Cool pic of a cool car, '67 Buick Skylark (Grandma car)...

[canoeguy]

Looking through some old photos, came across one taken around 1987 or so, my Mom and her Buick Sylark with two canoes on top. We had just finished a day trip canoeing in Central Florida on the Eckonolockahatchee River (near Orlando), taking out on a boat ramp. Mom is enjoying a cold beer while I load the canoes, my wife taking the picture.....

Bet you didn't know two canoes would fit on top of a two door hardtop.

Mom is about 47 in this photo. I think the car is a '67 Buick Skylark with a 350 motor. She favored GM cars with 350 motors, she'd buy them cheap, like $350, then take extraordinarily good care of them. Her previous car had been an Oldsmobile Cutlass with a 350 motor. She'd get at least 8-10 years use out of them, then buy another cheap car. The Florida sun and weather would kill the car with rust before the engine or transmission died.

Unfortunately, my Mom passed away in 1991 at age 52 of Breast Cancer. She was a good sport and always up for an adventure. Sorely missed....

 

[LVSteve]

A great picture of happy times. Kudos to your Mum for her frugal car buying habits.

 

[CW Spook]

My son had a '63 Skylark hardtop. Hit a deer with it and it should have been totaled, but we had it fixed. He drove it another 2 or 3 years until he got hit from behind at a stop light and this time it really was totaled. He wasn't hurt either time. It was a good car...

 

[sheepdawg]

I think that's a 72 Skylark.

 

[doublesharp]

Cool pic. Skylark is at least a 68 because it has side marker lights.

 

[BigBill]

I went to a museum in Kittery,Maine and in there were the cars i was weened on as a mechanic when i was a kid. Time flies and we get old so fast. Nice car and your MOM loved canoeing too.

 

[CBA44]

That's a 71 or 72. I wanna guess a 71 as If I remember right, 72 headlight bucket trim was different.
All different in 68 and 9....

1967 was squared off in back and whole different front.

It is a cool pic ....

 

[COL Jagdog]

I learned a lot about life in the backseat of a Skylark.

Parked on beach roads near the Canaveral Pier, on sultry summer evenings.

 

[scooter123]

Another tell for it being later than a 1967 is that it doesn't have vent windows. GM dropped Vent windows across the line in 1968. More of a Chevy guy but I agree with the post that says it's a 1971. However, it would take a real Buick pro to know for sure, between 71 and 72 the differences in the Olds and Buick line were basically turn signal and tail light features.

 

[David LaPell]

The Skylark is an under rated car when it comes to the musclecar world. While most lust over Chevelles and GTO's and pay really out of this world prices for them, the Skylarks are a nice driving car and you can still find them for a decent price. A family friend has a 72 Riviera with a factory 455 that is a downright animal but surely doesn't look like it. These old cars are drying up now, many went to the scrapyard when Cash for Clunkers rolled around, and alot of the less desirable ones are coming out of the woodwork. It's getting harder and harder to find the ones that no one wanted. If you can, buy one now because if scrap prices go up again then more will end up turned into razor blades or who knows what.
Incidentally that Skylark is not a 67, the 67 was a squared bodystyle like the Chevelle, Lemans, Cutlass of that year and not the rounded style that is in the picture. It's a bit later on but not exactly sure but it is not a '67.

 

[sheepdawg]

72 Skylark

71 Skylark

Only visable difference is the grill and the Buick logo on the front of the hood. Unfortunately Mom is in front of the hood but looking at grills I'd have to go with 72. Being about 15 years younger than your Mother I too spent a lot of times on the beaches of Florida in the 70s and 80s driving a very sweet 71 Cutlass Supreme with a quadrejet sitting on top of a 350 that I owned from about 1976 to about 1998. That picture brings back some of the great memories. I bet your Mom's having a fine time. I'm so sorry that she lost a battle with cancer so young.

Thanks for posting that picture.

 

[canoeguy]

Thanks for the info on the car, the '67 that stuck in my mind was the Oldmobile Cutlass she had prior to that car. I was in High School when she owned that one, 1977-1979, then I joined the Navy.

When my Mom passed she gave the Buick Skylark to my Sister, who drove it for several more years before the motor died. She didn't baby it or maintain it like Mom did, but it gave service years past what one would expect, especially in a rust prone environment.

Yes, our whole family felt robbed when Mom passed at age 52, she was one of the funnest peeople you ever met, everyone loved her and loved to be around her. The party didn't start until Becky arrived. She scuba dived, owned two canoes, was a commercial rated pilot with instructor and float plane certifications, made some money flying scuba charters to the Bahamas and taught folks how to fly.

Expensive hobbys, but driving old cars was one way to live cheap enough to have fun.

She worked at Cape Canaveral as a Technical Publications Writer, writing maintenance manuals for satellites. The last one she wrote publications for was the cargo in the Space Shuttle Challenger when it blew up. Lost her job and health insurance the next day, shortly after found a lump in her breast. Paid for her cancer treatments out of her own pocket, and had paid all but $200 of her bills when she passed.

Finding the picture of her and that car brought back a lot of pleasant memories...