How did you acquire your Buick?

[Super65lark]

Hi fellow Buick people,
My story regarding my Buick isn't so interesting - I wanted a classic and bought the Skylark. Can't part with it. But I want to hear how everyone else came to be a Buick person. I'd also love to hear some stories about favorite times with your Buick, but we'll start here.

[campfamily]

When I was in high school (mid-late 70s), one of my buddies owned a 67 GS400. Another buddy had a 69 Firebird 400. The GS would walk that Firebird every time. I loved the way the GS looked and how it went. Fast forward 25 years, and my wife and I are looking for a classic car to use with our two boys. Criteria....big engine, convertible, 4 seats, early to mid 60s. Looked at a bunch of cars, then came across a 65 GranSport, with complete ownership history from new, 2nd owner (same family, his Uncle bought it new), at a reasonable price. Still have it, after about 15 years now.

Only regret....wish my GranSport had a 4 speed. Oh well......

Keith

[jmos4]

Hi,

My original/first 65 Skylark, post 2dr V6 auto, was a winter beater, 200 bucks from junk yard. Drove it for 3 years and grew on me to the point 10+ years later found my Post Car on ebay after a 3 years of searching for a solid car.

Regards,

[elagache]

Dear Iain, Keith, Jim, and mid-60s Buick caregivers,

. . . . . I want to hear how everyone else came to be a Buick person. . . . .

Not to bore people because I've told the story before, but leave us turn the clock to March/April 1968.

http://www.canebas.org/Biquette/history.html

The family had returned from an overseas assignment and had to basically put everything back together from car, to house, etc.  We were able to bum a place to stay at friends while trying to straighten all these things out.  My Dad had decided he wanted a thrifty station wagon like an AMC Rambler.  However, there was a used, seafoam green 1965 Buick Deluxe Special station wagon at the Hayward Dodge dealership.  Mom fell in love with it  . . . . . .   It was more than Dad wanted to pay, but . . . . . Mom got what she wanted! . . 

What is more amazing is that we managed to keep the car all these years.  Biquette has been a victim of mechanical problems since her first engine rebuild of 1979.  On more than one occasion Dad was fed up and ready to send the car to the junk yard.  Every time, the family would become sentimental and Biquette would be spared another time.  By 1986 when she was stolen, we were too attached to her to let her go.  Having gotten her back from the thieves, she had a permanent home from then on.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Randy Jones]

My 65 Skylark (post) bought it sight unseen from a coworker. I wasn't even sure what skylark looked like. All I knew was it came from California and the guy was asking $600. I thought a paint job and a chevy engine was going to be the game. Boy was I wrong! When I started looking for parts I met Jon. He sent me down the path of looking for parts as rare as hen's teeth (now more than 20 years) You guy's know the old story...
Oh that fits 64/65 only, Oh the three speed is a ford unit, no those gears aren't available, blah blah on and on.
For the convertible; Its a recovering Mouse and Raccoon home found in a barn in Wisconsin. Literally winched out of a barn and missing too many parts. During a counting session nearest I can figure it has parts from at least 50 donor cars. Well sorry if I bored you to death, you folks did ask.

Take is easy.... oh yeah I need a switch pitch bracket for a dual quad.... it never ends with these things..... and oh yea I know a guy who needs.....

[seanrobison65]

Since you asked...

My grandpa bought my car in the mid '70's for my grandma (I don't remember the exact date, because I was about 7years old at the time).

He bought the car from a man named Mr. Briggs, who bought the car new from Ken Pruitt Buick in Garland, TX. Mr. Briggs moved to Washington state and took the car with him. When he moved back to Dallas, he sold the car to grandpa, who was the second owner.

My first memory of my car was sliding back and forth on the Armor-All'd back seat when my grandma turned corners. I loved that car from the first time I saw it as a kid. I think the tail lights drew me in, but it was just so beautiful it was hard to pick my favorite attribute.

My grandma knew how much I loved the car, so when it got time for her to get her next ride, she said I could mow the yard to pay for the car so I could have it when I got my driver's license at age 16. I started mowing when I was 14, and would wash the car and start it in the driveway, just to hear it idle.

I drove the car through high school and just kept falling deeper in love. On a rainy day in 1991, a lady in a Toyota ran a stop sign in front of me. I turned in to a broad-slide to try and miss her, but it didn't work. Her Toyota caught my car right above the frame (I had lowered it by then), and caved in the door and the left side quarter panel.

Her insurance company paid for a total loss, which they deemed as 500 bucks or so. I kept driving the car for a while, but I didn't have the money to fix the damage. I couldn't bear to let my car go to the junkyard! Since I couldn't roll the driver's window up, I finally bought a used Regal and parked my '65, swearing to myself that I would fix her some day.

I bought my first house in 1994, and the presence of a garage was make-or-break. I towed the car home from my grandma's back yard and did lots of things to make her better, but I never had the money to fix the damage from the crash. Then life happened, I went through a divorce, and the house went on the market.

My uncle was kind enough to offer to let me keep the car on his property about 100 miles south of Dallas. 13 years passed as I re-racked, and the car sat under a tree in a cow pasture, cooking in the Texas summers and rusting in the rain during the winters. Fortunately, I was able to coat the floor and trunk pans, top and bottom, with POR-15 while the car was in the garage. I think that, along with that old tree, might have saved her.

On December 29, 2020, I found myself in a position to bring my car to our new home. I cleaned out the wasp nests, years of dust & funk, did a few other things and trailered her to Loaded Dice Speed Shop in Frisco, TX. They replaced the crashed quarter panel and fixed LOTS of other problems. My car came home on May 26th, with no dents or rust on her rear clip, the first time I've seen her that way in about 20 years!

