Unsuitable as they are for most European cities, roads and especially parking spaces, here at ViaRETRO we retain a soft spot for many American classics – in my case, mostly ‘60’s cars such as the Mustang, Dodge Charger and Challenger, Buick Riviera, Plymouth Barracuda, Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac GTO. The common thread with each of these is their relatively restrained styling, clean lines with minimal excrescences in the way of extravagant fins and masses of chrome, a trend that started in the mid-1960’s and for the most part ended roughly a decade later; this week’s Prime Find fits nicely into the category of “my” kind of American classic.
The Wildcat name first appeared in the 1950’s on a number of Buick concept cars starting in 1953, none of which came to market, despite the appearance of a brochure for the ’53 car, but were designed to test the use of fibreglass in motor manufacture. Wildcat II was shown in 1954, and a third Wildcat was shown in 1956, but while the first two survive, this last one is believed to have been destroyed. There’s an interesting piece on these cars on Hagerty’s website – The tale of the Buick Wildcats – Hagerty Media.
The Wildcat concept cars
The Buick Wildcat production car – which bore no resemblance to the concepts – was only made for a period of seven years and two generations, making it a relatively short-lived model. It was initially a Buick Invicta sub-series, introduced in 1962, and didn’t become a model in it’s own right until 1963, with the range expanding to include a four-door saloon and a convertible to the original two-door hardtop coupé concept.
It was a full-size car, slotting between the Buick Le Sabre and Elektra and pitched as something of a muscle car with some luxury touches, coming as it did with a 6.6-litre so-called “Nailhead” V8, pushing out 325bhp – after all, you surely wouldn’t expect a car called Wildcat, complete with stylised wildcat logos on the C-pillars, to be a lardy land-yacht cruising machine, would you?
First generation Wildcats
For the 1966 model range, an even bigger, 7-litre unit was installed that pushed out between 340 and 360bhp, the biggest engine used by Buick up to that point. Torque was increased from 445lb-ft to 465lb-feet. These were – are – big numbers, and the Wildcat – or Super Wildcat as the most powerful model was known – also produced on the road too; Car Life magazine tested a Wildcat in its April 1964 issue and achieved a top speed of 115mph and covered the 0-60mph sprint in a very respectable 7.0 seconds and hit 100mph in a little under 22 seconds – the Wildcat was a big, heavy car, don’t forget, with a curb weight of 4,127lbs (over 1,870kg), or over two tons and a fraction under 18 feet (5.5 metres) long – it’s a hefty piece of kit. They called the Wildcat the Executive Hot Rod, and with just cause.
Second generation Wildcats
All this leads us to our Prime Find for this week, which is a first generation 1964 Buick Wildcat four-door saloon, in white with a mid-blue interior and it goes under the hammer at Historics’ sale on September 24th, taking place at a new venue for them but one very familiar to us, Bicester Heritage.
It has the “cooking” 6.6-litre “Nailhead” engine, so a mere 325bhp on tap, and is one of 17,519 examples of the four-door made in 1964 – just under 120,000 first generation Wildcats were built, plus another 370,000 second generation models, with production ending in 1970. Our Prime Find comes equipped with a number of extras such as power steering, automatic transmission, power brakes, Sonomatic radio, dual speed wipers, tinted windshield, and retro fitted air conditioning.
Sold in 1964 to a Mr. Mocko in New York as a birthday gift for his wife, it stayed in the family until 2000, covering about 1,000 miles a year in that time. It then changed hands a few times before being shipped to the UK on the summer of 2020 and was acquired by the current vendor in February 2021 and still had only 45,372 miles under it’s wheels. Since then, only a few hundred more have been added, so this is a pretty under-used classic, which shows in its general all-round condition, stated by the auctioneers as being a “very well-maintained example” and in “In very good order throughout”.
Since its arrival in the UK, this feline has been recommissioned, with work including an annual service, fluids replaced, and four new tyres and shock absorbers fitted among much else. You can see the full details of what has been done in the lot entry here.
According to the auctioneers, most of the paintwork appears original, ergo some of the car has obviously been repainted, and they state that the interior presents in “exceptionally original condition” – based on the photographs we have borrowed from the auctioneer’s website, this does appear to hold true.
There is a substantial history file with the car, including the original sales invoice and build sheet, original customer service booklet and handbook, and an original 1964 Buick service manual as well as all the service invoices relating to the car’s time in the USA.
This is far too big a car for me, but I do like it – despite not being quite as cool as the two-door, it does have the pillarless look that makes almost any car look better in profile, which is actually the best angle from which to view the car, long and sleek as it is. The rear end treatment is also very attractive, very clean with just a hint of fin along the top edges of the rear wings, which follows on neatly from that same hint of fin along the front wings – smooth is the word, I think.
The estimate range for this rare – in the UK, certainly – example of 1960’s American luxury muscle is £20,000 to £27,000, a little over our usual budget. There isn’t another for sale in the UK at the moment, so it’s difficult to say whether this represents good value or not – I imagine that in the US it would be cheaper. Nevertheless, the successful bidder on the 24th will be buying something that will certainly stand out at any event – the only other Wildcat I’ve seen in the UK was a 2-door coupé (pictured above), and there are only a handful of Wildcats on our roads with just one being a 1964 model – presumably this one.
As usual, if this very cool slice of ’60s Americana appeals to you, we recommend arranging an inspection if possible before you raise your actual or virtual bidding paddle.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk