mmarshall

Yes, all of the '77 GM full-sized cars were downsized in 1977....Ford and Chrysler were to follow several years later. Sometimes, instead of real downsizing, simply transferring the name of the former full-size car to an existing mid-size one. Ford did that with the LTD, Pontiac did that with the Bonneville, and Plymouth did that with the Fury. The REAL downsizing for the big GM cars, though, came in 1985, when they were converted to FWD. By then, quality was also unacceptable by today's standards, though, IMO, the first sign that things were starting to go downhill with GM's build-quality came in 1971 for the full-sized cars, 1973 for mid-sized, and the well-known quality and engineering lapses of the 1971-76 Vega and 1980-1985 X-Body compacts.

This is VERY close to what my 1965 Electra looked like...the automotive love of my life when I was in college. Silver, with a black painted roof (not a vinyl roof). 4 door pillarless hardtop (this photo shows the windows up). The only difference was that my car had a dent in the front fender LOL.

When the miles piled up on it (engines, of course, except for the Chrysler Slant Six, didn't run as long in those days as they do now), my late father's best man bought it (I almost cried when he drove it away). His son (who was like a cousin to me) worked as a mechanic on vehicles for the phone company (the old Ma Bell)...and was able to keep it running for a little while longer before it was (presumably) junked. Almost wish I had kept it and done a full-restoration, but I couldn't afford it as a young kid.

Aron9000

Man that Duece and a Quarter is a really nice car. Love the color combo, wish those earth tone 60's/70's colors would make a comeback. Stuff like that brown/copper metallic look great on that Buick, very period correct. I know some of those 1960's/70's colors sucked, the flat pea green, some golds, browns, and beige colors were pretty drab and flat looking from the factory. Still there were some great colors like Chevrolet Nassau Blue, that light yellow color Chevy offered, there was a really cool copper color Chrysler offered in the late 60's, I've seen a Charger painted that color.

Thing is with current restorations, nobody respects that old green or brown wagon or sedan for what it originally was. They have to paint it red, black, or the new hot thing is some shade of grey(even more boring than the original color, even if it was an off tone color), screw the original color.