(None of the pictures in this article are of the actual cars but pictures borrowed from the Internet using Google image search)
In our house during the late 80’s and early 90’s in, cars seemed to be disposable and cheap. It was not unusual for my parents to go through two or three beaters in a year. When I started driving, they decided to let me in on the fun.
The first offering was actually a Christmas present from Mom and Dad, a 1984 Buick Century coupe. Dad had gotten the car cheap because at 116,000 miles, it was considered a high mileage and used up vehicle. Remember, these were the days when 100,000 miles was considered end of life at least for American cars as evidenced by their five figure odometers.
This car in the ad above is pretty much what the car looked like. It was silver with the half vinyl roof with blue velour interior. The car was well optioned for the time with a rear window defogger, AC which was weak but operable, cassette stereo (inoperative), cruise control, map light and wire wheels with Buick center caps.
However, it did not have power windows and locks. This was the first car that was exclusively mine and I fell head over heels in love with it. It seemed so comfortable and luxurious to me and the half vinyl roof and hood ornament made it look so distinguished and classy (at least to me)…this car made me get the concept of the personal luxury coupe. We replaced the inoperative stock Delco head unit with an aftermarket Yamaha cassette deck and I was really traveling first class.
For propulsion it was powered by the 2.5 liter Iron Duke four cylinder which turned out to be its weakest link. The car felt under-powered but it did not really matter that much since I did very little highway driving. The car’s only purpose was to take me to high school and back. However, before long the “high miles” on the engine became evident when the engine began clattering like a diesel. At first, it would only do it at idle but before long, the slightest pressure on the gas pedal would make it sound like a cacophony of broken metallic parts accompanied by the flickering of the red oil pressure light. Realizing that the situation was terminal, I was heartbroken but intended to drive it till the bitter end.
The end came in a way that I did not expect. My route home from school consisted of an extremely steep hill with a traffic light at the bottom where I had to make a sharp left turn.
Anyway, one day driving home from school, I crested the hill a little too fast when I saw the light at the bottom of the hill turn yellow. I guess because I was a fairly new driver, I slammed on the brakes a little too hard causing them to lock and the car to skid through the intersection. Time switched to slow motion as I looked at the speedometer registering 20 miles per hour as the car slammed head on into a lamp post at the opposite end of the street. That lamp post bears the scars of the impact to this day.
I really think the car saved me from being more seriously injured. My only injuries were a bruised chest area from hitting the steering wheel and a bloody knee from hitting the lower instrument panel. My beloved Century however was destroyed. The impact was almost directly in the center of the car which was now u shaped. The radiator was broken in two and the engine was dislocated. The hood was so mangled that it would not open and the front fascia disintegrated. The car was so savaged that it was unrecognizable. The first Police Officer on the scene misidentified it as a Buick LeSabre.
So ended my love affair with my first car which died an honorable death in the line of duty protecting me.Unknown to me at the time, its replacement would be a blood relative.
The Century, along with its A body siblings, the Chevrolet Celebrity, Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera and Pontiac 6000 were supposed to be improved versions of the X Cars much like the IPhone 5C is an improvement on the IPhone 5. After the death of my Buick Century, I began searching for its replacement. Knowing what I know now, I laugh at the fact that ultimately I ended up with a one owner 1981 Buick Skylark coupe with 63,000 original miles.
Like the Century, the car was very well equipped. Fake wood galore, extra courtesy lighting, pillowy seats similar to my Mom’s Buick Regal and a functional AC. The car did not have power windows and locks but it did have an aftermarket cruise control mounted on the steering column. Also, the car did not have a cassette player so I ended up using a boom box on the console between the front seats as my sound system. Under the hood was… you guessed it, the same 2.5 liter Iron Duke found in the Century. I remember my mechanic looking at me shaking his head saying “you bought the same car!” I did not understand what he meant until years later.
The car resembled a smaller Buick Regal as can be seen in the pictures below. I especially liked the grill with BUICK in capital letters engraved on top of the grill.
Skylark
Regal
I got in the habit of caressing those letters whenever I passed the car much in the way Arnie caressed the words PLYMOUTH on the Fury’s grill at the end of the movie Christine
The Skylark was one of the early adopters of GM’s Computer Command Control for the emissions system. You know what that meant of course….a Check Engine Light that would go on and off for no rhyme or reason. Besides the intermittent CEL the car was okay needing only a replacement alternator.
I ended up keeping the Skylark a bit longer than the Century. I began my college career with the car getting me through my Freshman year. I had fantasies about keeping it through college, taking it on all my adventures. It was not to be. Like the Century, the Iron Duke proved to be frail and it eventually self destructed in a smoky melted heap.
In retrospect, it’s ironic that my Buick Century’s direct cause of death was loss of control due to locked brakes which is what X cars like the Skylark were known for. Yet the Skylark died a natural death.
Being a glutton for punishment, my next three vehicles were equally troublesome but memorable triplets which I will discuss another time…
Boy those Skylarks bring back memories! I think there was a half dozen in the family over the years.
That green Century is pretty sharp too. Love the wheels.
Geez, just saw the Regal too. At least 3 of those in the extended/immediate family also.
I’d really like an 86 Century GS someday.
Two Centuries on this end, too. Both inherited car. First one was an ’86 Estate Wagon gone full zoot: V-6, 4 speed auto, wood sides, fake wire wheel covers, bordello red velour, power everything, AM/FM cassette. Embarrassed driving the car, but up until that time it was the most reliable car I ever owned. Followed by an ’84 stripper four door sedan: Iron Duke, 3 speed auto, AM/FM.
Still have fond memories of both, and of Buicks in general.
I remember when Buick brought out a “hot” version of this Skylark series, the T Type in 1983. Car&Driver tested one and thought it was a pretty decent car, at least the equal of a Chevy Citation X-11. For me, it would be a toss-up between a Regal coupe and a Skylark coupe (Limited or T Type), the Century? As long as it had a V6, sure.
There was a really clean Skylark T-type on ebay a couple of months ago, it was the first one I’ve seen in more than a decade.
It was very difficult for me to not make a jump on that one. It was in really nice shape.
I tried to talk my Dad into going 50/50 with me, but he said he didn’t buy one originally because he hated the wheels (so he ordered a limited spec’ed like a T-type only with the chrome road wheels) and he still hated the wheels so was a no-go on that one.
Really? I always thought the wheels were pretty cool, they were unique only to the T-Type Skylark, I have a soft spot for a performance variants of the X-cars, the rarest being any of the Oldsmobile Omega based ones, I’ve never seen one of those come up for sale anywhere, I’ve seen at least one Phoenix SJ on ebay before too.
Yeah, that was one I could never figure out either.I guess Dad will be Dad, they all have their quirks. I can still remember the mean sounding idle the carb versions of the 2.8 H.O. had, and the almost quadrajet induction sound at full throttle they had. Lots of bark considering the bite, but I guess those were the days of that.
To add context of Dad oddness…
They traded a ’11 Regal T in on a ’13 Regal GS, because I thought my father wanted the hotter version after he saw it. Turned out that he thought the inside of the German built one smelled like raw hamburger and the Canadian version smelled like normal leather. I guess the sense of smell really does change after 65?
I’ve noticed differences between the “der Regal” and “Regal Ay”, they do smell a little different, but neither smells foul.
I remember the year Buick introduced the T-type option pkg accross the model line-up–first division since Chevrolet to offer a sporty pkg on all passenger cars and using the same name. I don’t know why they didn’t keep at it.
I had a hand me down 1981 Buick Skylark Limited (from my grandparents, by way of my cousin) as my first car in 1985 and despite having the six cylinder engine, fairly low miles, and both good power and traction, it was a fairly terrible car because of both little things and one big thing. It was a “Limited” but it had an AM Radio with a vertical orientation. The gas gauge moved up and down as much as a quarter of a tank under acceleration and cornering. And worst of all, it somehow developed a leak in the power steering fluid reservoir that would drip fluid on to the engine when you parallel parked and thick black smoke would stream out from under the hood and a little would come in the vents.
