When I was about 14, my dad bought a 1972 Buick Skylark. It was a few years old, but was still a pretty cool car. He sold it just before I got my learner's permit. My only real experience driving it was in the driveway, but I always liked that car.

Fast forward about 16 years. I started looking for a muscle car. Given that we had a Skylark and they seemed to be way cheaper than Chevelles, I didn't really look for anything else. Eventually I found one: a 1971 Skylark Custom. The car ran OK but had a few issues, not unexpected for a 21 year old car that had been well used. The transmission had been re-built, the exhaust was new, it was leaking some oil, the vinyl top had been spray painted and it had a GS hood and air cleaner. It was mostly red with a white interior; not a bad color combination. It also came with two sets of wheels. For $750 the car was mine.

The first order of business was to fix the oil leak that's when I noticed that the car had air conditioning at one point, but someone had cut (hacksaw) the various components out from under the hood. I also started researching what I had. The car was built at the Fremont, California, plant and seemed like it spent it's entire life in California. The owners manual and protector plate were in the glove box. From the body tag, it was really a Fire Red color car with Pearl White interior. The top, however, was supposed to be white, not black.

The car had a few problems:

• Bent back bumper and trunk; it had been rear-ended at one point. Not bad, but noticeable.
• Rusted out battery tray and radiator support.
• Worn out front end components.
• Tires that needed to be replaced sooner rather than later.

Since I lived in a condominium at the time, I didn't have any place to work on the car, so its first stop was my friend, Kevin's house. We fixed the oil leak, replaced the front end components, ripped out what was left of the AC and replaced it with components from the local pick-n-pull. A radiator support, gas tank, and rear bumper, along with a bunch of other bits and pieces also came from the local pick-n-pulls.

For the next couple of years I tinkered with the car and used it as a semi-regular daily driver. It ran well and only needed normal maintenance, but in the second half of 1994 I decided it was time to make it look a bit better. I found a body shop that was willing to work on it and they had references for classic cars. I dropped off the car for bodywork, paint, and a new white vinyl top.

Many months later, the car returned with a shiny coat of Fire Red paint and a white vinyl top. It looked sharp! The wheels were looking a little tired though. New wheels made the outside look good and new headliner helped the interior some. For the next 4 years I still used the car regularly and by 1999 I had racked up over 60k miles on the car.

Then I bought another car, a small 2 seater convertible sports car. The Buick started getting driven less and less. In 2001 I got married and my wife had a couple of cars of her own. The Buick got kicked out of the garage and has lived on the driveway under cover since. It was also around this time that I replaced what I think was the original carpet and for the second time, the package shelf.

The Buick didn't get driven much over the next few years. It also became less reliable, having to be towed home after dying while on the way to a family gathering. The problem would only show up when the engine was hot. Over the next couple of years, I slowly tried to diagnose the problem, it turned out to be a bad coil; worked great when cold, not so great when hot. With that problem solved, the car could be driven again but still didn't get out much.

Sitting outside has caused some slow deterioration. The vinyl top was looking worse and worse and finally it became apparent that it was because rust was coming through from underneath. I pulled the vinyl off to discover that it had been applied over mostly bare metal. I guess when the old top was removed and the top sanded to remove glue, the body shop decided it was too much effort and time to seal it with something before putting the new top on. A lot of sanding and navel jelly removed most of the rust.

2012. The Buick sits with the top sporting a rattle can finish and most of the upper trim removed. After a bit of maintenance, it is running good. The tires, however, are cracked and look unsafe for anything but quick trips around the block.

I am getting motivated to rejuvenate the car. New wheels are on order (Year One 17x8 Rallys) which will prompt new tires. Seat covers, foam, and door panels are in the boxes in the garage waiting to be installed. Kevin, the friend who helped getting it all fixed up back in '92, has recently started a body shop business and will be in charge of making it look right. The plan is to give it more of a pro-touring type look. No more vinyl top, minimal trim and emblems. Maybe even a new, slightly lowered suspension. Someday the engine will probably need freshening, but the 41 year old number matching 350 with almost 170,000 miles is still running good.

In late August of 2012 I had a few weeks off and decided to get serious about the interior. I stripped out the existing interior (seats, door panels, trim, carpet, etc. Fixed the few rust spots and cleaned off surface rust as best I could. I removed the rear window so I could get at the issues around the opening and fix rust issues there. Then coated everthing with a nice layer of POR15. I followed that up with dynamat type sound deading and then some padding. A previous owner had cut away part of the metal separating the back seat from the trunk so I replaced that metal. When vacation was over, I was almost ready to re-install the interior. I had two areas that still needed to be complete.

I wanted to fill a couple of trim holes in body by the back seat panels before sticking dyamat in there and I wanted to fill in the metal cut away from the interior door panels. Then the panel water shields could be installed followed by the rest of the interior.

However, as life tends to do, it had other plans. We bought a cabin that needed to be fully renovated and so for the next 7 years, that consumed all our free time. The Buick sat unloved, waiting.

Then the 2020 pandemic hit and everyone was home in lockdown. Working from home provided an opportunity to pick up where I left off all those years ago. At this point, the car had been sitting for about 8 years with an unsealed rear window and water would pool in the interior every time time rained. So the first step was to get the car sealed back up. The rear window opening was cleaned up and painted. The rear window was installed along with a new front windshield. Adjustments were made to side windows and weather stipping replaced to the point where there was only one remaining leak. Water was getting in somewhere on the firewall and running down the front passenger footwell.

I finally attempted to weld the trim holes in the body and weld some new metal in the doors. The holes turned out fine, the doors, well lets just say it's a good thing they are hidden behind panels.

'insert date here' and I finally was ready to make use of all those interior parts I bought back in 2012. I started researching how to replace seat covers and realized that I needed more than just the covers and form. So being older and maybe a bit wiser, I decided that it was really a job for a professional. I contacted a local shop and they rebuilt the seats with the new covers and recovered the back armrests. They turned out really good. The next step was to start installing bits. I started with one of the rear seat panels and immediately had issues with fitment. Again, being older and wiser, I thought, before I mess up the new panels, maybe this is another job for professionals. So I stepped back and thought about it some. I came to the conclusion that yes, it would be better to let someone with more skill in interior install do the work and 2) maybe it would make sense to have the body work/paint done before installing a new interior.

So in 2021, I started making some inquiries. The responses, when I got responses werent' quite what I had hoped. Paint estimates as high as $40K were way outside my bugdet and a number of places said they were booked at least a year out. Not so motivating.

Summer of 2022 I see a add on Facebook for a place about 30 miles away called Live Action Motorsports that does restoration and custom builds. So I contact them and get a fairly positive response. After a few emails back and forth descibing the car and what I'd like to have done to it, we set up meeting. Turns out they are looking for new projects and believe they do a lot of what I want within the budget. So as of September 2022, the Buick is now at Live Action Motorsports.

The plan is to do:

• some rust repair, bodywork, and paint
• install the interior
• brakes
• quick ratio steering box
• fix leaks (engine/tranny)
• maybe exhaust
• maybe wiring harness/electrical
• maybe transmission swap

The story's not over yet....