I have a 66 4-speed hardtop that I took to the 85 GS Nats. There were 3 guys there that looked it over and said it looked like an "Interceptor Special" I was 18 at the time, and had never even seen another 66 GS until I ran into Walt Kilgus at a Beech Bend carwash. Some years later,I found the old road tests with Jim Bell and Pop Kennedy, and it referred to an Interceptor Special that Buick was considering building around ten of, and that they were slated for build in May of 66. I found Jim Bell at a later Nats, sans car, and described it in detail. He said it sure sounded like one, but Buick had only built one 4-speed for a guy in Indiana or Ohio who would not drive an automatic. The rest were all autos(and Reynolds Buick got 2 because they wrecked the first one). Mine is a May car with a 4-speed, AM radio and retractible seatbelts. No other options, 13xxx actual miles when I bought it, and needed a rebuild and throwout bearing at 14500. The internals were stolen by the machine shop according to the Cadillac mechanic who rebuilt it for me. Sorry for the long boring story, but I would love to put my speculation to rest. I have wondered about this for about 15 years. Where can I find the build sheet(s) on a 66 SkylarK? Any ideas about what they would show if this is one of those cars? I am sure it isn't, but the possibility is very exciting, and I'd like to get over it.. Thanks, Dan deadmed@swbell.net
66 Build Sheet Dan K, I found my 66 build sheet tucked inside the drivers front bucket seat top. I took off the steel seat back and there it was.(If it's not there keep looking.) I am looking at that copy now and there is a place for Fleet, Special Car orders, and COPO car orders. But here's the problem, that sheet will only tell how the car was built at the factory, not what was done after it left. If the cars were "bought off the lot" and then altered, you won't see anything on the sheet. If the cars were Special Car Orders or COPO cars there might be a code in those spaces. You might want to talk to the Chevelle Guys I know there were some 67 COPO cars with 427's installed. They might have sheets from their cars. Also if the Interceptor Special cars came from a specific dealer and you could find where your car was sold that might help. If you find the sheet send me a copy and I will see what I can do. A friend of mine is having this same type of problem with his car. He has a Blue 1969 GS 400 that was built in Canada. When he bought it it had "Motion" & "Hurst Equipped Badges" Original Hurst Wheels, two piece headers and was painted like a Motion Car. Those Badges are still there today. Even now you can still see glue marks where missing Motion Badges were applied. He has talked to the owner of Motion and the man did remember a 69 or 70 Blue GS being in the shop, but could not remember more. The car was supposed to be in some movie. It's tough to track these types of things down, but the rewards make it worth it. Duane
Dan, I would be very interested in your elaboration of what was unique to the interceptor special. I have never heard of Buick building such a thing (not that they didn't) so any other details you have learned would be informative to those of us ignorant on the subject. BTW the build-sheet on the 64-65's was usually tucked in the springs of the rear seat bottom. Not sure of the 66, but its worth a look
Buick Police Interceptor Hi Adam, I just spent the past hour scouring the many boxes of car mags and still haven't found the issue!!!! It was titled "Blueprinting Buicks for Action" and had a nailhead engine buildup and pics of Pop Kennedy, wearing an embroidered Gran Sport jacket with shoulder stripes, drag racing a Skylark GS with a Reynolds Buick sticker on therear quarter panel. At the end of the article was the paragraph about the planned Police Interceptor cars that said about ten would be built and given to Buick racers to promote at the drag strips(much like the 67 GS Woodward Avenue Specials and Royal Bobcat GTO's). The engines were supposed to be 11:1 with high lift cams, and performance rear gears, with shaved rear passenger spring and a spacer in the front drivers front spring to make the car launch flat. There were tips about driving penny nails into the bushings to stiffen them up, etc, but I don't believe the factory cars had these penny-ante tricks. When I spoke to Jim Bell, he said the first car they wrecked while testing and totalled it out. It was white. The second was light yellow and they repainted it white, and went racing. He didn't recall if there were any tranny mods, or if it was an ST 300 or 400. He also didn't know if it had a Carter or Qjet. I do know that the racers didn't trust the early Qjets, as they had reliability problems which the mechanical Carter didn't. My car is a May car, 1st week I think(it's been in the body shop going on 4years but the storage is free....) and I bought it in central Illinois in 1982 in absolutely mint condition. The trim pieces had all been screwed on as well as having the retainers, perhaps to keep them from flying off???? The car sat down in the right back and a little up in the drivers front and certainly launched HARD before the rebuild. I still remember the seller giving me a test drive and it felt like it came off the ground in front. Within 6 months the engine began to smoke a lot ( I know it wasn't me as I was not abusive except for a few hard romps and one tire smoking episode at the Springfield Il CC Nats.) A friend of mine had a brother with the local Caddy dealer who knew something about nailheads and rebuilt it at the dealership. I knew enough to request that all used parts be returned, but when I called 2 weeks later he said that the machine shop owner returned only the crank and rods, claiming they had lost the rest. I called him myself and he basically said "sue me." Mike Heminghouse, the mechanic said he had never seen hightop pistons like mine on another nailhead, and said the car must have been a "racer." I contacted the seller to try and get a little rebate to help with the rebuild, and he cried poor. He also claimed to know nothing of the car's history including the name or hometown of the seller. He had spun one of those "Vietnam- Vet- dies -and -leaves -a -pristine- car" stories and I had bought it. His name was Sam Sgro and he had a warehouse full of Camaros and Vettes. I found out later that the locals called him "Slippery Sam"Oh well.... I also found out later through the grapevine that the machine shop owner was a nailhead fanatic. Oh Well...... Either way, I couldn't have reused the standard bore pistons or the used cam, but it would have been nice to have them to compare with the stockers. I remember doing a crude differential assessment when I was getting new tires on it and it came out to around 3.6 to 3.7 turns of the shaft. I never did change out the coil springs, but tried spring shocks to make it look more natural. They didn't do much, but are still on it. The car thereafter served me well through high school, college and medical school without any major problems. I couldn't get a loan for a new car, and so was forced to drive it to Texas in 1992 for a residency at Baylor. I tried to buy a new Skylark at David McDavid Buick with my first paycheck stub, and was treated shabbily by a greasy salesman in a bad suit. Shortly after that, I was nailed in the front wheel by a no-hable English woman racing through a redlight in a Hyundai. No insurance, of course, but State Farm said they would have totalled it, anyway. Long story short, it is slowly being repaired completely by a bodyman in Oklahoma, and I hope to see it finished by late summer. What I can say is, that after the rebuild with a .060 overbore and stock internals, it was notably slower than before. I have GREAT memories in that car, which helped me through the usual teenage angst, etc, and it will be back on the road and not in some junkyard. I am sorry I can only save a few of them.......Dan
I have the article "Blueprinting Buicks for action" at home. I will look at it when I get home and see if it has anything about the "Interceptor Special" Bill
