Fly Like a Bird! 1972 Buick Skylark
Buick adopted the Skylark (a species of bird) nameplate in the early 1950s and it would stick around for most of the rest of the 20th Century. It’s most commonly remembered as a mid-size car along the lines of the Chevy Chevelle, Olds Cutlass, and Pontiac LeMans. At 40,500 miles, this 1972 Skylark looks like a nice survivor that needs only minimal attention to be a nice weekend ride. Located in Parker, Colorado, this Buick is available here on eBay where $3,850 isn’t close to cracking the seller’s reserve.
GM’s intermediates would be redesigned in the Colonnade mold in 1973, so the 1972 models like the seller’s car were the last of a five-year run. Physically, the autos were little changed over the 1971 season, but the detuning process began to accelerate the lowering of emissions output. Thus, the standard 350 cubic inch V8 with a 2-barrel carburetor only produced 145 hp SAE net compared to the gross rating of 230 horses the year before. The standard Skylark had this engine, whereas the Skylark 350 and Skylark Custom both received 4-barrel carburetion.
The seller’s Skylark is the base model as is witness to a limited amount of exterior bling. It’s said to be a two-owner car that may be wearing Flame Orange paint, with a black vinyl top and matching interior. 18,620 copies of the standard coupe were built in 1972, compared to 70.918 Skylark 350s and 36,367 Customs. We’re told is an unmolested 51-year-old vehicle that runs well and only has a touch of rust. The interior looks as though it’s hardly been sat in.
Recent work on this Buick includes new brakes, shock absorbers, front-end bushings, a radiator, and a new battery. The machine should turn a lot of heads at Cars & Coffee as it represents an era of automobile transportation that we left in the rear-view mirror decades ago. To me, the Skylark was the most attractive of General Motors’ 1968-72 products.
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Comments
I had one in a medium metallic blue, with a black vinyl top and black interior. The factory A/C was so cold, the back window would frost in the summer. By the time I got it, it was 20 yrs old and had some rot, and had a bad camshaft. I was told it was common in those Buicks in those years, due to bad castings. It’s nice to see an original one of these in good shape. I hope it finds a good home.
I had a 1970 (back in 1977) and I had forgotten how little they changed for a few years. Would love to have this, but I wonder what kind of reserve he has on it.
I think this is a base model, without the wheel opening mouldings, and with exposed wipers. Front seat has been recovered, (the back seat has the correct pattern).
I like the colors, just in time for Halloween. A set of Buick Rallys would really set it off.
Another case of going cheap on the interior. The labor cost is the same to do the wrong vs the right materials, so how much does a person save by doing that? $100? $200? As someone who collected cars for nearly 50 years, one of the major decisions I factored into a purchase price was the cost of putting the interior right. This car faces an automatic expense to re-do what was already done once since the previous owner messed it up. An absolute waste of money. What else was compromised?
Had a 72 Malibu 350 so i always had a soft spot for these A-bodies. Plug wires look odd and do i see h.e.i. hope it finds a good home
The 70′ 350-2 gross hp was rated @ 260. From there based on the compression, the non-GS 350-4 rating was 280 and the GS 350-4 was 315.
Out of all of the GM Intermediate Models, I’ve always preferred the look of the Buick Skylark and GS, over Chevy,s Chevelle, Pontiac,s Tempest or GTO, Olds,s Cutlass or 442. And that Buick V8 Torque is some of the best from the Muscle Car era, Buick,s Stage 1 455 was probably the Best Engine for the Stoplight to Stoplight Drag Races back in the day.
I love all these G M A body cars of 1968-72 of Fisher body even though like all rest of these cars suffered rust in certain areas that now cost small fortune to fix or replace ;But still Love the body style of these years! And I guess they( G M) &Fisher body company we re not! expecting these cars to last 50 + years ?! Even a plane Jane like this Skylark is attractive nowadays w cloning so easily available $ & otherwise ?! But cloning maybe the only way to keep these cool!! classics running! they don’t build them like that anymore
I owned a 1968 red with black vinyl top back in 1976, and now own a 1971 GS 350 convertible black with black interior and white rag top, Buicks have always been a favorite of mine, this one is as plan as they get, but a clean car
These are/were great cars and in my area were plentiful and a bargain compared to the Chevelle. I bought a 70 GS convertible in 1984 for 400.00. The car was a fully loaded one right down to the little tissue box under the dash. I had other acquaintances that had these cars. I had bought new fenders and a wealth of items for mine from GM at the time, as there were tons of items still available new at bargain prices. Sadly my mother decided to take my car, since she rarely put fuel in hers and proceeded to hit a concrete divider dead on while she drove along eating whatever. As Kirk said to Spock,”He knew where to hit us”. She knew where to hit that one. The cars frame cross section was shoved into the oil pan which hemoraged all of its contents, shoved the engine upwards breaking the transmission case also. I cried over that one and made sure none of my vehicles ran while I was still stuck with her. The car is long gone its parts that never were still reside in the rafters…..oh well. As said above, why not buy the right interior kit. Even by today’s standards they are a bargain for this and many other vehicles of this Era. The gearhead throwback on this one is the flipped air breather lid, which may be a clue as to how the car has been treated recently. I think I would inspect this one in person before dumping a big bid on it and since it is not a high optioned car you do not want to get stuck in the sand.
Always good to see some Skylark love here. I love our ’69.