1976 Buick Century Custom Coupe

For 1973, Buick brought the Century nameplate out of retirement, where it had been since last being used in the '58 model year, and applied it to their A-body midsize cars, which had formerly been known as Skylarks.

Available as coupes, sedans, and wagons, these were Buick's meat and potatoes models, filling the same market niche as Olds's Cutlass and Chevy's Chevelle.

For the 1976 model year, the Century received a light styling upgrade, with more sharply creased lines that matched the newly-legal rectangular headlamps. Sedans had their lamps stacked vertically flanking an upright formal chrome grille while the Century coupes had side-by-side headlamps in a more rakish and aero-looking prow.

To commemorate the Bicentennial year, Buick used special color names on '76 models, like Potomac Blue and Constitution Green. The Century Custom Coupe in the picture above is Judicial Black.

Standard equipment for the Century Custom Coupe was the 3.8L Buick OHV V-6 with a 2-barrel carb and a 3-speed manual transmission. Option motors included either a 2- or 4-barrel equipped Buick 350 V-8, and any engine could be paired with a TurboHydramatic 3-speed automatic transmission.

This photo was snapped in April of 2017 with a Leica D-Lux 3.