I tried to get the issue fixed and the mechanic said that the way the car was designed he’d have to take apart the engine to get to the power steering reservoir and the car wasn’t worth enough to make it worth it. (I’m not a mechanic and I didn’t analyze it in detail, maybe someone else can share their knowledge of this?)
And yet, the Century turned out to a very reliable and workable car that I enjoyed when my friends had them. I guess Buick worked out all the gremlins over time…
Only Citations had the vertical radio. I had an ’81 Skylark myself and I can assure you that the radio was quite horizontal.
Also, my Iron Duke went “diesel” on me well before 100,000 kms,
I traded that turd in on a used ’85 Jetta.
I saw it at a 3rd rate repair shop a few months later engineless.
These suffered from GM rack “morning sickness”, perhaps that’s where the leak was. It was mounted fairly high up on the firewall, and a rear exhaust manifold on the V6 would be perfectly placed to catch the drippins’. It makes more sense than a leaky reservoir, which would have allowed escaped fluid a clear path to the ground.
Re: That firewall-mounted rack. Soon after purchasing the car I bought a repair manual for it. It cautioned that when removing the rack, you had to be careful that the studs it mounted to didn’t fall back inside the body as you unbolted it. If they did, AFAIR, you were basically screwed. I thought that was really mickey mouse engineering, if true.
Quite right. In the Skylark, the radio was horizontal. The climate controls were vertical!
I was going to mention the same thing, but I held back as I have already been “accused” by another poster of arguing for “no reason”…….
And Carmine, I always appreciate your focus on getting to the truth of the matter!
Thank you so much on the radio, you’re right, a family friend had a v6, manual transmission, three door citation that I quite liked and he had a vertical tape deck, that’s what I was remembering! Nonetheless, the AM radio on a Limited Buick seemed kind of skimpy.
More importantly, thanks for the explanation of the steering rack leak on the exhaust manifold! Very helpful!
I had a friends who’s parents had a white 80 Citation 3 door with a bright red interior, I remember the vertical AM radio, and they later installed an underdash Realistic FM converter box, his dad was fanatical about maintenance and they kept the Citation in fantastic condition until they replaced it with a loaded 1996 or so Saturn SL2 sedan, so they must have been fairly happy with it.
As someone who changed a lot of those bloody steering racks back in the day, the X and A bodies had the rack mounted to the engine cradle UNDER the exhaust manifold. It was the J bodies (Cavalier, etc) that had the rack mounted to the firewall.
I never got a chance to drive a X body Skylark but I have driven many of the 82-96 centuries over the years. I had a 1989 Century wagon with the 3300 V6 and it was a great car. I think Centuries are of good value and make great 2nd hand cars.
My next door neighbor bought an ’80 or ’81 Skylark new. He said it was absolutely the worst car he had ever owned and that he would never buy a Buick (maybe any GM car) again. I tried to tell him it was that specific platform, not the make that was the problem and that their conventional flagship models, LeSabre, Electra, Riviera were still good cars but he wouldn’t hear any of it. I don’t think he, in fact, ever owned another GM car. I believe this is an example of how one bad product can spoil the image of an entire brand and how Japanese cars were able to take over the American car market. Even Lee Iacocca admitted many American cars of the ’70s and ’80s were bad. “We got complacent and we had it coming.” I personally owned an ’89 Century with the GT package (3.3 liter V6 and leftover T-type components) and loved it.
I know it’s not an entirely accurate interpretation but I always saw it as GM still made very good full size cars and coupes because that is what their designers and assemblers were best at. The compacts were out of GM’s wheelhouse, the equivalent of a breaking ball low and away, so there was on some level no way they’d be as well done as the big cars.
But I think you’re right that it’s a great example about how one bad car can turn a person off even if the company is producing other good models.
It wasn’t that GM didn’t know how to build a small car, if you can build a good big car, you can build a good small car, the bones are already there, its not like GM wasn’t the biggest corporation in the world with umpteen resources, engineers and entire divisions that had expertise in making small cars(Opel, part of Isuzu) Its just that they rushed it and cut too many corners in development and testing resulting in something that needed fixes for years to make it right, another 8-12 months plus some more research and development “woulda, coulda, shoulda” turned the X-cars into solid winners.
