Buick "Free Spirit" Indy 500 Pace Car Replicas

Submitted by Rich Menga

Many moons ago I asked my father what car he missed the most out of all he’s ever owned. While not particularly a car guy, he did own some pretty decent rides of the day (including a late 1960s Pontiac Firebird, an early 1970s Dodge Challenger, and an early 1970s Oldsmobile Cutlass S to name a few). He thought about the question for a moment, then looked at me and said …

“The pace car.“

I was 15 years old at the time I heard that answer.

I replied, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The Pace Car was a 1975 Buick “Free Spirit” Century Custom Series Indianapolis 500 Pace Car replica. Pop and I never referred to it as The Buick or The Century. It was always The Pace Car.

I thought to myself, “Okay, how hard could it be to find this car?” Let’s just say it took me seventeen years to find one. More on that later.

In my research of any and all Buicks labeled as “Free Spirit” cars, I discovered there were three of them, those being the ‘75 Century Custom, the ‘76 Century (also an Indy 500 pace car) and the ‘76 Skyhawk (not a pace car). These rides all had ginormous graphics on them.

The ‘75 Century pace car replica (pictured above) is a rolling American flag. It brazenly displayed its red and blue placards (yes, placards, not decals) along with the hawk image seen on its hood and front quarter. And trust me, there was no way you could mistake this for anything but a Buick, especially considering there was a giant “BUICK” on the top of the nose and the rear quarter and the trunk lid. (And you thought the Pontiac “screaming chicken” Trans Am hood image was huge.. ha! These graphics covered the whole car.)

Buick continued with the big-ass graphics in ‘76 with the Century pace car (above). This time around they ditched the red/white/blue and went with silver/orange/black (note that the wheels are also orange). However it should be noted that the consumer version of the Indy 500 ‘76 doesn’t look like the actual pace car. The hood bulge isn’t there, nor are the big “BUICK V6″ hood graphics. The bumper is not painted, and a large portion of the front quarter graphics are absent. I’m sure that ticked off a few people back then.

Each of the cars are outfitted with Hurst Hatches, known to many as “T-Tops.” In the 1970s General Motors announced very loudly, “We're not making convertibles anymore”. So to provide an open-air solution, Hurst made manual removable panels--and thus the Hurst Hatch was born. So if you were ever wondering why “T-Tops” existed in the first place, it was due largely to GM’s anti-convertible point of view at the time.

As any owner of a 1970s (or early '80s) car with Hurst Hatches is aware, they creak, leak, rattle, shimmy, shake and rarely keep a good fit. In fact, there was a recall on them the year the ‘75 Century was released to market due to such issues. With the hatches it wasn’t a matter of if they would develop problems but when. If Hurst Hatches were made with today’s tech, I’m sure they would hold their fit much better as the materials and manufacturing process today obliterate what was available in the mid-1970s.

The performance of each of these cars is not what anyone would call stellar. The ‘75 was outfitted with a Buick 350 fed by a 4-barrel carburetor, which was arguably the best of the 350s--and yes there is a difference between a Chevrolet 350 and a Buick 350. Still, however, it was barely adequate to pull along the eighteen-foot-long patriotic hauler. The actual pace car had a 455 under the long hood, but this never made its way to the consumer replica version.

The actual ‘76 Century pace car had a turbocharged V-6 (and was the first V-6-powered car ever to pace the Indy 500), but this didn’t make its way into the consumer version either. The driver was left with a rather weak application at the end of it all. Granted, the V-6 engine it had was nice, but the engine simply didn’t do the car justice--especially considering the car looked like it could melt pavement wherever it went.

Free Spirit Buicks are arguably the most “un-Buick” cars ever put to market. They looked fast but didn’t go fast. They all sat on dealer lots for months on end back when they were new. Nobody wanted them and happily bought LeSabres, Electras, Apollos and Rivieras instead. These cars were cast aside without a second thought. In fact, Free Spirit cars were so unloved that dealers purposely removed the graphics on many and sold them as regular coupes just to get them off the lots.

