1986 Buick Regal - Bridging The Gap

Towards the end of this generation of the Buick Regal's 1978-1987 production run, Buick ramped up the horsepower and torque so much on its high-performance versions that it was faster zero-to-sixty than Chevrolet's lordly Corvette. To bridge the performance gulf of performance between the 3.8-liter V-6 powered base models and the big dogs, for 1986 and 1987, Buick made Oldsmobile's 307-cubic inch V-8 optional. Sorry, V-8 lovers, it was the lower performing of its two versions.  

It was a bit of novelty if not a throwback of sorts since Pontiac (4.9-liter) and Chevrolet (5.0-liter) V-8's were available on Buick Regals from 1978-1980; from 1981 through 1985, the only V-8 available was the Oldsmobile, 5.7-liter diesel. 

Making all of 140-horsepower, it's not like the 307 transforms car this into a poor man's Grand National. Hardly. Contemporary road test of similarly powered GM G-bodies with the "LV2" Olds engine pegged it zero-to-sixty in roughly 13-seconds. 

Compared to the Grand National's approximate 5-second blast from zero-to-sixty, this car might as well have been standing still. The added oomph of the 307 barely negating its additional bulk over the 110-horse, Buick V-6. 

I've driven these cars with LV2 and Chevrolet's LG4, 305-CID engine and they are sah-low. Wide-ratio "Metric" transmissions and super tall rear axles doing the added poke of the V-8 absolutely no favors whatsoever too. I wonder why they even bothered. Did make for smoother running automobile, though. 

If you wanted automatic overdrive, you had to step up to the haughty T-Type or Grand National; the almighty GNX was 1987 only. For 1987, buyers could have also order the turbocharged V-6 in the Regal "Limited" but those are almost as rare as the GNX. 

1986 advertising literature claims the 5.7-liter, Oldsmobile diesel was available in 1986 on these cars but there's little real-world evidence any of these were built with that engine. If they were, they came backed with the "AOD" (automatic overdrive). Fuel economy of the Olds diesels in these cars was negligibly better than the V-6 models. Olds 307 powered Regals too. 

My Facebook Marketplace find here is for sale not far from my triple-wide here west of Cleveland, Ohio. Only 43,000 or so clicks on it's 37- going on 38-year old analog odometer. Asking price is a "you've got to be kidding me" $10,000. This is well bought at around half that amount. 

1977 Buick Regal - If the Brake Shoe Fits

Perusing Gateway Classic Cars massive inventory of what they deem "classics" is a Sunday morning, coffee cup in hand timewaster and they never let me down when I want to find something that piques my fancy. They're a nationwide consignment network and everything they have for sale, from exotic cars to sports car and ponies to crossovers, is hysterically overpriced.  Like this very nice, low mileage 1977 Buick Regal. Asking price? $18,000. To make matters worse, they claim it has a "heart pounding 305 V-8", guys, you're talking to car people here, these cars never came with a "305" which was a Chevrolet engine anyway.  Be real. And they claim this is a "personal luxury car". 

I'm not going to spend today's soliloquy drilling down into who or what would spend $18,000 on this thing. But, who the hell would? I wouldn't pay half that. By the way NADA price guidelines peg this at $10,900. And that's for "high retail". 

I'd also stop short of lumping this quasi-handsome, two-door Century in the same vehicle grouping as my beloved Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlo of the same vintage. Although, if the brake shoe fits, you can call it a "personal luxury car" or whatever you want. For my money, a "personal luxury car", by my definition, is a stylized, two-door, intermediate sized coupe with unique sheet metal from the four-door sedan it shares its underpinnings and mechanicals with Like the Grand Prix was different from the LeMans and the Monte Carlo was different compared to the Chevelle.  

In fairness, Oldsmobile didn't exactly disguise their two-door Cutlass' as anything more than what it was either. And seeing that it was one of the best-selling nameplates of the 1970's, my argument holds no water. However, these Regals where a different putt since Buick sold a smattering of them compared to the number of Cutlass' Oldsmobile sold. To say nothing of the zillions of Grand Prix' and Monte Carlo's sold. This all really matter? Of course not. But if I'm going to drop eighteen-grand on anything from 1977, it most certainly wouldn't be a Buick Regal. 

Back in the days before the Earth cooled, I test drove one of these that was for sale for around $1,500. It was in real nice shape similar to what this looks like too. I passed on it because it didn't pass my vaunted definition of what a personal luxury car was. I wanted a Grand Prix or Monte Carlo but those were going for a thousand if not two thousand more. This kid had his standards and he stuck to them.  Hey, if you can't join 'em, do the next best thing and get a shameful knock-off. I bought a Chrysler Cordoba on the cheap and never looked back. 

The Regal started out as a trim level on the 1973 and 1974 Buick Century. It became its own separate model, so to speak, in 1975. The nameplate stuck around off and on for most of the last fifty years with, amazingly, General Motors only dropping the nameplate after 2020 when they stopped selling rebadged Vauxhall\Opel Insignias as Buick Regals. They had also put it on hiatus from 2004-2010 but something tells me "Regal" might just be kaput for good now since Buick doesn't even make "cars" anymore. 

1980 Buick Regal - When in Kentucky

Finally. I've figured out why it is I find all 1978-1987 General Motors intermediates so off-putting. It's their proportions - they're totally out of whack. Although they're hardly "small" at two-hundred inches long, they're narrower than GM's then current compacts and with their stubby, truncated wheelbases, the designers had their hands full cobbling together cohesive designs. So, to that end, you almost have to applaud the job Buick did with their Regal, this one a 1980, seeing how relatively clean, although quite dull, subjective as that is, the overall design is. 

Amazingly, our Regal is four and a half inches longer than GM's seminal if not iconic 1955 Chevrolet. What helps make the Chevrolet better balanced looking is that it's nearly three inches wider and has a wheel base that's a whopping eight inches longer. There's also the fact the Chevrolet is more than a foot taller allowing for more sheet metal to be sculpted below the car's belt-line. The "longer, lower and even wider" idiom still several years away. 

This Regal looks all but appliance like in comparison to the Chevrolet, don't you think? The cheesy "half-landau" top and chunky chrome safety-bumpers doing this poor little car no favors either. GM did a great job updating all of these cars for 1981 doing the best that could be done with a very awkward canvas. Well, they cleaned up the coupes; the sedans and wagons they left the same. GM replaced these cars with the front-wheel-drive "GM10's" (to be known as W-bodies) in 1988. 

Best that can be said about this car in particular is that in this insane used car market, it's refreshing to find something like this that isn't priced out of this world; although I might be numb at this point thinking that $1,000 is reasonable for a non-running, rusty bomb. Might include a parts car if the owner is able to recover it. Apparently it was stolen. As we say up here in Ohio, "when in Kentucky". Seriously, if this was a '55 Chevrolet in this shape the asking price would be north of ten-grand. And how crazy is that? 

Hot rodders like these cars because they're front engine, rear-wheel-drivers with full-perimeter frames. They're also relatively light weight with large engine compartments that can swallow just about anything. Bonus, you get a power driver's bucket, power windows, locks, tilting column and a front passenger seat full of trash. 

And the ad for this car is one of those obnoxiously written ones telling potential tire-kickers not to waste his time or low-ball him because he knows what he has here. Err, ok. Well, at least it's not a 1978-1980 Chevrolet Monte Carlo or Pontiac Grand Prix so it's got that going for it.