There was a rush to get the X-cars out before Ford or Chrysler could come out with their first “front drivers for the 80’s”. GM began development of the X-car program in 1974, it was a completely new way of designing and manufacturing a car for GM, full corportate/muti-divsional project for a then totally all new car, big stuff for the 1970’s.
It’s evident that another 12 months turned the X-car based A-cars into fairly decent family cars that ran for 14 years as is generally regarded as fairly durable, if not ultra refined.
All the “new” FWD cars represented a major challenge for all the domestic manufacturers.
I think we’re saying the same thing, you just articulated it better.
I agree. It was a tough time, especially for GM which was gear towards big cars and big car profits so exclusively.
I think I read once that small cars cost just as much to develope and make as larger cars but buyers expect small cars to be much cheaper–hence the penny pinching
GM never really had its heart in small cars, and in doing so, missed a huge market. The X cars story is, in many ways, similar to the Corvair: last minute cost cutting doomed the cars, in the case of the article, cheaper rear brake shoes that caused locking up, and a faulty brake proportioning valve.
GM designed a new V-6 for the car, but the bread and butter four cylinder engine, the awful “Iron Duke” was a major let-down in this market. It’s emblematic that GM would keep making this horrid engine for many years longer as it had a terrible reputation.
In 1980 my dad was actually shopping the GM X-cars but my uncle, who had a 78 Regal Limited, told us not to consider the new (unproven) X cars but consider the then RWD A-bodies. We ended up getting a 1980 Century sedan with the formal roofline (new for 1980), with the 3.8L V6. Good choice as it lasted a long time in our family. It had the same steering wheel as the 1981 Skylark pictured above but had the silver, brushed metal dials in the instrument panels, which looked cool but probably was too prone to glare. Which is why I think Buick dumped the silver dials for regular white on black ones from either 1981 or 1982.
Yep, I definitely remember the vertical HVAC controls in the X-body models but only the Chevy Citation also had the vertical radio controls.
Understandable. After all, we’re talking about what’s usually the second-most-expensive thing we’ll ever buy, When it’s a product you rely on, and use every day, you rightfully expect reliability and longevity. When you don’t get it, you feel cheated, so you look elsewhere. Fair enough.
When a person “knows” they can buy Japanese, and “never” have a problem with it, why buy anything else? That’s what killed small and medium-sized British and British-designed cars in Australia.
My Dad had an ’84 Buick Skylark Limited, it was around 10-11 years old when he got it but in really great shape with low mileage. Had the poufy pillow seats and air that didn’t work, plus p/w and locks. With the six it was pretty peppy and smooth, and most of the problems of the X-bodies had been worked out by then. But it still had the same “morning sickness” with the steering rack ie. very hard stiff steering until the car was fully warmed up, that Dad’s ’84 Pontiac 6000 had – because it was the same rack! Also, I am reminded from looking at some of these interior pics just how high the front seat belt anchors were mounted on the B-post since GM thought everybody was at least 6-foot-two. I am only 5’7″ and the seatbelt always scraped across my neck and annoyed me to no end. What a relief to finally get cars that had adjustable anchors.
These cars had the makings of really good vehicles, but GM as usual fell down on the details that would have made the difference.
The sad thing was that by 1985(the last year of the Citation) the bugs had been worked out and the car was very reliable. That last year you could get a fuel injected v6 in the regular Citation and the car drove nicely. But by that time the writing was on the wall and due to both perception that the X-Body cars were rubbish and unreliable and the advent of the 1982 FWD A Body cars, there was no real reason to buy one unless you wanted a hatchback.
However the Chevy Citation is preserved for posterity as one of the many pictures taken from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake shows a facade of a building that collapsed which crushed a Chevy Citation
True, I remember reading that the Citation II was one of the most highly rated new cars in terms of reliability, but sales tanked, the Skylark was much improved too, and still sold reasonably well even into it’s last year, probably because of the Buick name and reputation combined with an older clientele, I think the last year Skylark even outsold the Citation II.
