The Story of "JOCKO"
The year was 1965, shortly before my 15th birthday. My Dad asked if I wanted to go look at some new cars, we were going to replace our 1962 Skylark. No brainer, I was in the car before he was. We went to Downtown San Jose (Ca.). Our first and last stop was Smythe Buick on Market Street. We had looked at a couple of cars before the salesman approached and wanted to help us out. Dad told him what he was looking for and of course he said he had "just the car" for us. We then went to one of their storage lots down the street and he indeed had that perfect car, a 1965 Skylark Gran Sport 2-door hardtop with red interior, (that was Mom's only request). We took it for a drive and Dad made the decision to purchase the car, so in the sales office we went. Back and forth with the salesman and the deal was done, well almost. Dad had to have the Buick wire wheel hubcaps or there was no deal. Finally, they shook hands and it was done. I want to say somewhere around $3,100.00 out-the-door. Automatic, no power steering, no power brakes, no air conditioning, it did have a radio and heater. That was it!!!!
Dad worked for United Airlines in South San Francisco and commuted on a bus with several other guys, so that meant the car stayed home all day and was really only used on the weekends, (Mom did not drive, at all). My sister was older and had her license so Dad had agreed to let her drive it to school. She already had 2 speeding tickets and an accident with the 62 Skylark, so I was certain it would not be long before something happened to the car. It did, she backed into a pole trying to park it at school. She bought some paint and was busted trying to paint it in the garage. Time to walk or take the bus was the choice given to her. Anyway, she ended up with her own car and the Buick sat in the garage. There would be days I would go in the garage and just sit in the car, turn the radio on and dream about the day that I would be driving the GS. A couple of times, I got brave and started it up, backed it out, then drove it back in.
Six months had passed and now I had my permit to learn how to drive. Every chance I got, I would ask Dad to take me out. Then I was 16 and driving, I would take Mom to work, take her shopping and run any errands that were needed. Any excuse to drive the GS, man did that car take the abuse from my right foot. I remember taking off the air cleaner so I could hear that AFB"kicking in" when I put my foot in it, what a howl!! I can remember one day my Dad asked, "Why is the right rear tire going bald" He knew. Then, I really did it, the old 2-speed Super Turbine 300 starting slipping real bad. Time to rebuild the transmission, Dad never said anything.
It was time for me to get a car of my own, bought a 1958 2-door Chevy Del Rey from a neighbor and drove it for four years. It was a great car, I learned allot about cars from all the time and money I spent working on it. Time went on and the 70's hit with the "Oil Embargo" and Dad had decided to downsize his car and the Skylark GS was gone forever. The memories I had with that car will never be forgotten, Dad teaching me how to drive, my first date, my first drive-in movie without the parents, my first drag race and my first speeding ticket.
Dad lost his battle with Cancer in the early 80's and I knew that someday I would restore a 65 GS just like he had, almost. In 2007 I located a 1965 Skylark GS, numbers matching car in the Clearlake area. I contacted the owner and we worked out a deal. He did deliver the car to our house and when he arrived my wife could not believe her eyes. She was not feeling well that day and I made her come outside to look at it. I think she said something like, "I hope you know what you are doing". It was not pretty!!!
The restoration starts, parked the car in the side yard and began to evaluate exactly what I had. It was in-fact, a numbers matching car, red with black interior, black vinyl top, automatic, power steering, power brakes, posi rear end and rally wheels. Car was all there just in pretty bad shape. I started the disassembly process, bagging, tagging everything and making list of things that need to be replaced, the list was huge. I had a plan, just needed to be patient, not one of my attributes. Everything was removed from the car and it was off to the media blasters. When it returned, things did not look good. The left quarter panel was in bad shape, it needed to go as well as the filler panel below the rear window. I located a complete rear quarter panel that would work perfect. For now the car sat while I focused on the engine.
The disassembly of the engine was pretty straight forward, no big problems and off to the machine shop for the re-build. I did locate a complete engine kit which included everything needed for the re-build. John at the machine shop performed all the required work, boring, honing, re-conditioning the rods, hanging pistons, balancing, hot tank, and cleaning all the associated parts. I had him assemble the short block to make sure everything checked out and I completed the rest of the assembly at home. I had a friend of mine re-build the Super Turbine 300 as well as a new converter. I left the engine on the stand until I completed the front end and engine compartment.
For the next 6 months I cleaned, sandblasted, rebuilt and painted every piece possible to re-create the original look as well as the function. There were several aftermarket vendors that I had used some had better quality than others. I did learn the term "Exact Reproduction" doesn't mean shit!!! I can't believe how much junk is out there. It was now time to assemble all the front end pieces, steering box, heater box, wiring, power brake booster, brake lines, etc. Again, all pretty simple stuff, everything new. Once completed the engine and transmission went in along with exhaust system and cooling system. Now it was off to the body shop for paint.
The biggest issue at the body shop was the replacement of the left quarter panel. I made it clear that this was to be replaced as if it were done at the factory. They removed the panel at the lead line at the top of the roof, inside the door jamb and to the tail light panel. It was done to perfection, you would never know it was replaced. Deciding what color to paint the car was difficult. As I said earlier, I wanted to duplicate the car my Dad had. The only problem, his car was beige with red interior. Being a Fireman, there was only one choice when it came to color, RED. So red it was, the original red was too dark, I opted for 2009 Chevy Torch Red. The bodywork on all the panels was completed and then painted off the car. Now it was home for final assembly.
Assembly of the car and all the painted parts is quite time consuming, care was taken not to scratch or chip any paint. Panels were aligned, doors hung, glass installed, bumpers installed, interior completed and vinyl top installed. Just about there!!!
That day finally arrived for the first test drive, out the driveway I went, wow all the memories returned as if it were yesterday, the sound, the smell, the look, the feel. It was just amazing. It was like my Dad was right there teaching me how to drive it, he would be proud of the job that I did. I built the car in his memory and have given the car his nickname of "JOCKO" and placed it on the front fender.
