1966 skylark for sale, would appreciate an assessment

Hello,

I noticed the Skylark for sale I would like thoughts and critiques. This would be my first muscle car purchase and I want to make sure that I do it right. As I mentioned in another thread, I am not a numbers matching guy. The body, paint and interior of this car looks pretty amazing, and I also like the drive train the owner has put in it. One of the things that stood out to me was the missing headlights that have been replaced by plastic pipe going to the air intake. I noticed another skylark for sale on this website where the owner of that did something similar except it was solid plastic tubing. Would it be particularly difficult to replace the headlights and plastic tubing and put a K&N filter on it and call it a day? The seller is asking just under $30,000 would also appreciate what the fair market value of this car would be.Thank you in advance.

 

You can get a much better car for that money,.....I wouldn't give over 15k for that

 

And buicks don't have "fair market value" not enough are sold or desired to form a market,....

 

It’s interesting that you say that, as I don’t know as much about Buicks as I do Chevelles. It’s really bizarre that Buick’s generally came from the factory with more options and there weren’t as many made of them which should increase their value. I understand that this is not a numbers matching car, which again is not important to me.

what are some issues with this car that would lead you to believe it should be around the 15 K mark?

 

Gotta say I agree w/Ethan here - It's going to be the rare Skylark or GS clone that's worth more than $15-20k. In this case, 1st off, even '66 GS's don't typically bring big $ - Seen super nice orig. GS's in the $30k range. Also impossible to tell from those pics how nice the body/paint are.

As we said w/the other one you posted, who built the engine/trans? What rear? Etc. Maybe if (big if), it someone started w/a completely orig. rust-free (not all patched up) Skylark w/all new Legendary interior, a GS hood & trim, maybe a nicely done suspension, and a very well built drivetrain built by reputable builders/engine w/alum S1 heads, etc. etc. (i.e. a car that someone had $60-75k into building), I guess it could be worth $30k but chances that this car has all that are slim. If it were truly a resto-mod (it's not) and well done, again, maybe...

I have a hard time believing that even if this was an equivalent '66 Chevelle w/a 454 that it'd be worth $30k but Chevelles are a different world. You're onto the same thing that everyone on this board has thought regarding Buick vs. Chevy but Chevys are just simply more popular and as such the market has determined they command more $. Buicks were nicer cars originally.

Ppl might disagree w/me here, but I often look at these type cars in terms of what are they worth in parts. There was a super nice '70 Skylark convertible on here a few years ago that was built up as a GS tribute (I say that vs. Clone as there was never a '70 GS 350 convertible). I spoke to a previous owner and the car was very well done. Guy wanted around $20k & couldn't sell it. He was frustrated & said if he couldn't sell it he was going to part it & I don't think he ever did and would've been a shame to do it, but there was easily $20k worth of parts there.

The right one will come along. You're better off w/a '70-72 although there are some very nice earlier cars and really would be better off w/a NOM GS than a Skylark although there are some very nicely done Skylarks that are worthy.

 

You can NEVER compare a Skylark/GS to Chevelle,...cars aren't valued by rarity,....they are valued by DESIRE,....

 

You do have a good point about desire; I noticed a 66 Chevelle with a 502 and manual transmission that went up on Facebook for almost 40k and it sold within a few days.

Car shows in my area are slowly coming back but I stress the word slowly, as several were canceled due to rain. As always I appreciate the information, Buicks are definitely new to me.

Speaking of 70-72…

https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/1971-buick-skylark.369436/#post-3204900

 

I think best to kinda try and define (publicly or to yourself) what it is you want (besides that #'s aren't important) a car for. You have a nice chunk of change to spend so make sure you get something that'll do what you want. You have to take into account your own abilities/tools/facilities as well.

 

Dano, I want to thank you for all the information you’ve given me. The muscle car people in my circles are Chevy and Mopar guys so Buick is very much new to me.

Secondly, I’m looking for a two door A-Body, with a big block and a manual transmission (Nice to have but isn’t mandatory). A car that has a clean body and paint job, that’s fast and loud to tear around town. I should also state that I’m not looking at this in terms of an investment which is why the numbers matching aspect is an important to me. Once I’m done with the car it would be passed on to my kids.

Realistically, my budget is low 30s at most, which is why this car ended up on my radar. 71 Skylark that I included looks pretty impressive and per the information provided on the engine, it appears that he corrected the oiling issues. The only problems for me with a car like that would be removing parts of the roll cage and installing a backseat and then replacing the composite he has with glass.

As I stated before, I believe the fall is going to yield more options at better prices, so may have to be more patient until then.

 

This is probably a pretty nice deal but would probably take high $30's to buy it.

https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/1972-gs-stage-1-in-socal.369315/