A 65 Skylark GS Show Car ????

[option B9]

  Hi everyone, In my 40 years in this crazy addictive Buick hobby I'm still amazed at what kind of Information is out there on our beloved Buicks. For instance, Yesterday I received a call from a good friend of mine in the BCA. He proceeded to ask me if I had any knowledge of a GM factory 1965 Buick Skylark GS Show Car. I replied " NO I never heard of a 65 GS show car" He proceeded to tell me that another BCA member told him that there was a Buick design studio made custom GS show car for the public to view. And after the shows or model year it somehow was sold to someone that used it for a few years and somehow it was totaled and never seen again.
  I'm sure we have heard this story before. Mostly a fairy tale, very few times true. But my friend said that he was sent 2 photos to his phone. So I asked if he could send them to me so I could show it to several people in the 65 Skylark GS world, I received the photos of a Black 65 GS hardtop with Red pinstriping and a custom Red interior that looks like it came from a Riviera.
I sent Loren the information, and he knows nothing about the 65 GS show car. So I said that I would post it and see if any of you know anything about it ?
   Maybe it was not a Buick design studio made GS, but a custom made at a place like "Barris" and put on the custom car circuit ?? What is your opinion ?
 Factory GS OR BS ?

               Tony 
   

[red65gs]

Really hard to tell much from 2 photos. They obviously liked red everything under the dash was painted. The door panel has a 66 GS looking emblem and the glove box looks like a skylark door with a grill emblem in place. I'm guessing it a creation by someone, doesn't have a factory vibe to me. First I have heard of this as well.

[Mark Ascher]

Been in the 65 GS game just over 30 years now. Never seen or heard of a 65 Gran Sport factory show car. In almost every case, the cars created by a manufacturers styling studios for being shown at the current model year new car shows were destroyed and never sold to the public. There are a few exceptions as in the case of the 70 GS show car owned by Brad Conley. It would seem odd to me to create a show car for a 1/2 year model intro, knowing that there was new sheetmetal coming out for 66-67. My opinion for what it’s worth.

[WkillGS]

Sure hope we can dig up some info on this!
There's bound to be more pictures of it somewhere, if it was indeed a Buick built show car.
Those seats look like modded 66-up frames. The bottom skirt and rear panels give it away. Either they had access to next years seats, or this car was built after the 66's debuted.

Searching for the manufacture car shows in 1965 would be the first place to look. Then maybe the larger custom car shows in the years following.

[gssizzler]

Never say never! I have copies of those same pictures! A few years ago on eBay there were pictures from the Chicago Auto that show this very car on a rotating display! I tried so hard to win the bid! Believe it or not this car did exist! Have you guys seen the pictures from the New York Auto Show where they had a special GS display!? These also have been on eBay!

[BuickGS65]

I have original photos of this exact car allegedly from the 1965 Chicago auto show in February 1965.

Visible differences:
No venti-ports
‘66 fender vents
Different interior

See next post for photos

[BuickGS65]

My photos from my “archive” (I own these originals). Allegedly from the February 1965 Chicago auto show.

[BuickGS65]

Never say never! I have copies of those same pictures! A few years ago on eBay there were pictures from the Chicago Auto that show this very car on a rotating display! I tried so hard to win the bid! Believe it or not this car did exist! Have you guys seen the pictures from the New York Auto Show where they had a special GS display!? These also have been on eBay!

Turns out the car you mentioned on the rotating display was NOT the same car as the black one with the red interior. Here's the photos from the eBay auction we both lost (note the ventiports which the other car doesn't have).

I've also attached 2 photos of the New York auto show you referenced.

Unlike the last post, I do NOT have the original photos for these.

[gssizzler]

 Those are the pictures! Looks to be the same car!? Look close at the special interior!both cars pictured look the same!? In the pictures from A9 you can't see if it has ventiports or not!

[gssizzler]

Still not convinced the pictures that BuickGS65 has could be from the 1965 Chicago Auto Show!?  Go on the Chicago Auto Show site and look at the history of the show! Look for yourself! Pay close attention to the Dodge truck display! Notice the work and play logo! Also look at the Rambler Display! Note the Buick Display behind it with the rotary displays with the wildcat head mounted on the frame work! Worth a look is the 1964-72 pictures! Nice shot of 1966 Skylark GS and the 1970 GSX show car!!!

[GS66]

Those are 1967 fender vents, not 66. So if the dates are correct someone really had forward access.

[option B9]

    I guess I created a hot topic ! Thanks everyone,  It's not as much as a mystery as I thought it would be. Dan in Reply #7 has 2 photos that seem to be the same Buick as the photos I posted..gssizzler is still not convinced that the photos are from the Chicago auto show. I went on the 1965 Chicago Auto show website, but can't seem to find the Dodge truck display. I did find the Rambler display but cannot enlarge the photo to see what he can see. I will try to search it again.  Maybe he can send me a link to the photos. 
  In Dan's 2 photos the Buick must have been on a turntable because the "work and play" sign is in both photos.
 In the 2 photos that I posted the Buick looks like it's in a garage and the Interior is dirty or worn, so did it fall into private hands ? just an observation.

                    Tony 

[option B9]

   I did some research on the net. I found a clear photo of the Buick display at the 1965 Chicago Auto Show. It's from the Old Cars archive. This is the link.
 Please post your comments so we can try to figure out this mystery.   https://twitter.com/oldcarsweekly/status/1173251857738862592

     Tony   

[gssizzler]

No, I wrote that as a question! Asking others their thoughts on the pictures! I’m a believer since the day I first saw the pictures and heard the story which was 25 years ago! I can’t download the pictures I have right now! Two of them are the same as yours B9! If you look at the Rambler display you will see the Buick display behind on the left of the picture! The Dodge trucks streaming display is in the back! The Old Cars display picture looks totally different!?

[option B9]

  Yeah gssizzler, The OCW (old cars weekly) looks different. But it's undeniably the 65 show. I went back to the Chicago Auto show website and I was looking at the photo of the Buick wildcat on a platform with the 2 woman (models) and the banners "Go first class ...Go Buick" look in the back round, you can see long hanging draperies as in the OCW photo. Also the decoration surrounding the platform is the same in both photos. Another item I noticed is the overhead lighting in the OCW photo, there are round light fixtures and long florescent tube fixtures. In the 65 Chicago auto show website photos (Rambler photo with Buick in the back round) There are round light fixtures but the florescent fixtures are large square boxes. So to me the OCW & the Wildcat photo match up, but not to the Chicago auto show web photo. Unless Buick had a very large display like in an L shape and the lighting and the set design is different on the other side ? Anybody have the 1965 Chicago Auto Show official program book, It would have the floor plan for each exhibit.
   Getting back to Dan's 2 photos. Why would Buick have the Black/custom GS at the Chicago show when they already had the production GS (several of them) on the show floor as per the OCW photos since it was already mid February ? I would think that GM/Buick would be displaying the Black custom Buick in the Summer or Fall of 1964 to attract perspective buyers of the Buick performance car that will soon be in production. Did they have new car shows in the Fall, in this case 1964 ? From what I know the shows went from city to city. Does any one know what city that they start in ? (Here in NYC it was January.)

    I found this info on the Chicago Auto Show at the Motor Trend website, called Hot Rod news. It's basically a Pontiac article but in paragraph 2 it states "Historically Febuary/March show dates have made it a perfect setting for mid-year introductions."   

   I will keep searching. Please post your comments & information.

                       Tony