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Good Grief! "Charlie Brown" 1972 Buick Skylark Custom convertible

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  • Good Grief! "Charlie Brown" 1972 Buick Skylark Custom convertible

    I've looking for a cruiser convertible for a while but most I found either had a buy in that was too expensive or were basket cases that needed time, welding skills or money I don't have. When this Skylark came up locally on Craigslist, I jumped on it.

    The good:
    - Solid, straight frame
    - Lots of undercoating = solid floors and trunk pan
    - Good top and interior
    - GM A Body parts availability
    - decent tires and 15" Buick rally wheels
    - engine runs good and the TH350 shifts okay

    The bad:
    - small rust spots in passenger quarter
    - springs, bushings and ball joints shot
    - drum brakes (they stop OK though)
    - single exhaust with blown out muffler
    - crappy, loose aftermarket mirrors
    - every fluid leaks but gas
    - timing chain cover cracked and fixed with JB Weld
    - bumpers need rechroming (wrong 71 bumper on back)
    - incorrect 1970 Olds Cutlass Supreme door panels and seat covers
    - top motor weak going up
    - It's brown

    Attached Files

  • #2
    Those look like CIPA Mirrors. I got a set on the 72 and they suck
    "I live for myself and I answer to nobody."

    -Steve McQueen

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    • #3
      Nice car, I quite like the root-beer color....
      If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

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      • #4
        Which engine? The front timing cover is being reproduced and that makes the oil pump happy as well. The Buick 350 is a great engine though it has limited aftermarket support.

        LOVE the car. I'd drive it and have fun!

        Dan

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        • #5
          Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
          Which engine? The front timing cover is being reproduced and that makes the oil pump happy as well. The Buick 350 is a great engine though it has limited aftermarket support.

          LOVE the car. I'd drive it and have fun!

          Dan
          350 2bbl. I've got an new timing chain cover, oil pump and water pump coming from TA Performance. I'm having them set up the oil pump depth and pack it already so I can just bolt it on. As you are probably aware, unlike a Chevy, the oil pump, water pump, distributor and filler neck all meet at the timing chain cover.

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          • #6
            I have scads of parts for a 350 Buick... speed parts... used just a few minutes because the PO and person who first started it didn't realize he was supposed to pack the oil pump with vaseline .... I have ARP bolts, good connecting rods, good heads, even good timing cover.... crank wasn't so good, but you can't win it all.

            But a question.... if you're going to so much work and money, why not a 455?

            as for rust-free, convertible. when you said "heavy undercoating" I thought "oh boy" ... when I told my dad that the floorboards in my 50 Buick were MIA, he said they installed rust and holes at the factory - as the refrigerator-metal floors in my 70 Skylark would have attested.... not much had changed by 70.

            not that I know anything about Buicks

            I am jealous, and I don't hate the rootbeer brown
            Last edited by SuperBuickGuy; January 5, 2016, 03:17 PM.
            Doing it all wrong since 1966

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            • #7
              I'd get as much cool stuff from SBG as possible - it would be great to put at least some of that to good use. And the 350 really wakes up without much effort as it was SO "undertuned" from the factory. Turbo - you may not be aware that I was a Buick dealership mechanic in that era and SBG has TONS of Buick experience - more than I do in the high performance arena. We had a customer who did a 4 BBL intake (Offy, Edelbrock?) w/Holley and a cam (don't recall the grind but the customer was an engineer at Buick Division of GMPG so it might have been an "engineering sample") and that sucker SCREAMED! He took me for a ride and scared the poo out of me.

              Lots of knowledge on here!

              Dan

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              • #8
                Having a drop top cruiser is nice in the summer. Even better when you aren't worried about every little detail or what could happen in the grocery store parking lot.
                Escaped on a technicality.

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                • #9
                  I discovered that owning a brown vehicle is a good way to get over hating brown vehicles. For me, anyway.

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                  • #10
                    I'm relieved to know there is so much Buick knowledge on here. When I mentioned to some my Chevy friends I would have to pack the oil pump in Vaseline when reinstalling the timing chain cover, they looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.

                    My plan is to get the 350 reliable and enjoy it as much as possible and if it needs a rebuild, I would prefer to find and build a 455. My last project car, a 65 Chevy II, started out as a simple V8 swap and then turned into new quarters, fenders and a total money pit I couldn't drive. My wife suggested I sell it and get a driver car I could work on that wouldn't require a total restoration.
                    Last edited by Turbo Regal; January 5, 2016, 06:34 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Was that on the Atlanta Craigslist? I've been on it a bunch for the last month helping a friend find a project. I really like the brown cars and that one is no exception. Nice find. Interesting info on the oil pump. I'm a Pontiac fan myself and always loved the fact you could pull the intake without pulling the distributor. But I guess that was when each division did their own thing that made them unique.
                      Visit my sons blog:
                      www.driftundertheradar.com

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                      • #12
                        I think the 70-72 Buicks were some of the best looking cars. The brown isn't so bad, that was a popular color back then. Or you could get a CV71 Crown Vic.
                        Tom
                        Overdrive is overrated


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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Turbo Regal View Post
                          I'm relieved to know there is so much Buick knowledge on here. When I mentioned to some my Chevy friends I would have to pack the oil pump in Vaseline when reinstalling the timing chain cover, they looked at me like I was speaking Chinese.

                          My plan is to get the 350 reliable and enjoy it as much as possible and if it needs a rebuild, I would prefer to find and build a 455. My last project car, a 65 Chevy II, started out as a simple V8 swap and then turned into new quarters, fenders and a total money pit I couldn't drive. My wife suggested I sell it and get a driver car I could work on that wouldn't require a total restoration.
                          It's not a bad plan to pack ANY oil pump. It'll pick up oil a lot quicker even if you can prime the engine with a drill. I made a pressure pot primer for the Mercedes 'cause you can't prime that engine in the "normal" way but I didn't take the pump apart so no Vaseline. If anyone needs it I can loan it out. Pics in Mutt's build thread.

                          Dan

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                          • #14
                            Mom had a 70 with the 350-4. Would chirp the tires quite a ways shifting into 2nd...

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                            • #15
                              I'm sure you know how much interchanges with the Classic V6 and the 350 and have already locked on to pretty much the only purveyor of Buick hot rodding parts anymore TA. There are some scary powerful 350 builds on V8Buick.com last I checked and I don't frequent there much anymore. Get that sucker fixed and on the road!
                              Central TEXAS Sleeper
                              USAF Physicist

                              ROA# 9790

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