It sure doesn't look like a Buick

[Dave W]

The downside of not having cable is that you have to slog through network TV ads. I don't watch much TV but I swear I must have seen the latest Buick ad 40 times this weekend and 100 times the past week.

Cars that look EXACTLY like Buicks, with Buick grilles and big Buick badges, and none of the imbeciles in the ad recognize the cars as Buicks. Ridiculous music playing in the background. Are they trying to out-stupid the moronic Toyota "Jan" commercials?

Now if they showed the Buicks in flaming crashes due to GM's faulty ignition switches, that might be worth watching. 

[uwe]

Some enlightenment please, where's the ad to watch?

The first Buick I saw in my life (outside of movies) was one of those late fifties tailfin behemoths which someone in our small town owned for a while in the mid sixties (there was GM plant not too far away and though that did not produce Buicks it meant there were a lot of Opel/GM dealers that would also import the odd other brand from GM hence the availability of Buicks). It looked something like this here:



It has shaped what my mind expects a Buick to look like to this day.  It looked out of this world to me at the time (German cars of even the later fifties had not taken the tailfin design to the same excess), like a sedan version of the Batmobile. I remember touching (fondling?) the pointed "bullet bra" rearlights in awe - no doubt one of my early cryptosexual actions ...

[dadagoboi]

That's a 1959 Buick.  Very restrained design compared to the 1958 model.  It and the very similar Oldsmobile set a record that year for chrome plating, around 55 lbs of it IIRC.


This is the Buick I remember as being the first I ever saw.  My uncle bought one new in 1953.  Four portholes, top of the line!

[Dave W]

Here's the ad. Not much change from recent years. But none of the dumbshits in the ad can recognize that big Buick emblem.

"Five expectation-shattering models." If you're expecting something good from today's GM, your expectations will be shattered.

[Basvarken]

Looks more like a Skoda.
Or a Hyundai Cloaca.

 

[Pilgrim]

From what I hear, the new Buick sedans like the Regal and LaCrosse are pretty good drivers. 

It's worth noting that Pontiac and Olds went away, but Buick survived.  I've heard that it's a BIG seller in China, and if so, that may be the reason for its survival.

And those '58 and '59 Buicks are worth a LOT of $$$ now in good condition.

My brother had a '66 Skylark convertible with the V6 in it - had a ton of fun with that car.  Bought it at a Sheriff's auction, rebuilt the motor, learned a lot doing it.  (Photo found on da interwebs)

[TBird1958]

 I remember touching (fondling?) the pointed "bullet bra" rearlights in awe - no doubt one of my early cryptosexual actions ...

 That sweater is SO cute, now I'm all sproingky - here at work.  I just need 12 seconds in a dark corner 

[dadagoboi]

It's worth noting that Pontiac and Olds went away, but Buick survived.  I've heard that it's a BIG seller in China, and if so, that may be the reason for its survival.

Olds was spotted just a tad under Buick in the old GM hierarchy, Pontiac just above Chevy).  When GM made the decision to cut brands Pontiac and Olds were the easier choices.

The Buick brand in China covered both Buick and Opel and a Chevy derived minivan when I was living there.  My Taiwanese partner had a Buick Century, the first GM offering, 2.8L V6.  We drove a lot of miles on some very bad roads in it before he bought a 5 series BMW as a replacement.  He drives Mercs in Taiwan.  I saw many more Audis than I did Buicks in China.  The Buicks are assembled in China, ditto the BMWs and a lot of non China brands for domestic and export markets.

GMs growth overseas provides very few new American jobs.  They plan on opening 4 more assembly plants in China by 2015.  Those bad roads are pretty much gone.

[uwe]

Here's the ad. Not much change from recent years. But none of the dumbshits in the ad can recognize that big Buick emblem.

Similar to what they are currently doing with Opel in Germany where they have celebrities drive a new Opel and marvel at it "I can't believe I'm driving one of their cars!", "An Opel? You're joking!" or "I didn't even know they still made cars!" They are trying to resurrect a brand image and I suppose that - much like Opel - Buick went out of fashion as a car brand quite a while ago in the US.

I always liked how the name pronounced itself - "bjoo-ick", that was snappy. It's also the brand I would identify the most with typical oversized "US-Straßenkreuzer" (as we call them here: "US-street-battleships"), no doubt due to that first formative encounter with one.

As for the new Buick breed, individualistic looking they are not, but then - contrary to what car magazines sometimes give you as an impression - the market of car buyers with an individualistic taste is limited. Most people want reliability and something that is technologically somewhere between state of the art and affordable.

Speaking of Opels: The grill of that Skylark Convertible just yells "Opel!" to me, it could have been on anyone of the larger Opel models of the time.

[Dave W]

One of my first cousins had an Opel GT back in the day. Just remind her of it and she'll instantly be in a bad mood.

[uwe]

That was a lovely car, Dave! Like a Corvette shrunk in size. Yes, it was underpowered, but it had a hardy little Opel engine you could easily replace or repair.

My dad used to test-drive GM cars - they would just give them for a week or so to employees to see how they fared in everday traffic. And one day he arrived in a yellow Opel GT and took me (plus the neighborhood girl) to school with it, both of us rather cramped on the front passenger seat, but I can't say we didn't enjoy the ride or the dramatic exit from the car before the schoolyard. 

[uwe]

Looks more like a Skoda.
Or a Hyundai Cloaca.

 

I'm not sure they really call their cars "Cloaca", Rob!

Your team made the next round, not bad!!!

[gweimer]

I loved my little '73 Opel wagon!  I could fit the Acoustic 360 just right in the back with the seat down.  Flight case slid in next to the bottom.  My dad liked it so much that he went and got one, but it was the Opel by Isuzu model.  His wasn't quite what mine was.



And my favorite Buick also doesn't really look like a Buick, despite using a few real body parts from early Roadmasters.

[dadagoboi]

That was a lovely car, Dave! Like a Corvette shrunk in size.

Yeah, this one...


...which owed its design to this, readily admitted by the Chevy designers.


A  '63 250 GTO sold for 20.2 million pounds in 2012.  I was happy to see my '68 Vette go for a lot less in 2003.

[uwe]

I know I have a trash taste, but I think those C3s look hot!!! Always have, always will. Never mind about the chassis which even by mid-seventies standards wasn't anything near to what you could call "sporty" (later Corvette generations did much better in that department). In a German auto-test the C3 received the scathing remark: "a mock sports car that drives like a cangaroo".  But what a beautiful cangaroo 'twas!