We carry memories with us though our lives and for gear heads, many of those memories are attached to cars. Perhaps strangely, some happy ones from my gearhead life stem from the Buick Park Avenue Ultra that my grandfather had for years when I was growing up. The fact that the car had a blower on it, made great power for the time, and that I got to drive it a time or two after I got my license means that these cars always have a soft spot with me.
The 1991 model year brought the supercharged engine to bear and it was a big upgrade, adding 35 horsepower to the party in the big luxury car. Those pillow-topped seats, the gauge package, the column shifter, all of it was making me smile while watching this video.
As it would turn out, that supercharged version of the 3800 V6 would become one of the most well used power plants in GM performance cars over the 1990s. You had Buicks, Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and Chevrolets with that engine over time. Interestingly, while millions of the engines were made, they are not really talked about much by hot rodders. We know some guys who have messed with them but we figured they’d be more popular in the aftermarket than they are.
Anyway, bounding down the road in this big car was fun back in the day and this MotorWeek review reminded me of Buicks, my grandfather, and the happiness that comes from driving anything with a blower on it.