This was the fate of any Buick Free Spirit car.

Fast-forward to present.

After 17 years, I finally found a ‘75 Free Spirit Century. It’s sitting in my father’s garage right now. She’s a bit beat up, needs some mechanical treatment and has to have her stripes put back on as well as a whole host of other to-dos (mostly cosmetic), but yeah, I got one.

I was fortunate enough to acquire one in an unmodified state (i.e. original block, original transmission, etc.). It’s an unfortunate truth that many owners over the years “enhanced” their cars with different non-original transmissions and engines which completely destroys any collector value, so I was lucky to acquire one that hadn’t been screwed with. I have “matching numbers,” as they say. And yes, it counts. A pace car deserves no less.

After I acquired The Pace Car I launched BuickFreeSpirit.com because Free Spirit Buicks had almost no presence on the Internet. Shortly after that I started getting e-mails from people thanking me for putting the site up. I also got emails from several Free Spirit owners as well and other Buick collectors. I was even contacted by the graphics shop in Michigan that originally put the stripes on the car back in ‘75!

For those that would lambaste the Free Spirit cars, yes, I can understand why you would. They’re big; they’re garish. Some might even call them ugly. They have 1970s cheese written all over them. They’re a mash-up of steel, weak engines, rattle-top hatched roofs, vinyl, plastic and naugahyde. However if there’s one thing proven from all the Buick love I’ve received since putting up that little web site, it’s that people were dying to find out what happened to this car. It wasn’t forgotten--not in the slightest.

I’ll put it to you this way: It’s an extreme rarity when Buick lets a flashy car out of the barn because that’s not their focus. But when they do, oh yes, they make a splash and then some. The Free Spirit cars are the most flashiest Buick ever produced. Nothing they’ve made before or since says “LOOK AT ME” more than the Indy 500 pace car replicas.

But that’s not the reason I like the car so much.

This is why:

The Pace Car was my father’s car. He is seen above, in 1975 (the year I was born), in all his '70s-styled plaid-pants glory.

Stylin’, to be sure.

I had to get the car back for him. No question. This is one of those father/son things that can’t be described. Most sons always want to get back that car that their fathers owned. In my case, that car was The Pace Car.

I asked Pop later on why he even bought one to begin with.

His reply was that when he first saw it at the ‘75 Indy 500, he said, “I’ve got to have that car.” Shortly after that he bought it for $7,200 in Massachusetts. Bear in mind the price for a standard Century was a tick over $4,100 back then. But when a guy wants a car bad enough, it’s worth the extra cash to get it. And it was worth the wait to get it back.

--Rich Menga
Menga.net
Buick Free Spirit.com

Comments

[stanczyk on February 10, 2009 at 12:18 PM]

one of them has "hood bulb " like a new Mustang,

yeah
modern muscle debate :)

[Jeff Antil on April 10, 2009 at 01:20 PM]

Would love to find a 1975 Buick Century Free Spirit Indy Pace Car. This was my first car and would love to find another. It was in mint condition with crager rims, lettered tires and lifted the back end up just a bit. Sold it around 1982 and kid had it a month and totaled it. If anyone knows where I could find one please give me a shout.

[rocky jerls on April 21, 2009 at 11:41 AM]

i have a 76 buick for sale in decent condition will run and brand new interior call (1573) 887-6080 clean and clear title

[rocky jerls on April 21, 2009 at 11:47 AM]

ow it has factory air the interior is leather and swade needs little work dont really need anything but a driver side taillight it is in brown primor it would make a awsome car if someone had the time and money into it and i just dont have it. it could go very quick and cuz its rarity so jump on it!!!!!

