Buick Goes for an Emotional Brand Campaign for NCAA

Buick is sponsoring the NCAA and as part of that effort they launched a new series of inspirational videos featuring several athletes who have overcome adversity. The campaign is called the Human Highlight Reel and as part of the launch Buick bought the homepage ad unit on YouTube last Monday.

This is all part of Buick's transformation or is it reclamation as the brand moves upmarket as a premium brand. This is the segment brands like Lincoln, Acura, Infiniti and to some extent Cadillac has played in for the past couple decades. Some people also call them segment affordable luxury. It's that awkward place between general consumer and luxury consumer vehicles, essentially the brands that cannot directly compete with the likes of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Lexus; although, Lexus is a primary target of all these brands. Lexus breaks convention as they have beaten the Germans in some vehicle segments.

Buick wants to own the Premium space and as Cadillac continues to evolve and yes become a direct competitor with German luxury brands, now is the time for General Motors to show keeping the Buick brand, after closing several others, was a good decision. Fortunately, the products are getting better but the brand itself still has a major way to go as it assumes a more lofty aspirational brand identity.



The Human Highlight Reel campaign is a fairly typical attempt at facilitating the brand change. I'm sure the consumer research came back showing that Buick considers or the aspirational customers Buick wants to attract are free thinking (think brand agnostic), self motivated people who don't want to follow the herd. As a way to attract these consumers, the brand is trying to appeal to that person through inspirational content that shows the spirit the brand wants to embody or at least thinks its desired customers embody.

I'll admit it is personally difficult for me to see Buick as anything other than my mom's car. She had a nice, yellowish 1976 Buick Skylark coupe. It was mom's car from 1976 until the late 1980s when she finally sold it. Amazingly, it looked just as good the day she let go of it as when she bought it off the car lot. I definitely get my cleanliness when it comes to cars from my mom (my dad's Nissan Sentra had several weeks old McDonalds bags and various trash all over the floor. No wonder they got divorced.)

Fortunately, others may be more open to the Buick brand than I am and fortunately too they are making some solid products to back up the marketing change, because it doesn't matter how bad you want to attract new customers - you have to have the right products to meet the desired change.

1971 Wood and Pickett Mini Margrave

I love the old British attitude about luxury cars.

Here in the US we needed a "name" on our luxury cars. Cadillac, Lincoln, Imperial, etc. We needed them to be big, chromed and scream "I paid a lot for this car!".

That didn't hold true for the Brits. They'd take pretty much any brand, any model, any size car and turn it into a luxury car. In many cases the manufacturer offered a luxury version of their cars (i.e BL's Vanden Plas badged cars), but when they didn't - or didn't offer one luxurious enough - "coachbuilders" often took on the task.

Coachbuilder Wood and Pickett specialized in Minis. They were known for their super luxurious interiors. They also offered a long list of options, which allowed the customer to personalize their car.

This Wood and Pickett Mini is based on a 1275 GT. While these were never sold in the US, this one is left-hand drive. I assume it came from somewhere on the European continent.

I may be in the minority here, but I always liked the front end of the 1275 GT and Clubman better than the standard Mini. The body of this one looks really nice with its Rolls Royce "Garnett" paint and 10" Minilites.

The interior is something else. The seats are Recaros and they, along with many of the interior surfaces are covered in Connelly leather. The dash is polished Walnut. In that dash are some great round Smiths gauges. (In a car like this they should have used gauges with chrome rings.) This car has power windows and even a power sunroof. The carpeting looks like - and probably is - Wilton wool. It even has a 1971 state-of-the-art AM/FM 8 Track player.

I was going to end this post by writing something like "it's too bad no one ever created cars like this in the US". Then I realized that it would have been impossible to create a car like this in the US. What would we have created? A luxury Chevy Vega or Chevette? A luxury Ford Pinto? This only works because the Mini is a fun car to begin with.

This car is being offered by Edenholm Motor Group in Scottsdale, AZ. Click here to see their ad.

