Well, here we are again – another Friday, another Junkyard Outtake!
This week we’ll be stumbling through the wonderful world of superchargers. There’s also a Dodge minivan clad in faux woodgrain, some sweet leather for your next boat fix-up or rat rod project, and a couple of inexplicable Broughams against nature. Let’s get started, shall we?
Project XJ6 update: For those of you who were wondering – yes, I did manage to get the remaining cross-spokes off the Bimmer. I ended up adding a new Craftsman 1/2″ drive cordless impact wrench to my arsenal (a mere $60 online, sans battery), which made the job much easier. It took two fully charged batteries to do it, but the seven remaining lug nuts did finally yield to my will.
I’m now on the hunt for a set of caps (some yahoo managed to break the originals in my absence). They’re proving difficult to find on the cheap – so if anyone has any leads, please let me know.
We’ll begin with the car whose engine was featured above. It’s an early-mid ’90s Park Avenue Ultra.
Seeing the word “Ultra” indicates that this car was equipped with the supercharged 3800. Being an earlier copy, it has the Series I engine. (From 1997 onwards, the improved Series II motors were used instead.)
With only a small “SUPERCHARGED” badge on the trunklid to enlighten the non-Buick folks, these sedans had something of a sleeper quality to them.
In addition to a blower and some special wheels, Ultras also got this cushy leather interior.
Nearby sits this first-generation Aurora.
Clearly, this one’s seen better days.
I always liked the frameless glass on these doors… a refreshing change from the usual designs of the time.
With rust forming in the quarters, the view from back here isn’t nearly as nice.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday (at least not around here): a mid-eighties Cavalier.
This four-banger has likely breathed its last.
Spartan interior treatment, fitting of such a basic model. (Surprising it was kept on the road this long – normally it seems as though base model compacts are the first to be used up and thrown away.)
I wonder where this one spent the the first part of its life. With only minimal rust to be seen, it sure wasn’t in Minnesota this whole time!
Hey, here’s an idea! Need some nice leather buckets for your truck, van, boat, tractor, garage, or what-have you?
Maybe even some that fold up, have integrated seatbelts, and sport two armrests apiece? Ones that are easy to remove, easy to adapt for most any application, and are almost always ignored at your local junkyard?
Then look no further than your nearest GM minivan. In particular, Pontiac Trans Sport/Montana vans (sometimes) and Olds Silhouettes (often) came with them. I installed a set in a ’77 Chevy Van last summer which worked out perfectly, and even have one on my 72-inch, soon-to-be-Geo-powered lawnmower (makes those hours of mowing each weekend much more comfortable). I can’t say enough good things about them.
Vans like these have been junked left and right over the past few years, many due to failed head gaskets and transmissions, aided by chronic rocker rust that makes even the mechanically solid ones too ugly to sell. Grab a set, while you can!
By now, you know what this word means. Fancy wheels…
…cushy seats…
…and a little something extra under the hood. This is a Series II L67, sans plastic cover.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen many of these senior specials fall into the hands of kids who were unable to find themselves a GTP to destroy. As a result, few remain without the trademark signs of neglect, body damage, and (by the time they end up here) catastrophic drivetrain failure.
Though I’ve never been much of a Monte fan, this one has a few interesting things going on.
For starters, it has a throttle body injected 4.3L V6.
It also has buckets and a console.
Too bad somebody already nabbed the console itself. Still, that won’t stop me from coming back on half-price day to pull these seat brackets… one step closer to having all the needed parts for my Regal’s future interior conversion.
If you want sheetmetal, you came to the wrong place.
Here’s one that’s been long overdue. You asked for it, and here it is – one ’90 Dodge Caravan, wood and all.
This one is remarkably straight and clean.
Same goes for the inside.
The more I look, the more I begin to think…
…that this one is too nice to be here.
Even the vinyl-wood is in great shape. Guess there should have been a Caravan connoisseur around that day!
138,000 miles. Sounds about right.
3.3L V6, and an automatic with overdrive.
Apparently, no model can escape being Broughamed.
Nope – every car is at risk, or so it would seem. I’ll leave you with this interesting study in contrasts.
