Pontiac wildcat

Written by Jon Skinner. Buick as a brand seems to have limped into the twenty-first century despite the kind of setbacks that sealed the fate of other GM divisions, such as Pontiac and Oldsmobile. The subject of pontiac wildcat particular car review is the Buick Wildcatpontiac wildcat, a sportier, full-sized muscle car with the standard Buick V8 engine and a car to remember fondly in its own right.

The Buick Wildcat is a full-size car that was produced by Buick from the to model years. Taking its name from a series of s Buick concept cars, [1] the Wildcat replaced the Invicta within the "junior" B-body Buick sedan range. Serving as the higher-performance full-size Buick, the Wildcat was slotted between the LeSabre and the larger C-body Electra. Following two generations of the model line, the Wildcat was replaced by the Buick Centurion for In the Wildcat was a Buick Invicta subseries, mating the Invicta's longer full-size two-door hardtop Buick body known as the "sport coupe", body production code hardtop only [2] with a high-performance hp kW version of the cu in 6. To further distance itself from the Invicta, the Wildcat had Electra -like taillights, a bucket seat interior, and a center console with tachometer and transmission shifter. It had a Dynaflow transmission shared by all full-sized Buicks , plus special exterior side trim, vinyl-covered roof new for , and its own unique emblem: a stylized head of a wild cat, located on each of the C-pillars.

Pontiac wildcat

Described as "an expression of muscular sculptural forms and exciting new mechanicals", the Wildcat was powered by an experimental 3. The car had no doors, just an opening canopy; it also featured a heads-up display on the steering wheel and a 4-speed transmission. Two were produced; one was a show car and the other a functional prototype. This casting does not feature a window piece, with painted portions of the body masquerading as the top canopy; as a result this casting has no interior. Early releases of the casting feature copyright on the base pertaining to Warner Bros. Hot Wheels Wiki Explore. Hot Wheels by Series New Castings by Year - Hot Wheels by Year - Explore Wikis Community Central. Don't have an account? Current Wiki. Start a Wiki. Sign In Register.

As usual, grille, taillights, and trim were altered just enough to identify the new models.

The Buick Wildcat name had a certain ring to it. It fairly suggested action -- motion on the open road. Yet it was textbook General Motors -- taking the name from a one-off s show car , applying it to a specific model within an existing series, and later spinning off an entirely new series. So went the saga of the Buick Wildcat. Buick's first use of the Wildcat name was on three exciting mids dream cars. Meanwhile, the Century, a "banker's hot rod" model, was revived. Then in , Buick brought out the first production Wildcat, a new factory hot rod designed to compete with the Oldsmobile Starfire and Pontiac Grand Prix.

But dream car collector Joseph E. Bortz somehow located that long-missing show car and restored it to its past glory. During the s, "dream cars" popped up with the frequency of the annual model change. Earl design that dated back to and predicted the styling of the Buick. By , General Motors was the master at whetting the public's appetite for dream cars via its annual Motorama show. This was the first time it traveled to various cities, and it gained tremendous publicity for General Motors.

Pontiac wildcat

The Buick Wildcat started production in an interesting way. Instead, it was a subseries of the full-size Buick Invicta which was in itself a conglomeration of the Buick Century and Buick LeSabre. Not even its name was unique to the model, as GM took the Wildcat name from a show car from a s concept car. With that being said, the Wildcat did have some unique strengths. The Buick Wildcat became its own series in , splitting from the Invicta parent variant.

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High performance was the news in the Wildcat camp in More likely, a catchy nameplate would later find itself on a more mundane production series. Master Six Standard Six. But the timing was as unfortunate as the styling. Fun to drive. Also specific was a brushed bright sweepspear that swept from the headlights to the middle of the front doors, engulfing the venti-ports in the process. But by the early s, Buick was becoming more aggressive, much as in the mids after Harlow Curtice took over the division. With the exception of a divided grille that looked more LeSabre than Wildcat, styling was left largely alone. A mere 22 consisting of an unknown mix of both body styles were Super Wildcats. Current Wiki. Weight was up, however, about 80 pounds, due no doubt to government safety and emissions mandates taking effect.

The Buick Wildcat is a full-size car that was produced by Buick from the to model years. Taking its name from a series of s Buick concept cars, [1] the Wildcat replaced the Invicta within the "junior" B-body Buick sedan range. Serving as the higher-performance full-size Buick, the Wildcat was slotted between the LeSabre and the larger C-body Electra.

Wikimedia Commons. Faster ratio power steering was a desirable option. It was a smaller, yet more powerful dream car that seemed to take its inspiration at least in part from the Corvette. The hardtop coupes were only a few hundred units behind. The chassis used carbon-fiber and vinyl-ester resin and the body featured a 'lift-up' canopy for entry and exit. From to the Wildcat was its own series, no longer an Invicta subseries. Mobile Newsletter banner close. Park Avenue Roadmaster revival. His task was to revitalize Buick, which after ranking third in the industry in had fallen to seventh by For , the Wildcat series was expanded to include a fourth body style, a four-door sedan. LaCrosse Regal Velite 6 Verano. Again, a fiberglass body was created, this time mounted on a inch wheelbase, with an overall length of The Wildcat is still owned by Buick today and is still operational. The model had a large aluminum trim panel on the side, while models had vertically situated chrome hash-marks on the lower front quarter panel directly behind the front wheel housings and did not have the traditional horizontal VentiPorts like other Buicks.