Wood and Pickett is still in business, although they are a parts and restoration company now. You can find their website here.

2000 Audi S4 "Biturbo" - A Modern Classic

There are certain cars that you just know are destined to become classics. This is one of those cars.

This was Audi's answer to BMW's M3. It has a 2.7 liter, 260 HP, 6 cylinder, twin turbo engine. It can hit 60 MPH in 5.5 seconds. That power goes through a 6 speed transmission (an automatic was optional) and hits the ground via Audi's quattro AWD system. The stock tires are Z rated 225/45/17s. Back in 2000 it was the quickest Audi sedan you could buy.

This S4 is a one owner car. It has the 6 speed transmission. It recently had its timing belt done and has new brakes and tires. The exterior and interior look like they're in very good condition and I like the black on black color combination. Best of all, this car looks like it's unmodified.

Audis need more maintenance than many cars do and parts are expensive. However, if you live in area prone to snow and ice like I do (or even if you don't), an AWD S4 is close to being the perfect all year round super-sedan, even when you factor in the costs.

Located in Derry, NH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

1963 Renault Dauphine Gordini - Project Car

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there were a lot of good things about the Renault Dauphine. There were a lot of bad things, too. One of the bad things was power, specifically the lack of it. The stock Dauphine engine developed a whopping 27 horsepower. It took the car 37 seconds to reach 60 MPH. (Count that out in your head... Imagine trying to blend into highway traffic.)

The Dauphine Gordini addressed that. Sort of. With a 4 speed transmission replacing the standard 3 speed and and engine tuned to 37 HP, the Gordini took "only" 30 seconds to reach 60.

This Dauphine Gordini is a project. While it's now in New Hampshire, it was an Arizona car and has little rust. It runs, but the seller says the carb, a Solex, needs rebuilding. Included with the car are a bunch of spare parts along with restoration parts.

There are two ways you could go with this car. You could restore it to the way it was when it left the showroom. You would then have a very cool, very unique car to drive (slowly) to shows. Or you could spend a little extra money and add some performance mods. (I've been told an R5 engine just about bolts right in, but I've never seen it done.) As much as I usually chant the mantra of originality, if I were to buy this car I'd do the latter.

Located in Somersworth, NH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

A big thanks to JaCG reader, Gene, for sending me the link to this car!

1969 Fiat 850 Spider - Cheap, Cheap, Cheap...

Look at this ad right away. If this car is everything the seller says it is, the ad won't be up for very long.

This Fiat 850 Spider has been sitting in a garage since 1975. The body is being described as having "very little rust". It looks like it has some dents, but nothing major. It has a hardtop and someone installed a roll bar.

There's not not much more information in the ad, other than the seller saying he has "the paperwork from when it was brought to the US". I don't know if that means it was privately imported or if he means he has the original bill of sale.

So why do I think this ad will soon be gone? The asking price is just $450.00.

Located in Thornton, CO, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

1991 Honda CRX Si

I'm very familiar with these cars. My one time significant-other bought one brand new in 1991. She was a sales rep at the time with a huge territory. She took it everywhere, sometimes loaded to the roof with samples and display racks. It never once let her down. While I would never have admitted to her that it was as fun to drive as any of my cars, I would often come up with excuses and reasons for me to drive it.

Honda makes good cars. The CRX Si was not good, however. It was brilliant. To create the Si, Honda simply dropped a sophisticated 16 valve SOHC 1.6 liter engine in what started life as a commuter / economy car. It could reach 60 MPH in 8 seconds or less. It handled very well. (It had plenty of torque steer, though.) The Si got a nicer / sportier interior than the standard CRX, a power sunroof and a few other sporty touches.

There is very little that goes wrong with these cars. The engines run forever and the transmissions hold up well. The interiors are durable and the switches and gauges never quit.

Everything about this car looks great. The CRX's one weak spot was it's ability to rust, but this is a CA car and it appears to be rust free. The asking price of $6800.00 might seem steep at first, but unmodified, unmolested cars like this one are getting very hard to find. A few years from now $6800.00 may seem like a bargain.

