New Laguna owner here

Hey everyone. My name is Dave, and I am glad to find you guys here. I have what I would think is a rare bird on my hands. I have scoured the interwebs for awhile trying to find out all I can about my car, but have not had much luck in some areas. I have had her since 2000. I have never seen another one with all of what mine has. Take a look at her and tell me whatcha think. Thanks again! Here are some stats. I will post pics as soon as I am allowed to.

1973 Chevelle Laguna
454
auto
black, black top, black int.
swivel buckets
a.c.
power windows
power door locks
power sun roof
All stock

Welcome to the board. Sounds like a great car. I like the 73 tail lights and roof better than later years, but they are the hardest year to find parts for because they have a lot of one year parts on them. Looking forward to the pics. JB

Welcome. 

Welcome. Can't wait to see it!

Welcome aboard

Welcome! We like pics!

Sounds like a sweet car...triple black and all! Nice options on it, too. The one option that would make it stand out more than the others would probably be the power sun roof.

Welcome...We like pics  

P-hole is not a common thing around here.

Welcome
We like pics.

welcome

Here are the pics fellas. Let me know what you think, and how many you have seen like mine. Thanks!!

Nice! Love moon roof & the little one in the swivel  

I love it. I've never seen another one like it with the moon roof. Real nice car. Someone swapped the gauges to round from rectangle. What does the dash emblem next to the passenger side vent say on it?

Joe73 wrote:I love it.   I've never seen another one like it with the moon roof.  Real nice car.  Someone swapped the gauges to round from rectangle.  What does the dash emblem next to the passenger side vent say on it?  

It says Laguna on it. The car has not been changed as far as the gauges go. What you see is how it came!

77mali wrote:Nice!  Love moon roof & the little one in the swivel  

Thanks! That lil one is now a 6 year old lol

Interesting.  GM Heritage center (page 11)  says that "special instrumentation" was N/A (not available) on all models except the SS.  And goes further to say that Lagunas came "standard" with woodgrain on the dash bezel and steering wheel insert.  Interesting.

Have you taken a look at your trim tag for the build date? Maybe it was a late 73 build because they started using the round cluster in 74. 73 laguna dash usually look like this, see the bottom pic. But maybe you have a late 73 which would be cool.

http://www.desertclassics.com/Chev73Lag.html

Joe I think GM records are a little sketchy on all counts prior to 77. You could order whatever you wanted if you knew what codes to use & the dealer was game.

[quote="73laguna454"]Here are the pics fellas. Let me know what you think, and how many you have seen like mine. Thanks!!

very nice..   i've never even seen a factory sky roof in person, let alone a triple black 454 laguna.

I have said this before. I personally know of at least three 73 Lagunas that came factory with round sport gauges. They were still new when I saw them. no one had changed anything on them. Just because the literature of the day says one thing, doesn't mean the factory couldn't build them slightly differently. They did not keep very good records, period.

The first Laguna I ever saw was in fall of 1972. Guess what it was? A triple black 73 Laguna 454 4 speed with swivel buckets. I don't think it had the sky roof, but I was only 12, so it could have. We were playing kickball in the street, when we heard it turn the corner a rumble down the street real slow right by us. I knew my mom was going to get a new car soon, so I MADE her start looking for a Laguna. It took us a few months, but we found a low milage one down the street from my Dad's shop on a used car lot. It was the Midnite Green one that I have pics of in the gallery here.

Wow, just saw the photos. Nice car. love it!

Thanks everyone. She only has 80000 miles on her as well. She sat at my inlaws for a few years while I got things back in order. Now its back up home with us. It is an unusual story how we got her though. Full of twists and turns! lol

In 1994 my stepfather and I were driving down an old country road in Texas. I was 14 and playing in a baseball tournament. He slams on the brakes and yells "Holly sh*t do you see that!?!" It was a 66 Chevelle SS 396 ( didnt know it at the time ). I said that old yellow car there? It was in a small 1 car garage with just the rear passenger side bumper area showing. He knocked on the door and spoke to a really old lady. She said that her husband bought the car brand new in 65 and suddenly passed away shortly after. She only drove it 2 miles down the road to the store and back once a week, but she had not done that since the mod 70's. So my Stepdad asked if she would like to sell it. She said she had no family to give it to, and she had at this point all but forgotten about it, so whatever we had was fine, and she would just give our money to her church. My dad had $5 and I had $25 ( Making me the top share holder!! ) My dad said he would send her more money when ever we got home. She said something very weird about all blessings come back 100 fold, so send what you would like. We sent her an additional $3k when we got home. I got to drive it all the way home from Texas! I was in love with it, and as for being the main shareholder I was assured a bad azz car for my high school years! Fast forward 2 years and I am 16. I have a 76 Nova with a 350 as my first car. By now the 66 has found its way to his heart and I had to conceed my ownership. I get home at 3 on a Friday and he calls me and says get in the 66 we are selling it.... I said BS. He said trust me, I have never seen one like this is my life. My dad was an ase master mechanic that was running a Midas at the time. I am po'ed at this, but get in and go up there anyway. The Laguna was jacked up on a lift to get exhaust. He said whatcha think? At the time we had a 73 and 77 Monte, so I said another type of Monte? He took me to the back and I seen the round tail lights, and knew this car was special. He said all we need now is the $$. His friend wanted the 66, and was coming up to look at it. I took his 72 Chevelle to practice. When I got home, the Laguna was sitting in the driveway, and the SS wasnt . I checked the mail and there was a letter from the lady we got the 66 from. It had a CHECK in it, and it was for the EXACT amount that my dad had sold the 66 for to get the Laguna!! I was in shock. It said " Thanks for spending some time with me, it was a blessing. Please use this on that wonderful car and never let it go! ". I got chills immediatly. I ran and showed the note to my dad, he flipped and tried to reach his friend who bought it so we can get it back. We got a call about 930 that night that he totalled the car... We went and seen the car and him, and I was so mad. Sorry for the long story, just figured car people may want to see it.

Wow. What a great and sad story.

Thanks for sharing.

Wallyuph wrote:Wow. What a great and sad story.

Thanks for sharing.

Yes it is. Thank you. Since my fathers passing, I have had several offers on it. I had a guy leaving to come get it, and I cancelled on him. He was going to have Counts Customs redo it... I just could not imagine seeing my dads car being "tricked" out, and not keeping it original.

Reminds me of the song "riding with private Malone" by David ball. Cool (and sad) story.