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Thanks, Jill. I see you have the Holiday/Christmas spirit.
Nice Kitty. I might be off a little, but looks like a fairly young cat.....you must not have had him (or her?) that long.
Yes, I remember all those ads. I was driving (and writing about) Buicks LONG before any of them came out. The Regals of that vintage were nice-driving cars, typical of mid and full-size Buicks of that period, but also had the typical (for GM in that era) El Cheapo interiors that were overloaded with identical-looking buttons (the Oldsmobiles were even worse). The Regal GS, with its underpinnings/tires that were "sport-oriented" back then but would be considered stodgy today, combined only a slight reduction in the typical Buick ride-comfort with the excellent supercharged GM 3.8L 90-degree V6, which a number of different automotive publications of the period considered one of the 10 Best auto engines in the American market. The Somerset, in contrast, had a nice-looking front end, but, mechanically, was a piece of crap. We didn't see any really good small cars from GM until the Saturn S-series debuted in 1990....and they, of course, combined not only new vehicles but totally new methods of customer-satisfaction as well. And we didn't see any good small cars from Buick, of course, until the Opel-derived Verano.
I never liked that "Skyhawk" bird-logo that Buick used in the mid-70s to 80s....IMO the red/white/blue tri-shield was a far better-looking badge (it was partially-based on the old Scottish family-clan shield of David Dunbar Buick, the company's founder). Walter Chrysler once worked for David Buick before leaving to start up his own auto company.
Worst Buick commercial of all time?....probably Shaq O'Neill trying to convince us that he could actually fit into the last-generation Lacrosse. It was OK for someone my size, but probably not for him. He's probably at least a foot taller than me....and just as big around. You can see how his big legs are both arced around the steering wheel (Like mine in a Mazda Miata LOL)
On the other hand, I managed to shoehorn myself into (and drive) a manual-transmission Lotus Elise, but it took me a long time, and the salesperson, at first, thought it was impossible. You all would probably had a good laugh watching how I did it, but no one there had a video-recorder.
I love the top one "Regal's interior is an out and out pleasure" and the picture shows a sea of hard blue plastic lol
I well-remember the GM interiors of this 80/90s period. They weren't hard-plastic per se (they had a feel that was somewhere between what I'd call hard and soft)...but, I agree, could not compare to what GM was offering in the 1960s, or even today.
I won't lie, I still get the occasional nostalgia for those 90's GM interiors. Particularly the ones that still had bench seats. There was something about it.
But then I also don't mind hard plastic at all(Unless it's in a Dodge because we all know that's going to crack in 3 weeks).
The interior of that particular Regal though was not an example of fine quality.
Build quality was another issue. Take my Dad's 95 Cadillac STS. Interior materials were actually quite good. Very nice wood, no hard plastics, extremely high quality leather, nice carpeting. But, everything was so slipshod, panels don't line up, gaps around the passenger airbag cover, dash not meeting up properly with door panels, etc.
He closed the drivers door one time and the wood strip that ran along the top of it actually fell off in his lap.
Oddly, I think I'd take that interior over the one in my 2001 Buick Century!
Side note: the new Watchmen series (available on Amazon Prime Video) has a pretty badass Buick GNX which is driven by the main protagonist (at least, when she is wearing her mask).
Oddly, I think I'd take that interior over the one in my 2001 Buick Century!
Older Centurys are one of the few areas where you do see a fair number of younger people driving Buicks. They are popular because they have depreciated down to cheap prices, are reasonably reliable by American-vehicle standards (Consumer Reports, at the time, actually compared some of them to Camrys and Accord in reliability), are cheap to repair and service, and make good used cars for college students and long people.
I rarely see a Buick Century on the road at all...
Pretty fair number of them here...particularly in and around George Mason College in Fairfax, which has more students than any other school in the state. I do see fewer of them each year, though, as some of them approach the end of their useful lives.
mmarshall, just for you....
I might be off a little, but looks like a fairly young cat.....you must not have had him (or her?) that long.
