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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#UCOTD #UsedCaroftheDay #UsedCars #Buick #BuickCentury #1978BuickCenturySalon #1978BuickCentury

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

Proud2BUnion I typically recommend that no matter what make or model you purchase used, just assure that is HAS a prior salvage/rebuilt title. Best "Bang for your buck"!
Redapple2 jeffbut they dont want to ... their pick up is 4th behind ford/ram, Toyota. GM has the Best engineers in the world. More truck profit than the other 3. Silverado + Sierra+ Tahoe + Yukon sales = 2x ford total @ $15,000 profit per. Tons o $ to invest in the BEST truck. No. They make crap. Garbage. Evil gm Vampire
Rishabh Ive actually seen the one unit you mentioned, driving around in gurugram once. And thats why i got curious to know more about how many they sold. Seems like i saw the only one!
Amy I owned this exact car from 16 until 19 (1990 to 1993) I miss this car immensely and am on the search to own it again, although it looks like my search may be in vane. It was affectionatly dubbed, " The Dragon Wagon," and hauled many a teenager around the city of Charlotte, NC. For me, it was dependable and trustworthy. I was able to do much of the maintenance myself until I was struck by lightning and a month later the battery exploded. My parents did have the entire electrical system redone and he was back to new. I hope to find one in the near future and make it my every day driver. I'm a dreamer.
Jeff Overall I prefer the 59 GM cars to the 58s because of less chrome but I have a new appreciation of the 58 Cadillac Eldorados after reading this series. I use to not like the 58 Eldorados but I now don't mind them. Overall I prefer the 55-57s GMs over most of the 58-60s GMs. For the most part I like the 61 GMs. Chryslers I like the 57 and 58s. Fords I liked the 55 thru 57s but the 58s and 59s not as much with the exception of Mercury which I for the most part like all those. As the 60s progressed the tail fins started to go away and the amount of chrome was reduced. More understated.