The Corsica was originally planned as the “Citation III” , there also was an aerodynamic Chevrolet show car from about 1983 that was called the Citation IV.
I remember reading a car magazine review of the Citation IV. If I remember correctly it had a drag coefficient of 0.16, is that possible!? And it was a fully functional car, not just for the stage…
Well, there were a couple of cars that looked similar to the Citation IV, the GM Aero 2002 concepts had super low cd, they were similar test beds like the Citation IV, but non running cars, in it’s sleekest version the Citation IV could get down to .18cd in full “real car” trim, with windshield wipers, mirrors and etc etc the Citation IV would sport .26cd, which is lower than a modern Volt. The Citation IV sported a MFI version of the 2.9 V6, it was able to run up about 140mph and also get about 50mpg in normal highway driving.
Here is a cool link to an article with everything you wanted to know about the Citation IV but were afraid to ask.
Yes, it was a full running car, just ask The Gipper!
Forgot to add the link
http://autosofinterest.com/2012/03/27/1984-chevrolet-citation-iv/
The Corsica looks got dated really fast it seems. It looks like the folks designing the EV1 used the Citation IV concept car as an influence when creating the EV1 which makes sense since with an electric car you would want the sleekest design you can in order to get as much miles out of a charge.
Most of the original design work for the Corsica dates back to 1982, I think the idea was to launch it when the original Citation ran it’s course, around 1985, but it was delayed until 1987 as a 1988 car.
So do you think that Citation (II) was in an angled parking zone or got knocked about by the quake? I am surprised there are not other cars around there.
Well actually it was in a line of stopped cars that were waiting at an intersection but was the only one that came out still looking like a car and not twisted unidentified metal. sadly 5 people lost their lives when the facade of the building collapsed.
Here is a close up pic of the same car and in the front of it you can just make out the remains of a silver car. Judging from the mangled door and its insert it was a J Body
Looks kinda like a Toyota door panel to me, whats more ominous and really got me wondering is the yellow tarp in the “drivers” position and the reddish “stains” on the headliner on the pulled up roof, it looks like someone may have been killed in that car.
Funny about Citations and natural disasters. Down the street where I work was a blue Citation in mint condition used as a daily driver. Sadly, it was destroyed by flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy!
Good point about belt anchors, Frank. My first car (’74 Ford Cortina) had a similar problem, and I’m 5’10” – I guess that’s a bit shorter than this generation! Are adjustable anchors required by law anywhere, or did car makers just come to their senses? Anyone know?
I collect some 1981 Skylark fwd, 1981 Regal rwd and 1979-1980-1981 Century rwd experiences. By the way a Regal grille is hangin’ on the wall as a souvenir 🙂 Century fwd is a bit more sophisticated than its predecessors. I’ve experienced a Swiss 1993 Century Wagon (Woody). Ain’t easy to got one in Europe. I haven’t met any of the 2 door’s… Driving comfort and the smoothness of the fwd Century is enjoyable but that’s just an opinion…
Heres a question for you folks. According to my records, you could get a 4 speed manual transmission or 3 speed auto trans in every one of the FWD X-Body lines.
In all the countless X Body cars i have seen over the years in person, I have only seen a manual transmission in one car (a base model 1981 Citation a friend’s father owned when I was in high school during my senior year(1995) ) I have never seen a stick in any other X bodies. Has anybody seen a manual transmission in a Omega,Skylark or Phoenix?
I can’t specifically remember but I know they were built.
Yes, a few, I remember seeing a cheapie 4 speed manual Skylark coupe in a mall parking lot in the 90’s, I’ve seen a couple of Citation 4 speeds, including a really plain Citation Club Coupe with a manual and steelies, I don’t recall ever seeing a manual Omega in person, I’ve seen a 5 door Phoenix with a manual before too.
Back in the early eighties my brother semi-seriously considered buying a four speed Olds Omega but ended up changing his mind. I remember seeing a few other X-bodies with four speeds back in the day but they can’t ever have been very thick on the ground. I would guess they didn’t make/sell very many of them.
My dad test drive a Pheonix with a manual shift, and he hated the cable shifter, which had no feel in it. The fourth gear was a tall overdrive and the gap from third was HUGE.
I saw quite a few manual Citations in my day, X-11 and otherwise.
Almost like a 5-speed without 4th gear:
3.31 / 1.95 / 1.24 / 0.81
X – Car love ! so neat .
I remember swapping out those power steering racks , the problem was crappy O-Rings that were stiff when cold and allowed the hydraulic pressure to by pass .
GM also used cheap fluid that burned up rather quickly , few ever bother to flush and fill the power steering as soon as it stops smelling sweet .
-Nate
We used to sell many steering racks for X and A bodies–the hole where the inner tie rod entered would enlarge allowing fluid to leak. The aftermarket started sleeving re-man racks and it wasn’t long before it was done at the OEM level ending that golden goose.
Those Century coupes are rare, relative to the more popular and longer produced sedan. It really looks rather nice all Broughamed-out with the vinyl roof.
That green one that is in the first picture is even rarer, its on YouTube, its a 1985 diesel 4.3 Century Limited Coupe with the digital dash and aluminum wheels.
Hmm, I’d be sold if it was a 3.8 (or even 2.8), not sure I could stomach the 4.3 diesel, even if it really is only a fun car that will never be worth anything to the masses.
“Supposedly” the Olds 4.3 diesel V6 was pretty good, they learned from the previous pretty bad 350 and the durable as paper mache 260 V8 diesels, it was a 350 diesel with 2 cylinders “cut off”, explaining the similar dimensions to GM’s other “350 minus 2” engine, the Chevrolet 4.3 V6. Oldsmobile made improvements to the diesels after 1981, making them pretty durable, but by then the damage was done and gas prices dropped to under $1.
I have never seen one in the wild, the 4.3 diesel, that is.
I believe the guy who owns this one is the same guy who built a few V6 turbo Centuries (both 90-degree V6 and 60-degree V6). He used to have a great writeup on all of them on Cardomain, but it’s impossible to follow now that they re-did their whole format.
http://www.cardomain.com/member/turbokinetic/
When the car my sister was driving failed to pass the Pa state inspection, my BIL found a base trim Citation at an auto auction for the kind of price she could afford. It was a light metallic blue 2 door with the 4 cylinder and a manual transmission. According to her, she hadn’t noticed the vertical radio until I pointed it out to her.
I had a 1980 Buick Skylark Limited 2.8 as late as in 2008-2010 as a daily driver. I drove about 30-40 miles each day. The car passed way over 200.000 miles in my ownership, and I know it is still used as a daily driver today. The paint was not pretty anymore, and it had some rust here and there, but the 2.8 V6 and the 3-speed auto seemed to be very good. It had power doorlocks, tilt steeringwheel, radio, and a very good heater but no AC. Rear window glass heater too. It had a aftermarked cruise control. Blue outside and inside,
It worked very well, but the power steering was very hard when turning left in cold weather, the first couple of minutes after start up. I miss that little car, in the snow the FWD worked very well, it’s was warm inside, comfortable, quiet and very reliable.
I suppose there really wasn’t a “right” engine for an ’84 Century. Your other choice would have been the 3.0L LK9 V6. If anything that engine was even less reliable. I had an ’82 that had one, it threw a rod at 115K.
I’m given to understand the 2.8 and 3.8 were available for ’84 but they seemed to be a bit thin on the ground where I live even when the cars were new.
Those Century coupes were good-looking, in a slightly odd way. The back window looked oddly large on plain roof cars so I think the half-vinyl actually helps quite a bit.
The Skylark, on the other hand, I’ve never warmed up to the looks of. The later ones with the vertical-bar (and BUICK engraved) grille are better than the eariler ones, but they all look oddly proportioned to me. Slightly stubby, and somehow they look either too wide for the length of the car or too short for the width.
I’d forgotten how much the Skylark’s instruments looked like the LeSabre’s, albeit with a black instead of silver background. Classy! I drove a friend’s brand new ’81 V6/AT a few times, not much oomph, but smooth and well connected to the road for what it was.
