A large Buick has found me, and I can’t wait to get it running

Three blocks long and two lanes wide
Daddy had a Buick and Momma loved to ride

—Robert Earl Keen

“Imagine the trips to get ice cream! Cruising among the vineyards when it’s harvest time! Or heading out, you know, just because!”

I blurted this stream of exclamations while telling my wife that my aunt had called to ask if I wanted her 1973 Buick Centurion. This was no sales effort on my part; my aunt offered me the car as a gift. The child-brain that comes out when I’m excited evidently decided that these activities were the best way to envision what would happen once the behemoth of a convertible dropped anchor in our barn.

Taking ownership of my aunt’s big Buick puts me in a large and growing category of collector car owners—those who have received or inherited cars from family members. Hagerty Insider expects this group to grow in the coming years as baby boomers, who own more collector cars than all other generations, look to pass along their rides to younger loved ones. (We’ve even published a primer on it.)

Although there’s probably no better gift than an old car, there’s often a lot more to getting one on the road than fresh gas, a tune-up, and some new tires. I’ll be working through those issues and sharing them here in the weeks and months ahead.

My friends probably wouldn’t select a full-size Buick as their first choice for me. I tend to gravitate toward vehicles with more sporting intent, and the cars in my small accumulation reflect that. My enthusiasm for adding this yacht to our fleet doesn’t owe to its rarity—Buick made 10,296 Centurion convertibles from 1971–1973, and 110,539 Centurions in total. The Hagerty Price Guide pegs a driver-condition 455 convertible like mine around $10,500—an immensely generous gift, but far from why a car guy like me would be excited to have it. Rather, the Buick fits a totally different need from my other cars. “The perfect summer cruiser,” Hagerty Media site director Jack Baruth succinctly put it when I shared the news with him. Indeed, I’d be hard pressed to think of a better wafting, relaxed, take-it-all-in country road experience.

Pushing nearly 2.5 tons and extending a tape-measure-stretching 18.5 feet long, this mid-’70s parade float is heavier than and about as long as the biggest Chevy Colorado you can buy. It’s powered by a 455-cubic inch V-8 (optional in 1973 when the standard engine was downgraded to a 350) breathing through a four barrel carburetor and single exhaust. This Buick’s no high-compression Stage III monster from a few years prior, but it doesn’t need to be.

My aunt bought the Centurion new at Stone Bowers Buick in Bedford, Ohio in 1973, and used it as a second car till the early ’90s. Incidentally, for part of that same period, she also had a Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. While not officially the largest and smallest convertibles made, the Centurion/Cabriolet pairing certainly made for excellent fair-weather touring options. After she moved abroad, the Centurion sat in non-climate-controlled storage for the better part of 30 years, emerging this past April.

Pock-marked paint and surface rust in the engine compartment evidence decades of humidity, but my plans are for back roads and not concours lawns. The interior and top, though, are in excellent shape, so we’ll ride in comfort and hopefully stay dry if we get caught in a sudden summer shower. Other projects have kept me from a more detailed examination, but in the coming weeks I’ll dive in to more thoroughly understand what’s before me. Even though I’ve spent some time under older metal, my sweet spot covers more modern, OBD-II cars, so I welcome any pointers if you’ve worked on these.

Whether it was model cars at Christmas when I was a kid or a little gas money before heading off for each year of college, my aunt has always helped facilitate my love of cars. This gift didn’t come with any strings—she knows I’ll give the Buick the love it deserves, and she’s clear-eyed that surprise gifts also bring surprise obligations, so I’m not bound to keep it in the family forever.

Here’s the first project on the list: my aunt is still looking for the title. That was initially a significant concern, but through some follow-up with the BMV as well as talking internally with some colleagues who work on challenges like this, I think we have a plan of attack. Title issues can be a pretty common occurrence with collector cars given barn finds, estates, and, you know, relatives calling to make your day. Keep your eyes peeled for updates and stories, starting with a how-to on navigating state paperwork based on this Buick’s trials and tribulations.