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Because General Motors felt that the world — or at least Michigan and maybe Wisconsin — needed a small, affordable personal luxury coupé with a digital instrument cluster, rackety pushrod four-cylinder engine, and a name that started life as the designation for an early-’80s Regal trim package, the 1985-87 Buick Somerset, sibling to the N-Body Pontiac Grand Am, was born. I have an unexplainable fascination with The General’s attempts to compete with high-end German sporty luxury in the 1980s and 1990s, so I was drawn to this California Somerset like a personal-injury attorney scenting an Accord driver with Takata airbag fragments embedded in his flesh.
Somerset buyers could get an optional 3.0-liter V6 making 125 horsepower, but the standard engine was the 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-banger, a sturdy-but-primitive engine based on one bank of the Pontiac 301 V8. The Iron Duke would have been a fine powerplant for a Soviet irrigation pump, but it seemed out-of-place on an alleged luxury coupé.
The coolest thing about the Somerset was this odd pod-mounted radio perched atop the HVAC controls. If a Somerset owner, weary of Delco sound optimized for Dream Academy, felt like upgrading to more modern audio gear … well, tough luck!
According to the ’86 Somerset brochure, “new fabric will be found in the Somerset Custom and an extraordinary velour cloth in the Limited.” Since this is a Custom, we are looking at the “new fabric” in this photograph.
Standard on all Somersets (as well as many other 1980s Detroit cars) was a headliner that fell down and had to be re-attached with staples, thumbtacks, or simply tied in a knot to keep the cloth from blocking the driver’s vision.
The second-coolest Somerset feature was this classy hood ornament.
Gimme savvy! Gimme cool! Gimme a car that breaks all the rules! The only place to get cheesier False Rock in this era was within a Cavalier ad.
The car of choice for sexy lawyers late for an arms-for-hostages negotiation with Adnan Khashoggi.
[Images: © 2016 Murilee Martin/The Truth About Cars]
are you sure you’re not confusing this with the Pontiac “Trophy 4” from the ’60s, which was literally a 389 with one bank excised?
This is the descendant of the 1977 Iron Duke, which is based on the lightweight Pontiac 301 v8.
I can’t find anything which confirms that. I guess I could see it if it uses the same pistons and valve gear and has the same bore spacing, but it’s a unique block and head.
It was launched alongside the “new” downsized 301 V8 in 1977, directly sharing pistons, rods, rings, and assorted small components. The 301 was already a pretty big deviation from previous Pontiac V8’s, with smaller bore spacing and a shorter deck among other small changes.
The iron duke might not be as bad of a hack job as the Tempest 4-cylinder, but it’s definitely half a 301.
The 301 was only in production for a few years, though, and is completely forgettable, so any practical parts sharing between the more common Pontiac V8’s and Iron Duke derivatives is pretty much impossible.
Hemmings has some limited information. The best source of info on them, though, is the guys who build racing & boating versions of them.
Digital everything … crank windows.
The epitome of 80s GM.
This looks far too much like the Riviera of the period. Which tells me not that the Somerset was too nice, but that the Riviera was too crap.
The T-type 1986 Riv looked cool though.
“If a Somerset owner, weary of Delco sound optimized for Dream Academy, felt like upgrading to more modern audio gear … well, tough luck!”
Not much different from today’s model-specific “infotainment systems” is it?
So maybe GM was ahead of its time. Who knew?
There were some weird ones during this period. My favorite was my roommate’s ’81 Liftback Corolla (one of the cars that cemented the Corolla’s impossible to kill reputation for me, because he actively tried to kill it for years). The radio was in a big plastic pod that swiveled from driver to passenger. For visibility, I guess.
http://images.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/04/09-1981-Toyota-Corolla-Down-On-the-Junkyard-Pictures-courtesy-of-Phil-Murilee-Martin-Greden-550×412.jpg
I was fascinated by these too, particularly with the performance handling package and its wide for the time 60 series tires, and the Buick Riviera of the same year, which pretty much looked exactly like this.
