Used 1984 Buick Skyhawk for Sale near Wheaton, IL

The 1984 Buick Skyhawk was the pinnacle of General Motor's brand engineering. It was also sold as the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunbird/J2000, Oldsmobile Firenza, and the Cadillac Cimarron. With it's 84HP 2.0L I4, it gets you to where you needed to be, but that's about it. Like many cars from the 80's, it needed almost constant repairs to keep it running, but it did get to 207,000 miles, a feat not too many cars can claim to have accomplished. It was relatively cheap to own, with an abundance of used parts at junk yards.

I took my mother's '84 Custom Coupe about ten years after she bought it new. The car had the 1.8L OHC four from GM do Brasil and a five-speed manual transmission. It was probably the last stick shift Buick (until the upcoming 2010 Regal). The Skyhawk didn't handle too well and the brakes were weak, but the engine and transmission were fun to thrash around. The car was handsomely styled - best of the J-cars - and the redo in about '88 (concealed headlights) was not an improvement. These cars are probably impossible to find, expensive to repair and not worth the effort. Too bad. But they are part of GM's awful legacy of giving small cars insufficient development money.