Located in San Jose South, CA, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

A big thanks to JaCG reader, Tamerlane, for sending me the link to this car.

1992 Alfa Romeo 164 - Could Be A Bargain...

It's always risky buying a car like an Alfa Romeo from a dealer who doesn't specialize in unusual cars. Does he really know anything about the car? It most likely came from an auction. Why was it there and why didn't dealers who do specialize in unusual cars buy it?

Anyway, having said that, if you live in the Chicago area and are looking for a pretty cool daily driver, it may be worth checking out this Alfa .

This car has 109,000 miles on it. It has an automatic transmission, which will turn off a lot of people. The seller says it needs "couple things on (the) body", but I don't see anything too serious in the pictures.

The asking price is $2400.00. But who knows? He's a dealer and he needs to turn inventory. Make him a reasonable offer and you may drive away in a cool Alfa 164.

Located at Windy Auto in Chicago, IL, click here to see their ad.

1969 Sunbeam Alpine GT - Back on Craigslist

As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for cars made by Rootes. My grandmother worked for Rootes in their Manhattan office. My first British roadster was a Sunbeam Alpine. I even had a dog named Rootes.

Rootes, the dog, came into my life around 1988 when some a**hole threw her out of a car in the parking lot in front of my business. I grabbed her before she ran into traffic and took her inside.

A few days later a man, who had a few too many drinks at the bar next door, came into my business and started playing with the dog. He then started insisting that the dog was some sort of exotic breed. (She was very obviously a mutt. She most likely came from a very long - but distinguished - line of mutts.) The more I insisted that she was a mutt, the more he insisted that she was a purebred exotic dog. He just couldn't remember what the name of the breed was. (As drunk as he was, I'm not certain he would have been able to tell me his own name had I asked.) I happened to be looking at a catalog of Sunbeam parts at the time and, seeing the word Rootes, I finally said "Yeah, you're right, she's a New England Rootehound". I thought that would shut him up. Much to my amazement and amusement, he replied "I knew it! Rootehounds are great dogs! They make great pets. You're going to love her!" For the next few days me and the guys who worked for me called her "The Rootehound". Eventually it was shortened to Rootes.

Rootes lived to the ripe old age of 16. For 13 years she came to work with me everyday. When I'd take one of my roadsters to work, she'd bark until I put the top down. On mornings when it was too cool to put the top down, she'd spend the 20 minute drive looking at the roof and barking. I think she thought she could intimidate it into lowering by itself. She spent her last 3 years of life at home, sitting on the front lawn in the summer and in front of the fireplace in the winter. Not a bad life for a dog who was so unwanted by someone that they threw her out of a car in a parking lot near a busy street. She was the first and last of the noble New England Rootehound breed.

OK, this isn't a pet blog, it's time to write about the car...

I wrote about this car back in February, 2010. You can find the post here.

The Alpine GT replaced the Alpine roadster in the US. Looking a lot like a shrunken Plymouth Barracuda (no surprise as Chrysler owned Rootes Motors by the time this car was designed and built), the Alpine GT was relatively quick and very well appointed. It was one of only a few reasonably priced British GT cars ever sold in the US (I consider the Triumph GT6+ and the MGB GT sports cars. A true GT has a backseat that is at least semi-inhabitable. The Sunbeam's is, the Triumph's and the MG's are not. The Jensen Interceptor and Jaguar XJS are GTs, but they weren't reasonably priced.)

These cars never sold well in the US. Few survive. This is one of the nicest I've seen.

The asking price is $4500.00, but the seller is willing to take "interesting trades", including your "unfinished project". Hmmm... If it wasn't so far away from me...

Located somewhere near Portland, OR, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

A big thanks to JaCG reader, Tim, for sending me the link to this car!

The picture below is of Rootes sitting in the front yard. In the background, in front of the garage, is one of the Alfa Spiders I owned at the time.

