1960 Buick Electra

Electra 225 convertible Convertible

401-4bbl

Automatic

Clear

Gasoline

Update 2/16 You will need to read my "book" below but I did want to add something here if you are just a normal guy who wants a cool car that you can take the family out in to enjoy time together and don't mind looking like a movie star while doing it. I have been contacted by some very knowlegable collectors since I posted this ad earlier this week. This note is for the guys like me who enjoy something they can get in and drive while restoring though.With some carb and minor brake work you can be back out enjoying some winged 60's,high torque V-8,convertible driving fun. If you want to drop $100,000 or 50 million into a restoration that would be up to you. As she is Josephine is a beautiful example of Buicks flagship for 1960 and you will be hard pressed to find a better optioned example in this conditon and low of miles for this kind of money.I will work with the right person but throwing huge restoration quotes at me and other scare tactics just means I will keep her or sell her for less to a calm and pleasant person. I was born at night but not last night ha ha Anyhowif she is meant to sell she will and if she doesn't God will provide for us in another way. I will warn you before you start investing the time here that my ad's are very long. The benefit of that is that if you are analytical like I am most all of the conditions will be covered unless you want to know something like the humidity rate inside the tires ha ha I rarely sell one of my cars but when I have they have been very rare and the people who bought them said they ended up feeling like close friends and that my descriptions were very accurate to the point that they got more then they originally figured on. “Under promise, over deliver” , which is why I still have 100% positive for over a decade.. If you are not a car person and I mean a REAL car person you may as well stop now if you are offended by someone giving their car a name. I have rarely done this except for very special cars and for Josephine it was just a natural. I will give you some inside information here, not for the sharks that would smell blood in the water and think they can low ball me and steal her, but so you know the feelings behind the words here. Josephine has been with our family since our children were babies. I am not a religious whack job but the way she came to us was a true "God send". I have never seen ANYTHING work as fast as getting her,just starting from seeing the style car in a book at night and by the next day she was sitting in my driveway (long story I will spare you of right now). The kids will be crushed when they learn that I am offering her for sale, but if she was truly a God send, she will either provide for our needs through needed revenue or something else will happen to resolve or current trials. Let me get into the car details though (yes, I know "About time"). 1960 Buick Electra 225 convertible. Last year for foot starter and when "225" stood for the length of the car! 225 inches worth! First year for rear passenger area heat, Wonderbar Seeking radio with foot scan button and Wonderbar bar on the radio face that also initiates the scanning. Autotronic Headlight Eye (senses oncoming cars and automagically (ok automatically ha ha) turns your high beams down. There is also a Sentinel Salute to others with the system but as their aren't to many 60 Electra 225's on the road I have not researched that one. Headlight bezels fashioned after the engine pods on the B-52 bombers. The color is the factory black like another 60 Buick convertible I have seen in large bank commercials over the years but that is where the common threads end. She is equipped with rare factory air conditioning, optional leather power drivers side bucket seats (original seats have not been recovered) the options I explained above being, Autotronic Eye, Wonderbar seeking radio, optional rear seat speaker, optional positive traction rear end,power convertible top,power windows,power steering and brakes,speed alert,power antennae, and a bucket seat storage console you rarely ever see. Original 401 Wildcat engine. As I have said I have NEVER seen another one optioned out in this way. The previous insurance executive said he saw one that was "close but still not as well equipped" that was fully restored and sold at auction for $125,000 years ago. These are scheduled to be the winged version of collectability of the 1953 Buick convertibles. She was bought brand new in North Platte, Nebraska, by a wealthy gentleman who I was told owned the two largest grocery stores in that area and he ordered Josephine with every option he could check off (he missed power vent window, but maybe he passed on that with a/c and a huge folding top?). I am not sure if he died, but I know she sat in storage up into the 1980's and passed through a couple more hands till the insurance executive got tired of paying $1000 to move each of his cars and told his wife he would "sacrifice the Buick" and proceeded to put a high price on her although not running and "hog tied in tarps and covers" the first time I saw her. I was the first person to meet with the man's wife(he was out of town) and as people from all over the U.S. in National Buick Clubs were ringing the phone off the hook for an appointment I "locked her in". She is still just showing 90,000 original miles, has a new $700 windshield ,radial wide whites,torque tube rebuilt,exhaust replaced,repainted 7 years ago,radiator rebuilt, top was replaced by several years ago but still is in good shape, she was repainted but there is a palm sized dent on the drivers rounded portion of the quarter panel near the taillight from a tree limb (we have 300 year old oak trees here so our "limbs" are almost a "tree" to some yards ha ha). Any trim (225 badges,upper door trim) not shown