Hi Guys, I am currently looking at picking up an auto 1971 Buick Skylark with a 350 2bbl carb from one my friends Dad. The car is in great shape (no noticeable body rust) and was granny driven, by my friends granny, who was the original owner. The car is pretty plain jane with little options but the body motor trans is in great shape except the faded original paint. He also has some parts (console shifter, GS rally wheels, bucket seats) that he planned to put onto it but now has too many other projects and wants to sell the car + the parts. I do not know a lot about cars, so I would be using this as both a learning project as well as to take the wife cruising. I am not looking for a show car and I think this would be a good starter for me since it is in good working order. I am very close with this friend and have known his dad for many years, so I think he would sell it to me for a good price. What do you think this car is worth (I know its tough to tell with out seeing, but approx $$$ would be great) ??? and should I be looking for anything in particular when I see it in the spring (havent seen in for about 5 years)? Thanks in advance for your replies and I just wanted to say that this site has taught me more about Buicks in the last 2 days than I thought would be possible. sorry for the long post
First off...Welcome to V8Buick!!!!!! :beer Check out George N's site on "things to look for when buying a 1970-1972 Skylark".......... http://www.buickperformance.com/guide.htm He has other great articles too................ Price depends on what the car looks like and what you're willing to pay....prices range from a car that needs a lot of work to a very nice driver..$0-6000.... I've seen some good deals in the $1800 to $3500 range lately. Lon
Hello Future: Please put your name in your signature, we're all on a friendly first name base here, that way we don't have to call you Future in the future..... :laugh:
Ok thanks I have added my name to the signiture. As I brows more on this site it seams that the GS 455's are discussed a lot more than the 350's. Does that mean the 350's are much less desirable?
The small block 350 cars are a little "less desirable" than their big block brothers [to be expected I guess], but they are by no means ANY less fun or worth owning. I'll let you in on a little secret, of the hundreds of thousands of skylarks and GS's build back in the glory days, only about 10,000 of them were factory big block cars. When you factor in the ravages of time, rust, wrecks, and the like,,, only a small handfull of factory big blocks remain in existance today. A great number of the big block cars running the streets today started life with a small block. The 350 you are starting out with is a fantastic engine. It's actually a stronger and more structurally stable block design than the big block buick. It's easy to work on, INCREDIBLY reliable, very tuneable, makes fantastic torque, and with bolt on parts, can almost match a big block for power! As for what you should expect to pay for it, well, that's going to be almost impossible to estimate. A car, or anything antique or collectable, is worth EXACTLY what a buyer is willing to pay for it. Not one penny more or less. Where has the car spent all of it's life? Cars in the rust-belt tend to be worth a little less due to body cancer, or sometimes a little more because there so rare in that part of the country o No: Yes, it's very confusing. Also, will you be getting any kind of "family" or "best friend" discount????? 2 or 4 door? Color? Miles? All of these things affect price, but overall, $750-$1800 seems to be the national average for a running useable, half-way decent skylark. A little less with rust, body damage, or some other problems... A little more for an always garaged nearly perfect "little old lady" special. Once you buy the car, if it runs good- just leave it alone and drive it. Even in it's bone stock low compression 2V configuration, it will have more than enough power to merge onto any expressway, run all day at any speed, or do a really impressive break-torque burnout. If it needs a little tuning, or if you just have to have more power [who dont?] A stock 4V junkyard intake, mild cam swap [isky 262 works GREAT in this engine], HEI swap, dual exhaust, and a shift kit in the tranny will REALLY wake this engine up! Or there's always a big block swap :3gears: Whatever you decide, keep us informed,,, and drop by the small block forum. Lots of usefull info there. Good luck :TU:
I don't feel like adding up all the years, but for example: Model year 1967 alone saw the production of 10 659 2 drs HT GS400's, plus 1014 2 drs post coupes and 2140 convertibles.....
Not trying to split hairs, or ruffle anyones feathers on this one. I was just shooting from the hip, and refering spacifically to the 70-72 models. Going from memory, I do believe total big block production for 70-72 was around 10-11k. I could be totally wrong, an will be the first to admit it,,, but no-one will dispute that a lot of the BB's today are clones. More importantly, I was pointing out that just because it's a SB car doeesn not make it un-desirable, just up-gradeable :laugh:
I agree on that last statement, Darryll :beer And the Buick 350 engines from the late 60's/early 70's are great performers :3gears: I believe that modelyear 1970 GS455 production was also over, or just under, 10 000 cars. The later years saw a lower production figure, wasn't there a big strike in one of the plants during model year 1972 ?
Val, We just bought a 1971 Skylark 350 2bbl. in very nice condition with 24,000 original miles for $3,200. The car was owned by an elderly woman, sold to a friend of the family and now to us. It had been well maintained and garaged. It has rally wheels and auto trans.,but not many other options. I thought the price was fair for the condition of the car. I have enough projects so it was nice to find a car that I could just gas up and go. It will be my "driver" this year. Let us know how you do. Good Luck :TU: John
$2,500-3,500 is what I would think based off of a local one I saw go for 2,700 in not so great of shape but didn't have rust.
Hi, i paid $2,400 for my '71 skylark, a couple of years ago, 350 2bbl, auto, air ( dont work ), ps, pb, not terrible condition but not perfect either, i think i got a pretty good deal. pick it up if your able to, damn nice cars. chaz
1970 GS 455 hdtp--8732 produced (One of those numbers everyone should know about their own car off the top of their head... )
A 455 can be swapped into your car in a parking lot during a rainstorm in 2 days. p Being new to the board you probably don't know what that means, so buy the 1st Annual BPG Nationals DVD and find out. ou:
Happened right in front of my buddies tent. Don't know about the storm, but it was raining. Quite amazing it was. And on the third day it was running low 14's, mid 90's on the strip. BTW...There was 9,948 GS 350's built in 1970 and 0 GS 350 Convertibles. This car can move, never second guess a 350. And, I paid $5,000 for my GS 350 in 1997. It had 51,000 miles on it and was in good shape.
The recipe If you get the Skylark here's my suggestions for improvements. 1) Get all the things repaired that need it, got to expect some when you first get the car. 2) Your first purchase should be a junkyard, cast iron 4 barrel intake and carb. These are surprisingly good intake, all of the aftermarket intakes will only give you around a 5hp gain, not worth the money. Ask the experts on this board what years will swap, I think anything '71 and later will work. 3) There's another specialist who redoes the quadrajet carburetors. Have him rebuild the carb and set it up for a mild 350 4) There are specialists on this board, your first one should be Dave who does small body HEI's. Have him set up a points free, properly re-curved distributor, these engines love lots of timing in very early. With these changes you'll have a very strong, very reliable 350. No need to get into a cam change unless you're going to the drag strip, the original cam is quite good for the street. This is when you need to decide if you want to put more money into the 350 or begin saving for a 455. A 350 on this board made over 600 hp, the potential is there but right now it costs more to build that power in a 350 than it does in a big block. If we ever get aluminum heads with decent flow the 350 will begin to rival the 455 in popularity.
