Buick scored a home run during the 1980s with its Grand National and GNX models, demonstrating that buyers didn’t necessarily need a V8 under the hood to enjoy incredible performance. It continued dabbling into the world of forced-induction technology into the 1990s, producing cars like this 1994 Park Avenue Ultra. It is loaded with luxury appointments, making any journey a special occasion. However, getting to a destination is made effortless courtesy of the supercharged powerplant under the hood. This Park Avenue presents beautifully, needing nothing but a new home. It is listed here on eBay in Alameda, California. Bidding sits at $4,394 in a No Reserve auction.
Buick introduced the First Generation Park Avenue to its model range in July 1990, using the C-Platform shared with the Cadillac Fleetwood, De Ville, and the Oldsmobile 98. It was a tried and true base upon which to create a new model that remained in production until 1996. The original owner ordered this Park Avenue in 1994, choosing to cloak its exterior in Light Driftwood Metallic paint. The seller confirms this classic has been garage-kept throughout its life in North California, allowing it to remain rust-free and remarkably well-preserved. The paint shines beautifully, with no evidence of deterioration often caused by UV exposure. I can’t spot any significant bumps or bruises, and the seller doesn’t mention a restoration history or previous repairs. The plastic looks flawless, the chrome shines subtly, and there are no signs of stains or damage on the alloy wheels. Those seeking a refreshing motoring experience may prefer to open the optional sunroof if air conditioning isn’t their cup of tea.
The key aspect that made the Grand National and GNX legends of the 1980s was Buick’s decision to pursue forced-induction technology via a turbocharged V6 powerplant. It adopted a similar philosophy but a slightly different approach with this Park Avenue Ultra, with its 3.8-liter V6 benefiting from the addition of a supercharger. The normally aspirated version of this powerplant produced 170hp and 225 ft/lbs of torque. The driver of this classic will have 225hp and 275 ft/lbs at their disposal. This feeds the front wheels via a four-speed automatic transmission. While comfort was the primary focus of most Avenue buyers rather than outright performance, this car’s ability to cover the ¼-mile in 16.1 seconds on its way to 142mph remains pretty impressive. The seller indicates this beauty is in excellent mechanical health, having recently received a new supercharger, tires, brakes, front struts, and a fluid flush. They say it runs and drives perfectly and that they wouldn’t hesitate to drive it anywhere.
The “Park Avenue” badge became synonymous with luxury motoring during the 1990s, and this car delivers on that promise. The winning bidder receives a car featuring ic-cold air conditioning that benefits from a new compressor. Occupants sink into seats trimmed in supple leather while power windows, power locks, power front seats, a remote trunk release, cruise control, acres of woodgrain trim, a leather-wrapped tilt wheel, and a premium AM/FM stereo radio/cassette player make life on the road pretty pleasant. This interior is in exceptional condition for its age, with only some wear on the wheel rim as a notable fault. The leather shows no signs of abuse or damage, the plastic hasn’t succumbed to UV rays, and the pale carpet is surprisingly free from stains or discoloring. There is slight discoloring on the driver’s seat, but a specialist should be able to address this for a few dollars with a high-quality leather conditioner.
This 1994 Buick Park Avenue Ultra won’t appeal to everyone, but some may find its combination of luxury appointments and surprising performance pretty enticing. Buick built 64,665 examples of the Park Avenue in 1994, but it is unclear how many remain on our roads. This one is a gem that has attracted only three bids, but the No Reserve auction guarantees it is only days away from finding a new home and that the sale price will almost certainly fall into the affordable category. Are you tempted to make this luxurious classic yours by submitting a bid? I wish you luck if you do.
Great deal! Sure beats out the anemic 1990 Caddy you featured for $39K. Nice car and not a complete jelly bean shape like most 90s cars! Gonna make someone very happy at a great price!
Didn’t Steve McGarrett drive a Mercury Park Lane on the original Hawaii Five-O?
