What’s not to love about the GM X-car? Okay, no…not the Citation. The rear-drivers. The NOVA cars. The original GM compacts before they became the standard size and the Vega rolled up. Camaro front clips, a backseat that was useable even on the two-doors, cop suspension packages that made them handle, and small-blocks that were doing their best to punch above their weight class. And for 1970s machines with chrome bumpers, they wore the look well. I grew up in an Olds Omega, our own TheSilverBuick’s namesake is a Skylark, and we wouldn’t kick any of them out of the garage. It might be one of the few platforms the three of us can agree on.

Our latest Rough Start hunt returns to one of my favorite honey hole car sites, the area around Fort Hood, Texas. Half of the fun is all of the vehicles military folk bring in and out. The other half are fields full of cars that look like fodder for a YouTube revival channel, needing only a good power washing and a spark plug change to move under their own power. The mark is a 231 V6-powered 1976 Buick Skylark, a sensible choice in the gap between the OPEC embargo and the second energy crisis. So the front face needs a bit of cleanup and there are a couple bubbles in the quarter panel…underhood is as good as you can expect at this age and price rate and just look at that interior. You could do a hell of a lot worse for your money. And that brings up the part of the deal that throws in a second car…

Our call? Grand Nationalize the clean one and as for the dirty one…embrace the V8 and the 1970s mag-wearing aesthetic with a slight butt lift and some beefy rubber. $3,200, all in.

Facebook Marketplace link: 1976 Buick Skylark and unknown year Skylark parts car