a rare find??

[1976 Electra 225]

I'm currently gutting a '76 Limited 4 door for a demo derby friend (I get to keep everything I take off ) the drivetrain was already gone, and when I looked at the frame pads, they were 350 ones !! I looked at the VIN, and sure enough, the engine code was H. he later told me, that it also had a TH400 behind it.

I never knew this was available, my '76 sales brochure only shows the 455 available in the Electra.

[CoolRide]

I'm currently gutting a '76 Limited 4 door for a demo derby friend (I get to keep everything I take off ) the drivetrain was already gone, and when I looked at the frame pads, they were 350 ones !! I looked at the VIN, and sure enough, the engine code was H. he later told me, that it also had a TH400 behind it.

I never knew this was available, my '76 sales brochure only shows the 455 available in the Electra.

Must not be...

[Flynbuick]

Even in the late 60s Lesabre 400s were offerred. They had a 350 cid engine with a TH 400 trans. They were not 400 cid engines as some thought. The "400" stood for the tras and not the engine cid.

[1976 Electra 225]

oh well, at least I got to grab every part that I could from it I picked it clean

[bob k. mando]

Even in the late 60s Lesabre 400s were offerred.

the Le Sabre is the 3 holer, the Electra is the 4 holer.

IOW, they were a bit different in engine and trim options. the Le Sabre was offered with a 350 pretty much every year it was available ... the Electra, not so much.




I never knew this was available, my '76 sales brochure only shows the 455 available in the Electra.

my reference books show 76 as the first year Buick offered the 350 in the Electra but by the mid-70s Detroit was well into the economy and emissions control efforts. 76 would be the last year that a 455 was available and Electra's were available with 350's ( of all kinds ) and Olds 403's for the rest of the decade. i'm sure there were quite a few Buick 350 equipped Electra's sold in 76.

you want to find something really rare, go looking for the 1974 only 2 barrel intake 455. but that's something else that was only available in the Le Sabre ... the Electra and Riv never had anything but the 4v 455 between 1970 and 76.

[Flynbuick]

Centurions as I recall started out in 1971 as exclusively 455 powered cars but later went to 350s also.

[Special_Deluxe]

Odd. Maybe a mid-year introduction? I've got the earliest '76 brochure (printed sept 75) and it doesn't even mention the LeSabre V-6 much less a 350 Electra.

Wards Yearbook '76 (trade publication) mentions that a 350 Electra was available but doesn't say when it came out, or how many were installed. Just that a 350 was available in the Electra "for better fuel economy" which is unusual because by '76 the gas crisis was already over. I'm wondering if, late in the model year, they might have found themselves running short of 455's with a few weeks left before the end of big-car production.

Odd also how your car got an H-code 2bbl instead of the 4bbl 350 that was standard in the LeSabre. Must be a story behind that....I guess only a retired line worker or GM exec would know for sure.