Junkyard Gem: 1995 Buick Regal GS

In the middle 1960s, The General’s

Buick

Division was known for its well-built cars, positioned just a step below

Cadillac

in the

GM

prestige hierarchy and popular with successful businessmen of the not-so-flashy sort. To snazz up the division’s image for the 1965 model year, Buick’s overlords created the Gran Sport high-performance package for

the Riviera

and

Skylark

. During the ensuing decades, various models of Buick got GS-ized, with varying ratios of actual-versus-image performance. The first generation of the

Regal

to get the

GS treatment

was the

1988-1996 third-generation

car; here’s a hard-to-find ’95 rusting peacefully in a Wisconsin wrecking yard.

The 1997-2004 Regal Gran Sports got a supercharged

3.8-liter Buick V6

making 240 horsepower, but the ’95 came with a naturally-aspirated 3.8 rated at 170 horsepower.

The third-gen Regal GS did get a stiffer suspension and a plush interior, though. The passenger seat comb was optional.

This one turned an impressive 244,369 miles before (presumably) Upper Midwest body rust reduced its value to near-scrap levels. 110 mph seems like an unusually arbitrary speedometer top speed. Perhaps 180 km/h was the main specification for this gauge.

Buick still

sells a Regal GS

, of course, and it boasts nearly twice the horsepower of today’s

Junkyard Gem

.

Still, this was one of the sportier Detroit sedans you could buy in 1995, and this particular example served its owner or owners very well for close to a quarter-century.

Buick Regal

: a very

distinctive

point of view.