While the frameless windows on the Aurora are very stylish, they tend to have some wind noise. At least my 98 did. Wind noise is the basic problem with hardtops, along with the questionable roof structural strength in roll overs.
My 95 Riviera had the supercharged engine at the top. Lots of torque from standing start. Not good if there is snow or ice on the streets.
The first Ultra’s interior looks quite nice relative to the second and newer one. A down hill trend in Buick’s interiors. Compare with a 1975 Electra Limited Park Avenue interior, which can be found in the CC cohort I think.
No question on these, they still have a pillar, even a t-top F-body is still able to support almost 3 times its own weight on its roof.
Aurora doors are famous also for broken wiring between the door and body. Fun to fix when they left you no slack in the harness.
I have never seen an open trunk on an Aurora – I had no idea that the sill was so far inboard from the opening.
I agree that the Dodge minivan is a sweetie – that 3.3 has probably only run for 1/3 of its useful life. I would bet that the Ultradrive tranny finally unwound itself (for either the first or second time) and someone was unwilling to spend the money for a rebuild. A shame, the rest of the van seems so nice.
I will confess to an infatuation with the idea of a Park Avenue Ultra. A leather-seated supercharged Buick should be invited into my driveway someday.
Both the 95 Riviera and Aurora trunks were not great to get stuff in and out. The body design was clearly improved by the time the 97 Park Avenue moved onto the stiff architecture or at least they worked on the trunk structure.
> I have never seen an open trunk on an Aurora – I had no idea that the sill was so far inboard from the opening.
I guess that’s the downside of having full width taillights across the back of the car.
The Aurora’s taillights were not full width. It only looks that way. Only the left and right sides were operational.
GM U [ugly] body vans are an ‘endangered species’. Working class families love old Mopar and Nissan Quest vans. Toyota/Honda vans are catching up, too. But the Atlanta built ‘dustbuster replacements’ are sent to scrap as soon as traded in.
Won’t be long till someone asks “I saw this old Pontiac van today, I didn’t know they made them”
Most if not all of the “DustBuster” 1st gen U-Vans were built on the Tarrytown NY assembly line. Production switched to Doraville when the 2nd gen debuted in 1997. Doraville was home to the 82-96 A-Body before that. And the 82 and older G/A-Body before that. The plant shut down after the U-Van was cancelled in 2008. I don’t recall if GM sold the building and land to a certain Korean car company that was interested in it after it’s success(?) in neighboring Alabama.
According to what I read, part of it was going to being sold for redevelopment, the rail and marshaling yard is still being used for car carriers. Doraville was opened in 1947, which made it one of GM’s oldest southern plants. It’s still standing from last I’ve seen, Tarrytown on the other hand is just a slab with remains of what there used to be.
I was always interested in seeing Doraville since it is the closest GM plant to Florida.
You should snag that blower for the Jag!
I do like the look of those early Auroras.
Shame about that woody Caravan – probably senior owned in condition like that.
Looks like the Monte Carlo was in the process of being converted to buckets, those are Cutlass Supreme bucket seats, judging from the upholstery pattern and there still are the remains of a nub for the column shifter sticking out of steering column.
Good catch! I was going to say something didn’t look right with the shifter. But the real clue is the replacement steering column. WT Heck is going on there? BTW that is the shifter from a Chevy MC/Malibu/ElCamino. Well at least the handle is anyway.
GM 3800 “improved Series II motors” – improved with self destructing intake manifolds – “let’s pipe the hot EGR gasses through the plastic manifold – we’ll sleeve it – what could go wrong?”
Whoever it was who first dreamed up the idea of making plastic intake manifolds ought to be hanged in the public square. Ford made the same mistake with their otherwise indestructible 4.6 V8 in 1996-2001.
The problem is not the plastic manifold, but the hot EGR gasses. The previous 3800 had a different EGR design so less of a problem. The series 2 redesign for EGR routing was not good. The best thing to do is routinely replace the intake manifold.
