1996 Buick Regal Olympic Edition: Gold Toned

GM’s midsizers once had a wide array of models. Today, all that’s left is the lone Malibu (for now), surrounded by myriad potato-shaped combovers. Sad. But the once-common GM W-body, first appearing in 1988, lasted all the way through 2012 as a retail option, and a couple years beyond as a fleet vehicle. A lot of the usual, good ol’ GM-hatin’ suspects, love to mock, maim and otherwise expel carbon dioxide on these cars. Or at least they did back when they were common; I rarely see them anymore, other than the odd mint-condition survivor or ragged yet still running example. This particular one I spied about a dozen years ago at a local used car lot.

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1997 Lincoln Town Car – Last Call For Opera Windows!

I often ask myself whatever happened to the Lincoln Town Car. It was doing so well before Dearborn got caught up in the SUV craze, followed by the combover, er I mean crossover, craze. It seemed the venerable TC became largely ignored by product planners in the Glass House, before finally disappearing after a small number of 2012 Town Cars were built in mid-2011. Perhaps Panther fans’ love of the 1990-97 model and subsequent watering-down of said top-dog Lincoln had something to do with it. Making essentially identical cars from 2003-2011 certainly didn’t help, but those final boxy 1995-1997 just seemed a little more distinguished. A little more special. 

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