Our inventory of used Buick autos:
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| REGAL |
Buick Regal
3.8 l V6
1999 |
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Radio / Cassette / CD
Power seats
Power windows
Keyless entry
Cruise control
Air condition
Dual Air Bags
Leather |
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| LESABRE |
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| ROADMASTER |
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| PARK AVENUE |
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| PARK RIVIERA |
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| PARK RENDEZVOUS |
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About Buick:
Buick is a brand of automobile built in the United States,
Canada, China and in Spain by General Motors Corporation. Buicks are sold in
North America, China, Taiwan, and Israel. The name is pronounced ['bjuk].
It is now GM's only US-based entry-level luxury brand since the demise of
Oldsmobile in 2004, although GM's Swedish subsidiary, Saab, fills a similar
segment in price and prestige level.
Buick originated as an independent motor car manufacturer,
the Buick Motor Company, incorporated on May 19, 1903 by the Scottish-American
David Dunbar Buick (who invented the overhead valve engine on which the
company's success was based) in Flint, Michigan. In 1904 the struggling company
was taken over by James Whiting, who brought in William C. Durant to manage his
new acquisition. Buick sold his stock for a small sum upon departure, and died
in modest circumstances twenty-five years later.
Durant was a natural, and Buick soon became the largest car maker in America.
Using the profits from this, Durant embarked on a series of corporate
acquisitions, calling the new mega-corporation General Motors.
At first, the manufacturers comprising General Motors competed against each
other, but Durant ended that. He wanted each General Motors division to target
one class of buyer, and in his new scheme Buick was near the toponly the
Cadillac brand had more prestige.
In 1929 the Buick Motor Division launched the Marquette sister brand, designed
to bridge the price gap between Buick and Oldsmobile, however Marquette was
discontinued in 1930.
Today Buick retains that position in the GM lineup. The ideal Buick customer was
comfortably off, possibly not quite rich enough to afford a Cadillac or not
desiring the ostentation of one, but definitely in the market for a car above
the norm. Buick is one of the oldest marques in the world, with Mercedes-Benz,
Renault, Peugeot, Cadillac, Daimler and the discontinued Oldsmobile.
Speculation existed, however, as to whether GM will repeat its termination
of the Oldsmobile by eliminating the Buick brand to cut costs. This followed the
temporary suspension of GM's planned Zeta project to develop new rear wheel
drive cars fitting the Buick market niche [2]. GM also has started consolidating
of Buick, Pontiac, and GMC trucks into single dealer franchises, which would
make it simple to eliminate the Buick brand without leaving dealers devoid of
product. However, with the development of the Zeta platform still ongoing
(including the development of the 2006 VE Holden Commodore and the new Chevrolet
Camaro), it may be likely that Buick will survive still.
Buick began consolidating its lineup in 2005, replacing the Century and Regal
with the LaCrosse (known as the Buick Allure in Canada), and the LeSabre and
Park Avenue with the Lucerne in 2006. Both of its SUVs, the Rendezvous and
Rainier were discontinued in 2007 to make way for the new 2008 Enclave, while
the slow-selling Terraza minivan has also been dropped for '08. This leaves the
marque with just three models in the United States. There have been rumors on
Edumund's and Motor Trend that Buick will have a roadster sedan in 2010, which
could mean that the marque may survive beyond 2009.
There is speculation that future Buick models will have interior and exterior
designs will have greatly increased influence from Buick of China. This is due
to Buick's great success and high reputation in China. Motor Authority has also
written that Buick will introduce the Buick Excelle in the United States in 2008. Other Chinese designed models are likely to follow either as debuts or as
redesigns of existing American models.
Trishield, Buick΄s emblemBuick's emblem consists of three shields, each bisected
diagonally to the right by a straight line, the shields arranged touching each
other in a left-diagonal pattern, inside a circle. If represented in color, the
leftmost shield is red, the middle white, and the rightmost blue, although white
is sometimes represented by light gray. This design, known as the Trishield, was
adopted in 1959 for the 1960 models and represents the three models that
comprised the lineup that yearLeSabre, Invicta, and Electra. The shields are
adopted from the shield of the Buick family crest, which in modified form had
been used on Buicks since the 1930s. A version of the traditional crest appeared
on Electras through the 1970s.
Buick Special or Super Sedan, 1951. Three Portholes are visible. A traditional
Buick styling cue dating to 1949 is a series of three or four portholes or vents
on the front fender behind the front wheels. The source of this design feature
was a custom car (one not made by Buick, but personal car of stylist Ned Nickles),
which in addition had a flashing light within each hole, each synchronized with
a specific spark plug simulating the flames from the exhaust stack of a fighter
airplane. Combined with the bombsight mascot (introduced in the 1940s), the
ventiports put the driver at the controls of an imaginary fighter airplane. The
flashing light feature was not used by Buick in production, but the portholes
remained as nonfunctional ornamentation.
