Worldwide Skiner

The most obvious were a longer, more-pointed hood and a more sharply Vee’d grille to match. A prime example is the 1970 GSX, a bespoilered GS 455 hardtop with new “Stage I” engine tuning; it saw only 678 copies; the GS 455 convertible was little higher at 1416. Both were back for ’71 (GSX as an option package) with bold black body stripes and hood paint, special grille, chrome wheels, and fat tires. Buick’s main mechanical development was an enormous 455 V-8. These could be powered by everything from a 155-bhp 250-cid six to a big-block 429-cid V-8 with 360-370 horsepower. The former offered six and V-8 Tudor and Fordor, along with business and club coupes. Some say it stemmed from the game of Rounders that was played in England and Wales during Tudor times. Bolstered by spiffy Luxus and Regal submodels (the latter made a separate series after ’74), the midsize Centurys sold well through 1977, providing an important “safety net” at times when inflation and rising fuel prices sent would-be big-car buyers scurrying for thriftier alternatives. The year-old junior line displayed the expected minor trim shuffles; Gran Sports and Sportwagons remained separate series, as in ’68. Trim packages created a login gocengqq bevy of models: base, 350 and Custom Skylarks, plus Sportwagons and Gran Sports.

The last of the 1968-vintage Skylarks appeared for 1971-72. They remained solid, good-looking middleweights, though their engines were being emasculated by power-sapping emission-control devices, which meant Gran Sports weren’t so hot anymore. Never­the­less, full-size cars remained Buick’s bread-and-butter through 1975, accounting for over 40 percent of total division sales. Buick’s last true muscle cars were also 1970-72 models. All were thirsty. The last 455-cid Electra, for example, was good for only 8.7 mpg in the Environmental Protection Agency’s city-fuel-economy ratings. The GS option, a last vestige of sport, vanished after 1975, but Buick tried to keep enthusiasts interested with a “Rallye” package offering reinforced front antiroll bar, a new rear bar, and heavy-duty springs and shocks. Oddball styling and outsize heft must have contributed to Riviera’s sagging fortunes in this period; by 1975, sales were less than half of what they’d been five years before. All employed a new-generation A-body with so-called “Colonnade” styling that did away with pillarless coupes and sedans.

Intermediates were next on the corporate slenderizing schedule, so a smaller Century bowed for 1978 along with a separate Regal series of personal-luxury coupes, all built on a new 108.1-inch-wheelbase A-body. This hot-selling line continued into 1970, but without Specials — the smaller workaday models were now Skylarks — and with Estate wagons in a separate series. Estate wagons moved up to its 127-inch wheelbase. The following year brought even fancier Electra Park Avenue models. This was claimed to provide even better ride and handling than the GS, and probably should have been standard to handle the size and weight of these beasts. The new subcompact Vega introduced for 1971 took over that end of the powertrain spectrum for Chevrolet, so Nova moved to a more responsive six-cylinder engine — 250-cubic-inch and 145 horsepower — as standard fare. Arriving for mid ’73 as the Apollo, it was just a rebadged clone of the 111-inch-wheelbase X-body Chevrolet Nova from 1968, with the same three body styles (two- and four-door sedans and a hatchback two-door) plus, initially, the same 250-cid Chevy straight six as standard power.

Rated at 110 bhp, and also standard power for the ’75 Skylark, Century, and Regal, this would be a significant engine in years to come. Electras through 1979 relied on a standard Chevy-built 350 V-8; a new 403 with 185 bhp was optional, courtesy of Olds. The upmarket Electra remained a C-body cousin to Olds Ninety-Eight and Cadillac de Ville. The latter remained big upper-class two- and three-seat haulers battling the likes of Chrysler’s Town & Country. Convertibles were no more (killed after ’75), but two- and four-door sedans were offered in LeSabre, LeSabre Custom, Electra 225, and 225 Limited series. LeSabre still rode a 123-inch wheelbase, but so did Wildcat for the first time in four years. All of the package had to be carryover, including the wheelbase, together with carryover front-end sheet-metal, cowl, front and rear bumpers, door lowers, quarter-panel inner structure, etc. The Plymouth stylists could do anything they wanted as long as they held these hardpoints. All full-sizers acquired new grilles, bumpers, and taillights; intermediates received longer hoods, bulkier lower-body contours, and different grilles for each series. It was a definite asset during the big-car sales slump touched off by the Middle East oil embargo late that year, but intermediates would remain more important to Buick’s overall health.