Buick Lucerne

As we prepare to flip our calendars from 2011 to 2012, it's time to say goodbye to a handful of vehicles that are being sent to the Great Parking Lot In The Sky before the 2012 model year completely takes hold. And while we're not exactly upset about having to bid farewell to things like the Mitsubishi Endeavor, Mazda Tribute or Chevrolet HHR, there are a few vehicles that we're truly going to miss.

The stereotype of elderly drivers preferring Lincolns and Buicks has to come from somewhere. TrueCar.com took a look at the past two years of car sales to buyers at least 65 years old and found a couple common threads. The first thing these buyers are looking for is familiarity. The nameplates and vehicle types that were popular when these buyers were younger rank high with senior buyers, kind of the same way people's musical preferences get frozen in time.

Buick sales are leading the pack in General Motors' push to gain customers from other brands, pulling in an impressive 40 percent of its sales from other manufacturers' customer bases. To keep the trend going, Buick brass say they need to continue to convince people that Buick doesn't just make retiree barges anymore.

A creative Buick dealer is celebrating the brand's performance in J.D. Power's 2007 Vehicle Dependability Study that was released yesterday, in which it tied Lexus for the top spot, by putting together an amusing little viral that stars the Buick Lucerne CST SEMA concept from 2006. The car was prepared by Stainless Steel Brakes Corp. of Clarence, NY, and was one of many Lucernes GM sent to the show last year. You can see the full inventory of upgrades along with the aforementioned video created