I'm looking to purchase a 71-76 Buick Electra & was wondering which is the the most prefered body style, coupe or 4 door? I've owned both body styles in other GM cars & liked the look of the coupe but found the doors to be too large. Does either have a higher resale value? Let me know what you think. thanks
It has everything to do with personal preference, for me, it's got to be a coupe. I heard once that Buick built about eight 4 doors for every coupe, but I don't recall where I heard that. I do know that I see way more 4 doors that coupes.
I like the electra hardtops. Four doors or coupes. I don't like the rear passenger windows on the two door 76. They messed up the lines of the car JMHO
coupes definitly have higher resale and wow value...., weigh a little less,,, and handle a little better because the body is stiffer..... and generally were more option rich than the others....
For 71 - 76 the figures are 252,136 2 dr and 549,297 4dr Totally agree with James on the ' opera' window on the 2dr. I personally prefer 2 dr and searched quite some time for a '71 cause I like the looks of the trunk with the vents in it. A '76 triple black Limited (or even better: a Park Avenue) was my second choice to search for if a '71 didn't pop up.
2-Doors are the way to go; - even if the doors are 6 feet long and weigh 500 lbs... As for resale value, there's probably no better value for the money in Buick-dom, these cars are usually pretty cheap to aquire (although seldom seen nowadays) but don't have much in the way of re-sale because everyone's looking for 'Larks and GS's, -there still isn't a great following for big '70's boats and probably never will be. (I can't understand why not, they weren't bad cars.) They were generally better built than their smaller cousins and well maintained because their original owners were usually much older and never drove the s!!t out of them. Best advice is to find the best one you can afford; (that needs little or no work) the price spread between 2 and 4 doors isn't all that much, and in some cases buying a well maintained 4 door is better than trying to fix up a clapped out 2 door. As with most Buicks of that era, the motors are unstressed and long-lived, but the bodies tend to rust like shipwrecks.
my preference is no fixed side glass and there has to be rear windows that roll down. that said.... 74 2 dr non-limited here is a pic of a fave....( i removed the front emblem and optional bumper gaurds with photoshop) 74 4 dr 73 2 dr 72 2dr 71 2dr 73 4dr 72 4dr 71 4dr and somewhat the 75 park ave opted cars. although i have a 76 lesabre, i dont care for the front end changes that were made for the 76 big buicks. .... plus the wind noise at 70 is a bit louder on a 76 that on 74 or previous years due to the front end design.
I would have to say most people would prefer the two door because four doors just aren't "cool." As far as options are concerned it can go either way. I prefer a four door as long as its a hardtop. Still has a clean look.
Well I definately think it's preferece. I've had 1 71' four door, and several 72' four doors. I'm just partial to the 71-72' years. Around three years ago I purchased a 72' four door limited with what I thought was a decent body, ended up being alot worse, but the drive train was solid. That one costed me 1000.00, but it's like I basically paid for the drive train. Then at the end of summer I lucked up on a 72' limited coupe that had 19500 original miles, solid drive train, body just needs to be freshened up. That one ran me $3500. So believe me they're definately still some good ones out there, but speaking from experience for every like ten 4 doors I see I see a coupe. Neither will probaly ever leave my grasp till my finger are stiff and cold. LOL good luck on your search.
my neighbor was quite the sucessful "fashion 220" sales woman when i was a kid. she always had a new electra, fashion 220 purple. the tails on those 71,72 models are sweet. the car look a mile wide. here a couple pics of the 74 i posted earlier with some different colors.
I think my next Electra will be a '76 two-door. I like the rectangular headlights and grille off the '76 when compared to the '75. Two-door cars had optional moonroofs which is another reason I would want one, although moonroofs weren't too popular back then. I think I have only seen 1 or 2 '75-'76 Electras on ebay with moonroofs in the last few years.
From what Ive seen, 2 door any make/model has just about always been in more demand and more popular than anything else. I say four door hardtop any year is the way to go. They are my personal favorite when it comes to land cruisin. Poor mans a/c.:TU:
It's all about preference and what you find the most appealing to have. For me I've had 2 doors and they aren't always the most practical. I like bieng able to have more than 1 person ride with me and 2 doors can make that difficult if the people riding with you are older or have health problems. Try not to feel guilty having your somewhat elderly mother try to cram into the back seat of a coupe for a long ride. I ended up with a '73 4-door hardtop since it provided plenty of practicality and it's also a year that had the no-post setup. To me seeing a no-post car is way better than seeing a coupe since everything was available as a coupe and they made them for over a hundred years. No-post cars are alot harder to come by and there was a very small window for their existence. It's also alot harder to find certain parts for coupes and forget about trying to get good doors for a convertible. The rarer an option is the harder it is to find the parts you need. It's bad enough finding anything for a 70's Electra, but a 70's Electra coupe is a bit harder.
using a 4dr hardtop, with the right paint scheme and shaved front handles you could have a car that looked like it was a 2dr with cool superlong doors yet you would still have the practicality of the 4 door!!uzzled:
took my 72 Electra shaved back door handles, custom 2 tone paint like a 53 paint design, withe over blue with double padded white top. 72 Centurian grill, 73 centurian 455 grill and 455 fender badging. Have 3 inch whites, on car, and has a 468 cu v8 (455) under hood, radical rumble M1 tank shells for tips 5.75 inch. Strange yes, many asked my why this motor in an Electra, I tell them spun bearing and had motor on stand ready. So I used it. I wanted to cut roof like a targa removable top center section. but was afraid of frame sag. May try truspoke on dual stripe wall tires for while. Interior is custom buick Park av 75-76, buckets, and console, all in white leather. blue carpet. lots of looks in custom class at bca events.
From the description I think it can only be this Electra (have the photos on my HD but can't remember the source):
