Here's an oddity: 1981 Buick Skylark 2 door Sports Coupe - $1300

not mine, never seen or heard of one before

Seller said: I am an avid Buick collector, historian of cars, and true car nut in general... I have run out of storage space, resources, and patience for bills currently due... I have decided to part with this 80% or so restored extremely rare 1981 Buick Skylark 2 door Sports Coupe, w/ Limited trim package for 1/3rd of my actual investment in it. Make NO MISTAKE HERE, this IS THE ONLY ONE LEFT AROUND THESE PARTS OF THE US TODAY! This car was formerly owned by the famous N. Georgia moonshiners family... Not naming here... It is the custom ordered sister car to the early 80s Chevy X-11, the very first front wheel drive sports car ever produced by GM! There were ONLY A HANDFULL of this particular car EVER MADE.... According to my GM production chart, there is only a BLANK next to this cars model!!! I have slightly over $3,000 invested in new parts and labor currently... Over $1,800 in the past year or so alone.... >>>>>»» * THIS CAR ONLY NEEDS AN EXHAUST PIPE, MUFFLER,SLIGHT ALIGNMENT IN FRONT, AND NEW 2 BARRELL CARBURATOR TO BE RUNNING LIKE BRAND NEW..... NEW PAINT JOB, AND WINDSHIELD TO BE FULLY RESTORED... I ASSURE YOU EVERY OTHER PART ON THIS CAR IS LITERALLY BRAND NEW PERIOD!!! the list would take up the rest of this space... I am ONLY willing to settle for $1,300 CASH...ABSOLUTELY FIRM, THE CAR ONLY HAS ( 104,771 ) Original miles on it, I HAVE ALL ORIGINAL PAPERWORK INCLUDING WINDOW STICKER, ORDER SHEET, ETC. IN GOOD CONDITION. The former owner was 71, female, and the transmission currently ONLY HAS ( 20,000 ) miles on it, rebuilt by GM specialist in 2004, documented. The pictures provided were taken yesterday, even though it has not been cleaned in months now. You WILL have to tow it home yourself as my AAA has run out this year... Please contact Austin B. At: ( 404 ) 566 - 1238. I WILL NOT ACCEPT ONE PENNY LESS THAN $1300 cash PERIOD! Thank you, and God Bless.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/cto/3201964189.html

While googling around about this car I stumbled on this website.
http://smog-era.com/
Much about forgotten cars (and some very forgettable) from '73 to '83

Only in Atlanta will you find a gem like that...

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: not mine, never seen or heard of one before

You sure is a young 'un.... I can't say I specially recall this trim model, but I very much remember the car. Sellers ad is a bit rosy colored glasses, but whatever. Love the 80's velour couch front seats in a "sports car".

My mom had a 1980 Skylark. Put my parents off American cars for 10 years and off GM permanently.

I'm guessing it still has the original 185 80 13 tires that all the sports cars were using in the 80's. It's probably worth $400, or slightly less over the scales.

Is that a relative of the same-era Pontiac Sunbird?

Is that really a Buick version of the X11 or just a Buick version of the Citation?

dculberson wrote: Is that a relative of the same-era Pontiac Sunbird?

It's an X-body, so the Pontiac equivalent was the Phoenix. Sunbird was a J-body, the Buick equivalent of that would have been the Skyhawk.

X-body was Chevy Citation, Pontiac Phoenix, Buick Skylark, Olds Omega. GM's first from-scratch mass market front-drive platform, not counting niche stuff like Toronados and Eldorados. GM put a big marketing push behind them in 1980 when they came out because they were smaller, FWD, and were supposedly going to get better fuel economy. They had terrible quality problems from the start. I think they were killed off by 1985 at the latest, the Citation being the longest-lived of the bunch. Truly a low point for GM.

My sister and brother-in-law, expecting their first child in 1980, traded his 1978 25th Anniversary Corvette (4sp, black on black, Z51 suspension) for a 1981 Pontiac Phoenix.