[rocky jerls on April 21, 2009 at 11:53 AM]

call after 4:30 p.m. for the best time for me to be home

[rocky jerls on April 22, 2009 at 07:29 AM]

its all original except the rims

[rocky jerls on April 22, 2009 at 07:33 AM]

all original except rims

[Tim D on April 28, 2009 at 07:21 PM]

Hi there, The info that has been told to me about the color combo is that Buick didn't know yet that they would be doing the '76 race as well. So they did this as a red, white,and blue for the Bicentenial (sp) a year early. '75 was the first year that Buick would use the Hawk and so that is why I think they put the bird on the car.
I was fortunate enough to get a '75 Indy Pace Car as well back in '04. My wife bought it for me. In my case though it a LeSabre Convertible. They only made 40 of them for track use. They used them for parade and festival activities. I have papers from a car wash in Indy that shows mine being used by Hurst Performance. This was the last year of the big Buick Convertible as well. I am the 3rd owner of this car it was bought from people that had owned it since '78. Thers is so much info that I know about this car I don't have time to put it all here. I will say that I used to see it every day when I was in Jr/Sr High school back in the 80's. I never thought I would own it and thanks to the wife I do. She remembers the car from the same era. It just turned 70K last year.
As far as Indy cars and Nascar is concerned I know they raced Regals in Nascar in the 80's as well as using the Turbo engine in Indy. I don't understand why they didn't have a Grand National Pace the Indy race a year and 1987 would have been a great year for that with the use of a GNX.

[Andrew d Coe on August 27, 2009 at 03:24 PM]

My name is Andrew, Im interested in your Buick Free Spirit!

[jon pecaut on January 09, 2010 at 10:13 AM]

I am jon pecaut and have a 1976 Indy Pace car Replica that has never leaked through the HH. Beautiful condition & forsale. Call me at 605/310-6101 or see at carsforsale.com.

[John H. on April 30, 2010 at 08:16 AM]

Wow great story,I started with a 1973 century luxus,high school 1977-Then in 1980 bought a 1977 regal with bucket seats.Cloned it 1984 to a free spirit from a wreck,drove it started a family,rusted out sold it 1994.In 2007 found a 1976 regal 54,000 miles.With buckets same color red as past wow,plus I saved all pace car stuff.Now back to the past.....Oh ps 1976 pace car only some came with t-tops that was a option. those buicks are so cool,,,

[tomm on June 23, 2010 at 12:15 PM]

This was an era when Buick appealed to young adults, the 70's. Starting in 1975, Buick used hawks for advertising, since they had new Skyhawk. Mid sized Centurys and Regals sold well, and then in the 80's Buick was known as 'V6 brand'.

It wasn't until 1990s that Buick was labeled 'old people's car' by the media. Now they are shedding the image.

[Dave Hockridge on December 19, 2010 at 09:12 PM]

Great writing Rich. My wife owns one of these big beauties and would not part with it for anything. Hers is totally original (right down to the original stripes and rims with all beauty rims and centers) and she loves when going to car shows and even just driving down the street the attention she gets. The great thing about her car is we went to one car show and there was another one there. The only problem was it was not a true pace car. He left after an hour of listening to his friends asking him why there was so many different things between his and ours. He had been telling his friends his was original. With the wife's being exact it is easy to tell improper stripes or an imposter car. I would like to restore it but as she tells me "it is original only once" Guess she is right.

[John H. on March 11, 2012 at 04:03 PM]

Great storys,,That original is only original once....But mine from a wreck is not a imposter copy ,poser,it does match all of a pace car.,,,But mine steals the show ,class of one// Black, silver,part vinyl top,, markings per factory,,mild custom,,more HP, duals,83 H/O scoop,,lightning rods..cool,,My other collector, is a 83 H/O with a 65 425olds starfire 450hp motor...OK I have braging rights..If It's not original to start,, Turn it into what the factory couldn't do..my pace car was a regal s/r,the olds was a H/O put had no matching #s Motor But yes originals are survivers and imposters should not copy,do your thing with them......John H.