Used Car of the Day: 1978 Buick Century Salon

by Tim Healey

Published: December 14th, 2023

used car of the day 1978 buick century salon

Contrary to what some of you snarky commenters believe, I do not prowl junkyards for UCOTD. That's Murilee's department. I don't even know, without Googling, where the nearest junkyard is. Instead I scour our forums. And today I found an interest 1978 Buick Century Salon that looks like it's been sitting in the boneyard. Except it runs.

Runs but needs work. The pics show it needs to be painted, and the seller recommends a tune up. The interior is apparently in good shape, save for the headliner, and the brakes need work.

The car has a 305 under the hood, automatic transmission, rear-wheel drive, and 72,000 miles and change on the clock.

It's quirky, it's cool, it needs work, and it's older than I am. Check out this West Virginia-based car here.

[Images: Seller]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 59 comments

Riviera67 on Jan 07, 2024

"Salon" was a version of the Olds Cutlass, not a version of the Buick Century. The Century models were "Special" "Custom" and "Limited".

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Andarris on Mar 11, 2024

As a kid I thought they were interesting for their day - I came to North America in '79 and these slightly reminded me of late 70's Lancia Beta hatch and Tatra 613 (without the exaggerated low beltline) . Ultimately a too crude / boxy to age well. To present the car at it's best, the 2-tone scheme should have been inverted with the a black or midnight blue top third to visually slim & lower it a little .

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Recent Comments

Teddyc73 Beautiful color, although the overused black wheels detract from it. It's nice to see a car in an interesting color instead of the also grossly overused dull greys.
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Master Baiter Until recently, virtually every cell phone and computer was made in China and no one seemed to care. The majority are still built there. I'm not a fan of tariffs as it just gives domestic makers a price umbrella to sell their garbage products to U.S. consumers at higher prices.
Teleedle It would seem that if the Chinese made cars and trucks are ready to compete on the world market that they should be able to compete without the need for government help through subsidies. That's never going to happen with the mindset of their leadership. The rate at which they've transferred the ability to copy to the rate of their abilities to innovate isn't really astounding, but it is truly indicative of their inherent abilities to see through problems and overcome without a lot of fuss. They just have a different way that seems to continually baffle the Western mind. It only goes back a few thousand years. The rest of the world just has to catch up... Without tariffs, three Seagulls could be bought for the price of one loaded Toyota Corolla. I would settle for a nice small pickup truck that can get 30-35 mpg, if the Chinese want to build something with real durability and value. I'm sure they can do that for about $10-12k US, too, dumping them all the way to the bank. Neither Trump or Biden or Bugbrain want that, though. Restrictive 'targeted' tariff ideas indicate that they all want protectionism and the Chicken Tax to continue. The price of living in freedum in the non compete world... and the hallmark of one upmanship by the political class towards more and more expensive transportation related needs. All costs are ALWAYS passed onto the end consumer. Tariffs are the burden of the extra cost. Tariffs are punitive, remember... as intended. The political class is still living off the backs of their constituents throughout the world... same as it ever was.
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