These are great cruisers for the places where they drew the map on grid paper, but didn’t tell the guys building the roads. There’s a straight road every mile, and this Park AVENUE will eat them all.
Sounds like you didn’t pay attention to the Park Avenue badges or the car’s description in the ad. My 95 Park Avenue didn’t have the super charger but the 3.8 had plenty of power and pick up. One trip we took we got 27 mpg with my wife and 2 kids loaded down for a week vacation. Car was great on the highway!
Great looker, pretty fast, comfortable and good in snow, will last a long time for low cash. Good on gas too , No rust, California car. Grandpa car but a sleeper too. I am too far away but I would love this!
Imagine pulling out to pass 🛣 and winding this Beige Buick up to 140mph.
My parents went from having the dog of the ’84 Park Ave Electra, to the ’94 Park Ave (non-Ultra).
Standard passing procedure with the ’84 was to take a glance, start spooling up the engine, pull out to get a better look, and hopefully complete the pass.
Standard passing procedure for the ’94 was get a glance, pull out, drop the hammer and go. If you tried to spool up the engine behind the car you’re trying to pass, you’ll end up in the backseat with them.
I had a 93 Buick Le Sabre Custom, a slightly shorter version of this car. If mine were a Limited instead of the Custom, it would’ve had those same pillow-top seats, which is what I really wanted, but couldn’t find at the time. Mine, of course, didn’t have the supercharger, but was plenty powerful. This is a very nice riding, comfortable because of the ride and the seats, and nice looking car. The moonroof is a nice option, too. The only problem is it’s a 30 yr old car, so using it every day will present with age related problems, like leaks and sensors going bad. I hope it finds a good home.
The LeSabre Limited would have had nice pillow-top seats but not like these. These are Park Ave only and are amazingly soft and comfortable. This car looks to have every option except the highest end radio with the EQ and CD player. As to age-related electrical issues, I also daily drive a ’92 LeSabre with 176K miles on it. In the 90K miles I’ve put on it, I think I put in an IAC once and cleaned the MAF sensor a couple of times, possibly an EGR valve, but that’s it. Check engine light rarely comes on, and when it does it’s a simple fix.
I have one. Not at all powerful. Go ahead and get mad and have my comment removed again.
I really don’t think people here try to censor other people’s posts they disagree with. This is BarnFinds, not FaceBook. As to your comment about “not at all powerful,” I have to ask, compared to what? The supercharger added 55 hp (32%) over the base Series 1 engine in ’94. I currently own both SC and NA Series 1 engines and the SC car is noticeably much quicker. The Series II and III SC engines are even more powerful and can easily be tuned for 300+hp.
These were speed (torque) limited to 128 mph.
Would love to have this jewel as a DD.
My daily driver is a 2004 Park Ave, not the ultra. It runs perfectly, and has adequate power, but not “plenty” as others have stated. However, it is the most comfortable car I ever owned so I don’t even mind the “Old man’s car” cracks I hear now and then. But powerful? Gimme a break!
Your ’04 Park Ave is a completely different car style than this one. It’s also about 300# heavier. My ’92 LeSabre with the Series I really moves. My former ’96 Regency with the Series II had more hp on paper, but it felt a lot slower.
I drove my Olds Eighty-Eight LSS with the same engine to work today and on a 2.5 hour round trip this past weekend. Very responsive off the line and good passing power. I think they are speed limited to about 110 mph by the computer. Seriously wanting to bid on this. I’d fly out and drive it back home 36 hours.
