For those that never made it as far as the first line of this article, they probably saw another car to which they responded, “Meh!” To those still reading this, you see something special about it or either you are someone you know probably owned one. The mid-size front wheel drive A-bodies from General Motors were made from 1982 to 1996, with Buick and Oldsmobile selling them for the entire run. Even in 1995 when this body style was 13 years old, Buick sold over 100,000 of these cars in 4 door sedan and station wagon models. Here is a 1995 Buick Century 4 door sedan for sale here on craigslist in Goodyear, Arizona. Thanks to Barnfinds reader Pat L. for finding this car and bringing to our attention.
This one has only seen 13,000 miles of travel in 24 years. These were the cars that many of the middle age and elderly people bought when new. This one is owned by someone’s grandmother, and she can no longer drive it. As expected, this car has been garage kept since new. The back features those wide full-width taillights that can easily be spotted driving down the road at night, one of the few cars that featured these back them. Many of the more modern cars have this feature now.
Everything works fine on this car. That includes the power windows and door locks, as well as the air conditioning. The car has never been smoked in so you won’t see any of those nasty cigarette burn holes in the velour seating or on the carpeting, plus none of that nicotine smell either. The interior looks remarkably well.
There are no pictures of the engine. However, it is powered by the fuel injected 3.1 V-6 engine. The seller says the engine runs great and describes the car as a real time capsule. It’s never been in any accidents. Think of it this way, if you were in the market for a one or two-year-old car, it would probably have more miles than this one. While this one doesn’t have all the modern conveniences we find on cars these days, it still has a few of them and the safety of driver and passenger airbags. Best of all, you could get this all for only $4,500. Who’s ready for a nice nineties front wheel drive Buick Century?
Would do this one in a heartbeat for my
MIL, who has an ’01 LeSabre Custom
that she swears she’ll never part with.
She can use this one while we give the
LaSabre some much-needed TLC. Then,
she’d have her choice of which car to drive. These were great cars you could
count on to give you long and faithful
service long after the “new” wore off.
And if Mom didn’t want it, I’d put my neice in it instead. Great car, though much
underrated.
My sons 1st car. It served him well, dependable as a refrigerator, pretty easy to work on. I’m not a FWD car person, but one can’t deny, these moved people for years and were great cars.
I have owned a few Buicks.They were very dependable.I have seen more foreign cars parked along the interstate than I have Buicks.I will still take a Buick over a Toyota any day of the week.
I will give them $3500 in Vicks Vap-O-Rub and Werthers Originals…….
These were EVERYWHERE when I was in high school, class of 2k. I was astounded even then by how long GM was able to get away with such blatantly lazy badge engineering. They had the Celebrity, Cutlass, 6000, Century, all the same damn car for 15 years! Right up there with the fox mustang and 73-87 GM truck for longevity, but these weren’t iconic like those. Them being spread across 4 marques while being clearly the same car to even non car people was likely a large factor in GM having to drop Pontiac and Olds. They highlighted the redundancy of the rest of the lineup.
I however do have a bunch of fond memories in these cars, and they were generally very reliable. The 2.8 and 3.1 had their intake gasket issues, but for the most part these were and are excellent used cars to purchase as most owners were elderly and took care of them. These Buick versions look NICE with some chrome 16″ wheels off of the Regal GS of the time.
They all didn’t run 15 year, the Celebrity had a pretty average run from 1982 to 1989, when it was replaced with the Lumina in 1990, the Celebrity wagon ran one more year into 1990.
The 6000 ran from 1982 to 1991, only the Oldsmobile and Buick versions ran the full 1982-1996 run. These really aren’t “badge engineered” cars either, like the Aries/Reliant, Omni/Horizon, Chevette/1000, Voyager/Caravan. etc, cars that are EXACTLY THE SAME except for their badges, that’s badge engineering.
These, even though they have similar styling, still had mostly different sheet metal outside, as well as different interiors from division to division. mostly the center section was the same on the A-bodies, but even the roof stampings were different from division to division, the Olds and Buick later got a shared roof line, but it was after 1989-1990.
4 years after the comment I doubt anyone will see this . I have a 1995 Buick Century Custom with the 3.1 engine. Has 83000 miles but it will just act like no firing is going on for a brief second and repeat several times. Sometimes it barely runs enough to move it once the problem starts. My mechanic says do not put any money in it. I am wondering what ithe intake gasket might have to do with my problem? Any ideas. I do not just want to throw thousands of dollars at it and not find a fix.
Perfect car to send the kid off to university in. Plenty of space for the school supplies.
My daily driver is a 2002 Buick Regal that I bought a few months ago with 31k on the odometer. After replacing the original tires that were starting to experience belt separation (!), it has been a champ- for what I paid you couldn’t touch a modern car with anywhere near the mileage or reliability. Although I wouldn’t argue too vigorously against an accusation that it is boring looking, there is something about the simplicity of the rounded-off-square styling of the 90’s that I find appealing…
Boring?> Compared to the monstrosities being built today, it’s a treat to see, Matt.
I’d rather see your Regal than an eyesore new Civic, especially one of the boy racer types which make me laugh out loud.
Tail lights on the new Hondas are REALLY bad, perhaps worse than the Toyotas.
