1972 Buick Electra 4 Door 43,110 Miles on 2040-cars

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Buick Cascada dies the death everyone expected

Four months ago, the Grim Reaper came for the Opel Cascada. Groupe PSA, which bought Opel from General Motors in 2017, announced the two-door convertible would be phased out. On sale here since 2016 as the Buick Cascada, GM told us it had nothing to say about PSA's announcement. On Friday, the U.S. automaker spoke up, telling Automotive News the droptop "has reached the end of its originally-planned lifecycle and 2019 will be the last model year offered. Dealers have been notified and many will have stock through the rest of this year." Buick paid big money to advertise its first convertible since the 1991 Reatta. Buick threw money at Super Bowls ads and a gaggle of celebrities two years in a row. And when sales began in 2016, Buick enlisted The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Ellie Kemper for a series of television and online spots. U.S. dealers have been instructed to file final orders this month, and production will continue at the factory in Poland until this summer. Yet the fact we're in February and dealers are predicted to have stock for the next ten months says everything necessary about the state of play. The brand sold roughly 17,000 units in three years, and both 2017 and 2018 saw sales declines of more than 25 percent. Buick didn't expect huge sales from the import, though, and the Cascada earned conquest buyers. A spokesman said, "The Cascada has played its role in the portfolio perfectly, outselling many other premium convertibles while bringing in [6 of every 10] buyers from outside GM." Last we heard, the LaCrosse ceases production next month. Unless the situation changes before the end of the year, Buick will have only the Regal on its passenger car books come 2020. GM will only have two convertibles in its portfolio worldwide, the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette. Related Video:

Junkyard Gem: 1973 Buick LeSabre Custom Hardtop Sedan

The steps on Alfred Sloan's "Ladder of Success," in which you'd start your career by buying a Chevrolet and then move up through the GM marques as your wealth increased, stayed rigidly fixed from the 1930s into the late 1960s. By the early 1970s, though, "prestige creep" among The General's divisions had set in, with lower-zoot marques leapfrogging their betters with ballooning price tags and snob appeal; a fully-loaded Chevy Caprice could cost more than an Olds 98, a Pontiac Bonneville could out-snoot a Buick LeSabre, and the LeSabre itself came to threaten mighty Cadillac at the top of the GM pyramid. Here's a fully depreciated '73 LeSabre Custom Hardtop Sedan, once the picture of Malaise Era opulence but now brought down to earth in a San Jose self-service car graveyard. The high-rollingest of all LeSabres in 1973 was the Custom (though shoppers for full-sized 1973 Buicks really wishing to rub the noses of their lessers in their success could opt for the even pricier Centurion or Electra 225), and that's what I found among the Achievas and Cateras of this yard's GM section. Wasps now nest in the rust holes caused by rainwater seeping beneath the padded vinyl roof, but this car once told the world, "I've made it!" It went without saying that your big, comfy Detroit luxury sedan had a big, comfy front bench seat; let those frivolous rakehells in their Rivieras have their bucket seats. Believe it or not, a three-on-the-tree column-shift manual transmission was still standard equipment on the lower-level Buick Century in 1973, but all LeSabre buyers enjoyed two-pedal luxury that year. Some junkyard shopper grabbed the massive 455-cubic-inch (7.5-liter) V8 — rated at 225 horsepower, due to Nixon's stricter emissions standards and the switch from gross to net horsepower ratings — before I got here. I'm guessing this car got driven into the ground by the early 2000s (there's a 2001 calendar inside) and then spent the next couple of decades bleaching in the harsh South Bay sun before arriving here. So good, shoppers bought them sight unseen!

7 major automakers to build open EV charging network

A new joint venture established by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis will build a new North American electric vehicle charging network on a scale designed to compete with Tesla's industry-benchmark Supercharger network. The 30,000-plus planned new chargers will accommodate both Tesla's almost-standard North American Charging System (NACS) and existing automakers' Combined Charging System (CCS) options, effectively guaranteeing compatibility with the vast majority of current and upcoming electric models — whether they're from one of the involved automakers or not.  "With the generational investments in public charging being implemented on the Federal and State level, the joint venture will leverage public and private funds to accelerate the installation of high-powered charging for customers. The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker using Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) and are expected to meet or exceed the spirit and requirements of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program." Critically, the automakers involved will have a say in how the charging tech is implemented, guaranteeing that the hardware will play nicely with each automaker's in-house charging systems. Hyundai and Kia, for example, were hesitant to jump on board the Tesla NACS bandwagon earlier this year over concerns that the Supercharger network is insufficient for powering the two automakers' 800-volt charging systems; similar tech is used by Volkswagen and Porsche.  In addition to providing much-needed capacity and high-output charging for America's growing fleet of electric cars and trucks, the new network will integrate seamlessly with each automaker's in-app and in-vehicle features, rather than forcing customers to use third-party tools and payment systems, as is the case with some existing public charging infrastructure.  "The functions and services of the network will allow for seamless integration with participating automakersÂ’ in-vehicle and in-app experiences, including reservations, intelligent route planning and navigation, payment applications, transparent energy management and more. In addition, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology to further enhance the customer experience," the announcement said.