Was it at some point in 1971 or 1972 only? The reason I ask: We have a factory black on black 71 stage 1. Bought it basically as a shell 10+ years ago. It was clearly raced at some point and has an SF code 455 w/ old hooker wrap around headers. It also had a mystery rear. Fortunately, it retains its numbers matching BB trans. The car had only the drivers fender which we determined to be original with the stage 1 fender emblem missing. No interior, dash, etc. I’ve been trying to deep dive into its option load. I know it was a buckets/console car with AC and a tach (hole in dash under booster) I am fairly confident in saying it had cruise because the pad on the left inner fender is drilled for the cruise servo and the factory vacuum hoses are still there. The car is 04E, so 5th week of April. Thanks for the help!
Cool, thanks Jason. Obviously no way to ever definitively prove it was optioned with cruise, but the signs are there. Maybe the microfilm will appear one day. I doubt there are many black 71s with cruise around
I’ll hold ya to it with a beer or lunch on me. It will be a few years before we get back, but last year was the best car related experience I’ve had.
This may or may not help you. My 1971 04B Flint build Skylark Custom convertible has the smooth inner fender. My 1971 05D Flint build GS455 convertible had the Smooth inner fender as well, but it was disassembled when I got it. BUT... Considering the distributor had a Stinger ignition on the assembled engine, and the smooth inner fender had the Stinger module, I would THINK that your 04D build would have the smooth inner fender. BUT...THAT inner fender had no overspray primer on it... When I got the 1971 Skylark Custom convertible, I also bought a parts car 4door Skylark And can't recall what year it was. I have long since parted it out for all the goodies I could get out of it. Along with a bunch of parts I have are two inner fenders. I had one smooth inner fender and one indented inner fender and both had primer overspray on them. And the 05D GS455 convertible HAD been repainted several tiimes. So ... The question remains... Is one of my parts inner fender the correct one for my 1971 GS 455, or do I have the wrong one installed. I honestly can't guess. I can ask the guy I bought both cars from, and he guided me to the GS as well. (He is a member here...) I will PM him... My 1972 02A Flynt build Skylark coupe definitely has the indented inner fender.
My source got back to me. He doesn't even recall the four door car at all. So anything further is just speculation. Unless other late 1971 owners chime in...
AHHH! I just remembered! My 1972 Skylark had a Badly broken grill in it, and I replaced that with the grill from the four door car, plus headlight bezels from my own stash. The grill was a 1971!. Considering that I had to swap out the headlamp bezels on the 1972 Skylark coupe for 1971 bezels, I would THINK that the four door was a 1971, as I needed to swap the 1972 bezels due to not fitting the 1971 grill edges. Plus it had been repainted early in life the same blue, but not on the inside of the fenders. That poor 1972 had been through so many repaints.. When I stripped the 1972 coupe for painting and bodywork, I found at least thirteen layers of primer and paint on the passenger rear quarter. That car had seen some rough times! I looked at the remnant of the four door firewall (I sold the dash portion to another V8BUICK member.) and noted that The firewall to inner fender bracket was still installed and went to look at the inner fenders on top of my storage. Yep, one of theSMOOTH inner fenders still had the bracket installed. So yes the inner fender came off the unknown date 1971 four door parts car. And I know that I have that trim tag stashed away SOMEWHERE... Going on about spare parts, I know that I have a green 1972 passenger door, so THAT may bethe source of the 1972 inner fender as well. Heck, about twenty years ago, I was buying ANY spare parts as I was finding out all the nuances about 1the 1970/ 1971/ 1972 skylark cars, particularly the 1971 models... On an aside note... I know that on the G-body platforms 78-87 Regal and Cutlass, that for their respective year and body style that the door shell and lower inside door panels were the same...But were different from the Monte Carlo/ Pontiac Grand Prix which were alike for themselves... Does this apply as well to the 1970-1972 Skylark/GS and Cutlass/ 442 as well?I got a rust bucket from #@!! Cutlass years ago that the doors were reasonably good condition, but are stored at a friends warehouse/ barn... I know that they all share the same floor pans for their respective years and body styles.
