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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.

2018 Buick Regal's base price is almost $2,500 cheaper than last year's

Along with the launch of the Buick Regal GS, Buick released official pricing for all three versions of the Regal, and they're very competitively priced, especially the Sportback. The part-sedan, part-hatch Regal Sportback starts at just $25,915. That's more than $2,000 cheaper than the previous generation 2017 Buick Regal sedan, which started at $28,385. Along with the savings in cost comes a standard turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 250 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque - 295 pound-feet with optional all-wheel drive. That's a significant step up from the standard naturally aspirated engine in the previous-generation Regal that makes just 182 horsepower and 172 pound-feet of torque. The new Regal's hatch also provides more flexibility for loading cargo, and the cargo space expands from 14.2 cubic feet in the old model to 31.5. View 12 Photos The TourX wagon, or crossover depending on your opinion, comes with a $4,000 premium over the Sportback, with a base price of $29,995, matching what was revealed last month. It gains only about an extra cubic foot behind the rear seats, but with the seats folded, it has 73.5 cubic feet to play with. It also comes with standard all-wheel drive and the engine with 295 pound-feet of torque. Plus, it has the added ride height and plastic body cladding that gives it the same trendy look shared with the Subaru Outback, Volvo V60 Cross Country, and Audi A4 Allroad. It is a few thousand more than the Outback, but it undercuts the Volvo by roughly $10,000 and the Audi by almost $15,000. Then, for performance, there's the Regal GS. It starts at $39,990 and has a 310-horsepower V6 and standard all-wheel drive. It also features all of the versatility of the regular Regal Sportback. All-in-all, the Buick Regal line seems to pack a lot of value, at least on paper. Related Video:

2019 Buick Regal TourX sells better than expected, has brand's wealthiest buyers

Being a wagon fan in America is tough, since it seems everyone prefers the higher ride heights and SUV looks of crossovers. But today we have some good news for wagon fans via Buick. Apparently the 2019 Buick Regal TourX is popular with well-heeled buyers, and it's been selling quite a bit better than Buick expected. A representative from Buick revealed that Regal TourX buyers have the highest average income of any of the brand's products. He even noted that TourX buyers' average income is higher than the Buick Enclave Avenir, the extra-plush variant of the three-row crossover and the most expensive vehicle in Buick's lineup. To put the price difference into perspective, the most expensive Regal TourX starts at $35,995, while the Enclave Avenir starts at $54,695. Besides selling to people of some means, the Regal TourX has proven to be more popular than Buick expected. Buick's representative said that initial estimates were that the wagon would make up about 25% of sales, but it's actually making up about 40% right now. Buick has sold 3,408 Regals in total this year, so that means about 1,400 of them were TourX wagons. That number doesn't quite translate over all of 2018 since the TourX was released a little later and the supply was still ramping up through the year. As such sales were closer to 3,000 out of a little over 14,000 for the whole year, or somewhere above 20%. But the increased percentage from the model's release is still impressive. Granted, sales still favor crossovers. Buick's least popular crossover, the Envision, sold about twice as many units as all Regals last quarter. Yet, we count this as good news on the wagon front. Better still, the TourX's top rival, the Subaru Outback, has moved 76,000 units so far this year. Times may be tough for the wagon fan, but there are still some small wins to celebrate. UPDATE: The estimate of Regal TourX numbers for 2018 was higher than actual sales as the TourX was launched later than all Regal models, and the supply wasn't up to full steam for the whole year. The corrected number is now in the text. Related Video: