I was a service rep for Buick in 1973 and have a couple of minor clarifications for you. The upholstery is vinyl. Real leather came back much later after being discontinued by Buick in the ealry 60s. The fender "lights" are fibre optic and show status of headdlamps and parking/turnsignal bulbs. On sedans there were red fibre optics above the rear window showing status of rear lamps. the standard dash indicators also showed turn signal status. Great to see old iron still on the roadl.

My brother owns a 1 family '71 Centurion. His is also a convertible with the 455. My great aunt bought it when she worked at Yale University, my grandfather purchased it from her in the mid 70's and once he passed my brother became the owner. He still drives it.

It's 50 years old and less problems than a 3 year old bmw 😂 love it 👍

Know all about this - I have a 1972 Cadillac with a lot of the same equipment. Funny story, as the Wizard mentioned, the cruise runs off of engine vacuum. I was redoing all the vacuum lines once and made a mistake hooking it all back up, and the cruise control would floor the accelerator when you set it! 😆 fixed the mistake I made but that was a real “code brown” moment.

In my dad’s 72 Estate Wagon with the 455.4 his thumb had warn off part of “Buick” on the steering wheel and it just said “ick.” We all loved that car.

It’s unfortunate that parts are not being reproduced or refurbished like they once used too. This is a seriously beautiful car!

That mirror was used from 71-76 on Buick and Oldsmobile C, B, A, and some E-bodies. The big convertibles like the Centurians were built on the B platform. There are a lot of cars built with that mirror, you should be able to find a decent used one out west where cars last longer.

Parts for these are available. You just have to know where to look and what other cars used the same parts. I had to that with my 78 Thunderbird. Had to get parts for a 75 Torino. Sorry, Mrs. Wizard. That interior is vinyl. Buick did not offer a leather interior until 74, and only on Electra Limited and Electra Park Avenue. Granted it is a high quality vinyl, but actually pretty much the same as we had in our 75 Dart Swinger. Our family doctor traded in a beautiful 64 Riviera and bought a 72 Centurion.

I love the ride these old road locomotives had, nothing today is as smooth and comfy on the highway long term as these old full size luxury cars.

Yeah I agree with you about not opening up the top on the customers car for the very same reason. Unless you were doing some sort of mechanical work on the top that would require you to move the top up and down it’s probably best not to risk opening up a canna worms

Comparing the 308's quad-cam V8 to the Buick's 455...didn't mention torque. While the cam's were nearly broomsticks, air pump on the front, dish-washer compression, and log-like exhaust manifolds, Buick's were still very good for grunt!

Well worth the time and effort to save these classic American cars. Absolutely beautiful cars

I enjoyed driving a 1972 Pontiac Grand Ville Convertible with this interior color for about six months before I turned it in for a quieter hardtop GTO. I felt like 'a million bucks' cruising in it with the top down. This was more or less 'my time' and 'my style' as a young man with some funds. This Buick is a good deal more elegant in the hood and grill...but I was working with a local Pontiac dealer to buy a new car or two each year.

It may be beyond the Car Wizard, but old car specialists rework available parts all the time. The diaphragm is the same one used on countless GM cars and trucks of the era - it’s just the bracket that differs. That style of remote mirror was also used across countless GM cars - either fix this one or get the parts you need from another GM car. All of this is reason # 1,973,455 why Omega does not generally work on old cars

I recall driving this massive car in the early '80's as a 14 year old teen. I think it was a 1970 Dodge Polaris. I was driving it down a dirt road at like, 50 mph. It just didn't really register the bumps - it "floated"! I called it the USS Polaris - regarded it as a battleship. I think the car could have fit eight in the seats and five in the trunk! It was massive and comfortable!

The 1971/1973 Buick Riviera also had fantastic styling. Best was the 1971 GS model. Love these GM models.

That car is too pretty!. The lines, the subtle curves. Thank you whoever owns this for allowing me to see it!

Did anyone notice there’s no passenger side rear view mirror? That’s because those were an extra-cost option back then, even on nice cars like this (my 72 Cadillac doesn’t have one either).

