mid-80s cars...

[petek]

The only 80s car I bought was an 82 Volvo GL 4 dr. stick. It was probably the most durable and reliable car I ever owned. Other than consumables the only thing that ever failed was the power antenna. It wasn't very powerful but boy it was nimble and could almost literally "turn on a dime" which was in a way fascinating. You could do U turns on the narrowest of streets, it hugged the curves on the mountainous roads of BC and Washington. A joy to drive. I gave it to my niece in 1994 and bought a Camry. My niece and her family drove it for a good 6 or 7 years and took it with them when they moved to the east coast of Canada and back west after a few years there. It was really the rust from being on the east coast that finally did it in and they were really sorry to have to let it go.

 

[askolover]

I had an 83 Buick Skyhawk. It was a nice riding car with plenty of power. I always wanted a Oldsmobile Calais with the chopped off rear and flat front...sister to the grand am and Buick Skylark. found one on eBay with low miles.

 

[thatwasherguy]

A little late to the party...

But here I am! I've always loved 80's cars too. My grandma on my dad's side had a 1988 Toyota corolla DX in medium metallic blue. I can still remember the roaring groan of the 90 horsepower 4-AF 1.6 liter 16 valve engine struggling to run the Air Conditioner while simultaneously maintaining speed going up steep hills. I've always wanted another one like it. My other grandma had a 1986 Pontiac Bonneville in grey. It had a GM 3800 under the hood paired to a three on the tree automatic. Unfortunately, it wasn't running by the time I was around, but I spent a LOT of time sitting in the driver's seat, pretending to drive it. I did, however, get the opportunity to ride in it after it was bought by a new owner and repaired. I'll never forget the sweet sound of the 3800 as it elegantly glided through the gears.
Thatwasherguy.

 

[justjunque]

Thatwasherguy

I'm happy to hear that you have good memories of a GM car with the 3.8 liter V6.
I've owned two, both in Buick Regal coupes. One was a little better than the other, but they were both awful. The only good one we've ever encountered is the fuel injected turbo version in our '87 Regal.
That thing can get up and go! Well...could.
Sadly, due to circumstances beyond our control, it hasn't left the garage in about 13 years. It would need a thorough going over at this point.

 

[jr2712]

I Love the 80S

I still drive a 1985 Chevy Celebrity Eurosport. 190700 miles

 

[justjunque]

I've always liked the Celebrity. There's none left around these parts.
Honestly, I've always liked the Chevy Citation. A lot! Same thing though. There's none left here.
The closest thing I ever see any more, albeit very rarely, is the occasional Oldsmobile Ciera or Buick Century from the 1990s. They're a very similar platform to the Celebrity.

 

[cfz2882]

my sister had a 1987 Celebrity Eurosport-very reliable car except for the cs130 alternator GM started to install with that model year...I almost salvaged and repaired a Citation out of the junkyard about 1998: was one of the earliest ones-"1980"model with 5/79 build date. Had 2.8 v6 and 3spd automatic.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

No sooner than we got our '78 Nova in early '79, which was a left-over from the previous year, along came Chevy's Citation along with the similarly redesigned Pontiac Phoenix, and Olds & Buick doing something similar with their Omega and Skylark, devoid of a hatchback, but making them FWD...

Which I liked the design of a lot better and wish we'd waited a couple more years before retiring our '69 Rambler American to get...

-- Dave

 

[jr2712]

FWD GM A-Body

Yeah, Century, Ciera and 6000 share the same platform of the Celebrity. The X-Body Citation and its siblings was the base for the A-Body.

Here in Venezuela Celebrity was marketed between 1983-1989. Century was offered from 1983 to 1996. I still se many of them on the road over here. Very good cars

 

[cfz2882]

Engines in Latin American A-bodies

what engines did you get? -in US,~ 1985, there was 2.5 4 with TBI,new port injection 2.8 v6 and 4.3 v6 diesel in it,s last year.For 1987,2.8 got updated with aluminum heads DIC ignition annd more precise assembly There was a 3.0 Buick also,but don't know if that was offered after 1985-that 3.0 v6 had a distinctive sound and known for oil pump and timing chain problems when the miles get up on them.

 

[combo52]

My 1980s car

1986 turbo, powered electronic, fuel, injected, luxury.

One of just 38 built this last year of the limousine production, this car was made 84 five and six, a total of about 700 were made over those three years.