I think they might be the same ones, in 1980 the Skylark, Omega and Phoenix all had silver faced instruments as far as I can recall!
Car & Driver road tested 4 speed manual X cars and loved them. Especially the X-11 and Pontiac Phoenix. Of course they didnt keep them long enough to see the real bugs.
Also, the Citation II was cut sooner than expected, and C/D had a spy pic of the “1987 Citation” coming for fall 1986 release. It was the Corsica, which got pushed to spring ’87 and branded a 1988 MY.
When Car & Driver tested the revamped X-11 about 1982, the called it the Camaro for the 80’s
Even by this point, Car and Driver loved every car they “tested.” As a teenager, I remember lapping up their X Car hype, which went on for years it seemed. What a huge let-down!
Rather than these FWD Buick A and X-Bodies, I would rather take their larger 1978 RWD predecessors since they were solidly built and proven compared to these FWD crap which replaced them. The FWD 1980 X-Bodies were major embarrassment to the 1975-79 RWD X-Bodies which were not worthy of their replacements.
’82 Skylard was my first company car. Same metallic puke green as the Century in the first picture. Had a 6″ diameter paint repair on the trunk lid; I could of matched it better. 2.5 lump, put 93K miles on it in 3 years. Only repair was a vacuum pump. Right at the end it had a bad piston slap, so it got wholesaled at the auction.
I think it was the lack of a load sensitive rear brake proportioning valve that made them such death traps if you got the brakes locked. I was doing 60 on 101 in Mill Valley, in the rain, and a van decided to merge into my lane. I gave the brakes a boot to knock some speed off and let him merge in front of me. Wrong move; it locked the rears, I’m going down the freeway at right angles to the lane. Did my best Gilles Villenueve car control imitation and got it point in the right direction. Got on the brakes hard onto an exit ramp and got it sideways again, dry pavement this time.
Had the car 3 days and had to buy a lower back support wedge, just spasmed my back without it. There was a decal on the drivers door glass about ‘chuggle’. This was the tranny hunting between a locked and unlocked torque convertor. So it was like a bobble head doll with it speeding up and slowing down. Found out if I got the brake lights on, it would stay in unlocked until I got out of whatever situation that had me at the best speed to ‘chuggle’.
My neighbor had one of those rare ’84 Century 4.3 diesels. Just out of warranty it ate the AC compressor and sprayed metal thru the entire AC system. Since he was a long time Buick customer, Buick ate it. Then about 40K, it developed a real knock. The flex plate had torn apart; being between a huge starter motor and 19 to 1 compression, it was the weak link. He got Buick involved again and they bought the repair. Once it was fixed, sold it and bought a Cressida. All this took only a year, he was a sales rep that drove a lot.
Chuggle sounds like the boozing, smoking and gambling brother of Snuggle the fabric softener bear.
Thunderbird week and this is the article that catches my eye.
Too many X and A cars between me and family members than I can name, along with a few Gs for good measure.
Aside from it’s gutless nature, and a couple anomalies in my older brother’s self-destructive (though well-worn) ’82 Cutlass Ciera and my mom’s ’82 Pontiac 6000 (procured through a dubious source), none of us really had any problems with the Iron Duke/Tech IV. They always seemed to be corn-flake-motors-functionally reliable, but boring.
I’m also puzzled by all the Iron Duke troubles. These motors were all over the place growing up in the 80’s and 90’s and rarely ever did I hear of one going bad. They were gutless and noisy but very reliable too. Dad’s 84 Ciera Brougham had 132K trouble free miles before he sold it to a friend with a 1985 Grand Am that also had the Iron Duke with 220 K miles. My Aunt had a 1987 Celebrity wagon with this engine and it went right up to 197K before the body gave way to rust and the engine still ran well. We sold a boat load of A-body and 83-85 X-body cars so equipped and I honestly don’t ever remember seeing one back with a bad motor. Perhaps the earlier 80’s and late 70’s Iron dukes weren’t as good?
If anything the all time worst engine in these 1982-85 A-body cars was the Buick 2BBL 3.0 liter V6. Those engines were like a ticking time bomb. You never knew when one was going to blow. After numerous engine failures we avoided them like the plague at the auctions and used car dealers that wanted to unload them on us. Heck I would have more confidence in the Old 4.3 V6 diesel.
