Here's a 1967 Buick Skylark convertible out for a Sunday cruise on College Avenue.
The Skylark began life in 1961 as a trim level of the Buick Special compact before becoming its own nameplate the following model year. For 1964 both the Special and Skylark had their wheelbases stretched from 111" to 115", becoming true midsize cars.
The Special had three normal Buick portholes along the upper fender; portholes to let you know it was a Buick, and only three of them to let you know it wasn't as ritzy as a "real" Buick, like the Electra. The Skylark, on the other hand, got vertical chrome gills low on the fender to let you know it was a sporty Buick, like a Wildcat.
For '67, Buick offered two different whites: Riviera White, which was a very white shade of white, and the Arctic White you can see on this Skylark. On Pontiacs it was called Cameo Ivory.
The two-door sedan version of the '67 Skylark had the 225cid Buick V6 as a base motor, as a vestige of the classic inexpensive Businessman's Coupe, but this convertible would have come with a 210 horsepower 300 cubic inch two-barrel V-8 as standard equipment, with a couple four-barrel 300- and 340cid performance options above it.
Here's that 1967 Buick Skylark convertible in Arctic White parked on a side street about a month later. A peek at the dash shows us it has the 2-speed Super Turbine 300 automatic transmission.
If you wanted the Super Turbine transmission, you could also get an optional 340cid four-barrel "Power Pack" V-8, basically a stroked 300 that also bumped the compression ratio from 9.0:1 to 10.25:1, rated at 260bhp SAE gross.
Like the all-alloy Buick 215 V-8 to which they were related, the iron-block 300/340 Buick small blocks originally had aluminum heads, intake manifolds, and accessories, and were fairly light for Detroit V-8s at only a little over 400 pounds, although for '66 they switched to iron cylinder heads.
For '67, Buick offered two different whites: Riviera White, which was a very white shade of white, and the Arctic White you can see on this Skylark. On Pontiacs it was called Cameo Ivory.
The two-door sedan version of the '67 Skylark had the 225cid Buick V6 as a base motor, as a vestige of the classic inexpensive Businessman's Coupe, but this convertible would have come with a 210 horsepower 300 cubic inch two-barrel V-8 as standard equipment, with a couple four-barrel 300- and 340cid performance options above it.
Here's that 1967 Buick Skylark convertible in Arctic White parked on a side street about a month later. A peek at the dash shows us it has the 2-speed Super Turbine 300 automatic transmission.
If you wanted the Super Turbine transmission, you could also get an optional 340cid four-barrel "Power Pack" V-8, basically a stroked 300 that also bumped the compression ratio from 9.0:1 to 10.25:1, rated at 260bhp SAE gross.
Like the all-alloy Buick 215 V-8 to which they were related, the iron-block 300/340 Buick small blocks originally had aluminum heads, intake manifolds, and accessories, and were fairly light for Detroit V-8s at only a little over 400 pounds, although for '66 they switched to iron cylinder heads.
Back in 1967, Car Life magazine tested a Skylark four-door hardtop sedan with the 260-horsepower four-barrel 340 cube V-8 and the 2-speed Super Turbine auto and recorded a 0-60 time of 11.0 seconds and an 18.0 second quarter mile at 78 miles per hour.
The first five pictures were taken in August and September of 2022 using a Nikon D800 and 24-120mm f/4G VR zoom lens, while the bottom picture was snapped with an Olympus E-300 and Zuiko Digital 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.
Nice to see that it gets out and about.
ReplyDeleteI've never really warmed up to the '66-67 A-body styling, though, and the fender skirts seem out of place on a midsize.
It's not the greatest-looking GM of the Sixties, but it's easy on the eyes compared to the previous generation...
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