QOTD: What's Your Favorite American Vehicle From the 1990s?
Just after Christmas, we inquired about your favorite German car of the 1990s. The few of you who had awakened from post-holiday eat and drink signed in to share your top Teutonic choices. I suspect more of you are awake now that it’s springtime, and will be able to answer the same inquiry when it’s American flavored.
What’s your favorite American vehicle of the 1990s?
The decade of aero bodies, aero dashboards and lace alloys was also a great time for horsepower, safety, two-tone paint, and the requisite gold badges. I thought about the choice below for quite some time — as I drove home in my Japanese car, and then added some coolant to my other Japanese car. Anyway, America! My selection has a lot of -arge; large, supercharge, and maybe barge.
It’s the Buick Park Avenue Ultra. The Park Avenue was its own independent model for the 1991 model year, having separated from its former place as a trim level on Buick’s upscale Electra. Sharing the C-body platform with the similarly large Cadillac Deville, all Park Avenues were initially powered by the legendarily reliable Buick 3800 V6 (Series I). In 1992, the Ultra trim level was born. Upping the ante with more sporty exterior details, the Ultra received a different interior, as well. The party piece of the Ultra was the supercharger strapped to the engine.
Power was bumped from the base 170 horses to 205, as GM continued development of the 3800. Power in the Ultra increased to 225 for the ’94 and ’95 model years. In 1996, for the final year of first-gen production, Buick swapped the engine for a Series II version. Horsepower increased in the Ultra again, to 240. Along with the continual power updates throughout its six years on the market, the Park Avenue received side airbags, adjustable effort steering, adjustable suspension, and defeatable traction control.
The Park Avenue Ultra is a worthy recipient of one of the Best Of The 1990s awards when it comes to American cars. What’s your pick?
[Images: Buick]
Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.
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Best for long trip driving- my 1993 Sedan De Ville Most fun- My 1995 Buick Roadmaster Wagon (It was worth all to see the rice burners slink away in shame after getting beat by something with Woodgrain) Trucks- my 1995 Silverado ECLB- 350; 5 speed manual
For my money, as much as I love the tri-shield and the Riviera, I'd take the Oldsmobile Aurora over the "bubble Riv".