Because the gas pedal is like stepping on a marshmallow. I know, I own one. I also own a Corvette, I have owned a string of Corvettes. I think I know what a “powerful” car is, and all the Vettes could use a little more. This Buick simply isn’t, even with the supercharger I would call it adequate, but 250HP isn’t at all “powerful” in a 3600 lb car
Yes, compared to a Corvette, a naturally aspirated V-6 engine with over 100 fewer cubic inches is going to feel underpowered. I also own a CTS-V so I know what 400hp feels like, but still enjoy driving my large front drivers. For everyday driving the NA Series 1 engine performs great in a large car like this – even better in a light A-body like a Ciera. They will even bolt right into an N-body if you can still find one. Although less powerful than the Series II engines, I’ve driven both and prefer the way my Series 1 drives. Les power but feels more torquey on the bottom end.
If you say you own one now and think it’s so underpowered, I have to ask why you still own it?
Well, you are wrong because my comment was in fact removed, so yes indeed I was censored.
Yeah, everyone is out to get poor Dave because he dared disparage the mighty 3800. :-)
None of your comments have been removed Dave.
Jesse: I’m just seeing Dave’s October 9th comment about his ’04 Park Ave for the first time, just now. It hasn’t been there the previous few days as Dave claimed. Just a website glitch? Often listings seem to drop off the site when I scroll through them chronologically. If I use the search function, they reappear.
It was never removed. Maybe it’s a caching issue?
He got his streets mixed up
These are amazing cars. If it weren’t on the opposite side of the country, I’d be one serious contender. Fresh out of college, I worked for a bank that had a company car for using for all company business, and it was the slightly smaller LeSabre version of this car with the incredible 3800 engine in it. When I got to take it on business trips around and across the state, I was in heaven with the power, the ride and the freedom. I especially loved how so many did not expect it to have so much power and, if they provoked me enough, I’d just take care of things by simply laying down the accelerator pedal a bit.
All these years later, I still wish I had one of these as it was just the best in every way.
These were speed/torque limited to 128 mph.
I had a pair of Buicks similar to this that succumbed to mechanical issues. No matter I would GLADLY dispose of my 2016 VW for a Buick like this.
Park Lane?! Common Adam, you know better.
People get paid to not even know what model car they are writing about….amazing work.
L67 was one helluva engine. Almost bulletproof. Once in a while the bearings would go out in the nose of the supercharger but that was rare. If you’re ever on a junkyard crawl, and see one, take a look at the odometer. It’s not unusual to see it in the 200K or 300K range. Most times it’s in the boneyard as the result of a collision, not mechanical failure.
Or a rusted front subframe.
I have owned three GM cars with this engine, trans combo. If you change the oil, trans fluid, coolant and fuel filters, you will never have any problem with them. I got 250,000 out of all of them with minor issues. This is a far better deal than that $39,500 Caddy, that isn’t worth half that in reality. These 3.8 engines are superior in EVERY way to the boat anchor 3.6 GM dumped on us in about 2008. The 3.8 will get 27 mph highway as long as you don’t drive like most people do today. Wish I had room in the garage for this.
My parents owned a string of Park Avenues, ‘79, ‘85, ‘93, ‘95 Ultra and 2000 Ultra and my mom’s favorite was the supercharged 95 in Jade green with gold lower cladding and grey leather interior. Sadly it gave its life to protect her when someone ran a red light and just about cleaned the front end off. The ‘93 and ‘95 were the best looking imho and drove as smoothly as you’d expect Buick’s top line car should. Sadly they quit building Park Avenues and mom had to settle for a 2008 Cadillac DTS after her final Ultra. She’s still competently driving it at age 81 and feels safe in it.
I had a 96 Park Avenue it was pewter colored with leather and the 3.8 liter without the super charger I think he got the horse power wrong mine felt like it had at least 200 + horse power with a super charger you would probably have around 300 hp
Yours indeed had over 200 hp (205 to be exact), as it was a Series II.
The L67s are strong engines indeed. The problem was never horsepower, but the torque limits imposed to save the weak FWD transaxle. The L67 would easily make over 350 ft.lbs. but for being detuned.
Early Series 1 SC had 205hp. Later (’94 & ’95) Series I SC had 225hp, Series II SC had 240hp, Series III SC had up to 260hp (IIRC)