They are still out there

[Barney Eaton 1,418]

From far north Michigan......... guy purchased a house,  former owner died and airs wanted it and the contents gone.   The car was in the garage and

no one wanted and old 1984 Buick.     Look what they got with the home purchase.

[avgwarhawk 4,453]

Sheesh!  Nice!! 

 

[JohnD1956 6,219]

Sweet biscuits!  Could use some luck like this! 

[John_S_in_Penna 3,414]

The fender script says "Somerset."  That special edition,

I believe, had a special 2-toned interior.

 

Good find, and more interesting than the typical Regal!

[Machine Gun 251]

That's the type of car that people will want one day, so hopefully the new owners will care for it as a future desirable. The first car I bought new after a couple of years out of college was a 1978 Regal, which was a very nice car indeed. Wish I had kept it, but in those days I changed cars more often than my underwear.

[Y-JobFan 208]

11 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

The fender script says "Somerset."  That special edition,

I believe, had a special 2-toned interior.

 

Good find, and more interesting than the typical Regal!

By 84 the interior was a solid color, the ones before it had a lighter tan interior with brown piping and of course the first few years were the beautiful navy & tan 

 

[EmTee 1,902]

V6 or V8?

[Terry Wiegand 1,913]

That appears to be a very nice late model used car.  Try getting mechanical parts for it from your local GM Dealer.  Let us know how that works for you.

 

Terry Wiegand

Doo Dah America

[NTX5467 1,193]

I suspect that WHATEVER might be under the hood, it still looks very "garage-kept" and should have MANY more miles left in it.  I also suspect that whatever might not be available from a GM dealer (as for mechanical items), will be available in the aftermarket (even ACDelco).  Probably no real need for nay soft trim for many years, yet.  PLUS, it's new enough that the "young 'uns" in the service areas can find out how to take care of it (for the new owners).  Plus gawk at how nice it is!

 

Hopefully, the new owners will appreciate it for what it is, or pass it to somebody who does.  It needs a new and caring owner!  Perhaps, it might convey to them what Buick used to be!

 

Thanks, Barney, for that story!

 

NTX5467

[8E45E 1,268]

7 hours ago, NTX5467 said:

I suspect that WHATEVER might be under the hood, it still looks very "garage-kept" and should have MANY more miles left in it.  I also suspect that whatever might not be available from a GM dealer (as for mechanical items), will be available in the aftermarket (even ACDelco).  Probably no real need for nay soft trim for many years, yet. 

That's EXACTLY what I see happening to cars of this era.

 

They have been popping up at estate sales, etc., and the buyers of cars of this era have been driving them as a 'used car' because they still have many miles left in them, not particularly collectible, and parts are still readily available, either new or used from an autowrecker.  Not to mention, sophisticated electronic engine controls didn't start until a few years later, therefore, not difficult to keep on the road.

 

Craig

Edited June 8, 2020 by 8E45E (see edit history)

[60FlatTop 6,380]

I have seen and owned a lot of those 20 to 30 year old cars over the years. Pull into some cranky old Buick collector's driveway with it and he won't even get off the porch to look it over. That is until he scores one for an undisclosed, dirt cheap price, and then it's the greatest thing you ever saw.

 

Today Rock Auto is one of the best sources for what they call the Malaise cars. They are warehousing and selling parts at a low markup that used to be scrapped in the old dealer network. I bought a complete AC DELCO pre-bent fuel line and connecting hose system for my '86 Park Ave for about $200 when I put a new fuel pump in it.

 

For electronic diagnostic tools, I picked up a full OTC4000 set in the big case for under $150 and few years ago. And my new Foxwell  800 series is backward compatible to OBDI.

 

There have always been a lot of nice cars out there "just off the radar". They get missed by a kind of myopia.

Edited June 8, 2020 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[TxBuicks 347]

The Somersets were only made from 1985-1987 and it seems like all had v-6 engines.  I don't believe I have ever seen one.

 

From a quick search on wikipedia:

For the 1985 model year, the two-door Skylark coupe was replaced by the Somerset Regal, built on the Oldsmobile-developed N-body platform. The "Somerset" name had previously been used as a trim package on the Regal. This generation of compact Buicks featured a more upscale and aerodynamic design than its predecessor, incorporating the long-hood/short-deck look popular at the time. The Pontiac-produced Iron Duke engine continued from the Skylark, but an Isuzu-sourced five-speed manual transmission replaced the four-speed as standard equipment. A new 3.0 L (181 cu in) multi-port fuel injected Buick V6, generating 125 hp (93 kW) at 4900 rpm, replaced the Chevrolet-designed 2.8 L V6 and was paired only with a three-speed automatic transmission. The Somerset featured an all-digital instrument cluster.

 

For 1988 models, the Somerset name was dropped and Buick's two-door N-body compact would share the Skylark nameplate with its four-door counterparts. In 1988, the Somerset name was discontinued, and all models were called Skylark.

Edited June 8, 2020 by TxBuicks (see edit history)

[Machine Gun 251]

22 hours ago, 8E45E said:

That's EXACTLY what I see happening to cars of this era.

 

They have been popping up at estate sales, etc., and the buyers of cars of this era have been driving them as a 'used car' because they still have many miles left in them, not particularly collectible, and parts are still readily available, either new or used from an autowrecker.  Not to mention, sophisticated electronic engine controls didn't start until a few years later, therefore, not difficult to keep on the road.

 

Craig

That's pretty much the story with my '86 Pontiac 6000LE. I found it a few years ago for cheap. It had 30K miles on it when I found it. It has a cheap overspray to hide some body repairs from the previous owner and is beginning to rust. However it runs perfectly and I put more than 30K additional miles on it commuting to Rochester and Boston for work. It's my use-it-up car that is being sacrificed for my modern daily driver. Bonus: I"m the only one on my block that has one!

Edited June 9, 2020 by Machine Gun (see edit history)