IIRC-The cruise control parts for all B-O-P 455s are interchangeable. The primary differences are where diaphragms are mounted.

My dad had a 1971 Centurion 4 door (after turning in a 71 Riviera Boat Tail….sigh). Someone ran into the front grill, which had a specific waterfall design and cracked it. This was 1975 or so and the body shop could not find a replacement grill. They ended up installing a Lesabre grill. So even in 1975, some parts were scarce.

I’m wondering if a small crimp fitting for a wire cable like those used on garage doors might work to fix the mirror. Perhaps even a small crimp on lead fishing weight might work in this situation. Good luck with fixing all the little problems!

I had a ‘73 Centurion for 10 years….. Sold it in 2016. It was, really, a great car. 2 door coupe. Blue on blue on blue. I replaced all the suspension, front and rear, had a 2.5 dual exhaust with crossover and 40 series Flow Masters installed (sounded Awesome but cold startups were LOUD). Great road car. I had trouble with the cruise control too. Replaced as many parts as I could find (never thought of the brake switch though…) and it would work intermittently. When it did work, it would intermittently surge. Never did figure that out. None the less, it was a Great car and if I could get it back, I would.

I had a’73 Cutlass Supreme I bought used in October’73. It came without cruise control, which was gaining popularity because of the OPEC oil embargo. I asked the Olds dealer if they could add cruise control and they could. Of the three optional cruise control units available, the factory cruise was the cheapest option, which I had them install. That was a wonderful car.

73 was the worst year for gas mileage due to emissions. I worked at at Toyota dealer and our owner had a Chevy wagon. It used a quart of oil every 500 miles and GM said that's normal. My dad bought a 73 Buick LeSabre with a 455. It sounded like a jet when it started.

Had one of these with the 455, I averaged 11 mpg….

If it were me, I’d find a similar looking mirror with a slightly larger base to cover the factory mounting holes on the door. I understand that the customer may want to keep it all original though.

My g-pa retired from a Chevy/Buick/ Olds/ Cadillac dealership after 40+ years... My g-ma always said, "we're a Buick family, not a Cadillac family "... And that's what we grew up in... My parents were married in a 70 GS Skylark... I remember crossing the country in those 80s Buick Regals in the backseat with my sister... I still, and will always, love those old Buicks...! The 59 Buick is my favorite...! Actually, any 59 GM vehicle is eye candy...! Thanks, keep up your awesomeness...!

The Pickle Convert is very cool. It can be a challenge getting parts on these cars, no doubt. I own a 74 Buick Century GS 455, and a few years ago a deer came out of nowhere and took out my drivers fender and front Headlight bucket / turn signal panel. Finding these parts was a two year effort. I finally located a fender out of Stockton, CA that had a 74 Regal Fender. The ONLY year that would work was 74! It was $600 PLUS freight! The Headlight bucket / turn signal housing in the front was even more difficult - as the more common Regal had a rectangular turn light, and the Century had a round light. I almost gave up when 18 months or so later one popped up on EBAY and I snapped it up for $ 150. It is back on the road now drive it as much as I can afford to drive with its 10 mpg.

I have fixed a number of those '60s-'70s remote mirrors with ten speed bicycle cable and crimp-on ferrules from bike shops, hardware stores, or the miscellaneous box. Really not too hard, and cheap, cheap, cheap.

Every time Mrs. Wizard says scroll over when doing the interior coverage section always makes me chuckle, it would be pan over if we are to use videography terminology.

A Buick Centurion in that exact color combination sparked my interest in obtaining a bright green convertible with white interior in top. The town where my parents and I lived in the early 1970s had a Buick dealer who sold a unusually large number of convertibles, and a number of those in the early 1970s were bright green with white top and interior whether they were Skylarks or Centurions. By the time that I was able to purchase my first new convertible in 1986, the only one that I could find with white interior and top was a 1986 Mustang, and even with a special order, green was not an exterior color option so I ended up with maroon. I had to wait until 2007 for my green convertible when I purchased a bran new New Beetle Convertible in Gecko Green with saddle leather interior and saddle canvas top. The full-size GM convertibles of the 1970s are still my favorites, and I feel fortunate to have owned two. The first was a Pontiac Grandville Brougham Convertible in Onyx Black with white interior and top that was totaled in the flood of 1993, and the second was a 1975 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible in baby blue with matching baby blue interior and a white top that was stolen a couple of years ago.