I spent most of 1996 driving rental cars. One week I had a Plymouth Breeze. It handled and rode improbably well. Dynamically, it was the best Honda Accord clone Detroit ever produced. Even the seats were decent. Unfortunately, it had an incredibly overmatched 4 cylinder engine mated to an automatic transmission.
The next rental I was issued was a Buick Century so new that I had to complete assembly. It had about 30 miles on the odometer and the driver’s door weather-stripping hadn’t been attached, merely closed in the door. I put that right, but there were other issues. Compared to the Breeze, it was obvious that the Buick was a fifteen year old design that had been a hasty facelift of the tainted Citation. It had one strength, which was an engine that could give a 325i a run for its money. Unfortunately, it had the worst suspension of any new car I’ve ever driven. I think they forgot to put oil in the struts and shocks. It would start bouncing when you sat in the driver seat and keep bouncing five seconds after you’d come to a stop. The skinny white-wall tires squealed and skittered across the pavement with any aggressive cornering attempts. The bench seat was an anachronism in 1996. Somehow a 13K mile one for $4500 still sounds mildly attractive to me, or at least it does until I look at the photos and see GM’s awful ‘automatic’ seatbelts.
Grew up with these things in Wagon form. My parents had 2 at any given time (all wagons) until ‘97 when a new Grand Prix entered the garage.
85 Century
88 Celebrity
92 Olds
93 Olds
94 Olds
All great cars, nothing fancy but reliable and practical family transportation.
Well, here I am again, wanting this to be on this coast, not that one. I had a ’98 Buick Century Custom with a 3.1L V6. Great car until someone sandwiched it. Insurance totaled it and I was left upside down, having to pay off the loan on my own. Would really like to have this one. But, by the time I bought it, paid for shipping, it would cost me a lot more than I can afford. Wow, I love this country, but, sometimes I have to ask why is it so wide?
A road trip would be more fun that having it shipped.
Somebody buy this car, you won’t see value like this very often, do what it needs and simply enjoy it for what it is. I’ve had two, they were great drivers and I’m sorry I sold the last one I had.
At this point ive driven all types of performance cars, mustangs, m3s etc. its crazy but i dont think any of them can beat the thrill of driving my fathers 1984 chevy celebrity station wagon around the school parking lot when i was 13, never touched a steering wheel before that and it changed my life.
J
I hear you J. I had the same thing at the same age with a Chevy Corsica. I ended up owning two of them and still remember them fondly just because it was the first time behind the wheel for me..
These were new when I was a kid. I’ve ridden in many and driven a few. The 2.8 and 3.1 always had adequate power and a nice exhaust note. I thought these were handsome cars from day one. The nineties facelift with the full width tail lights made them even nicer looking. Lazy timeline for design changes, but these were made for people that don’t appreciate change. Great cars. Buick was the most handsome of the A bodies in my opinion, but the Euro Celebrity and the Olds versions were a little more exciting.
They’d actually go pretty good with the 3.3L. …Relatively speaking!
I have never bought a car long distance before. Can anyone give me any advice? I live in Austin Texas. At around noon on Saturday this buyer claims that the car is still for sale but someone has promised a wire transfer on Monday. I don’t fly, otherwise I would just fly there now. Should I send someone or just see what happens Monday? Also, if I were to wire the money, how do I know that he won’t take the money and run? If I wired, I would need to ship it. Sorry for the questions, I am sure their is a simple answer that I am unaware of. Thanks in advance.
Wait and see . You can’t get your money back if you do a wire transfer . You could offer to send a deposit or the whole load today VIA Western Union . Caveat Emptor as they say . JMO
If I owned this car, I’d have sit by the front door and yell, “Darn kids! Get off my lawn!” several times a day. And I don’t have a front lawn.
Recently I bought a BMW cycle from a private California owner. I had it shipped to the mid-west after a wire transfer to the seller. I checked him out as best as I could by calling in a few favors from law enforcement relatives. Sending money for an unseen vehicle takes a leap of faith. All worked out good in the end, the seller was very honest. However I had a few sleepless nights prior to delivery. Keep in mind, shipping costs can turn a fantastic deal into a not so fantastic deal. Vehicle transport costs can vary wildly. Do your homework. This is a lot of car for the money.
Thanks so much to all commenters. I have an affection for vintage cars but in the past my my choices were not always the best. A fire engine red 1965 El Camino was my firs purchase and it was an amazing car! Too fast and too light in the back end however and my friend totaled it in a rain storm. 😥 The second one was 1950-something baby blue and white beauty. It’s been so long ago I cannot remember the make but it had those cool wings on the side part of the back end. Sadly, it needed new tie rods, and either I was unable to locate them or they were too expensive to have made. Any hooooo…..I have been watching the cars come through here on this site for a few months, hoping to find a solid every day car that I can rely on. I don’t even care what it is or what it looks like, I just despise the thought of getting into a newer car and all that comes with it. I am old enough to remember when cars were built to last forever if you took good car of them. Now days it seems like the new ones break down around the time your last payment comes due. 😒 Thanks again! I will update here, if I end up getting it.
We had one that only had 50,000 On it when we bought it and 200,500 on it when we traded it in