It’s fun to drive with the front wheel drive goes straight down the road at 80 miles an hour Handles well and gets reasonable gas mileage in the mid 20s

John

 

[cfz2882]

stretch K-car

Did not know about those -would be odd be in a k-car with all that extra back seat room

 

[combo52]

Unique 80s K Cars

They also made three or 400 executive sedans that just had extended room in the back, but this one has a full 2 foot extension with a divider wall and power glass privacy window, and rear facing fold down seats on the divider wall for a true limousine experience.

 

[maytag85]

John, does your Chrysler Executive have the 2.2 in it, or does it have the V6? Assuming it would have the V6 for a little extra torque.

 

[combo52]

K cars only ever had four-cylinder engines, mine has a 2.2 turbo has plenty of power. The vehicle only weighs about 3200 pounds.

John

 

[turbokinetic]

80's project cars...

I was / am into the 80's GM cars. Have several Buick and Olds cars; plus a 72 Chevy Nova. My screen name comes from my hobby of building turbocharger systems for these cars. I've built 6 or 7 of them.

 

Out of my collection, the favorites are my 84 Buick Century and 86 Buick LeSabre Grand National. The Century is a 1984 Olympia edition, to commemorate the 84 Summer Olympics. The LGN is one of 112 sold to the public. It was a homologation car to qualify the LeSabre coupe body style for NASCAR that year. 

 

These both have the LG3 front-wheel drive roller cam 3.8L V6 engine. The Century has aftermarket cam and put down 362 HP on the dynamometer. (uncorrected,  measured wheel HP) The LGN hasn't been on the dyno but has similar engine build with stock cam. 

 

These cars never came from the factory with a turbocharged engine. The whole system is custom built, including the charge air pipework, exhaust pipework, coolant and oil pioework; and ECM tuning. Most importantly, the transmissions require extensive work to hold up to these engines. 

 

I drive them, as well. I've had the Century for over 15 years and it has over 100,000 miles on the build. The LeSabre was done for a friend about 7 years ago. I bought it from him when he had to down-size his collection. It doesn't have a lot of miles. 

 

Sincerely,

David

 

[jr2712]

Engines in Latin American A-bodies. In reply to Brendan

Hi Brendan!

Here in Vzla the only engines offered were the "normal" 2.8 for 82-83 Chevy and Buick models. In 84 the 2.8 Carb HO became stardard in Century and Eurosport of course. In 1987 the Gen II 2.8 MPFI becomes the only engine offered for Century, Celebrity and Celebrity Eurosport.

The 2.5 and Diesel were not officialy marketed by GM de Venezuela C.A. maybe because of the very low fuel prices here at the time. But now, in the crisis we are passing through I wish I could get a diesel A-Body.

Jesus R.

 

[turbokinetic]

Latin America models...

Hi Jesus R.  I remember a "grey market" car which was found in the States. It was a Mexican specification Buick Century. It had what appeared (at first) to be diesel-specification instrument cluster, without any Check Engine lamp nor "Unleaded Fuel" markings. The engine was the carbed 2.8L HO engine; with iron heads. It had a computer-advance electronic distributor; but the carburetor was non-feedback and the system had no oxygen sensor nor catalytic converter. I drove that car for several years but eventually someone hit me in it and totaled it. I did keep most of the  parts from it for repairing other cars. 

 

I bought it from a private seller in Alabama. They had a title in their name, which I used to register it. The VIN number was abnormal and I had to do quite a bit of paperwork to get it registered. I have a feeling that now, if you were to come across a car like that it might be impossible to register. But back then, things were easier. 

 

Sincerely,

David 

 

[cfz2882]

My "gray market": mid-80s Russian

1979-98,Russian -made "Lada"cars were sold in Canada along with some other import brands not sold in the U.S.-and a 1987 Lada ended up in my area in a local junkyard after about a decade of local use:I bought it from the junkyard in 2005 and examined for repairability These cars were based on the 1966 Fiat 124.Car had headlamp wipers and driver-adjustable headlight aim.Modifications for Canadian sale included some(US made)emisson control parts and Swedish made seatbelts

 

[turbokinetic]

Lada

Brendan; that's neat that you were able to find a genuine Russian Lada in your area. Those are legendary in their home country. Also interesting about the modifications made to the car for the Canadian market.