These were originally called "Ventiports" as they did allow air flow into the
engine bay (later just "portholes"). Ventiports have appeared sporadically on
several models since.
Lower cost models were equipped with three portholes, while higher cost models
came with four. Often, people would denote their cars as "Four-Holers" or
"Three-Holers" to assert the car's class. When the number of portholes was
standardized across the entire model line, buyers of the higher cost models
complained bitterly that they felt shortchanged. In 2003 they were re-introduced
on the Buick Park Avenue. After the Park Avenue was discontinued, Buick salvaged
the portholes to appear on the new Lucerne. In a break with tradition, the
Lucerne's portholes refer directly to engine configuration: V6 models have three
on each side, while V8s have four on each side.
"Sweepspear" in a Buick Skylark.Another styling cue from the 1940s through the
1970s was the "sweepspear", a curved line running the length of the car. In the
earlier cars, this was a chrome-plated rub strip which, after it passed the
front wheel, gently curved down nearly to the rocker panel just before the rear
wheel, and then curved around the rear wheel in a quarter of a circle to go
straight back to the tail-light. During the two-tone color craze of the 1950s,
the sweepspear separated two different color areas. After that, the curved line
was usually indicated either by a vinyl rub strip or simply a character line
molded into the sheet metal.
During the 1950s, the characteristic form of the Buick tail lamps was a tier of
small circular bullet-shapes. In the early 1960s, most models began to evolve a
wide, rectangular pattern, until the '65 Skylark and Electra models appeared
with full-width rear lamps. Since then, wide tail lamps have been a Buick
hallmark.
Buick "dollar grin" and Trishield in a Buick LesabreThe Buick styling cue
(dating from the 1940s) that has most often reappeared, though, is for the
grille to be a horizontal oval with many thin vertical chromed ribs bulging
forward. This has sometimes been called the Buick "dollar grin" particularly on
the early 1950s models, which had thick, highly-polished ribs that somewhat
resembled teeth. The 1950 model took this tooth theme to its extreme as the
teeth crossed over the bumper exposing the 1950 "grin". The 1951 model reined in
the theme bringing the teeth back behind the bumper.
1987 Buick Regal Grand National. It appears Buick may be preparing to abandon this
styling cue for a new waterfall grille, as seen on the Buick Velite concept car
from 2004 and the Buick Lucerne introduced for the 2006 model year. This
waterfall grille bears some resemblance to grilles of Buicks from the 1980s,
such as the Grand National.
The Buick V8 engine, nicknamed the "nailhead", became popular with hot-rodders
in the 1950s and 1960s, because the vertical attachment of the valve covers, in
contrast to the angled attachment of other V-8 engines, enabled the engine to
fit into smaller spaces while maintaining easy access for maintenance.
About Buick cars: Buick Allure (2005
Current, only sold in Canada, same as the LaCrosse)
Buick Apollo (1973 1975)
Buick Centurion (1971 1973)
Buick Century (1936 1942, 1954 1958, 1973 2005)
Buick Electra (1959 1990)
Buick Enclave (2008 Current)
Buick Estate Wagon (1940, 1946- 1964, 1970 1996)
Buick Excelle (2003 Current, rebadged Daewoo Nubira, only sold in China)
Buick G-series (1999 2003, rebadged Buick Century, only sold in China)
Buick GL8 (2000 Current, only sold in China)
Buick Gran Sport (1965 1972)
Buick GSX (1970 1972)
Buick HRV (2004 Current, only sold in China)
Buick Invicta (1959 1964)
Buick LaCrosse (2005 Current)
Buick LeSabre (1959 2005)
Buick Limited (1936 1942, 1958)
Buick Lucerne (2006 Current)
Buick Park Avenue (1991 2005)
Buick Rainier (2004 2007)
Buick Reatta (1988 1991)
Buick Regal (1973 2004)
Buick Rendezvous (2002 - Current)
Buick Riviera (1963 1993, 1995 - 1999)
Buick Roadmaster (1936 1958, 1991 1996)
Buick Royaum (2005 Current, only sold in China)
Buick Skyhawk (1975 1980, 1982 1989)
Buick Skylark (1953 1954, 1961 1972, 1975 1998)
Buick Somerset (1985 1987)
Buick Special (1936 1958, 1961 1969)
Buick Sport Wagon (1964 1971)
Buick Super (1940 1958)
Buick Terraza (2005 - Current)
Buick Wildcat (1963 1970)
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