Kansas City Auto Electric here, The cruise control diaphragm is a simple fix. Run a bead of crazy glue in the fractured rubber. This repair if done correctly will never be noticed and outlast the car. The mirror is another simple and common fix it is to spot weld using a tig welder the cable back into place. As far as the speakers make sure you replace them with 10 ohms and not the common 4 ohms. However, I have found most of the time if you pull the speaker and resolder the leads and clean the plug it will work for another 50 years provided the speakers do not demagnetize as they often do at this age. Also, the seats are not leather they are vinyl. The compression is also not 8.4 but 8.5 which is probably what you meant.

The green paint is amazing...back when cars actually had character.

Wizard there are turn signal indicators on the dash, AND on the fenders. The ones on the fenders were an optional repeater to tell you if the parking/head/turn signal was on, and if there was a bulb out.

ALL Buicks manufactured BEFORE the 1977 models are beyond incredible!!

You know what I like about The Car Wizard? INTEGRITY. I took my 2015 Juke RS NISMO to the local Nissan Dealer for a recall. They botched it, 3 times. The Service Manager said this to me "I'm sorry - we have never seen this vehicle model before!" Waaaaaaaa! Cry me a river bro. Are you kidding me? You are a freaking DEALER. I'm so lucky to have found a local repair shop with INTEGRITY. Thanks Wizard & Mrs Wizard!

As I remember some of those 1970's cars and trucks had huge bullet shaped magnets that was about 3 or 4 inches long. least that is what my late father always told me they was from. Come to think about it they was just slightly shorter then that of a .50 caliber machine gun round, and about the same diameter. Always remarked about how it looked like a particular type of medication you would give an Elephant. lol By the way Car Wizard, you should still be able to order that cruise control actuator if you order it for a 70's or 80's Corvette, as it is the same part.

I have had good results finding parts by joining Facebook groups specific to the car you are working on and posting what part you need. They are out there. Also Wizard, you don’t mention the massive torque those engines had, even in the smog era. Nothing like that Ferrari I’m sure.

very very nice rare car Wizard! Thanks for sharing brother! This car really still wears original in every way! Parts are always the problem. Enjoy this video

The mirror cable fix is quite simple. You take an appropriately sized ball bearing and drill out the center. You slide the ball bearing over the end of the cable until it slightly pokes out the other end and then throw a quick Mig weld at the bottom of the ball fusing the two together. Even a cheap flux core welder will do the job. That's it! I've used this method to fix stretched parking brake cables that are no longer in production as well.

This car is sick. Im not much into older cars, but they really did a good job on the styling, it perfectly fits in the 70s style, but it aged perfectly. It looks old, but ina good way.

The Centurion ran from 1971-1973. In 1974 it became the Le Sabre Luxus.... two of my friend's Dads had them one had a 71 the other a 72 both were coupes.

Ah the 70's remember them well, graduated in 76. In the 90's I received from my father in law his 1969 Cadillac Coup DeVille. Was a great car, 472 CI, 400 turbo trans, spread bore Rochester 4 bbl carburetor also had a 2 piece drive shaft with CV joints not U joints. For a heavy car it moved. 1969 was the last year of a high compression motor, 10.1 compression ratio. At 136K miles it didn't burn oil, however it did have a couple of leaky valve guides and would suck some down if it sat and blow a small amount of blue smoke on start up. It had 4 speakers a dial cruz control and AM/FM radio that when you turned on the radio the antenna would rise up from the front left fender. An American Beauty. Thanks for the ride down memory lane Wizard, love love love these older cars.