I do have and goes with her. All chrome is the original plated parts from 1960 and due to being in Nebraska and down South she has held up very well. All this said please know that Josephine is not a show car (although in our 1 st car show we have ever gone to she took unanimous Best of Show and every other trophy that applied "Best GM" "Best 1960's" got embarrassing but my children who worked so hard with me cleaning her up were thrilled) anyhow she is not a show car or trailer queen. The trunk has always been equipped with road side emergency parts (never needed them once, but better safe you know) and the engine compartment is about a 3 on a scale of one to 10. Of all the optional equipment the only thing that worked was the Autotronic Eye (which I removed and is still boxed from painting the metal dash) and the power windows all worked except for the drivers rear that came off track before I quit driving her but manually sits in place. I have the original 225 Deluxe wheel covers that I removed in favor of the 63 Buick Riv. wire spinner caps that I thought accented the 225 only extruded aluminum lower body panels better. The kids were young, Josephine would fire right up as I held my hands n the air away from the ignition keys and said "Abracadabra" and secretly engaged the foot starter and the magic began. I never attempted to get the a/c running because those I heard that worked on them back in the day said it was more bragging rights than anything so I have no idea what it would need , it does have the GM Cadillac stamp on the compressor and all the parts are there, radio never checked, speed alert works,original top motor is very weak and needs replacing,brakes need work (aluminum drums need turned it feels like)original carpet is shredding in high wear places and the original side windows almost all are cracked (we always kept them down when cruising so wasn’t an eye sore). To not add to an already exhausting to get through ad basically she is a very rare example of the winged 1960 Buick Electra 225 convertible. Engine numbers match, she is a low mile survivor and she would be an absolute jaw dropper when totally restored to the level she deserves. I use to be the Vice President of our family business of over 40 years and I am now an unemployed "nothing" at this point. I swore I would never even consider selling our family treasure but before I made that promise I promised almost 25 years ago to provide for a wife. I sold my 69 Hurst Olds 455 H/O and several other cars (4 speed Stage 1,Cougar Eliminator, 440 Road Runner, 58 Buick "Diamonds on velvet" ads use to say) anyhow sold many of those while she was going through Stage 3 breast cancer. I always thought things would turn around for the better but financially they never did. Thank God (literally) I still have my wife and our 3 children still have their Mom and although by earthly standards we are dirt poor in a rotting 1890 farmhouse we are blessed with a family money could not buy and I would trade for nothing. I apologize for the life history, if you are an investor looking at cars that are pulling 13% over stocks only averaging 10% all my ramblings will not be anything but that but I did want to share the story for what good it is worth (maybe just to get it off my chest and potentially say "Bye" to our faithful old memory maker).Even total strangers just fall in love with her(the principal at our daughters elementary school use to run waving up to me whenever we’d drive Josephine yelling “HEY! That’s my car! That’s my car!!!” ha ha Although she is not running now (I think the carb finally gave up the ghost but I have no money to pursue) and as shared earlier neither do most of the options I am putting the price up there. To many she might not be worth that and there are other 60 Buicks out there for less money in better cosmetic and mechanical conditions but none of those are as rare as Josephine so you will never have someone going on about how much better theirs is. Just give them the "look" while powering down the windows and top, give them an "Abracadabra" and you have nothing you need to prove because you are already at the top. The pictures are from different times since we owned her. How I use to get the boys to go to sleep and how our daughter got the "car bug" (she helps more than the boys!) the pictures with the dead grass around and the timbers from the building I could never build are how she currently sits. It is depressing and she just needs a good home before she is ruined. Thank you if you managed to read through this book and if I can answer any questions I would be happy too. I am very busy these days (making less and busier than ever, but a common story) so while I love talking and sharing about cars I unfortunately cannot deal with anyone other than a certified appraiser representing a qualified buyer or another private party that I am confident has the means and serious intentions of purchasing. She will be subject to prior sale since there have been so many interested parties over the years locally and this is the first time she has ever been available. I am still praying for Ed McMann to pound on the door with a big cardboard check but probably not happening ha ha. If it is meant to be I wish you the best of luck. She needs restoring but you will never look back On Feb-18-13 at 16:57:33 PST, seller added the following information: If Josephine does not sell, I will relist with all recent pictures,and lots more details on the her. Sorry for the life story instead of focusing on our life story, was very unprofessional of me but I was hurting and that is how it came out. I have one party wanting to fly in and several others I still need to call so we will see what happens. Thank you to those who sent encouraging emails and kind comments. She is one beautiful car and I hope and pray someone gets as much enjoyment from her as we did.