General Motors hit a home run with its model-year 1975 second-generation 2+2 H Body styling. Sold by Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, and Chevrolet, nearly 1.6 million found their way onto the roadways between 1975 and 1980. Today you rarely see one, though, especially not one like this, with a wicked 3.8L (231 cid) turbocharged motor! This 1977 Buick SkyHawk in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada swallowed the powertrain of a later Buick Grand National, one of the fastest cars of its day. Other custom touches include GN turbine wheels and matching trapezoidal vents on the hood and fenders, The listing here on eBay has attracted a single bid of $1000 as we go to press, not surprisingly without meeting the seller’s Reserve.
At first glance, this car reminded me of another white GN turbo-powered ’77 SkyHawk we featured here on Barn Finds in 2018. Digging deeper into the comparison, I’m almost certain this *is* the same car, based on custom fabrication like the white intake tube and heat shield beside the turbo. Personally I prefer the 2018 version, but a Grand National fan might well prefer this iteration.
The white-and-black interior with houndstooth inserts looks nearly immaculate, and I had the same color scheme in a 1976 Skyhawk that served me well for over 100,000 miles. Mine lacked the turbo of course, but it did have a five-speed manual gearbox. While power is not mentioned in this listing, the 2018 ad boasted nearly 500 HP or roughly four times stock. That definitely requires engineering, and we should all hope the unibody, suspension, brakes, and drivetrain have been reinforced to make safe use of that power. Indeed the seller lists an Auburn positraction differential, upgraded axles, and coil-over suspension among the upgrades.
Even with the GN wheels, this compact coupe gives little hint that you’d spend over $100,000 buying a new car that bests the power-to-weight ratio (5.6 lb/HP) of this Buick. Check out autoblog for more details. I can definitely see this trick H-body ‘Hawk flying home to roost with a Buick Grand National fanatic, of which there are many. When’s the last time you saw an H-body in traffic?
To quote the Rolling Stones: “Paint it, Black”
Nope. Not if it came out of the factory white.
The photo quality looks like they were scanned from a mid-1980’s Hot Rod magazine.
They were.
I agree with jwzg, these look like vintage pics.
I had a 75. The odd fire 3.8 sucked bad,
Didn’t these originally have four lug Vega hubs and axles? So some work involved to get five lug GN wheels on this.
Yeah, I assume the rear axle is a complete and larger replacement. But, what did they do for the front hubs? Is there a five lugger that bolts on to monza, sunbird, skyhawk spindles?
According to the ad on e-bay: tubular A arms,, S10 spindles and brakes.
Don’t forget the Astre & Vega… lol
Got to be the same car from ’18, only the wheels look to be changed. Same state, claimed horsepower, everything really. Then again, how many of these are actually left to begin with. I thought about it hard and cannot actually pinpoint the last time I saw one of these on the road. Not even a tweakers special half torn apart with glass, nuts and washers lying about.
I’m sure this one will fly, as long as it lands…safely. Whooosh!!!
It looked better in 2018 with the nicer wheels, front spoiler, and painted hood. I also agree with jwzg, the pictures don’t look right.
Someone buy it and take it back to 2018. It looked MUCH better then.
Some of the photos look like scans or photos of existing photos. The lead-off photo is particularly bad. The rear of the car looks to be twisted relative to the front.
It looks like somebody is trying to make this car look like something it is not.
Looks like a decent build and there’s been piles of these with built v8s dropped in. Somebody did some major work to the engine if it actually makes 500hp. Could be the seat of the pants hp rating because I bet it’s a heckuva ride with that small body and the blown gn v6..depending on the gearing paired with the converter should be a quick ride
Looks like they took picturs of a screen, notice the bookmarks at the top of the first image
Nice detective work, Zach! That is exactly what they did. Being an IT guy, I should have picked up on the MAC OS….
5 lug conversion is easy on h-body card. Just use s10 spindles….direct fit with a mix match of ball joints. As well, the s10 rear axle is actually a full 2″ narrower overall.
i had a yeller 77 skyhawk / 6 cylinder… they was bad for frame sag… had mine welded up a kupple times… :/
What could possibly go wrong here? Buyer beware.
I had a ’77 that I took to two SCCA drivers schools. It was an automatic but I ran it in Showroom Stock anyway. Never did get a vehicle logbook for it but I did get my driver’s logbook signed off on so…
Anyway, converting to S10 components would be the minimum you would need to do here because I absolutely fried the brakes (as in smoking heavily and/or burning) at Summit Point with a stock V6…