1986 Park Ave Convertible

[kfox]

Alright everybody. Look what I came across while searching Buicks for sale. I have never seen one of these before. Could be a fun car.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?c ... dard=false

I hope everyone can open the link. It is worth a couple of minutes to look.

Kfox

[Nathaniel Gjr.]

Nice car. but i will never understand unless its because you need $$$ why people go through this kind of work to convert a car into something they want one off one of a kind then want to sell it. it is probably a great car , but the market for a park ave 2dr convertable is small ,as compared to a a park ave 2 dr or 4 door. and the price is gonna scare people away to something more usable. i am not putting the car down, it is flawless, but i know how people think about buicks and american cars in general. i hope he sells it.

Nat Gjr.

[ttyper]

I'm sure that Park Ave was "converted" back in the day, i.e. 25 years ago, for a very particular and discriminating (not to mention wealthy) car purchaser who was not thinking about what it might be worth today. I think its cool as hell!

[86 2dr.ltd steve]

Awesome, that was done by Car craft, says right on the door, my guess is that its the same pieces used for the coupe devilles so its not totally custom. Only a few things I dont like about the H&E/car craft conversions and that is the look of the tops up and they way they do not stow flush, still this looks good enough down. It also appears they crunched the rear seat back abit too much. $5000 for a low mile car of known high reliability and ease of servicing is not a bad price at all. You cant touch a good Reatta or Allante vert for less than 12,000.

[Turbo1dr]

I'm sure that Park Ave was "converted" back in the day, i.e. 25 years ago, for a very particular and discriminating (not to mention wealthy) car purchaser who was not thinking about what it might be worth today. I think its cool as hell!

I don't think people who do things like that to a car worry about what it will be worth later. I think they do it because it's different and it's what they want. I know when I modify any of my cars, I don't think about the value...I just whnt the car the way I want it at that point in time. Right now, I'm converting my 87 Grand National to a Aerocoupe using a Monte Carlo SS rear glass and related hardware. I don't know if this will hurt or raise the value and I'm not doing to see which way the value goes. I'm doing it for me...not for resale value or for someone else.

It's a cool car and I'll bet even today it will turn heads and be a nice conversation piece at local car shows. Car Crafting and Hot Rodding is about change and making it personal to your taste and that's exactly what the original owner wanted!

[ttyper]

Ah, but I agree completely...you should do what you want when it comes to YOUR car, and with no regard to what others may think (as long as you are prepared for the consequences, come time to sell it ). I was actually responding to a concern raised in a previous post by another board member.

[86 2dr.ltd steve]

and at 5 grand with those miles that is a steal. Upgrade the suspension and you have the equavelent of a t-type convertable that has not been done. The engine could be turbocharged, the trans upgraded, you could even get stupid and paint EVERYTHING "body color"...

5 grand for this or near 5 grand for a low mile t-type I wouldnt have to think twice about where I would throw the money down. That has so much potential, a few thousand more + some labor and it could be one sick vert.

The car looks great with the top down but it is ashame it doesnt stow flat.

[kfox]

I agree totally about the look with the top down. Too bad it doesn't store flat. It looks better without the convertible boot. It is a very cool concept. I would be really tempted if it had a red interior. That price is a deal for those miles and uniqueness. Probably bends like like hell going over uneven surfaces.

[86 2dr.ltd steve]

I think they stiffened them up fairly good when they did the conversions and had too by some regulations as well. But Im sure it still flexes, the C/H bodies weakness was chassis flex as it was. A bodies are really terrible for flex, not even having the frame pieces under the floor pan the H/C has, relying solely on the rockers, exhaust tunnel and roof.

With rust issues Im geting tired of unibodies, the way GM stacked up the steel for reinforcement only made them rust faster in all those areas.

[Donny Lowrida]

That's funny! I like seeing "different" cars that people own. This one falls into that category. The most recent item I saw was a silver '83 Pontiac Grand Prix (G-Body), blue interior, a convertible top from Beverly Hills, with a 3.8 non turbo V6. It was definitely "different". The suck part was the seller left the top down during a VERY rainy week. Flooding the interior. Too bad for a rare car.

[eighttrackdave]

The only aftermarket Buick convertibles we were involved in at Fanning, was `85 & `86 Century's. They were done by H&E in Ohio, and both started with leather equipped cars. This had to have been made for a specific customer, to have started with a cloth interior car. Hanley Dawson Cadillac in Chicago was converting cloth interior Eldo's into convertibles. Because the base price was much cheaper.
`85 & `86 2 door FWD Electra's were pretty scarce to begin with. So it was either ordered and delivered to Car Craft, or plucked from some dealer's stock by someone eccentric.
I ordered 2 door Electra's, and caught a lot of flack from management. I usually ordered the 380's instead of the Park's to keep them inexpensive.
Car Craft I think went out of business in 1986. I'd buy this Park Ave. if I could. It's even close by.

[86 2dr.ltd steve]

Dave, dont you think that is the same exact deal Car Craft did to the Coupe Deville ? I bet its all the same pieces right down to the reinforcement. I believe I just read Car Craft aquired H&E. ALot of people liked that velour in seats, not hot, not cold, comfortable and very durable. I wish they would bring it back to be honest.

[eighttrackdave]

Oh, I thought it was the other way around. H&E took over Car Craft. You may be right though.
The latest non-Eldo Caddy convertibles I ever saw other than Allante's, were a few RWD `79 Coupe DeVilles. I never saw an `85 or newer FWD DeVille converted into a convertible. But if they were done, it would probably be like that `86 Park Ave. as you say. The rear quarter windows on this one look exactly like `85 Eldo convertible rear quarter windows. The rear quarter windows on `85 & `86 2 door Electra's & Park Ave. hardtops were large fixed square ones. It appears the body was cut back into where those windows would be on the hardtop.
The rear seating area was also narrowed to accommodate the roof folding mechanism on the sides.
The common fear of cloth seats in a convertible, would be more cloth area exposed to spotting & smelling mildewy over time. But I like this blue cloth set up. Just not the Park Ave. seat pattern. I prefer the Electra 380 or T type seats.
I also wish this one had the digital dash or T gauge package, and at least a console shift. But that would have all had to have been ordered ahead of time. Which is what leads me to think they used an in-stock car.
If I would have done this, I would have started with a loaded Electra 380. Which had a cheaper base price than a cloth Park Ave. I can't recall leather being available in the 380's, but maybe `86 only. (`85 had Electra 300's & 380's as price leader cars. The 300's had 3.0 liter engine, but they were discontinued early on) I think only the Parks & T Types offered leather. And no one was going to cut up a perfectly good `85 T Type coupe, if they could even find one. We only had one ever through our doors. And it was a Sold order car.

The only things I don't like about this convertible, is how high the fully folded down roof appears to stick up. Even with the boot over it. And the tiny rear window in the roof. But a bigger window probably risked breakage, since room seems to be the overall issue.

[86 2dr.ltd steve]

I know I've seen Coupe Devilles. In this type of car bucket seats and floor shifters were considered tacky decades ago. Luxury cars were never made with such interior restricting items and the handfull of packages that were sold in low volumn. People wanted roominess, its an auto you put it in drive and forget about it. I like our 75's bench seat, we only had one child and we could all ride in the front out of the heavy turbulance that hits the back seat.

[86 2dr.ltd steve]

The only things I don't like about this convertible, is how high the fully folded down roof appears to stick up. Even with the boot over it. And the tiny rear window in the roof. But a bigger window probably risked breakage, since room seems to be the overall issue.

Yes, that is some header they have for that top, old convertables were never like that but must be it does a much better job at sealing the windows then the older cars did