He was never the same.

Someone in this area WAS advertising a similar Skylark sedan on CL for awhile, not sure if it's still for sale. Pretty much ALL the FWD X-body cars (the Nova was also referred to as an X-body at GM) have gone to the crusher, and most of the '80s J-body cars have joined them. My sister owned a 4 cylinder with automatic Citation for awhile and I had a J2000 in the mid '80s...pretty forgettable cars. The Escort and Tempo were worse, tho. Look at the interior picture of this car, the radio sits on it's side on the right of the gauge cluster...pretty much all the early X-body cars had that "feature". My sister never noticed it in her car until I pointed it out to her.

The Skylark, IF it was optioned correctly, was the able to come close to performing like the Citation X-11. A big "problem" for the Buick, versus the Chevy, was a near total lack of the manual transmission option.

I'm not sure if the Limited was available with the 4 AND the V6, or only the 6. The pictures here make it impossible to tell which engine this car has...and of course, no mention by the seller. If it drives? Well, it's an okay car for $1,300. Not sure how long you will wait on that new windsheild, tho.

Tom_Spangler wrote: My mom had a 1980 Skylark. Put my parents off American cars for 10 years and off GM permanently.

I'm pretty sure this is quote worthy in the magazine.

buddy had one.
still fwd, rather have a 79 v8 rwd car=]

I want that. Yes. I want that.

I saw an X11 Citation on CL a couple of weeks ago and we were talking about it on Facebook.

Buy it Paul!

please note my avatar.

The Buick above is an odd one for sure. The car above is a V6, If the vin code for the engine is a Z, then its the 135 hp H.O. engine. 4-speed manual was an option, but rare out side of the X-11 or Phoenix XJ. Don't know if the Skylark got the subframe braces from the X-11 and suspension upgrades or not.

Fit_Is_Slo (ceasarromero) wrote: Buy it Paul!

I need something reliable

My parents had a Skylark V6/4 speed. My most vivid memory is the constant smell of anti-freeze from the heater core leaking and saturating the carpet.

[enabler]

If you think about it, the X11 gave it's engine compartment to the Fiero, the FWD 5.3L LS engine fits into the Fiero like butter in corn crevices which would in turn mean the 5.3L LS engine is a perfect fit for an X-11...

[/enabler]

In reply to enabler:

I was thinking supercharged 3800 would be more appropriate in this Skylark.

They put the 5.3L LS in the Buick Lacrosse Super (and that car really is Super).

$1300 seems like $1300 more than I'd offer.

It's times like this that I remember the phrase "rare does not necessarily mean desirable"

From an ex-Phoenix with the HO V6 sleeper owner (and F Stock autocrosser, yikes)

My wife's grandmother had a 1993 Ford Temp with 46K on it. Single owner, it was garaged all it's life, and was maintained very well. To give you an idea of its condition, the paint was immaculate (most Fords of this era have awful clear-coat peel and severe fading). Mechanically, it needed nothing, the interior was perfect, and everything worked 100% (save for a Check Airbag light). If this was a desirable model, it might have been worth something. As it was, we sold it to the first person who looked at it for $1200, and I think that was a pretty fair deal on both sides. There was really no value to the car's condition, it went for the going price of a running car. As an aside, it had a 3 spd auto (no O/D) and a pretty anemic 4cyl, and the EPA highway was only 25 MPG. Times have definitely changed for the better in terms of fuel economy!

Compared to the car in this post, her Tempo is 12 years newer, and in far better shape (judging by the pictures). The fact that someone was working to restore this Skylark scares me!

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: $1300 seems like $1800 more than I'd offer.

FTFY.

Had a girlfriend in high school with one like that, only puke green. 2.8L carb'd V6 IIRC. It would go, well until she ran it out of coolant and drove it for 30 miles hot. Interestingly enough, she was just lke the car. Likely to get hot and pop a gasket.... If ya know what I mean.