Weekend Quickies - Sunday, March 27, 2011

1966 Riley Kestrel - I posted this car 2 years ago. (You can see the post here.) Since then it's been through two owners and is back on eBay.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, the Riley Kestrel was more "upmarket" than the Austin and MG ADO 16 (BMC's name for them) cars we received here in the US.

This car is a New Zealand import. It's in great condition. The big downside to it is the steering wheel being on the right. However, if you can deal with that, this is a car that you you could be driving and enjoying as soon as you finish signing the paperwork.

Located in Ardmore, PA, click here to see the eBay listing.

A big thanks to JaCG reader, Ben, for pointing this out to me!

1978 Fiat X1/9 Signature Edition - I'm not familiar with the "Signature Edition", but it really doesn't matter whether this a special edition or not. This is a very nice, low mileage X1/9.

This car has just 15,000 miles on it. The seller says it has never been "restored, improved, or modified".

The seller has, and is including in the sale, the factory/dealer window sticker, warranty booklet, factory sun visor starting instructions, owner's manual, and even the original temporary registration from dealer. For an extra $600.00 he'll include a set of beautiful BWA wheels.

Rust and mechanical issues destroyed most of these cars. Virtually every one you see today has been restored or at least refurbished. Original cars like this one are few and far between.

Given its low mileage and condition, the asking price of $7900.00 seems very reasonable.

Located in Paxton, MA, click here to see the Hemmings ad.

1989 Volvo 780 Bertone - I've posted a few of these before. Based on the comments and the number of "hits" those posts received, these are very popular cars among JaCG readers.

This one seems like it might be a bargain. It has 150,000 miles on it. The last 55,000 were put on by the seller, who has owned it for the past 5 years. He has all the service records for the past 5 years.

The seller says it needs some minor work and is including a list of what needs to be done. The car recently had a tune up and "thorough checkup".

These are very cool cars. It would not be that much of a stretch to look at them as Italian cars with Swedish reliability.

Located in Newmarket, NH, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

1968 Simca 1200S

This is such a great looking car.

The Simca 1200S coupé started life as the 1000 coupé. The body was designed by Giorgio Giugiaro, who was with Bertone at the time. The car was built by Bertone in Italy and transported to the Simca factory in France where it was put together.

The 1200s coupé is an updated version of the 1000 coupé. The 1200 had 1204cc, 80 HP engine.

The radiator in the 1000 was in the rear, but Simca moved it up front when they created the 1200. That required it to have a grille. That grille, and the set of driving lights mounted within it, improved the look of the front of the car dramatically.

This car was restored in the 1980's and still looks to be in very good condition. Originally, these cars came with two twin choke Solex carburetors. This car now has a set of Weber DCOE 40s on it. With the Solex carbs the engine put out about 80 BHP. The seller claims this car has around 125 HP. While the Webers will add a little more HP, 125 seems very high. Either more work was done to the engine or that figure is optimistic.

This would be a great car to own. Being rare in the US and very attractive, it would draw attention anywhere you took it.

Located in Rimbo, Sweden, click here to see the eBay listing.

The pictures in the eBay ad are mostly close ups. Click here to find a site that has some better pictures of a 1200S.

1988 Pontiac Fiero GT - A Fiero That's Really Worth Owning...

The Fiero was a bit of a joke when it was introduced in 1984. It looked like a sports car, but it had a pretty anemic 4 cylinder engine and suspension parts from the very-less-than-sporty Chevrolet Chevette and Citation. Pontiac didn't even bother calling it a sports car. They referred to it as a "commuter car". There was so much potential there, though. A mid-engine layout, wedge shaped body...

Eventually the Fiero became the car it should have been all along. In 1985 a 2.8 liter V6 engine became an option. In 1987 the body got a makeover. It looked sleeker, rounder and more modern. 1988 saw the best change; the suspension was completely redesigned. It finally drove like a real sports car.

