1975 Buick Century Free Spirit

I have been disappointed that automobile manufacturers in the United States haven’t offered an America 250 special edition that regular buyers can purchase from their local dealerships. During the nation’s Bicentennial back in 1976, there were a lot of Bicentennial and “Spirit of America” special editions available. Looking back at everything that was available, I think the most patriotic car you would have found on the road in 1976 was the 1975 Buick Century Free Spirit Indy 500 Pace Car replica.

GM designer Gary D. Smith explicitly noted that he created the livery after realizing that the sharp, sweeping “Colonnade” body creases of the mid-sized Century coupe perfectly mimicked the natural folds of a waving American flag. While the car served as the May 1975 Indy 500 pace car, Buick officially branded the 1,813 public replicas as the “Free Spirit” Edition—leveraging Buick’s patriotic “Free Spirit” marketing campaign explicitly timed for the 1976 Bicentennial era. Many original buyers used them in local 1976 Bicentennial parades and community celebrations.

“In Your Face” Design & Aesthetic Elements

The Waving Flag Livery: The “Liberty White” paint served as a blank canvas for giant factory-applied red, white, and blue decals. The graphics started at the front fenders and dramatically swept upward across the doors, accentuating the “Colonnade” body architecture to look like a literal flag blowing in the wind.

The Buick Hawk: The hood featured an enormous, aggressive graphic of the Buick “Free Spirit” Hawk—GM’s mascot of the Bicentennial era—spreading its wings across the sheet metal.

The Hurst Hatch T-Tops: This car is a massive piece of design history. It was the first time General Motors retrofitted an intermediate A-body passenger vehicle with Hurst Hatch removable roof panels. It beat the iconic Pontiac Trans Am to the T-top craze by a full model year!

Patriotic Cockpit: The interior featured sharp blue and white vinyl bucket seats, a center console, and a thick-grip Rallye steering wheel.

Unlike most Indy 500 pace cars, not all of the 1975 Buick Century Free Spirit replicas had “Official Pace Car” graphics on their doors. When Buick shipped the 1,813 “Free Spirit” replicas to dealerships, the giant red-and-blue waving flag stripes were applied at the factory. However, the specific “Official Pace Car” door text and the Indianapolis 500 “Winged Wheel” logos were packaged separately in a box inside the trunk.

It was entirely up to the original buyer or the delivering dealership whether to stick those specific text decals onto the doors. Many buyers chose not to install them because they wanted to drive the car as a bold, patriotic street cruiser without looking like they were driving a literal racetrack advertisement.

But not all Buick enthusiasts liked them. The car was so loud and ostentatious that traditional, older Buick buyers in 1975 refused to drive them. According to longtime Buick enthusiasts, some dealers removed the graphics with heat guns, selling them as stealthy, plain white luxury coupes with T-tops.

All Show — No Go

While the actual 1975 Indy 500 pace car had a big Buick 455 under the hood, the public replicas did not. Visually, the car screamed high-octane American pride. Mechanically, federal emissions mandates and the 1973 oil crisis meant the street version’s 350 V8 was severely choked down to 175 horsepower. It looked like a rocket ship, but drove like a comfortable, heavy highway cruiser.

The 1976 Buick Century “Free Spirit” Pace Car

The Buick Century was the official pace car again in 1976, and although it retained the “Free Spirit” decals, this year’s car wore a silver, red, and black color scheme. The actual 1976 Buick Century pace car was powered by a prototype turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 that would later power the famous Buick Grand Nationals and GNXs. Those who bought the pace car replicas were again stuck with the gutless 350 V8.

America 250

I would love to see one of these 1975 Buick Century Free Spirit pace cars restomodded with a GM LS V8 swap and updated with ‘America 250’ graphics. Now that would be a cool car to celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary with. It’s unfortunate that manufacturers haven’t given enthusiasts anything special to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with, but that’s also part of being a car enthusiast. We take what the manufacturers give us and build something even better.

1975 Buick Century Free Spirit Specifications

Photo Gallery

In the photos below, you’ll see James Garner wearing what appears to be a badge on his belt. It’s actually a pin-back pit and garage credential for the Indy 500.