This 1965 Buick Skylark has been used sparingly, as it has a claimed 46,395 original miles. The 2nd owner purchased the Skylark from the estate of the original owner in Ohio and promptly moved the car to Utah. Looking for a “show and sunny day” cruiser, the current (3rd) owner then relocated the car to Michigan. I’m not sure if there aren’t many car shows or even fewer sunny days in Michigan, but the current owner has added only a little over 1,300 miles to the odometer during their 16 years of ownership. Barn Finds reader local_sheriff sent in this Skylark they found here on eBay. Located in Troy, Michigan, 17 bids have sent the current price to $8,851.
The seller doesn’t offer a lot of detail on the condition of this Skylark, but the exterior looks to present quite well. One possible partial repaint is indicated, but the Arctic White paint appears to shine. There aren’t any close-ups, but all trim looks bright and the body appears straight and rust free. The white convertible top looks to be in line with the exterior condition of the rest of the car. This is the kind of car that can be driven confidently without much fear of compromising its originality or ruining a high end repaint.
Red interior seems to be polarizing. I’m on the “like” side of the aisle, but I’ve gathered that’s the less popular side. Regardless of the color, I think we can all agree that this interior looks largely unused. Again, little detail leads to more questions, like “Is it original?” While I can’t answer that, I can say it looks to be in great shape. The bench seat and column-shifted automatic transmission keep with the simple theme of this car.
A 300-cubic inch V8 powers this Skylark. The automatic transmission was upgraded to a 3-speed in the late 90s. Other upgrades include a 4-barrel carburetor and aluminum radiator. The engine bay has been kept pretty clean, but a through engine detail would go a long way here.
While all we really know about the 3 previous owners of this 1965 Buick Skylark is they were all able to resist the urge to drop the top and make this a dedicated warm weather cruiser, a conclusion supported by the claimed 46,395 original miles. I’ll assume they all were also proud owners, as this car appears to be in great shape. If you were the 4th owner of this Skylark, would you continue those legacies?…or blaze your own path with it?
What a sweetheart this is, hey? Right size, beautiful styling, bullet proof mechanicals, ragtop with red interior, Mag 500’s, if this car doesn’t do anything for you, that’s too bad. One of my favorite Buicks. I all but guarantee, you’ll have a crowd around it at any show, it’s just that nice.
I’m with Howard on this one. Gorgeous car. Looks like someone upgraded the brakes with a dual master too. That’d save someone the work. Interesting to see how far it goes…..
Agree. Very nice car. Looks like she’s sitting pretty high up in the air though.
Sitting up high was my first impression as well. The engine bay is very clean, just not overdone with high gloss detailing spray. Also note the modern HEI distributor.
I get the idea that this car has been owned by an intelligent person – upgraded master cylinder and ignition, nothing overdone, no ‘clown shoe’ wheels and tire. Having suffered with a GM product with the points you adjusted with an allen wrench (and they never stayed set for long) I think the HEI is an excellent upgrade. This is a car I could take very seriously if I were in the market for one.
If not a red interior, then what color? I hope not ‘black’. 3/4 of the car interiors in the world are black or charcoal gray, and what gets hot faster in the sun (like a convertible interior with the top down) than black upholstery? Red is fine. Turquoise or some two tone arrangement also would be.
Intelligetperson? If you had troulbe keeping the points set. All you had to do was take a pair of pliers and barely crimp the adjustment screw and they stayed in place. Plus points are alot safer then electronic. Points started going bad. You were warned. Electronic distributor goes bad-you don,t get a warning and hopefully you are not traveling down the road at 50 mph or more. If it does–you loose every thing. The motor quits running and you have no power steering or brakes.Points–all you do is pull over the side of the road and check the points. You have steering and brakes..
Give me the red interior over any other colour any day of the week! I can think of nothing better than a white convert with red interior and white top. Get the drivers door, or chrome strip aligned properly, and you have a winner.
Needs redline tires. I would even consider a red convertible top when the time came to replace this one. Well maintained, well thought out, might be well worth the money.
Bid now over 10K, still under reserve, which makes sense. This is a car, I would never be actively searching for, but then when I see I go OMG, I want this car!
Same here! If this car wore a bow tie on its grille instead of three shields it’d be a $25-30K car all day. If it sells for anything under $20K it’s a steal, but if somebody wanted a “keeper” I wouldn’t fault them for paying upwards of $25K.
It sold for $11,311,. Nice ride.
It sold for $11,311. Very nice car. When I was stationed in Norfolk,Va. A friend of mine from Ohio had a hard top just like this one. We were traveling back from Ft Lee,Va and traveling a little fast. We went buy this cop hidden. We out ran him. That little car would run. Very nice riding too. Back in 1977.
Is sale “Ended” the same as “Sold” ?
Beats me why anybody would want a Chev when they can get a Buick.
I remember the commercial- “Wouldn’t you really rather own a Buick?” I guess I’m dating myself here. 🤫
Hey Mark, not at all. Her name was Linda November, and did the Buick jingle plus a bunch of other ad songs, including the “Meow Mix” commercial. I was 10 years old.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oizl5KF0e2E
This car is on consignment at a classic auto dealer. Price is listed at $19,975.
Still a lot more reliable car . Then what is made today. . I like Buicks. Own two-both 84. LaSaber and a Regal and very little I have done to them. This is a very nice looking car.
It didn’t sell, see Steve K’s comment, it’s for sale at Classic Auto Showplace in Troy (where the pictures were taken).
I had one of these from new. I traded it in after more than 200k probably closer to 300k ( speedo disconnected). Only major work; one exhaust valve and two pinion shafts. The shafts had bad right angle machining ( no radius ) for the bearing surface at the pinion end. They would fracture and eventually break. Luckily the last one broke in front of a transmission shop. In tech school I once tested the condensers left over from the tune ups classes as compared to new ones. ( we had a farad meter ) . Often replaced ones were in spec some new ones were not. I had a new set of points last a very short time with a new condenser. I put the old condenser back and used it for many years. Conclusion : If your points are lasting a long time never change the condenser as I believe it is perfect match for your coil inductance. I assume you know the condenser is there to reduce arching on the points. Oh yeah if you couldn’t afford a boat the two speed transmission provided a similar experience.
As a pre 70 Buick lover and owner or 64 Riviera, I see this as a very nice (and fair priced) Skylark convertible. If it was a factory 4 speed I would be on top of it. Like someone else said, anything under 20k is a good buy.
God bless America
Seems like a pretty nice car. If I had the cash I’d try to knock maybe 1-2k off the asking price. Don’t get why you wouldn’t rather have a mostly original unrestored nice driver like this rather than spending the same amount for rusty POS early Camaro or Mustang or Mopar and then spending another $20-70k or so to make it right. With the Skylark, even at a large car show, maybe you’d see one other similar to it, not 30 or so.
Looks like it’s been relisted several times, and still available.
High bids on each auction were between $9k & $11k.
Smells like shill-bidding to me….just sayin’……