1968 Skylark Custom Convertible

My grandfather bought this car new from Wilcoxson Buick-Cadillac-GMC as a good car for my mom to drive back and forth to college in and he eventually gave it to her as a graduation present. My grandfather was a Buick loyalist, having owned only Buicks (once he could afford them) and one Opel Manta throughout his life; he wasn't going to buy her anything other than a Buick as her first car, no matter how much she wanted a Ford Mustang. He did give her a choice of air conditioning or a convertible, and, luckily for me, being college age, she obviously chose the convertible.

It's a Custom and has the Buick 350 V8. In the 70s my dad did a little work on the engine to make the car a little more reliable and go a little quicker. This included adding an electronic ignition with Accel HEI Super Coil and going to a dual exhaust. He replaced the sock fan for a high volume fiberglass fan to solve an overheating problem when the car was stopped in traffic. The Skylark also suffered multiple Earl Scheib resprays; first going metallic green, then a very brief time in purple (During the first car wash the purple paint peeled off in sheets. My dad took it back, since it was “guaranteed,” but they told him that the paint was guaranteed to retain its shine, not stay on the car.), and then a close to original metallic blue (this one not by Earl). That is how I knew the car in the early 80s, a metallic blue beauty.

In the mid-80s my parents decided they were going to sell the Buick and opt for a more practical car for their young family, which now included an adorable 4-year old (me) and an annoying baby (my brother). Apparently I was close to tears when I found out, saying in no uncertain terms that it was “the coolest car ever.” My parents caved and decided to hold onto the car. It remained a daily driver for the next 10-years that I regularly requested as my ride to school. At just over 100K miles, my dad had the engine rebuilt and in 1996 it became my first car.

About mid-way through high school I was able to afford to get it stripped down to bare metal and repainted to its original color, Aqua Mist. I replaced the carpet, the convertible top, and had the front seat reupholstered to match original. The rest of the interior is all original. I bought quite a bit from the now defunct Postons; I put on an aluminum intake manifold and replaced the 2-barrel Rochester with a 4-barrel Edelbrock. She's got pretty good get up and go. About 5-years ago I bought a set of rally wheels on e-bay to replace the chrome “custom” wheels I put on in high school (I would have kept the original wheels, but with new radial tires the hubcaps had a nasty habit of venturing off on their own when you hit a bump and my mom had lost one on the highway).

It stayed a daily driver through my high school days, but has only been driven as a good weather car since I went to college. It spent most of its life in Colorado, but I did drive it out to Seattle (lived there for 7-years) and in 2013 it made the return 1500-mile trip in the dead of winter without any issues. Now she goes out whenever the weather permits.

She's got about 165K miles on her now and there are still plenty of little jobs to do; I need to do the brakes, I'm working on replacing a trim piece that got lost during one of those paint jobs (DVAP should be sending me one any day now), the steering wheel is cracked and needs replacing, etc. However, she's a great reliable car; really like a member of the family.

I’m sure this post falls into the realm of TLDR, but everyone likes pictures, so here are a few:

Well, I'm not good figuring out TLDR, but if it has any reference to boring, it does not apply to this thread! That is a great story, and an excellent car! Mom did good opting for the convertible and I don't mind if you tell her I said so. I like that you got the Rally wheels for the period. I had later ones on my 69 GS and it was a PIA getting the rear ones off and on. I now have the right ones and it works much better.

On a side not, I see the leak behind the master cylinder. And what appears to be a new MC. Was the old one leaking and that's just residual seepage? Or is the new one not quite right?

Anyway, great car, and welcome again.

Yeah, sorry for the ambiguous text speak (my wife is rubbing off on me); TLDR is shorthand for "Too Long: Didn't Read."

Good eye on the master cylinder, it is a very recent replacement. The old master cylinder was visibly leaking pretty badly. I also had issues with the breaks pulling under hard breaking, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left. It turned out that the right front cylinder was leaking and, depending on how long the car had been sitting, would depend on which direction it pulled. If it sat for a while the right drum would get corroded and grab more than the left, but if I drove it more regularly the break fluid would make the right drum slip and grab less than the left. I ended up replacing both front cylinders, putting on new pads all around, getting the drums turned for the front, and replacing the master cylinder. I am hoping that the leaking is just residual from the old master cylinder, but suspect that it's not and the new cylinder is leaking; I will have to keep monitoring it and see.

Also managed to get the replacement trim piece installed.

The replacement piece isn't from a convertible. On the convertible you can't get access to the underside, so instead of a front stud, like the one on the hardtop trim, it had a hook. My solution was to use some double sided trim tape at the front edge and just secure the back nut. That should be alright...at least until I track down the appropriate convertible trim piece.

Although the chrome strips look good, I'm glad the 69 does not have those. I'm not fond of having holes in the sheet metal on the horizontal surfaces. especially blind holes. Did you put any sealer over the holes before installation of the strips?

Nice car and great story!

John, I did not think to put sealer on the holes before putting the trim on, but that might be added to my list of things to do. It's rare for it to see any rain in Colorado (300 days of sunshine a year), but Seattle was a little different; I used to towel it off when I got home though. Also perused some of your photos of your '69 GS, very nice looking car...kind of wished my mom had been able to talk my grandfather into GS, or even a Colorado GS (though I don't think Wilcoxson sold the Colorado GS).

Very nice looking Skylark! I also had a 68 Skylark convertible for my first car. Glad your family kept yours for you

Thanks for the compliment Brent. On my station wagon roof rack, I put a dab of Permetex in each hole before the screws. Just enough to seal and help hold the screws from loosening. I'm sure we will run into more rain in Missouri than you have in Colorado. I have not been to a BCA National Meet yet where it was completely dry.