Saturday, November 2, 2024

1970 Buick Electra 225


We've already peeped a 1970 Buick Electra Deuce and a Quarter, but it was a Burnished Saddle Iridescent ragtop, while this Sherwood Green Metallic example is a hardtop coupe.

As noted, 1970 marked the final year for the third generation of the Electra and the first year for the 455 cubic inch version of Buick's V-8.


That big motor would move the car with relative alacrity. Motor Trend tested a '72 Electra coupe, whose 455 made only 315 gross horsepower (250 net) due to having the compression ratio reduced to 8.5:1 so as to run on regular gas, and it still managed a 9.5 second zero-to-sixty and a 16.6 quarter at 86 mph. This 1970 would have had  370 hp motor with a 10.0:1 squeeze demanding premium leaded gas and been correspondingly a few ticks quicker.

This one was photographed with a Nikon D800 and 24-120mm f/4 VR zoom lens in November of 2021. 

2 comments:

  1. I was going to comment that in 1970 premium gas was fully-leaded "ethyl", but I did a little research and apparently Standard of Indiana had a form of premium unleaded dating back several decades. I first recall seeing premium unleaded around 1980 at a Shell station, but you must've already been familiar with it by then. Interesting!

    Back in the early '90s a local-to-me gas station still sold leaded 89, although IIRC the pump was labeled "for agricultural use only" (or something like that).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn, thanks for catching that. I typed “unleaded” completely on autopilot. LOL
      Of course it was meant for leaded gas in 1970. I’m just so used to saying “premiumunleaded” practically as a single word for the last forty years that my fingers betrayed me. 🤣

      Delete

1970 Buick LeSabre Convertible

Bobbi and I were having a late lunch at Twenty Tap back in July of 2021 when this Fire Red '70 Buick LeSabre ragtop rolled past. Fortuna...