Awesome. My first car was an ’85 Olds Calais Supreme sister to this car. Mine had the 3.0 V6 and 3spd slushbox, completely non functional powerseats and windows. Many fond memories!
I was amazed that these cars were relatively popular back in the ’80s. Another example of the beancounters controlling the offerings of GM and what that eventually lead to in 2009.
Living through that time, I was also amazed that these things [GM sedans] were so numerous. So many consumers must just adore mediocrity and substandard build quality.
I know somebody who bought the Calais version, new, with the 5 speed manual transmission. It ended its days in a Denver area scrapyard just a couple years ago. The only thing worse than a horrible unreliable car is a horrible car that won’t die.
I always thought the Calais versions were the best-looking of the bunch, particularly in International Series garb in 1989-90. The Grand Am SE and its monochrome paint scheme was also pretty good-looking.
I’d rather have a Calais than this, certainly.
Ugh, you reminded me that I need to figure out what to do with my (2006) GTO’s sagging headliner.
Brings me back to the days of trying to fix my (1990) Sunbird’s – I found blue staples to match the outside paint.
My sister used upholstery tacks for the sagging headliner on our hand-me-down Celebrity. She made a pleasant loose pillow pattern.
In today’s episode of What Did Women Do Before Pinterest…
I really can’t tell the difference between these and a Skylark. Weren’t they even sold at the same time?
Is the black grille one in the ad a T-Type?
Why is the secretary married to the ferry boat captain?
So confuse.
I believe Somerset was renamed Skylark in 2009. I wonder if Sammy Hagar tried to sue Buick’s ad agency for using his voice likeness in that ad?
2009, eh? I don’t think there were Somersets OR Skylarks in 2009.
Sorry I meant 1988. But what happened was Buick brought out a 4door in ’86 and called it Skylark, replacing the last X-car. The Somerset name never caught on so they were all called Skylark from ’88-’97.
The 2-door came out first with the Somerset Regal name. The next year a 4-door appeared with the Skylark name, and the 2-door kept the Somerset name.
Black was probably a T-Type. Most of these had chrome grilles.
Ah, so at this time there was no two door Skylark model. That’s what had confused me.
The Somerset Regal was actually a optional trim package available on the G-Body Regal coupe from 80-84. It consisted of a 2-tone paint scheme usually brown and tan with a tan velour interior with navy blue piping. Very of the time, so to speak.
My dad, a Biuck man, considered one for a few hours and test drove it in ’85. He bought a Mercury Marquis Brougham.
Heeeeeyyy! I resemble that remark.
I live in Wisconsin. These were not rare. My brother had one (come to think of it, I think his was a gray 4-door Skylark, not this coupe. But I digress.) He bought it used in ’91 for maybe $3000 or so, he was about 20 at the time. It had the four, but nonetheless was a nice looking car for the time, and the interior was not the worst place in the world to be. Certainly a lot more pleasant than a Corsica, anyway.
Unfortunately he was not the most careful sort with his cars and he ended up totaling the thing maybe two years after he got it…
Stranded between a LeSabre 3800 and a Northstar Deville. Not deserving of such lofty company. This one is also a weird combination of clean and dirty. Seats and dash panel? Very clean. Buttons around radio? Filthy. And those broken light lenses likely didn’t all happen at once, so the owner never bothered.
The t-type version of this car was nice for the time…
I’ve never seen that CD player before, people usually went for the tape deck. It seems silly and confusing that they would double up the radio preset buttons with the balance/fader controls.
What CD player? It’s just a radio, not even a tape deck.
EDIT: Nvm I see it down there. Unusual to select in a base model Buick in 86.
Yeah, GM had that weird fetish with separate tape decks in the late ’80s.
http://images.usedcarsgroup.com/1988-buick-regal-denver-co-8848181146252094754-5.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTaC7A38YkrmGxQLcWaZZ3urkNHvGJ6uHeSX7T_SJxhQAOf8Myr
I think that IS a tape deck. Just one of those goofy GM ones where you stick the tape in longitudinally.
