"I thought you might like a picture of a Skylark from "back in the day". This is a pic of me and my '75 Skylark circa August 1978. I was 17 and already had her for 3 years. My dad helped me buy it new so I wouldn't buy the 390 Javelin I had my heart set on (driving age in Idaho was 14 at the time). With the Appliance mags and Polyglas tires, it was a head turner, especially because there were very few like it around. If you were able to see closer you would see my Rocky T-shirt and a Disco Sucks bumper sticker. I sold it in 1986 to help finance a new 5.0 Mustang. I have missed that car ever since. I found a trashed 1978 last May and have been working on it . Since next August (2005) will be the 30th anniversary of buying my first Buick, I am working hard to have it completed by the summer. So far I have done all the work myself..."
(R) Here's that rough '78 he referred to, looks like it had a landau roof applied originally.
It's kind of interesting that the Skylark for '75-'79 had the headlights moved inward (like the '68-'74 Nova) but the Nova's lights moved outward for '75-'79, like all the rest of its X-body relatives.
(R) Sales ad refugees..."we capture history here at P.V. dot com"!
(R) A spotless car from Los Angeles, again showing the nice '76 grille to advantage.
(R) A surprising number of American X-bodies reside in Turkey. This shot may have been from an Otospor (Autosport) site.
"I have some news
about the 2004 race season ...I achieved 12.6 seconds on the ¼ mile with
this setup, and hungry for more I adjusted the supercharger up 25%.
"The engine then blew up in mid-race with a big bang… 3 pistons went to
pieces. I saved the engine block though, but had to go for a 0.30
rebore. Now, I got really interested in making this thing better, so it is
now with forged TRW pistons with 8.7:1 compression, even higher supercharger
setup with about 8psi boost, and a new carburetor, special Holley for
supercharger setups.
"Also , it has a new Crane cam , new Crane “gold” 1:6 roller rockers and a
lot of more goodies . Of course everything is balanced afterwards.
Blueprinted everything too. I now expect next season to be in the 11’s.
Could it then be the world’s fastest Original chassis Buck Skylark with a
350 small block? This can be interesting, indeed.
"Results in 2004 with this Car : 1st place in Norwegian Drag Racing Cup
(Bracket class.) 3rd place in Norwegian Masters Championship ( Bracket ).
The result in the Masters was due to the engine failure and I could not be
in the last race this season."
I'm really happy with how the 'American
Iron' captions turned out...coupled with Jon's great photos, these look like
car calendar pictures...Ro
Update: Jon has his own site ready for
you now, you can find it at
www.jv-racing.com
"My Skylark isn't a race car at all! I only designed it as a look a like : ) because I like that kind of styling very much. It has the 260 cu.in.Olds-V8, TH 200, k+n air filter, and I installed a double exhaust with a Dynomax Ultraflow SS muffler (good,deep v8 sound)---so it's not a tire burner.
It came 1980 from New York City to Vienna, and I bought it in 2002 from the first owner! The interior is black and like new. Maybe I will install a bigger engine but meanwhile the original is like new too, so I am very happy with it and I can use it as a daily driver." Simon would be very happy if someone could hook him up with replacement rear bumper fillers (left right and center), so drop him a line if you can help. These should be interchangeable for all 1975-1979 X-bodies.
Rarely without a camera, I capture another live X-body in the parking lot of a local supermarket. This one is a little worse for wear, but seems pretty much intact.
(R) This is about as bone-stock as they come (and there's probably one in a garage near you). It seems as if an above-average number of Buicks have survived, possibly because their more upscale image encouraged owners to take better care of their investment over the years. The wheel covers on this car are the originals.