1989 Buick Reatta Base Coupe 2-door 3.8l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1986 Buick Riviera

The Buick Riviera personal luxury coupe attained monstrous proportions by the middle 1970s, scaling in at well over 4,500 pounds by 1976. After spending 1977 and 1978 as sibling to the Chevy Caprice, the Riviera then moved to the front-wheel-drive platform used by the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, staying there through the 1985 model year. The Riviera world became a lot more interesting for the 1986 model year, when a smaller and more sophisticated generation hit showrooms with curvier lines and electronic gadgetry straight out of science fiction. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those cars, found in a self-service boneyard in Phoenix, Arizona. What makes this car such a fascinating bit of automotive history is this dash-mounted touchscreen interface, known as the Graphic Control Center. The 1986 Riviera was the first GM vehicle to get the GCC, which means it was the first production car in history with a factory-installed touchscreen display. This system became available in the Buick Reatta and the Oldsmobile Toronado a few years later.  The GCC used a cathode-ray tube screen sourced from an ATM manufacturer, which ran on 120VAC power and required an inverter and dangerous high-voltage wiring inside the dash. It was used to operate the HVAC, the radio and the trip computer, as well as to display operating and diagnostic information. The system used numerous bulky components in addition to the dash screen; I've extracted a couple of complete sets of GCC components over the years and plan to build them into a junkyard-parts boombox. As it turned out, the senior-citizen-heavy demographic of Buick shoppers didn't feel great enthusiasm for the GCC and there wasn't a huge sales payoff for this revolutionary technology. That didn't stop GM from introducing the first mass-produced cars with head-up displays a couple of years later. The running gear wasn't quite as sophisticated as the GCC. The 1986-1993 Rivieras got old-fashioned 3.8-liter Buick V6s under their hoods; the one in this car was rated at 140 horsepower and 200 pound-feet. If you wanted a manual transmission in your '86 Rivvie, you were out of luck. A four-speed automatic was mandatory equipment. Note the unusual face-loading cassette deck in front of the shifter; the AM/FM radio was a remote-controlled unit living inside the center console. The MSRP for this car was $19,831, or about $55,691 in 2023 dollars.

Junkyard Gem: 1973 Buick LeSabre Custom Hardtop Sedan

The steps on Alfred Sloan's "Ladder of Success," in which you'd start your career by buying a Chevrolet and then move up through the GM marques as your wealth increased, stayed rigidly fixed from the 1930s into the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, though, "prestige creep" among The General's divisions had set in, with lower-zoot marques leapfrogging their betters with ballooning price tags and snob appeal; a fully-loaded Chevy Caprice could cost more than an Olds 98, a Pontiac Bonneville could out-snoot a Buick LeSabre, and the LeSabre itself came to threaten mighty Cadillac at the top of the GM pyramid. Here's a fully depreciated '73 LeSabre Custom Hardtop Sedan, once the picture of Malaise Era opulence but now brought down to earth in a San Jose self-service car graveyard. The high-rollingest of all LeSabres in 1973 was the Custom (though shoppers for full-sized 1973 Buicks really wishing to rub the noses of their lessers in their success could opt for the even pricier Centurion or Electra 225), and that's what I found among the Achievas and Cateras of this yard's GM section. Wasps now nest in the rust holes caused by rainwater seeping beneath the padded vinyl roof, but this car once told the world, "I've made it!" It went without saying that your big, comfy Detroit luxury sedan had a big, comfy front bench seat; let those frivolous rakehells in their Rivieras have their bucket seats. Believe it or not, a three-on-the-tree column-shift manual transmission was still standard equipment on the lower-level Buick Century in 1973, but all LeSabre buyers enjoyed two-pedal luxury that year. Some junkyard shopper grabbed the massive 455-cubic-inch (7.5-liter) V8 — rated at 225 horsepower, due to Nixon's stricter emissions standards and the switch from gross to net horsepower ratings — before I got here. I'm guessing this car got driven into the ground by the early 2000s (there's a 2001 calendar inside) and then spent the next couple of decades bleaching in the harsh South Bay sun before arriving here. So good, shoppers bought them sight unseen!

General Motors Recall List

It seems General Motors can't go more than a few weeks without issuing a major recall. Since the initial ignition lock recall on February 10, over 25 million vehicles have been recalled for defects. It seems General Motors can't go more than a few weeks without issuing a major recall. Since the initial ignition lock recall on February 10, over 25 million vehicles have been recalled for defects. We used the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall list to compile a snapshot of all the GM vehicles recalled in the last two months. NHTSA also provides a search engine that allows owners to search for recalls on their vehicle. An automotive company must do everything in their power to notify its customers when a recall is issued on a vehicle. If you own any of the following vehicles and you have questions regarding your car, you can contact Chevrolet at 1-866-694-6546, GMC at 1-866-996-9463, Buick at 1-800-521-7300 and Cadillac at 1-866-982-2339. Or check out General Motor's recall site. Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153) or go to www.safercar.gov. Here's a brief summery of the other vehicles currently under recall: July 26 – 414,333 cars affected NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V447000 Models under recall: Certain model year 2011-2012 Buick LaCrosse, Regal and Chevrolet Camaro, as well as certain 2010-2012 Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain vehicles, equipped with power height adjustable driver and passenger seats. Problem: In the affected vehicles, the bolt that secures the driver's and passenger's power front seat height adjuster may fall out causing the seat to drop suddenly to the lowest vertical position. Consequence: If the driver's seat unexpectedly drops, the distraction and altered seat position may affect the drivers' control of the vehicle, increasing the risk of a crash. Solution: Dealers will replace the height adjuster shoulder bolts, free of charge. July 14 – 16,939 cars affected NHTSA Campaign Number: 14V341000 Models under recall: Certain model year 2011 Cadillac CTS vehicles manufactured October 18, 2010, to June 2, 2011. Problem: In the affected vehicles, vibrations from the drive shaft may cause the vehicle's roll over sensor to command the roof rail air bags to deploy. Consequence: If the roof rail air bags deploy unexpectedly, there is an increased risk of crash and injury to the occupants.