Mercedes had that too.
My cousin had one of these, I believe an MY87. They were such crap.
At the time I could not figure out what either Somerset was supposed to accomplish. Japanese brands barely had any penetration to our socio-economic cadre, Europeans had none whatsoever. Expensive oddities for the odd rich uncle, maybe. Some of our friends spoke longingly of wanting a Somerset, but when pressed could not explain why. Among my friends, “no V-8, no care” was the prevailing view.
These cars debuted just a couple of years before I had a driver’s license…and I wanted one BAD. I was head over heels for this, the Grand Am, and the Calais. Finally, in 1995, I fulfilled my craving with the purchase of 1990 Grand Am. That Tech 4 “Iron Duke” was a noisy, raspy little thing, and the interior quality was pitiful, but it was the car’s exterior *style* that always had me beaming and proud.
dude, you beat me to the Iron Duke comment!
I still can’t believe GM had the balls to call that thing “Tech 4.” I used to giggle when Car & Driver would cheekily call it the “Lo-Tech 4.”
Horrid engine…but they did last, I’ll say that for them.
I do believe that’s our old friend the Iron Duke under the hood.
A friend of had one of these…in a freakin’ Camaro. With an automatic. Awe inspiring.
N Bodies gets no love. Figures.
Guess I’m the odd man out, I always liked the Calais, and still have a W41 Calais high at the top of my bucket list.
Any who, growing up as a kid who’s family managed a large used car dealership certainly had its perks. I could get my hands on any of the cars I wanted (within reason), and seems like every few weeks, we had new “demos” in the family to drive. One of which being a late 80’s N-Body Grand Am (GT…?), which was that deep maroon/burgundy color with the color-matched alloys (any one remember those?). At the time (myself being all of 8 or 9), I thought it was pretty dammed cool. Come to think of it, for the life of me, I guess they’ve all been crushed a long time ago. I haven’t seen one of those in ages.
As far as the Somerset goes, an old friend of mine’s boyfriend picked up a Somerset a few years ago with pretty-well-shot flat gray paint for roughly $300. It finally kicked the bucket not too long ago. It always surprised me that it had a digital cluster despite being such a P.O.S.
I absolutely remember the color keyed rims of the SE, arguably the hottest version of the N. The 1987-88 versions had the sprightly 2 liter turbo four from the Sunbird GT as a rare option but most had the 3.0 liter V-6. 1989 and up SEs had one of the Quad 4s – H.O. for manual and the regular one for automatics.
In the early ’90s they offered an LE with the W32 package that had most of the SE’s goodies but without ABS and the body colored wheels. The GT effectively replaced the SE as the hot model with the 1992 restyle.
All Ns got restyled that year to squeeze a few more years out of them. I always thought the 1992 Skylark GS was a hot looking car and considered buying one, but it had no go. If it had had the hot Quad 4 and a manual, I’d have been more likely to have pulled the trigger.
I feel like I know GM products pretty well, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen one of these on the road in my entire life.
One of the garbage cars that helped to sink GM. Worthless and cheaply built. Although the cloth seats wore well.
Still wearing its blue plates!
You know, the wacky Skylark that replaced this thing was at least INTERESTING.
Styling inspired by the 39 Buick, one of my favorites. Horrible car though.
I know, I owned one!
With those built-in side skirts and angular rear end, those 1992 Skylarks harkened back to the ’68-69 Buick Specials. I thought they looked particularly good in two tone, with that grey bottom and turquoise or blue top. But while the Achieva SCX and Grand Am GT got the hot (for the time) H.O. Quad Four and 5-speed, the GS was saddled with the pedestrian 3.3 liter V-6 and automatic.
Interesting? Certainly…but this is THE worst dash. Ever.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/1992-instrument-panel.jpg
Is that actually the production dash!?
