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Junkyard Gem: 1985 Buick Skyhawk Custom Coupe

General Motors began building cars on the compact J Platform in 1981, and J-based machinery stayed in production all the way through the 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier and Pontiac Sunfire. The best-known of the J-cars in North America was always the Cavalier, but The General's Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and even Cadillac divisions each sold their own Js here. The Buick version was the Skyhawk, built for the 1982 through 1989 model years. Here's a sporty '85 Skyhawk coupe, found in a Northern California boneyard recently. The Custom trim level was the cheapest version of the Skyhawk in 1985, and the two door was the most affordable configuration (midgrade Skyhawks were Limiteds and the T-Type was at the top of the Skyhawk pyramid that year). The MSRP on this car started at $7,512 (about $21,220 in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars), making it the least expensive new Buick offered for sale in the United States in 1985. The Skyhawk name had been used on the Buick version of the Chevrolet Monza during the 1970s. The Chevrolet-badged sibling of this car was much cheaper, with the list price of the base '85 Cavalier coupe set at $6,872 (around $19,410 today). There were cheaper new Chevrolets that year, of course; a new Chevette cost just $5,470, while the Isuzu-built Spectrum was $6,295 and the Suzuki-built Sprint a skinflinty $5,151. The base engine in the Custom and Limited was this 2.0-liter SOHC straight-four rated at 86 horsepower. A turbocharged 1.8-liter version with 150 horses was available for an extra 800 bucks ($2,260 now). A four-on-the-floor manual transmission was standard equipment in the 1985 Skyhawk, but the buyers of most of these cars insisted on automatics. The price for this one was $425 ($1,200 today). A five-speed manual cost just $75 ($210). Velour-ish upholstery in Bordello Red (Buick didn't use that name) was all the rage during the 1980s and well into the 1990s. This car's interior looks pretty nice, considering where it's parked. Community Buick GMC in Iowa is still in business today. The five-digit odometer means we can't know how many miles were on this car at the end. I brought a Chicago-made 1950s Pho-Tak Foldex 30 film camera with me to the junkyard that day, as one does, and I photographed the Skyhawk on Kodak Portra 160 film. The irritatingly perky Skyhawk owners in this TV commercial appear to be about one-third the age of typical mid-1980s Buick shoppers.

GM recalls 500K Chevy Camaros for ignition-switch defect

General Motors issued a recall for more than a half million Chevrolet Camaros on Friday morning because of an ignition-switch safety hazard that mirrors the one at the center of the company's current crisis.
The problem affects Camaro models from the 2010 to 2014 model years. Approximately 464,712 cars are impacted in the United States, and 511,528 overall in North America. GM will alter the Camaro key to a more standard design, and will notify car owners with a recall notice in the mail.
In an announcement, the company said the ignition switches on the Camaros are fundamentally different parts than the older ignition switches found on defective cars that are responsible for killing at least 13 people and causing 54 crashes.

2020 Buick Enclave adds Sport Touring trim, tweaks tech

With its redesign for 2018, the Buick Enclave added the fancy Avenir trim level. Now the 2020 Enclave moves a bit in the other direction with a new Sport Touring model. The Sport Touring package is based on the Essence trim level, and consists of a body-color grille surround in place of chrome, and special 20-inch wheels that combine a bright finish with darker insets. The package doesn't touch the 310-horsepower V6 or the Enclave's suspension, so this development is hardly one to threaten the Ford Explorer ST or the Dodge Durango SRT8. Instead, it is perhaps a baby step toward an Enclave Gran Sport, although we might rather see the Regal TourX wagon move in that direction. Other Enclave news falls into the more traditional Buick wheelhouse. There's a new message function and power lumbar adjustment for the Premium and Avenir models. GM's HD rear vision camera — in which the rear-view mirror can switch to show a wide-angle camera feed — is newly available, as is an HD surround-view feature. In other tech developments, the standard 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system gains new capabilities, now supporting connected navigation and Sirius XM's higher-level 360L service, both of which require a subscription. The 2020 Buick Enclave rolls quietly into dealerships this summer, with an asking price of $41,195.