Sometimes I just go outside and look at my car, all taken apart and needing lots of work, and just feel happy! It's damn-near miraculous that she's here, and I am absolutely determined to finish what has become a life-long mission! 

[seanrobison65]

My bad. That homecoming date was December 29, 2019. Cool as my car is, she's not a time machine! 

[cwmcobra]

Great story Sean.  A car remaining in the family is special indeed!

Looking forward to following your restoration thread.

 

Chuck

[cwmcobra]

My story is not nearly as compelling as those of others.  In 2008 I was staring at a near retirement and decided I wanted to restore a 60's classic car.  I had built my Cobra replica in 2002 and wanted to branch out into a restoration for a change and a challenge.  I had no specific car in mind.  If I would have based my selection on a car that I previously owned it would have been my first new car, a 1972 AMC Gremlin X.  Patriot Blue, white stripe, 304 V8, 3-speed on the floor, positraction.  Obviously, it was memorable.  And I was really coveting an AMX in college, but couldn't scrape together the cash to buy one.  My dad drove all AMC cars from about 1957 on, so that's what I was familiar with.  Despite that history, I didn't pursue any classic AMC products.  i've always liked GTOs and 442s as well, but never owned one.  I would have probably favored a 442 if for no other reason than I went to college in East Lansing, MI and the Oldsmobiles were produced just a few miles away. 

As I searched online sites, I found the 442s and GTOs to be too highly priced for my taste and budget and stumbled on a 65 GS convertible for sale in Arizona.  I was not familiar with any Buick models, but found I like the styling and the uniqueness and relative rarity of the model.  So silly me, I bought it and proceeded to steadily increase the budget until I'll never recover my investment.  I'm simply paying for the 'fun' of the restoration, which I started in 2015 and am hopefully about to finish.  I still love the car, despite the cost and challenges of the restoration.  I even bought a second one, the red Steve Shuman converible, to have one to drive while restoring the other and to have a reference for most of my questions on how to put the other one together. 

I cherish the Steve Shuman car for its history and look forward to future fun with the Verde Howitzer when it's completed.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!! 

 

Chuck

[seanrobison65]

Thanks, Chuck! You have a great piece to use as a historical reference in the Steve Schuman car, and I love the name "Verde Howitzer"! 

I wish I had enough discipline to thoroughly document my restoration process! Sometimes I have trouble deciding what is amusing enough to warrant a post to the site. Tonight I painted my vent window glass run channels and lower frame pieces, but I just don't think that things like that make for a very entertaining story line!

I attached a good shot of the car in the body shop with her drivers' quarter freshly installed. I bugged the hell out of them while my car was there! I equated it to having a family member in the hospital. I had to come by and visit regularly to show support!

[GS66]

My first GS acquisition started out when I was a kid riding the school bus. After school we would sit on the bus and the older kids that drove to school would often squeal out around the corner between the school and the church. Most of them sounded really good but one in particular stood out to me. It was a 1966 Gran Sport with a 3 speed. Green with a black painted top and jacked up in the back. It had Keystones on the front and Rockets on the rear. He was running Thrush mufflers through full tailpipes and it crackled and rapped great. That stuck with me and when I was 15 the car was for sale so I took out a loan for $700 and it was mine. I still have it but it is used for parts now as back then I could not afford all upkeep. That is the one that started it for me.
Here it is circa 1975 or so and as a parts car today.

[GS66]

Here is the 1975 or so pic.

[Super65lark]

Cool stories everyone, thanks for sharing 

[35chevcoupe]

Ive always liked buicks and have had several . The 65 GS i have now i purchased thru e bay . The guy that listed it had mention of 65GS.com in his listing and I was watching/listening to the conversation about it and started to gain interest in the car . Some of the guys on here started to decipher the trim tag and had mentioned that it was born a 3 speed car with the dearborn trans . When I seen the production numbers for 3 speed 2 dr hard tops I  really got interested and the rest is HISTORY .
Still under restoration though .

[Loren At 65GS]

Cool stories everyone, thanks for sharing 

 What can I add to that. Well said Super65lark. Our stories are always fun to read about.

 When I and my first Buick came together, it was out of a need for a front bumper to go on a '65 Skylark hardtop that my brother was working on.
He had purchased his Skylark from an insurance salvage pool about '79. It suffered an engine fire and also needed body work. My brother's intentions were for it to be a father/ son project, but my nephew was more interested in driving a car than restoring one. lol
 As I recall, it was '81 or '82 when he enlisted my help to restore the Skylark.  I did most all the body work as well as electrical work. The interior survived the engine fire and was in really excellent condition. But Minnesota had taken a toll on the lower front fenders and rear quarters. Some time in its life it also must have had a fender bender requiring the front bumper to be replaced.  The replacement bumper was from a Special, so we needed to find a Skylark front bumper. Even back then, those were not easy to come up with. One Sunday morning, while reading the Minneapolis paper, I came across an ad for two '65 Buick Skylarks for sale for parts or repair. It was a pair of convertibles, a Skylark with a rusted and broken frame and something called a Gran Sport. I had absolutely no idea what a Gran Sport was at the time. After doing some research, I realized how rare the GS was. I decided I needed to try and save it. Unfortunately, I failed, as the Minnesota winters had taken too much from it. I still have the drive train, interior and some of the body. lol
 I must agree that the lines of our '65 Skylarks and Gran Sports , along with those tail lights are about the most beautiful cars built. I ended up restoring a '65 GS hardtop for myself after finishing my brothers and also another '65 Skylark post car for my father in law. In '92, we drove all three cars from the metro area of Minnesota to Kansas City, KS for the Buick Club National. All three received gold and senior awards. It was certainly something to remember.

  Loren