General Motors, in its infinite wisdom, decided to discontinue the car after the 1988 model year. ("Hey, we finally got it right... let's stop selling it." They did the same thing with the Cadillac Allante. It's no wonder they were in the financial mess they were in...)

Because of the stigma of the early cars (which, besides the anemic engine and so-so handling, at some point always seemed wind up in the hands of 18 year old gum chewing bleach blondes who were attending hairdressing school), the 1988 Fiero is often overlooked. It's really not a bad car. Not a bad car at all.

The 1988 V6 Fiero hit 60 MPH in 7.8 seconds. Its top speed was limited at 120 MPH. On the skidpad it could pull .85g. That was Porsche 911 Carrera (.85g,) Ferrari Testarossa (.84g) and Lotus Esprit Turbo (.86g) territory.

The Fiero's interior looks dated now, but it's comfortable and everything is where you expect it to be.

This Fiero looks like it's in good shape. The seller says it has no dings, dents (of course, the body is plastic) or scratches. The pictures show a lot of little "spots" (for lack of a better word) on the nose, so I'll just assume they're dirt and dead bugs.

The asking price might be on the high side, but recently I've seen a number of 1988 Fieros with asking prices of $6K or more. Sometimes way more. It may be that people are figuring out just how good the 1988 cars are.

There are few true sports cars (and this really is a true sports car) than have less of a "wow factor" than a Fiero. But, the 1988 Fiero is fun to drive and, unlike many sports cars with high wow factors, most parts can be found at your local Auto Zone store. There's a lot to be said for that.

Located in Mcdonough, GA, click here to see the eBay listing.

A Pair of Peerless

Peerless was another great tiny British car company. The story behind it is pretty interesting...

The Peerless GT was built from 1957 - 1960. It used Triumph TR3 running gear, but had it's own frame and suspension. The body was made of fiberglass.

The idea for this car came from a British restaurant owner named Jimmy Byrnes. Byrnes asked a man by the name of Bernie Rodgers to design a race car for him. Rodgers did, and the prototype was initially given the name "Warwick". Reaction to the car from people who saw it was very positive and Byrnes and Rodgers decided to see if there might be a market for it. Byrnes showed the prototype car to John Gordon, a friend who owned a used car lot. Gordon suggested some revisions and eventually Byrnes, Rodgers and Gordon formed a company to produce the cars.

The name change from Warwick to Peerless happened after the partners acquired a bankrupt car dealership. It once sold American made Peerless vehicles. The three partners liked the Peerless name and renamed the car. (The US Peeerless company hadn't produced cars since the 1930s. After the repeal of prohibition in 1933, Peerless converted their automobile factory into a brewery and started brewing Carling's Black Label. Sometime in the 1970s they sold it to the Pabst Brewing Company.)

The demand for the Peerless GT was very good. Meeting the demand was not. The bodies were manufactured by an outside company and they could not create them fast enough. Eventually Peerless contracted with another company to manufacture the bodies, but by that time fighting among the partners caused Gordon to leave the company. With him went most of the company's energy and enthusiasm and the company folded in 1960. (Gordon went on to form the Gordon-Keeble car company.)

Just 325 cars were built before the company collapsed. (Later, Byrnes and Rodgers built another 75 or so under the old Warwick name.)

The cars being offered for sale need restoration, but they are complete. Parts for the TR3 running gear is easy to find. The bodies, being fiberglass, will have no rust issues. The frame is steel, but it's mostly rectangular tubing that would be relatively easy to repair if there is any rust.

Located in Sun Valley, CA, click here to see the Craigslist ad.

A Very Cool, Very Custom, Very Special 1983 Volvo 245 Turbo Wagon

I'm not crazy about the exterior of this car, but, boy, do I love what's inside.

This car was the 5th Volvo project car for the Volvo aftermarket parts company IPD. IPD has been around since 1963 and are the premier Volvo performance parts dealer. (Find their website here.) It was built to showcase the performance items and accessories they offered in 1983. According to the seller, this car has been featured in Car & Driver and Road and Track magazines.

