Canadiancatgreen has an unusual find posted to the CCohort, a 1981 Buick Skylark convertible. Such a thing being created back in the dark days of factory built convertibles being taboo isn’t overly surprising.
What is surprising is the extent of such aftermarket manufacturing that took place from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s.
www.cardomain.com
From the scant information to be found, American Custom Coachworks converted some number of 1981 and 1982 X-body Skylarks into convertibles. They also did these conversions on the Pontiac Phoenix and Oldsmobile Omega, the Skylark stablemates.
Coach Builders Limited and Barrows were two other companies making drop top Skylarks at the same time.
It appears American Custom Coachworks went out of business in 2003. Of the two links found here, one is no longer valid and the other leads to a French website.
Coach Builders Limited is still in business in Florida. Their Facebook page currently has a picture of a Dodge Challenger Hellcat converted into a droptop.
Barrows seems to have evaporated. There is a coach builder in Barrows-in-Furness in the UK, an auto parts store with the Barrows name in Georgia, and an auto repair facility by that name in Phoenix.
The convertible-ization business appears to have been a vibrant one for a short time as evidenced by the list of GM cars so converted by a variety of coach builders.
Those businesses, like this Buick, certainly had a good run.
The structural integrity of a ramen noodle.
and none of the taste
So were these any of the builders of the Eldorado and Riviera convertibles from the last generations of those cars?
Dan, the last link has who converted what. It’s rather extensive.
Not everybody has time to read the links. 🙂
So typing out two comments takes less time than clicking one link? 🙂
hmmmmm
Wow, that’s unexpected! Thanks for pulling it out of the Cohort.
I used to see a red Omega convertible parked at a farm in Indiana on US-36 (a stretch of road I find myself on a few times a year). While identifiable as an Omega, it was too far from the road to be able to get any decent photos. Unfortunately, the last few times I’ve driven that way, it wasn’t there. I’m hoping it was moved into a barn for safekeeping, but I fear it’s ended up like the Skylark here.
For some reason I assumed these X-body convertibles were built by Hess & Eisenhardt, but I guess I was confusing them with the Cutlass Ciera convertibles instead.
And from the Cardomain photo, it looks like these cars had the clunkiest, chunkiest convertible top storage arrangement ever made. And from what I recall, the top-up look wasn’t exactly sleek, either.
If your US 36 travels take you anywhere in the area of Indianapolis, you will have to give me a shout.
Not sure where on 36 you saw it, but I am quite sure I have never seen that one.
The Omega was west of Indianapolis, somewhere between Danville and Rockville.
I will definitely let you know next time I’m in the Indianapolis area with a little bit of time to spare!
Eric, I share your opinion about the look of the convertible top, up or down. It looks a little homemade. Still, I wish this one, having “lived” as long as it did, had a happier ending.
Wow – you raise a great question: Did I know about these and completely forget them or did I never know about them in the first place?
I find this car oddly compelling. Well, maybe not this particular one.
Newport Convertible Engineering in Southern California remains in business doing custom convertible conversions. Most of their business is high end vehicles but they once did them on a more ordinary car.
My eyes, my eyes!
Cool topic. For a very brief moment, looking at the rear three-quarter view of the lead pic, I thought this was a capture of the targa-topped AMC Concord Sundowner introduced in 1981 by the Griffith Company.
Here’s a link to a July 1981 Popular Mechanics article highlighting the growing trend in conversions at the time. They indicate there were 20 companies doing such conversions. And 10,000 US convertibles would be built for 1981.
https://tinyurl.com/y3uhutg8
I recall ads for various convertible builders were very common in the major car magazines then. Though for some reason they rarely splurged on full color, full page ads. Lots of half page B&W ads for convertible conversions in the back pages. Perhaps indicative of the quality of their workmanship, or the competitiveness of the market.
AMC Sundancer not Sundowner (although they did have Pacer and Gremlin option packages with that name)
I like that Caddy…..a lot!
Despite the main attraction being the convertible conversion, the presence of the mini-road wheels is what really captures my attention. I have never seen a set outside the early brouchures.
These 1980s outside coach conversions always baffle me. Even more baffling is trying to imagine who would have bought them. I guess we’ll be saying the same thing several decades from now about odd factory convertibles like the Range Rover Evoque Convertible and Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet.
“It appears American Custom Coachworks went out of business in 2003.” I can see why…….
Honestly, I never saw or knew about the Buick Skylark convertible.
Why would anyone want an x-body convertible???
Then again, people bought Cavalier & Sunbird convertibles, so no accounting for taste…
It’s 1981.
– The GM X body was the state of the art of the modern American automobile, a REVOLUTION according to a Car and Driver cover story that stretched about 25 pages.
– The last American convertible was made in 1976 and would never be built again, so if you wanted a droptop, you had to order one from a specialty converter. Sure there were a still a few foreign convertibles, but those MGs, Triumphs, and Fiats weren’t long for this world.