for this, but I have always considered the big barges "donor" cars for muscle cars and hotrods.
If you aren't planning on driving it, I wouldn't put any money into it unless the car has some special sentimental value. You will be upside down on value very quickly. The only way to counteract that is if the sentimental value is higher than its cash value. Only you can determine that There are many other project cars that you would be much farther ahead to sink money into. A 4-door hardtop would be at the very bottom of my list.
With the big cars, you either love them, or can't figure out why people love them. I fall into the former. Unless you find someone that feels the same, you will never see any sort of return on the car. Plus, parts can be a pain in the a$$.
I am very familiar with b-bodies ranging from a '66 Bonneville to an '84 Lesabre, to a pair of mid 90's Caprices. This '73 is my first c-body and I like it except for the difficulty in finding stupid things like weatherstripping and trim pieces.
With the big cars you have to do some searching. Took me quite awhile to find some parts for my Cat. With these big guys ya either love 'em or don't.
Figured I'd update this since it's been a forgotten topic for me lately. I decided on cleaning the car up and making it into a street cruiser with some power. I'd like to someday run it at the local track just to say that I had the biggest car to run down the track :Brow: I'm slowly picking up the parts I need thanks to some of you guys and am planning on having the car ""finished" in about a year and a half. We all know that a car is never actually finished though, but I want to be at the point where it'll drive anywhere and impress people at shows by that point in time. I was thinking of keeping all the stock parts as I remove them just so that the car can be returned to factory original at some point, but I don't know if the car would be worth putting back to stock so I may end up selling the oem parts to recoup the expenses on the new parts. I'm not sure yet though. I see them Barrett Jackson cars and think someday someone might want the original air pump and matching numbers distributor, but then again those parts aren't impossible to come by and they don't work right anyway o No:
What aint rare today will be in a few years.... I remember when I scavenged enough parts from 65 GS's to make my own 64 GS..... now they are made of unobtainieum.... My idea for that car is to set it up to run on the track using my list of cheap tricks and concentrate on making the car as light as possible.... when I go to BG and see a boattail running in the 9's I am impressed..... lighten it up,,, lower gear in back.... fun for not much money..... :idea2: :Brow: :Brow: :laugh:
I was playing with that idea myself. Only problem is that they don't make many lightweight parts for the Electra. Also the 9-3/8 rear makes gear swaps almost impossible. I'd love a 3.23 posi rear in this thing but that just aint happening. I'm playing with the idea of making the worlds biggest road track car :Brow:
It is a little work, but buicks have a lot of sound deadner between the floor panels and the carpet.. that is made of asphalt... it is very heavy stuff.... and contributes to the rusting out of the floor pan ....I remove it on all my cars when I can... and the factory undercoating.... usually amounts to 300 to 400 lb on a car if you get all of it out.... and in the trunk and under the trunk floor between it and the gas tank....and under the seats....if I remember right you can take a car down to ''shipping wt.'' under the rules.....in each class.....
Sound deadening and stuff will come out when I replace the carpet. I'll probably throw some of that dynomat stuff in a few places just to keep the noise/heat down a bit. The undercoating can stay. I'm in the rust belt and it's a daily driver that'll be driven most of the year. I'll take anything I can find to help keep the holes away. I may actually end up throwing some of that rhinolining stuff underneath and in the wheelwells.
I lived on the south texas coast for years and we had roads that were topped with oyster shell and the ocean salt that came with them.... made cars rust something awfull with the high humidity....an old body man taught me a trick... he ordered a new car and as soon as it was unloaded, he had the undercoating steam cleaned from under it....then he took a qt of clean cheap oil and a squirt gun and squirted the oil all down in the panels and then let the car sit for 2 days before he drove it.... i did this on all my cars and never in 20 years , with the cars sitting outside , did I get a rust hole....
Yup the old oil down trick. Alot of the car guys up this way use that trick every winter. Chainsaw oil is the preffered oil around this way. The only problem is that it ruins the ground wherever you do it. Plus you have to be a bit more careful about them idiots throwing lit cigerettes out their windows.
LOL...Now I'm going to be thinking about exploding Buicks every time I chuck one out the window...the image of that is like a bad "Monty Python" skit...:laugh:
