They're like cockroaches: nobody likes them but they're everywhere and darn near indestructible.
Drove my 90 Century two years and all I had to do was add gas.
They're like cockroaches: nobody likes them but they're everywhere and darn near indestructible.
Drove my 90 Century two years and all I had to do was add gas.
How much does this make you smile?
In reply to pinchvalve:
Interesting. My future FIL had an 86 Century when I started dating my wife to be in 87. It had the 3800 V6 in it and while it made no pretense at being a performance car it was fairly quick for its day. It rode like a couch but in the 10 years or so my in laws had it it was very reliable, just the normal maint stuff.
In reply to trucke:
The man who races them seems to always be smiling, which is why I felt I had to ask
GM made a bunch of super-rare packages on their 80s-early90s fwd cars that make them so 'period' it hurts. I would own any or all of those rare versions if i came across them cheap. On my 80s-early90s fwd GMs i would like to own list are: 86 Z24 hatch, 87-88 Cimarron, Corsica LTZ 5spd, Cutlass Calais 442, Achieva SCX, Beretta GTU, the celebrity with the crazy body kit, the Cutlass Ciera 2dr with the body kit, and maybe some other rare ones i'm forgetting about. None of them may be particularly good cars, but if they're cheap, rare, and 'period' i would probably buy them anyway. 
In reply to Vigo:
I always liked the Trofeo.
You're forgetting these babies!!
The cutlass ciera is the perfect car for going on a crime spree, because when the cops ask witnesses what kind of a car you were driving every single one would say "Gosh, i dont know, it was just one of those cars from the 80's, you know? Maybe 90's? I think it might have been gray. Maybe blue."
In reply to NGTD:
Those were actually great cars!
Not bad cars as my grandmother had two of them. The first one went 120k miles without any issues untill someone side swiped it. The second one she put 188k miles on with only a cooling fan issue (updated relay wiring) and was then given to my "end user" uncle who ran it out till 230k or so miles with little to no maintain performed.
Not much fun to drive but they were quick enough for the time.
Paul B
NGTD wrote: You're forgetting these babies!!
Those things always astonished me with their ability to take a smooth, stylish (if dated) coupe design and turn it into a rolling scrap heap.
NGTD wrote: You're forgetting these babies!!
I have a soft spot for that front end. Primarily because my father was always watching drag racing and there was a few high profile pro stock cars based on that body
There was also a fair amount of Trans Am cars that used a Cutlass Supreme body.
Alas, no love for the Cutlass Ciera.
My favorite thing about the Century is that when it needed a replacement (and it did because blue-hairs kept buying the damn things), they decided not to go with a new chassis, or to put it on the smaller N-body chassis as they did the Cutlass, they just turned it into a de-contented Regal so there were two cars sitting across the dealership with different model names that were for all intents and purposes the same car.
My brothers' first car was a 90ish Cutlass Ciera. The folks paid maybe $1,200 for it in 2000 and he drove it for at least two years literally NEVER OPENED THE HOOD. One day the CEL came on so he drove to my house because he didn't know how to pop the hood.
In reply to drdisque:
The thing is that the people that bought them new (blue hairs) are incredibly brand loyal. If they come in looking for a buick, and you say this oldsmobile is exactly the same except the emblems, they will say they arent buying an oldsmobile. They wont say why. Just not buying it. I believe this why gm felt compelled to keep so many car brands alive for so long.
A friend of mine had a late 80's Malaise-colored Cutlass Ciera. It was terrible. It only had about 66k miles on it and was already dying. At night, the lights would rhythmically pulsate and dim while driving, which made nighttime navigation interesting. He thought the alternator was bad, but after having it bench tested, it was fine. When the rear view mirror fell off, there was a cord dangling from the headliner area that went to the mirror that he used as his "microphone" and would sing along with whatever music came in over the 1.5 speakers that worked. It was so bouncy that we used to try and bounce the rear beam axle off the ground by slamming on the brakes and jumping up from the seats, doing "endos" like on a BMX bike. That was fun.
Also, it was stolen. He rejoiced when it happened! He had an excuse to get something else!
And then he cried when they found it across town, still intact, and he had to take it back home. All they took were his girlfriend's college art projects that were in the trunk. They left everything else.
NGTD wrote: You're forgetting these babies!!
HEY WHOA WHOA WHOA!!!!!! Lets not lump the beautiful, fantastic cutlass supreme coupe in the stupid, boring cutlass ciera. My first car was a cutlass supreme. I LOVED that car.
My aunt had a Cutlass Ciera with the 3.8. For the time, it felt like a surprisingly quick car and she got very good highway mileage, as well.
In reply to gearheadmb:
This is definitely was true, but I think is no longer the case. My grandfather always drove buicks. Only buicks. However, he ended up with some pretty cool stuff because of it like a '62 Invicta convertible, '64 Wildcat pillarless coupe, and a '72 Riviera. His last car, sadly, was a '95 century. How the mighty had fallen by that point.
Klayfish wrote:Woody wrote: In reply to Klayfish: The Eurosport VR in that picture was a special version of the Eurosport that was sold through Amway. I am not making that up.20 years from now that will fetch it another $5k when a sub-2000 mile example one crosses the block at Barrett Jackson.
No. No it will not.
NGTD wrote: You're forgetting these babies!!
If the stories are true, the only reason the convertible retained the B-pillar was because GM was too cheap to move the door handles to the, uh, door.
pinchvalve wrote: I had the misfortune to own a 1985 Buick Century. Hands-down, the worst car I have ever owned. And I don't think it's hyperbole to say that it was perhaps the worst punishment man has ever inflicted upon his fellow man. OK, WWII was maybe a little worse, but in terms of pain and suffering, the 85' Century is pretty close. It's the only car that I actively spit upon should I ever see one miraculously still on the road. Which has not happened in many years because, like polio, mankind is trying to eliminate all traces of this abomination. Given the choice between a root canal and sitting in one, I would head to the dentist. If I received a fleet of low-mileage 85' Buck Centurys in perfect running condition, I would trailer them to the nearest crusher. Not drive them, because they would surely puke their transmission en-route. It is not a car, it is plague. The black death. Treat it as such and stay away.
I bought one that looked exactly like that. I paid $350 for it to get me back and forth to work while I was having the transmission rebuilt in my 86 GMC Sierra. The day I put the trans back into the truck the transmission went out on the Buick. My then girlfriend/current wife really hated it. She still brings it up when she's trying to shame me. But it did its job so I can't hate it.
I had a 1983 Pontiac 6000 STE. After I grenaded the engine in my Austin Mini at an autocross, I took the STE to the next event and won, and the next event, and the next event, right up to the end of the season. I was the Ontario provincial champion in "G" or "H" Stock that year.
Edit: I ran the car on Goodyear Eagle GT tires, too.
All I know is a friend of mine has an unreasonably clean 1987 Olds Cutlass Ciera. Possibly the cleanest one I've ever seen. Since I learned this I discovered that these things are like cockroaches and still running all over the place in this town. Each one looking more decrepit than the next, but all of them still running, and all of them are white with most of a lot of the paint missing.
My buddy had '91 Olds Cutlass Calais "Quad442" when I met him. It was quick and comfy, and a five speed, but a rust bucket. It didn't "handle" by any means, but it sure would go fast around corners. It got stolen, and he found a Cutlass Calais International with a Quad 4 and a five speed...and a turbo. It's got a blown head gasket right now, but it laid down 280 at the wheels.
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