Ahhhh.......the 70's...you were a kid, I was in early high school and had a Car DAD that just about bought a new car every year and/or older cars that were like new. That '73 455 four Centurion is in very good condition, especially for a convertible. Shows garage kept (even though I didn't see the inside of the trunk). I am sure Pickles likes her juice too. The 350's were gas guzzlers to say the least (in our '69 Impala, my '70 Impala, our '72 Monte Carlo and '72 Cutlass S to name a few) and working at a Chevy dealership before and after high school '73 to 76, those 455's......hope you had your own gas pump on the farm.

I would have been about 11 in the latter part of 1972 when those probably would have been available. I very clearly remember a 1976 Olds Toronado my Dad had for a few years. Now, that ‘76 was REALLY detuned! 12 miles a gallon in optimal conditions, really sluggish acceleration!

I took my driving test in that exact car but in yellow.. it was my mother's car. The trooper doing the driver ingredient test was impressed I did a 3 point turn in it.

I had 75 Buick LaSabre with a 455 with a 4 barrel carburetor that was my first vehicle I love it when I step on the gas I love the sound of that carburetor sweet music 🎵!!!

Beautiful car and I agree it should be kept as stock as possible. Luckily back then the factories used parts that were simple and cost effective to make. But they lasted way longer than anything made today. With the proper shop I’d make you anything you need to keep this beautiful car on the road brother.👍

My neighbor had one, and I had the biggest crush on her. Good old Marge would "floor it Marge" and do burn outs as I shouted for more.

I am working in a 1968 Olds Delmont Convertible. Love the channel and Mrs. Wizards Ways are helping me with my first video coming soon! Thank you

Wizard, you're Wife is a joy to listen to. Informative, vitality and funny.

A couple sources, that might be the answer, for your Buick needs…The Buick Club of America, and The Buick Farm. Ive been a member of the Buick Club, for decades, and have dealt with the Buick Farm, for many years also. I’ve owned several vintage Buicks, and The Buick Farm, has always come thru. Thanks for listening.

As I also approach 50 this year I’m of course ruminating over how long ago this was what the world looked like. My mom had a 2 door late 60s Skylark with a white landau top - much like the lady who drove it, was pure class (though also about 16 feet long, the car that is, sorry mom). I absolutely loved the rich stink of gasoline present in every garage. Come to think of it, the thick blue CO2 laden exhaust also smelled pretty great to me as a lad. Those were the days.

When I was a kid my Mom drove barges like that. Mostly Bonneville convertibles. It was all about the "boulevard" ride back then.

Recently, I took photos of this car's cousin, a beige '73 Pontiac Catalina conv, here in our town. The young man driving it said his father had it since new and restored it, probably just in time before parts become unobtanium.😕 Also, I looove this color! Back in '78-79, my 2nd grade teacher had a green '71 Olds Cutlass Supreme conv, if memory serves correctly. At that age, I wasn't too sure what to make of Ms. T apparently having a life of fun outside of Franklin elementary, but I knew I liked her car and wanted a conv for myself someday.

@Car Wizard I believe that there are 5 models that should all have the O5 1973 code mirror for 1973. Century, Regal, LeSabre, Centurion and Estate Wagon all had the same non remote mirror so you may get lucky on the other models.... I would get one that looked close enough and with matching cable length and transplant the cables to the broken one.

That car would have been $30,000 in today's money. That's crazy. No car of equal luxury would even come close to that today.

Man that car reminds me of a 72 Delta 88 i once had. Maybe 8 mpg on a good day

Pickles reminds me of the 76 Buick Electra my dad bought new. Enormous isn't adequate to describe how big it was. He had to add on to the back of the garage just so the car could fit and be able to close the garage door. It was truly like riding on a cloud.

Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Wizard!

*Awesome video, Wizard* Its a shame they dont build parts for these old cars anymore. I love watching junkyard videos and there are tons of old cars able to get a second chance…. People could invest in the business to bring them back, through new built parts. It would raise a whole new market nobody steps in just because of its cause; there are no parts…

On doing a second view of the radio it might not be factory, Delco always had it's name on the front from what I remember. Some dealers would put in after market radio's that looked factory but were much cheaper than the price of the Delco's and pocket the difference.

