1975 "Spirit of America"

[John]

This is a duplicate of my post on the AACA general discussion forum; meant to put it here. Anyone know anything about this special edition?

John

Buick : LeSabre NO RESERVE in Buick | eBay Motors

[Guest BigDogDaddy]

It almost looks like it could have been an Indy 500 parade car or commemorative type of promotion. Buick was the pace for the Indy 500 in 75 & 76. And Buick used Spirit of America in it's advertising. Another scenario is it could have been a dealerships idea of a promotion.

Anyone else have better information ?

[buick5563]

I don't know enough about mid 70's cars, and judging from the one picture on the auction (as well as the stellar description) it doesn't look like I am going to.

[Smartin]

I really am bothered by the seller's over-contrasted photos they use on their auctions. This is a good trick to use to make the car look more "shiny." I think they took the contrast enhancement two clicks too much.

[Thriller]

This is different than the Indy 500 parade cars, which were also LeSabre convertibles. There was one in Flint in 2008. If I recall, it was plain white with some Indy 500 logo on the door.

Mike, find the scroll button...there are gobs of photos...of course, most of them are repeats from slightly varying angles.

Overall, it looks like a nice clean car. I wouldn't be upset about having it in the stable. That said, the stable door is presently closed.

[Paul from PA]

Chevrolet had "Spirit of America" on the Vega, Nova and Impala" in 1974. Buick had the "Free Spirits" Off topic a bit but I really liked GMC's fancy machines of the day. "Gentleman Jim" and "Beau James" Gentleman Jim was black and gold, Beau James was blue and silver. Nice trucks in the mid to late seventies, not sure of the years.

[Guest wildcat465]

At least it has new breaks.

A Turbo 400 behind a 350 engine?

Free Spirit decal on hood of a '75?

Hmmm.

[Barney Eaton]

Look at the bottom end of the rear shocks..... they overlooked the detailing.

[Smartin]

Yeah, they paint black all over the grease and rust on the undercarriage, but leave the ugly rusted shocks.

[JZRIV]

Sold for a tidy sum.

I couldn't find anything at all on this model after doing some searching. Interestingly the seller called it a Spirit of America but I didn't see that written anywhere on the car. Was that his own made-up name?

If I was a bidder I would have wanted to see documentation that it came from the factory that way and not a dealer or owner add-on.

[Thriller]

Especially considering the Spirit of America was trademarked by Craig Breedlove for the jet-propelled car he drove at Bonneville in the early 60s (and The Beach Boys sang about), and the name used again later, I don't know that Buick would have used this directly. Nobody here has piped up as being in the know about this alternative, so either it was a relatively unknown package, a dealer add-on, or a decal package put together by someone on their own on a regular white LeSabre convertible.

[buick5563]

Mike, find the scroll button...there are gobs of photos...of course, most of them are repeats from slightly varying angles.

Hmmm.

Usually the mobile app I use has more pictures than just one that you can scroll through.

Still doesn't excuse his spelling and punctuation

[sean1997]

A Turbo 400 behind a 350 engine?

VIN breakdown:

4p67t5y120929

4 = Buick

P = LeSabre Custom

67 = 2-door convertible

T = 455, 4 BBL engine

5 = 1975

Y = Wilmington, DE

120929 = sequential number, range for Wilmington was 100001 to 125444

The Sloan Museum should have some information on this car, including the options:

Automotive Research

See this thread for a complete listing of the VINs for the Buicks used at the 1975 Indy 500 (all 350 V8 cars):

http://forums.aaca.org/f115/1975-indy-500-pace-car-135029.html

Edited May 30, 2014 by sean1997
Added link to thread with VIN's (see edit history)

[Guest my3buicks]

I believe I read an article at one point that these were used as courtesy cars for big shots for Indy 500 when they used the 75 "Free Spirit" Century Pace cars. This is not the first one to surface.

[adoldfield]

Being a big block car, it was not one of the "Festival" cars used at the track. My understanding is that all of those were 350s.

Also, the festival cars had more graphics - specific lettering with the date of the "500", plus the Buick hawk was on the front quarters, not the hood. Finally, festival cars had a big circular logo for the 500 Festival on rear quarters.

Alan Oldfield

BCA 15140