Red Buick Centurion from 1973

The Buick Centurion is a full-size car built from the 1971 through 1973 model years. Replacing the Wildcat as the sporty iteration of Buick’s three full-size car lines, it was positioned between the LeSabre and Electra in the lineup. The Centurion name was inspired by a Buick concept car, the name coming from that of an officer in the Roman Army. The car’s emblem was not the traditional Buick tri-shield, but a side profile of a centurion.

The Centurion shared a trim package implementation shared with the Chevrolet Caprice, Pontiac Grand Ville and the Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale as a hardtop coupe, sedan and convertible.

The 1973 Centurion featured a larger 5 mph (8.0 km/h) front bumper and new vertical grille shared with LeSabre models along with revised taillights. The two-door hardtop coupe no longer included a standard vinyl roof and the distinctive formal rear window was replaced by a backlight shared with LeSabre coupes.

Under the hood, the standard engine was downgraded to a four-barrel 350 V8 rated at 175 net horsepower. The 250-horsepower 455 four-barrel was now optional.

With the LeSabre convertible temporarily dropped after 1972 and the intermediate-sized Buick lineup (renamed from Skylark to Century for 1973) losing its droptop permanently after the 1972 model year, the Centurion was Buick’s only convertible offering in 1973. This would also be the final year for the Centurion series, which was replaced for 1974 by the new LeSabre Luxus, which included the convertible reinstated to that line for another two model years. GM would not see another Buick convertible until the Buick Riviera in 1982.

Total Centurion production was 110,539 units, including 10,296 convertibles. With only three years of production, the Centurion had one of the shortest model runs in modern Buick history.

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