My 97 Buick Park Avenue

Check out this one near me. They want $8000 from the dealer. Has been sitting there for almost a year. Won't budge on price. I'd kill to have this car to finish off the black Buick fleet.

Nice ride Tyler. That is one mean exhaust! Haha.

Great job on the interior, what did you use for paint? I hate wood trim myself and I'm looking to remove it from the Riv soon.

I wonder how the stock wheels from an Ultra would look on a Riv? Like the ones from the pic Rick just posted. Hmmm.

DEMonte1997 wrote:

I'd kill to have this car to finish off the black Buick fleet.

I'd be envious.......

DEMonte1997 wrote:

Looks really good Tyler! Love that exhaust setup.

thanks rick, i really like how it came out. its a little loud but it doesnt bother me, im just glad its not raspy like a lot of gtps i think having more room to work with helps a lot.

BMD wrote:

ParkAvenues are sharp looking cars in my opinion. Especially when you see one in person, so you can walk around it and appreciate all the lines. I personally prefer two doors, but I'd say for a 19 yr old, you have good taste. Nice job on the mods too. Actually, my dad has a PA, it drives very similarly to the Riv and if I needed four doors, thats what I would buy.

i feel the same about the riv lol, if i needed 2 doors id be in a riv years before a gtp considering that regals are only 4 doors too

DEMonte1997 wrote:

Check out this one near me. They want $8000 from the dealer. Has been sitting there for almost a year. Won't budge on price. I'd kill to have this car to finish off the black Buick fleet.

that would be sick, you would have the ultimate ride collection. not only would you have that collection but it would be the murdered out version. i have really been looking for a black park avenue, ultra or not, ever since i had to take the tint off. if i could find one for a good enough deal i would have 2 park avenues but since thats not likely i would probably end up selling my current park ave with rims and all.

VJD2 wrote:

Nice ride Tyler. That is one mean exhaust! Haha.

Great job on the interior, what did you use for paint? I hate wood trim myself and I'm looking to remove it from the Riv soon.

I wonder how the stock wheels from an Ultra would look on a Riv? Like the ones from the pic Rick just posted. Hmmm.

for the wood trim, ive tried a few types of paint that all ended up looking like shit (and still kind of do). i tried krylon fusion that cracked as soon as it dried and looked horrible. then i sanded that down and used "camouflage" flat black (made by either rustoleum or krylon i cant remember) it still has a few small cracks but i think it might be still from the first coat of krylon fusion.
the new stuff that i just posted up was done with duplicolor vinyl and fabric coating, i know the dash is plastic but it worked really good and retained the texture of the original dash extremely well. now that the 2 pieces look different i think i might have to sand the woodgrain down again and hit it with some of that vinyl and fabric coating and see how it looks.

Great, thanks for the tip.

as some of you may or may not know, i had to take my tint off and put the front plate on. i didnt care to post any pictures of it cause i hate the way it looks, but i caught this nice sky at the usual spot.

Nice pics, great sky.

thanks, i really hate how it looks with no tint. you cant really tell in these pictures too much but i have to see it every day.

Fix the rust, on the doors. Then she will look, cherry!!!

Ya, it definitely looks better with the tint on. Was it not legal?

flyineagle96 wrote:

Fix the rust, on the doors. Then she will look, cherry!!!

im workin on it, i would really like to get the whole car painted though, the rear 1/4 is already a different color

nothincame2mind wrote:

Ya, it definitely looks better with the tint on. Was it not legal?

it was illegal, in my current sig pic i had 20% all around. i got too many tickets with that so i took the front tint off and left the rest. they left me alone for a while so i put 35% on the front, a layer of 35% over the 20% still on the back, and 2 layers of the 35% over the 20% on the rear 1/4 windows. that was fine for a while and then i started getting hassled hardcore again. i finally said screw it and took the ticket to court along with the front license plate issue. long story short the judge said i was very well prepared and proved my points, but he cant change the law. so basically, take the tint off and put the front plate on, or have $785 worth of fines. if im caught with illegal tint or no front plate in the next year, even if its not my car, i get automatic 60 days in jail. so i took everything off but what they cant test (rear 1/4s and rear windshield). MN tint laws suck, but hopefully i can get some 50% and with the back windows still blacked out it might look a bit darker.

Finally got some eibachs a couple weeks ago and i threw them in last night at work. I dont have any good before pictures besides what i took with my phone last night.

Rear before:


Rear eibachs only:



Rear eibachs and stock fronts before:




Front and rear eibachs:




After the suspension settled from pulling out:


Sorry for the cell phone pics but i dont have a computer right now. I will take more pictures in a few days when the springs really settle. Im going to have to see if the 20s will still fit lol

How's she handle?

So far so good, im leaving the winter tires on until i see how much more it drops. Its noticeably stiffer from just getting into the car, to the way in handles bumps and corners, it a completely different car handling-wise. I have an stb in the mail from an sts and hopefully a front addco bar soon, that should stiffen the front enough to make it feel really nice. Im waiting to see how long these sensa-tracs are going to last lowered, lol.

I really like it !!! You've done a great job...something to be proud of.

That looks awesome! Really want to bite the bullet and get them for my ride just don't have any $$ comin in. :/

DEMonte1997 wrote:

That looks awesome! Really want to bite the bullet and get them for my ride just don't have any $$ comin in. :/

Trust me rick, i waited forevever to get a set of these and it was well worth the wait. The only thing i regret is not getting the front addco bar first but that will just have to be one of the next things on my list.

Glad to here she handles good.Try some wheel spacers and a set of 235 or 245 tires,that should make for great handling,that's what i did........

Already got some 245s on the 20s. Im not sure if theyre going to fit though even without spacers. We just got snow so im going to have to wait another week or so to see.

They will fit if the middle number is 55 or less!!!

245/35/20
They are bigger than my 16s and ive had them barely rub already so i guess we wont know until i try

I suppose i can post a few pics from a few days after, they havent settled much more since these pictures that were taken on thursday. I was just going to wait to take a few pics with the summer wheels but as you can see in one of the pics im about to post we got some snow on friday. It all melted saturday and i was about to put the summer wheels on, but im glad i didnt because we got more snow sunday and its snowing again today. Sorry again for the cellphone pics.

A 19 y/o is supposed to drive a car with a column shifter & bench seat, which he has. Also a 4 door sedan is almost guaranteed to have substantially lower insurance than a 2 door. Considering how insane rates are for a 19 y/o guy, I'd say a PA is a great choice.

I like what you've done with the black dash. Did you black out the grille ?
Also, a big boouuuu-urns on the pack of smokes.

Jason wrote:

A 19 y/o is supposed to drive a car with a column shifter & bench seat, which he has. Also a 4 door sedan is almost guaranteed to have substantially lower insurance than a 2 door. Considering how insane rates are for a 19 y/o guy, I'd say a PA is a great choice.

I like what you've done with the black dash. Did you black out the grille ?
Also, a big boouuuu-urns on the pack of smokes.

Yea i blacked out the dash with duplicolors vinyl and fabric paint.
Boouuuu-urns? Lol

Got my STB in a couple days ago and put it in this morning. Ive only driven with it for a few hours but so far its the best handling mod < $60 that i know of. I didnt need any washers to clear the master cylinder and i still have plenty of room to spare. I did have to elongate the holes a bit but it wasnt a big deal. Thanks guys, great mod!