What was the fatal flaw of the 3.0l V6? Doesn’t seem like many survived, but weren’t they just a short stroke CCC 3.8l modified for transverse applications? The bigger, RWD-native Buick V6 was reasonably solid – nowhere near as good as the fuel-injected versions – but it seems like most have died via SBC transplant rather than wear/abuse.
The Iron Duke seems like a real hit-or-miss engine. Some will go 200k with zero maintenance, others are a chore to get half of that out of. Same goes for early versions of the J-Body “122” OHV four.
These were better cars INMHO.
Their 4 Door Counterparts. The 1979 Buick Skylark 4 Door Sedan and the 1980 Buick Century 4 Door Sedan.
I’d take an ’83 Regal 4 door sedan
I’ll take the rare ’75 Apollo 4 Door Sedan.
Another photo but this time a 1982 Buick Regal 4 Door Sedan and a 1975 Buick Apollo 4 Door Sedan which were actually the same cars as the Century for the former and the Skylark for the latter.
Yep…but I prefer the Regal’s front end to the Century’s.
gm sure lost a lot of loyal gm buyers to the imports back in the 80s, that included lots of my family members including some ww2 vets that at one time would not be caught dead in a jap car.
To me the rear of the1983-1984 Skylark seems to be influenced by the 1981-1983 Malibu. Especially the tail lights.
Malibu
I also inherited a Buick Century limited with the padded landau, 2 door/ all white with tan leather interior. The V6 will blow many of todays cars away. It was bought new in 86 by my dad in California and never driven much, remaining beautiful. Its exactly like the picture above in the “Buicks top choice” add. I have never seen another until this picture. I would enjoy hearing if there are any others left. For a simple car it sure draws a lot of attention anywhere I go, esp from Buick guys.
My dad had a new 85 Buick Century, it was a diamond blue with the v6. It had the wire wheel covers & was a beautiful car, it looked like the short Deville at the time. It was quiet & my friends loved it ride in it. It had decent power & the higher end Delco at the time. The only thing I didn’t like about the car was that the brakes locked easily when wet. They purchased an 86 Accord LXi for my mom, it’s was a nice car also but the family actually enjoyed the Century more especially on long trips. Now check this out, the century was sold with about 200k miles on it, it started smoking & had a few issues in 1990, the Accord was traded at 100k miles in 92 after the timing belt broke.
My 1984 Century Limited Coupe looked just like the black one in the picture from the brochure above. For a 19 year old in college to have this car, it felt like a million bucks. We bought it in 1986 from the original owner with 26,000 miles on it. When she found out the car was for me she was shocked. It was loaded with all the power options, too – plus it had a sunroof, wire wheels, and being a coupe made it very unusual. She had special ordered it instead of a Regal and didn’t like the car so she told her husband she wanted to sell it. It had the same red interior as the picture above too – the Limited pillow interior was ultra comfortable. All my friends wanted to ride in my car and I knew why! Unfortunately, that car was a HUGE lemon. The 3.0 V-6 was a nightmare – it was underpowered, ate gas, and needed a rebuild twice. At 60k miles I knew it was time to go.
Just a note, but the 80-81 Xs had their steering racks on the firewall which was changed when the As came out in 82. The Xs shared the improvements and the new steering rack location.
All confirmed by the rags of the day, not something I am pulling out of my feeble mind.
Steering rack was moved to the subframe for 82 with both the Xs and As to improve steering and prevent subframe movement. The subframe supported the engine and transmission as well.
In the interior pic of the Skylark, notice how high up the seat belt is mounted on the B pillar, right up near the top. GM assumed, like most manufacturers back then, that everyone was 6-foot 2-inches tall. Very annoying for a shorter guy like me who was always strangled by these lap belts. One of the things I hated most about these cars.
Fortunately, adjustable shoulder belt anchors were invented and finally solved that problem. I was amazed when my dad bought his ’84 Accord in the mid-’90s – first car in the family that ever had these adjusters.