You're a Wizard, not a Magician. 😊 I've been restoring Nashes for 45 years and if there's one thing I've learned, it's the fine art of compromise. My last (and final) restoration involved dropping a 350 SBC and a modern transmission for lack parts. Don't lose sleep over this Mr Wizard. The customers have to realize if you're gonna fix their cars its gonna be on your terms.

My dad had a 1973 Buick century grab sport 350. It had many of the parts shared with other models and sadly it too is now hard to find parts for it. We used to look for replacement doors and other panels back in the late 1980s and early 90s. My dad got his new and said he only saw one which was a century sedan over the 40 plus years we had it. They made about 3600 of the century cars with two doors I think and far less were gran sport models. They are great cars and will last forever if you do the basic maintenance. I miss my dads car

You could fix that mirror adjustment by simply taking solder and a soldering iron, hold the cable where its supposed to go and use the solder as structural support to hold the wire onto the mirror.

I hear that, even with my 93 cougar, it's like every time something breaks or needs replacing that piece is nearly impossible to find, and to add insult to injury it's like every part around the broken one is available, not the 1 needed

This video is proof that time travel is possible. Amazing car! Brought back so many fond childhood memories.

I had a '73 Centurion... Never got better than 6 mpg with it. It was a fun ride.

7:20 Wow, Mrs. Wizard, you really drive fast! 🤣 Seriously, though, I wonder when the owner is going to want the speedometer fixed.

I believe the Buick was originally equipped with a vapor canister.

What do you do to keep that car up? Join a Buick (or big-body GM) owners' club? Go to the recycling yards every weekend religiously? Cross reference with other GM full-size part suppliers? Fab your own parts? Make a lot of noise on the restoration websites to show the demand for re-pop parts? That car is a beauty and deserves to be driven on sunny summer days and stored when the snow starts to fall! Good luck!

I came along in 1973. My parents had a GM at the time. It was a 1970 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Holiday coupe. That Buick only has 55,000 miles 😮 love it!

It's one of those classics that looks like it's doing 90mph, sitting still...

I would have been 24 when that one came out. Back when I was young, those types of vehicles were often referred to as land barrages just because they were big, but most of those big vehicles did have a smooth ride.

The air pump seen at 6:26, top left of the engine, is a noisy and power-robbing appliance. Pumps air jets into the exhaust manifold by each port, to reduce HC & CO. Back in the day, our family's mechanic removed this stuff from our big GM car. Seemed like a different car afterwards.

When I was working in a garage, in the early 1980s, we had a 1973 Centurion in for a timing chain replacement. This car was a convertible and was maroon. That thing was huge, we did other work on it as well. The timing chain job was the first I saw of it.

The speaker issue could also be bad/corroded connections in the wiring, or dried up faulty electrolytic capacitors in the radio/amplifier unit itself. Blown speakers with fried voice coils are usually not intermittent. They don't work at all.

My parents had a yellow 2 door with brown interior and brown vinyl top. 455 that overheated regularly. Agree that probably not more than a few hundred have survived the crusher.

There is a salvage yard search website for old car parts that I use. Often GM used the same part across different models. The old Delco radios the components fail. Sometimes it isn't the speaker. I use M & R from MI to repair. The hood like that wraps over the front GM started using in '71 on some models. It eliminated a joint to align.

Nice Buick!! In the late 80's, my high school buds and me all had large 70's cars. Joking called ourselves a yacht club rather than car club. One of them was a 73 Buick Centurian coupe hardtop. Nice care. There was also an Olds 98, a 73 Monte Carlo and my own 75 Monte Carlo. Those old barges will always be my favorite type of car. It would take time, but likely could take the guts of another similar GM mirror assembly and mount in the Buick housing.

When I replaced the radio and speakers in my 73 ElDorado convertible, I had an issue where the rear speakers (same location) were positive ground. Watch for that.

I honestly love American cars especially this era of car so classy and elegant such a shame they don’t make them like that anymore

It’s not commonly known but the Centurion was part Lesabre and part Electra. The mirrors are actually shared with the Electra 225. I enjoy Mrs.Wizards ways. Very nice content. I hope the factoid of the mirror will help.