Most 1st and 2nd gen Chrysler Minivans I have seen in junkyards across the country have mileage in the high 100Ks-mid 200Ks and I bet the Overdrive Tranny dying (againg) is what sent this Minivan to the junkyard at such a low mileage. Usually the Minivans with the highest mileage only have the 3 Speed Torqueflite sans overdrive. Chrysler rims are interchangeable between decades so those rims would look nice on my 03, but the Aluminum 5 Spokes from the 2nd gens would look even sweeter.
Believe it or not these Park Avenues are not as durable in Demolition Derbies as one would think. The trunk tends to crumple quite easily and the sides cave in easily as well. I totally agree about youngins getting their hands on these since where I went to college the local punks had a few of these and sometimes the car would get new damage over the weekend or another **** society sticker. These Buicks also sound pretty dang cool with a rotten exhaust system or no exhaust system.
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Even in Portland north of Eugene these Cavaliers have fallen off the face of the Earth. Is the primer on the door trying to stop surface rust? One trend I saw before leaving New York was old and older cars being brought up from more car friendly areas of the country.
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I actually quite dislike bucket seats for long road trips, but being a driver in one is not so bad. If I am a passenger I much rather have a bench seat where I can sprawl out and enjoy the scenery or lack there of.
The problem with plastic clad vehicles such as Montanas, Outbacks, and Avalanches is that a good bit of the doors can rust away without you noticing until one day the plastic panel falls off.
The cockeyed wheels and illusion of flight make this Monte Carlo look even funnier. I rather have a 1978-1979 though.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/2014-04-10_12-36-41_6.jpg
Second picture: as if someone sliced the tire and rim with a Samurai sword.
Rodney Jaguar & Rover wreckers Claydens rd Warkworth NZ will have anything you need for any model Jag google it, those supercharged V6s were installed in Holdens but the right way around and they do go hard and for a long time generally unless you hit something quite easily done as traction control wasnt featured.
I worked at a shop that had a grand prix owner who came in regularly, one time it came in with no belt on the supercharger. One of the idler pulleys locked up. The owner never knew anything was wrong, the s/c pulley would even turn by the vacuum the engine was making. I guess they had a light foot.
We got that aluminum lung fixed up with a new belt & pulleys.
That maroon Buick must have been a pretty sweet ride back in the day, love that interior colour!
The wrap-around of the dashboard is amazing, and at the same time disappointing… if they tried really hard they could have stretched it onto the rear doors! The ‘slab’ effect of the dashboard is far to old-fashioned for the styling of the car though.
Like the Buick. Very jauguaresque. But l would never buy them. I want a roadmaster with a 350.
<>~~~~~~So if I adapted two of those superchargers onto a 440 Mopar~~~~~~~ hmmmmm, looks possible with a fabricated adapter on a single or dual 4 manifold. That would be Project 22. Still working on Project 3. Dang
I’d like to adapt one (and the fuel injection that goes with it) to one of my Mopar slant sixes. Same number of cylinders, similar displacement, and a newer slant’s compression ratio is low enough that it might work well with stock pistons.
That is the second Topaz Cubic Zirconia d’Elegance I’ve seen this week! The other one was on The Brougham Society.
That Monte actually has Cutlass bucket seats! Another GM weirdism. The cheaper lowly Monte Carlo had a larger stronger 4.3 FI V6 with 130 HP as std equipment on it’s G and B body cars for 1985. meanwhile the costlier Buick’s and Olds had to make due with the miserable 3.8 110 HP Buick V6. Worse the 4.3 gained power for both 86 and 87 or 140 and 145 horses respectively but the 110 horse 3.8 remained in production right until the bitter end in 1987 for the other G-body cars. Meanwhile the new downsized C body Park Ave/98 had a peppy port injected 3.8 with 125 HP followed a year later by the LeSabre/Delta 88 with 150 HP. Some of GM’s engine shuffling made virtually no sense at the time.
Hey guys,
Renovating Plymouth Grand Voyager and I am looking for a lot of wood grain molding, but I can not get these rails. And when I see this Dodge, which has nice moldings.
Do you know where this junkyard? Or know where I could get a new moldings?
thank you very much