All General Motors A-body intermediates were redesigned in 1968. Of those cars, the Skylarks fielded by Buick were perhaps the most stylish (which makes sense as they were also the fanciest). Particularly in the outward V-shape, where the rear clips are used. The seller has a 1968 Skylark Sport Coupe with a 350 cubic inch V8, which hasn’t run for nearly 30 years due to a frozen engine. So, most of the buyer’s focus will be on getting the car moving again. Located in Long Island, New York, this survivor/project is available here on craigslist for $7,500.
For the third generation of the Skylark (1968 to 1972), 2-door models used a wheelbase four inches shorter than that of the 4-door variants. This worked well with the quasi-fastback styling of the new automobiles. Base Skylark Sport Coupes saw production of just under 33,000 units, while the Custom series came in at 44,000 copies. The seller doesn’t indicate what this car is, but being a Skylark, a V8 engine was standard fare (the inline-6 was saved for the more austere Buick Special).
This Buick has resided in the seller’s neighbor’s garage since Y2K. It had 72,000 miles on the odometer when something apparently went wrong and was never addressed. It’s a very original car that has traces of surface rust on the floorboards, but the photos of the undercarriage show things to be crustier. The seller bought the car to restore because the body, paint, and interior were in such nice shape, but as is often the case, there is no time to properly devote to the machine.
The 350 V8 is locked up, and there are brake issues, so this is where the work begins for the buyer. If you can get it going again, the rest of the car may be left to detailing. Hopefully, the engine won’t be ruined since the vehicle is numbers-matching. The seller will entertain trades (what kind?), but cash is always king. As the ads used to say, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” Oh, and this is a tip brought to us by “Zen”.
There actually wasn’t a lot of difference between the ’67 and ’68 Skylark. The ’68 models looked a little bloated compared to the ’67 models.
Are you sure that’s a 350 engine? I ran into that more than once when I worked for GM. The 340 was the first non-Nailhead engine and it was produced from ’65 to ’68. The ’69 models were revised to 350. At least that’s the information I have.
The reason I say this is that a customer came in with a car very similar to this one, for an engine rebuild, and we all (including the customer) thought it was a 350. Once we pulled it out and tore it down, we realized that it was a 340.
I’ve seen a lot of hard blocks but to this day the Buick 340 was the hardest block I’ve ever come across. 110,000 miles and the wear was negligible. Might have had .002″ on (2) holes; the other six showed more irregularities in the surface of the cylinders than taper.
Honed it with the Sunnen hone and I explained to the customer that it for the first couple thousand miles it was probably going to burn as much oil as it did before the overhaul.
It did and the guy complained about it. But it eased off (and so did he), and it became a very tight engine for as long as that car remained in our part of the world.
motor is locked up. i see a possible rust through on 1 floor pan. body is solid looking as is the moldy interior. the fact it needs a motor unless you have 1 laying around which i have 3 by chance that will set you back at least 1500.00 and whatever else it needs. this is a good 3k project not 7500.00. no mention of ownership paper either which may or may not be a problem.