A bicycle handlebar brake repair kit or something similar might work for the mirror controls. That, or you can crimp a stainless steel ferrule onto the existing cable if there's enough slack to work with.

Wizard seems to be catching some of the clickbait-itis that has infected Scotty for some years now. It's spreading! Let's hope Wizard's case does not become nearly as serious.

Had a '72 version of these left to me by my Grampa. What a beautiful land barge. Sold it when I moved because I simply had not garage space for it. I miss it.

Knowing how brittle those GM dashes can get, I winced when the Wizard tapped on the dash to get the speaker to work.

This is why every shop should buy a 3-D printer, kind of like the one used by Robot Cantina, he is a former Detroit engineer, and he just makes parts from scratch using his computer printer, these are metal parts, not just plastic. Of course, you have to know a little bit of engineering, in order to use a 3-D printer, but you can literally make any part, for any car.

Hey Wizard & Mrs Wizard, wow, this beautiful Buick is really nice & brings back fond memories of years gone by. This is a nice change of pace for Omega!!! It's a shame that parts are getting so difficult to get for these old classics!!! Thanks for sharing this exciting video!!! 👍👍🙂

It is a beautiful car. It is in great shape. Yes, parts are getting hard to find. I have a 73 Chevelle and it is hard to find parts that 20 years ago were easy to find. Looking forward to your next video.

My dad had a 1974 88 Royale 2dr hardtop. It was midnight blue with a white landau vinyl top and a white interior. It had those same wire hubcaps. My dad's buddy pulled the smog stuff off of it and plugged hoses with golf tees. He also readjusted the carb and it ran great. He flipped the lid of the air cleaner upside down so it would moan. He had to take it into Oldsmobile for some warranty worked and they fucked up the carb. He was pissed!

One time I was getting in my 69 lemans and the door is just like that, I was getting in and the door shut my head in it slamming my head in between the two windows. It was one of the worst concussions I’ve had and I will never let it happen again

I always love seeing this car, it's gorgeous. Keep in mind when talking about horsepower and those Ferrari engines, those have dual overhead cams and at least 4 valves per cylinder. I don't know about Buick in those days, but Oldsmobile considered building 32 valve 455 V8s. Look up the term OW-43. This was something I first read about decades ago. The resulting engine had about 700 horsepower at 7000 rpm. Anything you put it in would have resulted in senseless (and amusing) violence enacted on the tires. So that's my answer. That '73 Buick has only 260 hp because it doesn't have dual overhead cams and 32 valves. The full-size cars of this era were just beautiful. Even when Dodge and Plymouth copied the GM design almost line for line (Bluesmobile) the result was fetching. With his fabrication shop, you'd almost think Jay Leno has a business going there. Some side hustle...

I took drivers ED in a brand new ‘73 Buick Century two door hardtop. Great car, it drove smoothly.

Nice video Wizard! I just can imagine how beautiful this car is in person. I think that 3D printing can help with this tiny parts in the mirror assembly. A 3D printer is not expensive, and maybe will worth the investment. There's a lot of materials that can be used, who will assure that mecanic parts functions works reliable as possible.

they need to make the interior like this again for today's cars...

Those intermittent speakers might just be caused by corrosion/oxidation on some push-on terminals to the speaker. Those push-ons also loosen with age and don't hold tight any more. Just some new terminals may well fit it.

I appreciate it when an older car still sneaks' into your videos. Pickles is a sweet ride.

I have that mirror assembly, cables and all. I picked it up about 25 years ago at a swap-meet. I wanted a mirror for my Dad's 73 Limited [Electra] so he could see backing into the garage. I thought you could just turn the base bracket around and it would fit on the passenger's door. Nope. Been sitting in the garage next to the 73 Limited he bought brand new in Dec. 72. Gonna see if I can swap it for a pass. side one. Good luck trying to find parts, if not for Buick Club of America, I'd be screwed!

Look up Classic Industries..im betting they have parts for this or know who would..