I admit it hasn’t aged well, particularly in that unflattering whorehouse red, but I remember it was befitting of the swoopy nature of the exterior styling.
Yea, now it looks like it was penned by someone who dropped two tabs of LSD and stared at a fan for 8 hours but, back then, it looked like what we thought the future was supposed to look like. I also recall looking with satisfaction at how that auto shift knob turned subtly to hand.
It was even worse after 20 years of warping and self destruction.
Probably looked like a cooked piece of bacon in there!
Pretty much.
The top part of the dash had come unglued and curled up like a tortilla chip and the rest of the dash warped and buckled so bad that the radio/HVAC control panel was barely attached.
Which I’m sure the acid baked interior designer took into account! Kind of like a Dali thing.
What would everyone say is the modern-day equivalent to this Somerset?
I say Acura ILX.
As in FWD coupe with minor luxury tendencies?
Accord Coupe.
I meant more in a “quasi-premium, mostly badge-engineered car aimed at young people, from a near-luxury nameplate that is on its last days of riding on its past reputation.”
Your query is so specific it only has one answer. No fun.
@sckid213: Cadillac ATS.
The Accord coupe has the advantage of the owner expecting (and getting) a very reliable and economical vehicle. A Somerset would keep you wondering how soon the next cheap part would break.
About 12 different CUVs.
The 85-89 Grand Am coupe was quite popular in the suburb of NYC where I grew up. The SE model with the handling package and alloy wheels was the one to buy probably because the price point was below a Firebird. For some reason they were usually driven by college or just graduated women who had “big hair’ shoulder pads and some hair metal band cassette in the player.
The Calais and Somerset/Skylark seemed to appeal to a older demographic.
Was there anything GM didn’t try to stuff an Iron Duke (or some variant) in to? One of my Omegas had one. It was in a co-worker’s Camaro. And I believe an ex’s GMC Jimmy. They seem, at times, to be ubiquitous with Junk Yard Find.
Their plan was that the new corporate 60º V6es were going to go into everything, but then dealers demanded 4-cylinders. And which 4-cylinder shared a bellhousing with the 60º V6? Good old Iron Duke.
A co-worker had one in ’99. It was so weird to me that such a rusted-out POS had a digital dash right out of Knight Rider. Rust killed it in early 2000, but the dash still worked.
I’d have figured the dash would have been the first thing to go.
Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?
I believe the Iron Duke was based upon the Chevy II 4 cylinder but shared pistons with the 301. I also believe the N bodies originally were meant to replace the G body coupes (Grand Prix, Cutlass Supreme, and Regal), but GM changed plans as the older coupes still sold so well and gas prices declined in the 1980’s.
One of my gym coaches in middle school had a blue/silver 88 Cutlass-Calais 2-door with all the options & a brown 83 Mercury Capri. He always parked parallel with the gym doors & the Olds always had the both windows down. I think the Calais was his wife’s car that he inherited through marriage but I thought it looked edgier at the time vs. the bubble-hatch Capri. Nowadays I think the Capri was probably the better-built car.
The iron duke has nothing in common with any pontiac V8. The block was a virtual carbon copy of the 60’s Chevy11 4 cylinder, it even used the chevy straight 6 – V8 bellhousing until 1982, at which point they switched to the 60% V6 bellhousing so that they could stick with one transmission while offering both engines in the front wheel drive cars. Other than that the main difference between the iron duke and the chevy11 engine were that the duke used a crossflow head. In the early 60’s pontiac did try sawing the 389 in half, and to say that engine was a disaster would be putting it kindly.
There was a guy 3 or 4 yrs my senior who spent a fortune integrating an alpine amp and subwoofer with that goofy OEM stereo.
One of my buddies had a turbo Pontiac variant of this model. It was a convertible in red/red. Seemed quick to me.I think it was only a 3spd auto though. It was much better looking than the oldsmabuick version.
In 1986 GM sedans suddenly looked modern. The baroque styling of the late 70s disappeared overnight, which was a good thing.