Recent article on BarnFinds about a convertible 1981 Skylark: Only One Left? 1981 Buick Skylark Convertible American Custom Coachworks Ltd. was a customization shop based in Beverly Hills, California and they made convertibles out of cars that were never meant to be convertibles, such as this ultra-rare 1981 Buick Skylark convertible. This example is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Racine, Wisconsin and the seller is asking $8,500. A 1981 Buick brochure touted the ’81 Skylark here: “When we introduced the new Skylark, Buick’s version of the “X” car, we were more than pleased by your acceptance. Skylark quickly became the car Americans couldn’t get enough of. The 1981 Skylark promises more of a good thing. You’re going to like the traction of front-wheel drive, its compact exterior (the engine is turned sideways to conserve space), its very roomy interior, the spacious 14.3 cubic-foot trunk.” All of that flowery marketing lingo doesn’t even take into effect having the top cut off, which is often the ultimate option. Sadly, the seller doesn’t show this car with the top down or even one photo from the rear so we can see what it looks like. But, they have provided many good photos, including two engine photos (!), so they get two gold stars from Scotty G on this one. You can see the innards of the top here. It’s not exactly Bentley elegance, but this is a Buick Skylark from 1981. I’m sure a good interior shop could make a nice liner that would work when the top operates. Our friends at Curbside Classic show a couple of examples, one in a junkyard here, and a very nice red one here. I also found a nice red one listed here in Kansas, but it was sold. The X-body Skylark was made by GM along with the Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, and Chevrolet Citation from 1979 for the 1980 model year until the end of 1985. It would be the first of the front-wheel drive Skylarks that would last for two more generations until the 1998 model year. The interior looks great. This car appears to be loaded, as you’d expect in a Buick, even a small one. The small back seat looks unused, but the front seat shows a bit of sagging, and that would be an easy fix for any good upholstery shop. The seller lists the mileage as 15,925. Two engines were available in 1981: an Iron Duke four-cylinder and a 2.8-liter OHV V6, which this car has. It would have had 110 horsepower and 145 lb-ft of torque. The seller gives no information about its operating condition and shows some surface rust. It isn’t unusual if it’s been next to Lake Michigan (Racine), even if it hasn’t been driven in the winter. It sure looks like an excellent example, and you will likely never see another one parked next to you. Have any of you seen a convertible conversion of a GM X-body?
Older article on Curbsideclassis dot com about these small X-body cars, showing a convertible and also a "Skylark 225": What If: 1980-81 Buick Skylark 225 And Limited Convertible As we saw in yesterday’s ’81 Skylark CC, the new FWD X-body Buick, even when it was reliable as a daily driver, was nevertheless a bit stubby–maybe a little too stubby. After all, Buick automobiles had a rich history of being big and luxurious. What if GM had decided to make the Skylark more Buick-like from the get-go? There was already an Electra 225; how about a Skylark 225? Here’s the original. As you can see, the proximity of the front wheel to the leading edge of the front door makes it look just a little too FWD-like, if you know what I mean. My X-LWB-Body fixes that issue, and also features a stretched nose, tail and C-pillar. Not surprisingly, the result of my redesign looks a lot like the ’82 FWD Century, which was essentially a stretched X-body. Just for fun, I also made a Skylark Riviera two-door hardtop. Maybe it could have two Ventiports on the sides for Iron Duke versions, and six for Skylarge models with the 2.8-liter V6? Here’s a Skylark 225 Limited coupe, with a less drastic roofline. As Paul mentions in the comments, it rather looks like a FWD B-body that never was. It would have beat the H-body by five years. But what if you like the Skylark’s tidy dimensions? In that case, might a Limited convertible be more your style? Like the final B-body LeSabre convertibles, the Skylark would have a flush parade boot for a smooth look with the top down. As long as we’re at it, how about a four-door version? The problem is, I’m not sure where the top mechanism would go, but it would have been just the thing for ticker tape parades during Gas Crisis II. Clearly, a ’61 Continental it’s not. In any case, the X-body ultimately contributed to the successful A-body FWD Century, many of which ply the roads around here to this day. If only the X-body could have been as reliable from the get-go…
I had an ‘89 (J body) Cavalier Z24 convertible for a while as a cheap commuter. I paid $750 for it from a neighbor. That Skylark might be fun for a tenth of his asking price.
