I've chosen on my 2 basket case GS's to find suitable Skylark shells to cut up as donors and to re-use as much as possible of the original shells. It wasn't easy to find cars that were nice enough to use but not so nice as to feel badly about cutting them up and those cars are getting fewer and farther between. Neither car will have any repro sheetmetal but both will have extensive surgery. I could've gone the re-body route (not so easy on a convertible) or much more easily, the repro sheetmetal route and bought the full pre-assembled floor/rockers/cowl plus a roof, quarters, wheelhouses, top of dash, rear filler, etc. and pieced together a repro shell while saving some small part of the original shell and called it "restored." I'm fortunate in that I'm able to do the work myself. Many can't & I wouldn't trust many shops to do what I'm doing so they go about it differently. In the end, if we had the option of a full Dynacorn shell, vs. say the "restoration" of the Buick I linked to earlier in this thread, I couldn't blame a guy for going the Dynacorn route. Go back & look at the car I linked to earlier - There is very little left of that "car" but it's been "restored." I know the owner and to him, it's still the same car. Would it be had he not saved that small amount of the original shell? Idk. We don’t have the option of a full repro body like the Chevy & Ford guys do but as noted, we could almost piece one together and sure, that car takes a hit with respect to value vs. an all original sheetmetal car & while NOM is really what's talked about more wrt values, if the shell is what makes the car a car, we've been going about this all wrong as a hobby - The real value should be in original sheetmetal. But, to reiterate my earlier point, unlike an block or trans case, which is either original or not, every piece of that shell has a part # so we can get into %'s of how original is the sheetmetal and that's the slippery slope that makes this a different debate than an engine or trans. In fact, every piece of the car except 2, including the frame, shell, & drivetrain could be bought at the parts counter. The engine in a GS was exactly the the same as the engine in an Electra or Skylark w/the exception of some #'s a (likely) drunk guy stamped onto them and even then, many were stamped incorrectly (as were data plates) but we get all wrapped around the axle (pun intended) about whether it's the "born with" engine/trans. One of my cars, which I bought apart, doesn't have the original frame, was missing a ton of stuff, and that nobody in their right mind would tackle (rare yes, extremely valuable when done, no) I've affectionately referred to as "a collection of parts w/a VIN (& data plate) But it'll be 'restored" using as much of the original shell as poss & all orig GM metal. Does that make it better than if I pieced together an all Chinese repro shell? Idk. The guy I bought it from was going to re-body it and had the perfect Skylark to do it. In the end, I'm doing it my way but who am I to dictate that it's the best way. Is it the same car in the end no matter how you go about saving it? If you merely take a Skylark and just swap a bunch of parts from a GS over to it w/o 100% disassembling it, I'd say no. But I really think in the end, and this is the part that's missing from this debate, it's whether the blood, sweat, and tears have been put into the "restoration" and if so... At least this is more fun than debating the "P" word.
You’ll find in these pictures the car is rough but not a lost cause. Hood is perfect. On each side when you open the doors the metal is extremely solid, window channels are good, When you open the trunk shes solid where the weatherstripping goes. Certainly a car that has enough left for a restoration and not completely obliterated. Thanks- Quintin Patrick.
Thanks Quintin & nice to see you on here! I think we've gotten way off track wrt discussing the car at hand per se and into a hypothetical/philosophical discussion on bodies. There's no doubt I'd fix that shell and I have a couple '70 Skylarks that'd be great sheetmetal donors for the floors (does it need a pass. floor?),wheelhouses, saddlebags, etc. if someone wanted to use original sheetmetal to fix it - One is even a factory bucket seat Flint shell. When you do sell it, feel free to pass my name along to the new owner. I wish I had the means to make you an offer on the car - I'd love to have it but space/$/time are all an at a premium.
Thanks for the update Quintin. NOS quarters were available here: https://v8buick.com/index.php?threa...skylark-gs-original-gm-quarter-panels.370717/
