Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?

The title to this post was an advertisement Buick used in the '60's and well into the '70's. With the exception of Ford and Mopar fans, Everyone wants a Camaro / Firebird, or a Chevelle / GTO / 442.  The A-body based Monte Carlo and Gran Prix have loyal followers. Early to mid-60's Impalas and Biscaynes, and Bonnevilles and Catalinas have a "cult" following of people who love full-size muscle. However, Buicks are often overlooked, even by hardcore GM guys.  For this reason they are great deals. The 1963-65 Buick Riviera is widely regarded as one of the best-looking cars of all time. With 401 cubes under the hood, they moved pretty good, too. Patrick Swayze drove one in the action flick "Roadhouse." Won't be dirt-cheap, but you can still find one for way less than a same-year Impala SS or Gran Prix or 2+2.  Ditto for the 1966-69 models. These cars had the swoopy, futuristic styling of the revolutionary Olds Toronado, but were still rear-wheel drive. And 430 cubes under that long hood gave them some balls, too. The 1970 Riviera is a one year "Ugly Duckling". The 1971-73 models were the famous "Boat-Tail" design, and had 455 cubes for motivation. These cars offer Cadillac like luxury and GTO like performance. The GTO set the car market on it's ear in 1964. Olds quickly responded with the 442, but Chevrolet and Buick waited until 1965 to counter. If you want a GM A-body of this vintage and are on a tight budget, the Skylark and Century models from 1965-72 share the same basic bodystyle as the Chevelle / GTO / Cutlass, but are usually priced lower. I think the reason for this is the Buicks didn't have quite the fire-breathing performance of their Chevrolet, Olds and Pontiac cousins. Their not "dogs" by any means, but the 400 inch Buick engines really didn't have the same amount of power of the 396 Chevys, 400 Olds, or 389 Pontiacs. Ditto for the small-block models. The early 300 and 340 inch "Nailhead" style Buick small-blocks didn't have the power of a 327 Chevy or 326 Pontiac, or 330 Olds. The redesigned for 1968 350 Buick engine was a great step forward, and they ran good, just not quite as good as a 350 Chevy, Pontiac or Olds. 68 and 69 models will either have 350s or 400s. In 1970 the 455 was introduced into the Buick A-bodys, and the legendary Stage 1 GSX could certainly compete with the W30 442s and Ram Air GTOs.  But less than 1,000 of these were built, and they are thus pricey. The thousands of others will have 350s or "station wagon" 455s. On the up side, the Buicks usually had much nicer interiors than the other lines, and more luxury options-i.e.- factory air, power windows, cruise control, disc brakes. And T/A performance and Edelbrock offer cams, heads, intakes, etc, to hop up the engines. 1973-77 Century models were more luxury than performance oriented and most had 350 power. However there were some 455 models built through 1975, and some 1976-77 models may have 403 Olds engines, which isn't a bad thing. On the upside, any aftermarket suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle or Monte Carlo also fit these cars. If you like a little extra style and luxury with your performance, and want to save money, maybe you would really rather have a Buick. Mastermind