The list of what's in this car and what's has been done to this car is long and amazing.

The suspension has been modified with IPD 25mm front and rear sway bars, IPD factory style Upper strut chassis braces, IPD front and rear "Street Coils" springs (the car is lower than stock by around 2½") and Bilstein heavy duty shocks.

The engine has an Omni intercooler kit, IPD water injection, a Flex-A-Lite heavy duty fan and an Arkay enrichening device. Inside the car is an IPD driver adjustable boost regulator that allows you to adjust the boost up to 15 lbs.

The interior is done up with some very cool items, including an Italvolanti 4 spoke wheel and a very neat looking Volvo gauge bezel.

There are many, many other cool custom parts in this car and the seller leaves a comprehensive list of them in his eBay ad.

The only thing I don't like about this car is the exterior. The white over blue color combination does nothing for me. The body colored bumpers and smoked glass make it look boy-racerish. It would be so cool if, except for the wheels and ride height, this looked like a stock Volvo wagon.

If I had a lot of spare cash - I guarantee this car isn't going to go cheap - I'd buy this car in a heartbeat. Go ahead and flame me for saying this - I know this car is a piece of Volvo / IPD history that shouldn't be messed with - but I'd paint it Volvo silver, put on some stock bumpers and an "I (heart) my Labrador Retriever" sticker on the tailgate. (Even though I don't own a Labrador Retriever.) It would be the coolest sleeper on the planet.

Located in West Jordan, UT, click here to see the eBay listing.

A big thanks to John for sending me the link to this car!

A New Le Car (R5)?

This is not the type of post I usually do, but this is too cool not to share.

According to Britain's Autocar magazine, Renault is considering reviving the R5. (Also known known as the Le Car here in the US.) The original R5 is a car that I, and many JaCG readers, still admire and desire.

Renault, of course, no longer sells cars in the US. (They own part of Nissan, but that doesn't count.) But, if Fiat (possibly the only European car company with a reputation worse then Renault's in the US) is successful in selling their new 500, maybe Renault will consider sending us this. (A man can dream, can't he?)

Click here to see the Autocar article.

A big thanks to JaCG reader, Simon, for sending me this!

One Way to Get Your Dealers Involved

I’m guilty like most automotive bloggers of covering the larger brands more than some of the small players in the market. One brand that doesn’t get a lot of play is Mitsubishi. Well I wanted to find out what a Mitsubishi was doing with their efforts in social media and to my surprise I came across an unique way for the brand’s Facebook page to include their dealers.

Right now Mitsubishi is asking its fans to vote for the best dealer walkaround video. A walkaround video is where a dealer employee shows the features of a vehicle. The Facebook fans were asked to select from several dealer videos finalizing on three videos that are currently competing for a $2,500 prize to be awarded to the winning dealership.


Some of the videos are typical walkaround experiences where the dealer representative simply details every single feature, one with background Minnesota polka music. There definitely is a format to what the dealers were supposed to do here as all the videos cover every feature inside and out and run about 4 minutes plus in length.

Other videos are more entertaining with a bit more style, but still with substance. “Check out my curves and check out my lines,” sings one Omaha dealer who realizes there has to be some personality to keep people’s interest. Unfortunately like the more professional examples, none of the videos are that compelling and sitting through three 4 minute videos with basically the same exact content is a lot to ask, even from your fans.

I do like the idea of getting dealers involved in a real way with the greater Mitsubishi Facebook fan base and it incorporates fans thoughts through voting which video is best. Unfortunately, the $2,500 prize money that is offered is offered to the winning dealer and not a supporting local charity which would’ve had a more compelling appeal to a national audience.

Regardless, Mitsubishi is getting inventive with how to engage fans and finding ways to bring their dealers into the conversation. Sure this example isn’t going to turn into viral gold (total video views on the 3 final videos is at: 1,839 views), but it’s one way to extend goodwill between the OEM’s efforts in social and letting the dealer network reap some publicity too.