'68 Electra Custom

[Firedome]

Back to Buicks, one of my favorite subjects! Beside my '72 Skylark we had as drivers: '74 LeS 4 dr sedan, '75 LeS Custom 4 dr hardtop, '77 LeS 4 dr sedan, '78 Electra 225 4 dr sedan... loved em all. All in the '80s and '90s, when they were old-ish.

Here's a couple more pics of my friend's black '68 and a blue one he shot a pic of on the road one day...the instrument panel that year isn't one of my favorite, I've always sort of fixated on them as it's what you'll see all the time!

You can see he drove that car year round, he was only in his late 20s at the time and had pretty unusual taste in cars for someone his age then, around 2000, he's only 45 now. The rear looked about the same as the Electra. Great looking cars, some of Buick's best imo.

[William]

The blue with the black vinyl top was the same color combo as my parents 1968 Wildcat, the one I drove way to fast.

Bill

[Firedome]

IMO the big Buicks were GMs best looking full-size cars in '67 and '68, Cad next, Pontiac + Chev next, Olds last. .

However of the '68 instrument panels I prefer the Olds, next Cad and Buick about tied... shown in that order below:
The 98 had woodgrain, the lower 88s didn't. Olds used the 3 round gauges on a lot of models and years.

[Firedome]

Also prefer the '68 Cutlass dash to Skylark that year:

[electra225]

Oldsmobile typically had a nicer interior than Buick for some reason. The '68 Electras were the only year with the lights in the rear bumper. The '67's had them above the bumper, the '69's and '70's had them above the bumper. I believe 1967 started the tradition of the Electra series using the Buick coat of armor emblem instead of the tri-shield found on the B body Buicks. Starting in 1963, nothing behind the A pillar on Electra interchanged with the B body cars. Some, if not all years, the front clip was the same on the B bodies and the C bodies. The windshields may all be the same on the big Buicks. I have a friend who restores and collects the A body GM cars. He says Pontiac got the looks, Olds got the power and Buick got the shaft.

Buick mounted the Wildcat series jobs on the 126" Electra chassis. They put the extra length in the wheel wells. Very obvious if you park a LeSabre and a Wildcat side by side. They share the same B body.

[Firedome]

Was the Wildcat a stretched B Body? I think some '60s Pontiacs did that?
GM did some weird mix-n-match on chassis and bodies. For a while in the mid to late '50s Olds 98 and some Pontiacs used a stretched B-body, not a C-body, I think by '60 or '61 and onward the 98 was a true C-body. My '56 Olds 98s was an example of a "stretched B" (pic)

Here's a interesting chart, but it does simplify things as it doesn't specify that mid-50s Olds 98s and Pontiac Star Chief were a stretched B body with longer wheelbase and body, and not a regular B body, for example.

https://www.onallcylinders.com/wp-conte ... inders.pdf

Also around '49 to '51 all kinds of strange GM body configurations were used, very confusing!

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automot ... e-program/

[William]

The owners manual for my parents 1968 Buick Wildcat listed the Wildcat and the Electra as sharing the same wheel base. Both had the same 430-4 engine and a 400 tranny. I think the main difference was roof line, and, quarter panel design. Of course the interiors were different, Electra being more plush.

Bill