1979 Buick Regal

The 1963 Buick Riviera was the first personal luxury car within the General Motor's division. Pontiac created a lower-priced, mid-sized version in 1969 called the Grand Prix, and Chevrolet followed a year later with the Monte Carlo. Oldsmobile added the Cutlass Supreme in 1970, a formal notchback coupe that would become the company's best-selling intermediate body line. It took Buick many years, but in 1973 they added its own intermediate-sized personal luxury coupe - the 'Colonnade' cars. Buick dropped its beloved Skylark name from its intermediate line and bestowed those duties on the Century nameplate, last used in the 1950s.

The first 'Regal' was the 'Century Regal Colonnade Hardtop coupe' that shared much of its styling its Century sibling. A sedan body style was added a year later. Distinguishing features were confined to the taillight lenses and grilles. Instead of the traditional roll-down windows, the Regal had small fixed rear-side opera windows surrounded by sheet metal.

The Regal nameplate added more interior accouterments including bench seats with center armrests with cloth, velour, or vinyl upholstery, and woodgrain trim on the dashboard and door panels.

The coupe was the only body style, offered in base, Sport, and Limited trim levels. The Regal proved to be very popular with 236,652 examples were built for 1978.

Among the many changes made to the interior, the dashboard was moved closer to the windshield resulting in increased leg and knee room. Like many of the exterior design elements, the gauges and warning lights were housed in rectangular clusters, with radio, air conditioner, and heater controls in a separate module. Standard equipment included door pull straps, Freedom battery, deluxe wheel covers, cigarette lighter, ashtrays, wide-view day/night mirror, bin-type glove box with coin holder, and bumper protective stripes.

Both the Regal and Century shared a 90-degree, overhead-valve V-6 engine with a 196 cubic-inch displacement, four main bearings, hydraulic valve lifters, a two-barrel Rochester carburetor, and delivered 90 horsepower at 3,600 RPM. A 231 CID V-6 with 105 horsepower and 185 lb-ft of torque was optional, along with a turbocharged V-6 with a 231 CID and 150 horsepower at 245 lb-ft of torque. A four-barrel version of the turbocharged engine increased horsepower to 165 hp. A 305 CID V8 with 145 hp or 160 hp (depending on configuration) was also optional.

Buick's turbocharged engines were among the few offered in the United States market in 1978, along with Saab, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz.

A three-speed manual was initially standard equipment but this was later replaced by a three-speed TM200 automatic gearbox.

1979 Buick Regal
The 1979 Buick Regal continued to be offered solely as a coupe in base, Sport Coupe, and Limited trim levels with V6, turbocharged V6, and V8 engine options. Styling changes were made to the front, with subdued horizontal bars in the vertical-patterned grille with the Buick name inset in the top bar of the grille and the 'Regal' (in script) name near the lower corner. The full-cut wheel openings, formal roofline, single rectangular headlamps, and clear vertical parking and signal lamps were unchanged. The taillamps and instrument panel had new designs.

The base Regal was priced at just above $5,000. The Sport Coupe was priced at $6,220 and the Limited at $5,475. 157,228 examples of the base Regal, 21,389 of the Sport Coupe, and 94,738 of the Limited were produced in 1979.

The Regal Sport Coupe came equipped with the turbocharger 231 V6, Rallye ride and handling suspension with stabilizer bars, firmer shocks and springs, a fast-ratio power steering, turbo boost gauge on the dash, and upgraded P205/70R15 tires. The Sport Coupes had the Sport Coupe insignia on its fender, blackout trim around the windshield, on the rocker moldings, around the taillamps and license plate molding, and on the door pillars. There were twin sport mirrors, a blacked-out grille, and Designers' Accent paint treatment on the top, hood, and deck lid. Turbine wheels were located on all four wheels.

The Regal Limited had wide chrome rocker paneling moldings, 'Regal' and 'Limited' insignia on the roof pillar. The upgraded interiors added velour 55/45 notchback seats, rear-seat side trim, and crushed velour door inserts.

New options this year included turbine-styled wheels, visor vanity mirrors, and cornering lamps. A silver-tinted Astroroof, three vinyl top styles, and a metal sunroof or Hatch roof were also optional. The Regals list of optional equipment was rather extensive and included instrument gauges, electric door locks, electric trunk release, remote tailgate lock, automatic air conditioning, six-way power driver's seat, rear defogger, dome reading lamp, dual remote sport mirrors, rear speaker, belt reveal molding, and more.

The Regal's second generation of styling would continue through 1987. A major facelift occurred in 1981, and the Regal Grand National introduced in February of 1982. In the final year, 1987, Buick introduced the limited production GNX, for 'Grand National Experimental,' and produced in partnership with McLaren Performance Technologies/ASC. The third generation of styling followed in 1988 built atop the GM W platform. The fourth-generation was introduced in 1997, the fifth in 2008, and the sixth in 2018.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2020