I know we had a full-zoot CC on the VW Rabbit pickup this week, but I wanted to give a preview of a family VW that is still with us–albeit not driven since 2003.
My Uncle Don was a master mechanic, and owned cars that ranged from a 1959 Thunderbird to a Datsun pickup to a Colonnade Grand Prix and a ’76 CJ-5. But one of his favorite cars was a 1981 or ’82 Diesel Rabbit pickup. And it is still with us, though sadly, Uncle Don is not.
My Aunt Candy (she of the maroon ’76 Cutlass Supreme Brougham and mother of my cousin Dawn, who had the non-Brougham ’77 CS), stopped driving about ten years ago, not long after Uncle Don left us. But his much-loved Pickup is still in the garage.
And so is Candy’s ’86 Park Avenue. Both are dusty, and likely would need a total fuel system cleanup among other things, but they are solid and still there. There are still a few 1985-90 Electra/Park Avenues about in the QC area (CC here), but most are pretty rusty or otherwise worn out. But these two ’80s CCs are quite rust-free for Iowa vehicles. The Buick was last driven in 2003 or so; the VW, probably circa 2005-06 by my cousin Suzy.
This post should appeal to both sides of CC, eh? An import and a Brougham. And said import is a pickup too! Could it be the CC Trifecta, despite only two vehicles being featured?
I still think about getting the Park Avenue up and running–I drove it many times and it is a cushy, well-designed car–but don’t know if it will ever happen. And a full COAL/Auto-Biography of these cars will be written on these digital pages someday. But I simply could not let VW Week end without a passing mention of these two much-loved cars of my childhood. Which one would YOU take home?
Well that is a bit hard to chose since the pickup is in great shape cosmetically and I have never seen one with a cap on it or a sunroof(I suspect the sunroof is aftermarket but still pretty nice.
But I would have to go with the Buick Park Ave since my grandfather9on my dad’s side) owned a black 1986 PA from 1988 till he died and it drove on for a few more years after that with my aunt. And you are right the PA was like a couch on wheels. If you start driving that, do yourself a favor and have the timing chain components replaced as the gears were nylon and become brittle
Are those Omni wheels on the VW?
Nice Park Avenue, I wonder if all the electroluminescent stuff still works.
This one hits a bunch of CC’s when you think about it….
car based truck
VW
diesel
3.8 Buick V6
80’s GM what not
Brougham
I know the 3.8L V6 in the PA will last a long time, and do so reliably too for the most part (depends on which version you get though)
I’ve seen two of these upper Midwest vehicles get driven and such via YouTube. A YouTuber has documented two of them in his family, though I think one of them was an Electra, the other may well be the Park Avenue, one an ’88, the other an ’89. One is still on the road, the other, body rot took it out at something like 238K miles though, sometime last year, and I believe both have/had the 3800.
That VW is very cool and is more up my alley, though I’d have preferred it to have been the actual Rabbit however, but the Caddy is mighty nice as well. I think I’d go for the VW over the Buick as braugham vehicles have never been my thing anyway.
I,m built like Vanessa Feltz so it’s the Buick for me
Buick for me, because I don’t want to have to deal with VAG reliability demons.
What reliability demons could an A1 Diesel possibly have? They’re as simple as lawn tractors.
Something about that VW pickup is appealing to me. It’s all about the diesel.
Hey, I think I still fit in the Volkswagen, so that would be my pick-though I have always loved the front end of that era’s Park Avenue. If your family ever wants to sell it, we could store it in my brother’s barn till I can get over to pick it up. It is the perfect size for minor yard work, which is what I do to keep me out of the bookstores. But I want to know, what did your uncle tow (ever so slowly) behind that truck? Judging from the dents in the tailgate, that ball hitch did get used.
Oh yeah, he had a fishing boat for years.
I am quite sure my aunt would be interested in selling it, to the right person. My cousin’s husband checked it out a year or so ago but he already had an old VW to work on.
Man you’ve got to save them both, but especially the Park Ave. I don’t have much love for 1st generation H-bodys but that one is too nice to ignore.
That’s a C, the H was the LeSabre, Delta and Bonnevile.
Carmine, in your definitive GM knowledge could you break it down? Was there a wheelbase or interior room difference between them in FWD form?
I forgot about that the PA/Electra were on a different platform then the LeSabre. The platforms are similar in appearance, so what is the reason for them? The only thought I can think of is that the C platform came first and the first year of the C platform the Lesabre and Delta were still RWD riding the B body while the Bonneville was still on the G body and would not be downsized until 1986 for the Delta and LeSabre and 1987 for the Bonneville
I’ll go with the rabbit pickup.
Probably find a way to make it faster if at all possible.
No contest – the VW, of course! (c:
I’d go for the pickup. I’ve always been a VW enthusiast and I actually have a need for a small pickup to haul stuff and drive to work.
The Buick has a perverse attraction because it so uncool driving it becomes an act of rebellion but the pickup is actually more practical.
Someday these cars will emerge on the road again, and people will wonder about the story that allowed these cars to survive in their condition. We all have the inside scoop.
The pickup. Its unique. Even now in my 60’s, I cant picture myself driving a FWD Buick. Anyway, the diesel doesnt need smog checks and even rust-free cars like the Buick are scrapped everyday here because they fail an emissions test and the repairs exceed scrap value. This is strictly a California perspective.
That happens all the time here in BC as well.