A rare Buick prototype will cross the auction block in Chicago, USA in mid-October. The seller claims only three such vehicles were built in total, but two others were Chevrolet-badged and were ultimately crushed. Pricing and details are unknown.
The car was made 20 years ago, with a tall body, quite an unusual exterior for Buicks of that era and an original interior. It looks like the carmaker – which was mainly producing large sedans in the early 2000s – wanted to see if it could also accommodate an affordable five-door family hatch in its lineup. This is all conjecture, though, because the company itself never commented on the vehicle.
The seller claims the prototype is in good driving condition with a 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine on board mated to a five-speed manual transmission. It even has air conditioning inside.
The listing mentions that the car had been kept in an enclosed space for 18 years. Despite this, and it not being street-legal, someone somehow managed to put 239 kilometers (148 miles) on it.
Interestingly enough, both the speedometer and the odometer of the allegedly U.S.-made car display kilometers instead of miles. This could be due to the prototype having been co-developed with Fiat: Buick had common projects with the Italian company two decades ago.