From the Cohort, by nifticus392.
Further reading:
Car Show Classics: 1968 Buick Skylark GS400 – For The Appreciation Of Stepchildren.
Cohort Pic(k) Of The Day: 1968 Buick GS400 – The Sweep Spear A-Body
– Posted on August 12, 2023
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Curbside Classics Archives
This is nice, but my favorite GS is the 65.
I never liked that “S” curve on the side of the body, it reminded me too much of the ’58 Buick “bulgemobiles” with all their attendant chrome. The three-quarter view from the rear makes the vehicle look bulbous. I agree with ravenuer, my favorite looking GS is the 1965 model.
Never really a fan of the 68-69 Buick Skylark but when the heavily revised 70 model appeared in showrooms it looked like Buick had redeemed itself.
The reappearance of the sweep spear and it’s attendant bulbous appearance on the later N-body cars did it no favors. I never understood why Buick felt the need for reusing this styling cue that was such a turn-off. Styling “history” over good taste?
The lower body sculpting on the N body Skylark was just trim on the Grand Am body’s doors and rocker panels, which usually had big trim on the Grand Am anyway. Grand Am was the established leader for volume and youth appeal. The sculpted trim and the flying wing coupe roof gave Buick a very different look for very little money. GM had made a point of making the larger FWD coupes (and the Beretta) look different too. They might not be equally appealing to a given prospect, but there certainly were choices.
Always an OTT chrome laden luxury vehicle lover, the only thing I find interesting in this vehicle is the sweeping side curve which was similar to full size 67 and 68 full size Buicks. To me, those full size 67 and 68 were second ONLY to massive chrome laden 58s as far as Buicks. But then, fortunately we all have our own tastes. 😃 😎
That S curve on the side certainly was distinctive, I recall thinking it pretty radical on the ’67s big cars, then on this one. One of Dad’s friends got a new 4 dr Special in dark charcoal/blue and I thought it was quite pretty and different when new, more deluxe than a Chevelle or LeMans. Now you rarely see one where that curved rear bumper seems correctly fitted, they seem to get pushed in a lot, it’s kind of an odd design.
The sedan has a longer wheelbase than the coupe, so it has a significantly longer distance from the front door to the rear wheel arch to execute the sweep. The sedan window area is more open and is similar to the 1970 coupe window area. It doesn’t exaggerate the sweep.
The racy roofline and tapered window area that makes the other 1968 A body coupes look planted and ready to leap forward is exaggerated by the sweep so the car looks like it has a load of bricks in the trunk.
The result is an odd case where a sedan looks lighter and sportier than a coupe.
The convertible’s straight deck line and notched roof removes the excessive visual weight. The sculpting might not be to everyone’s taste, but the visual mass doesn’t simply look weird and wrong.
An open radius rear wheel opening would have served the A body Buick well. Between the skirted rear wheels openings and the rear bumper which to many appeared to have been hit, the Skylark was just not as cohesive a design as the other GM A bodies.
I had a ’69 GS 400 in about 1975. It was one of the best driving cars I have ever owned. Tons of smooth torque and crisp throttle response. Red with black vinyl top and Buick wheels, I thought it looked pretty good. It was in great condition, had been well cared for.
The thing I never liked about these, nor the early boat tail Rivieras for that matter, is the rear bumper looks like it was backed into a tree. I cannot comprehend that design choice.
I do like the roofline though, the 70 refresh improved the Skylark significantly in my eyes but they made the quarter window look too much like every other A body
I can’t see one of these now without thinking of the movie “9 to 5” and the Violet Newstead character behind the wheel, played by Lily Tomlin. I think that white vinyl over light blue one was a Custom and a ’69 model. No doubt Violet, who was known for keeping her cool among her comrades, would have been able to race to the hospital in the subject GS 400 just a little faster…
This is one of my favorite “guilty pleasures” car. I know the 1968-69 Skylarks and Specials get a lot of criticism, but I really like the fact that these Buicks are so distinctive. Kudos for GM for giving each of the 1968-69 A-body coupes such different looks. A lot of the distinctiveness was lost in ’70 when the styling among all 4 brands was homogenized.
Dabney Coleman found the trunk of the ’69 to be unusually roomy. To this day I can’t look at a ’68-69 Skylark without thinking of Lily Tomlin saying, “Did you hear that? The officer says we have a short in the trunk.”
I think Buick’s stylists were trying to skew their intermediate coupe towards the luxury buyer, just one tier below Cadillac. They didn’t pull it off too well. For 1968-69, a Cutlass was much better looking. The big side spear was one thing, but that ‘backed into a tree’ rear bumper was just too much.
That all went out the door for 1970, with Buick fully embracing the look of the Cutlass, LeMans, and Malibu. Objectively, it looked better, but the downside was it wasn’t all that distinctive, either. For better or worse, that’s when the 1968-69 Buick coupe had it all over the other GM division cars.
Add to the list, Oldsmobile who got a hit when they introduced the Cutlass Supreme with a different roofline changed a bit the game.
I always wondered why Olds got the formal roofline, but Buick didn’t, since Buick was a notch above Olds in the GM hierarchy. Would’ve helped Buick sales quite a bit I think.
Buick already had the RWD Riviera, and had the new Regal coupe in the pipeline for 72 (pushed back to 73).
Buick didn’t bother with tooling a 1970 Vista Cruiser style Sportwagon, either. They tooled a regular B body wagon just for 1970, then replaced it with the clamshell. Olds retooled the Vista Cruiser and waited for the clamshell.
My first car was a 1970 Skylark…a metallic brown hardtop coupe with a 350. It was a 7 year old car at the time, but only 53,000 miles. I distinctly remember being not so sure about whether a Skylark was right for me because of the image of the 69/69. I liked it better than the 70 Olds fastback with the funky rear side window, but the more formal Olds roof option really was the winner. Most of the used CHvelles and Lemans in my neck of the woods were pretty basic devices, many with a 6, but the Buicks and Olds always seemed to be decently optioned and carrying a 350 V8.
CC effect. I shot this one in Detroit yesterday –
Let’s try again –
Hi Philip. Your image should be in JPEG format, and no more than roughly 1800 pixels wide by 1000 pixels high, to upload reliably.
Hi Daniel, thanks for the suggestions – I had a family member who is more adept in the graphic arts “shrink” the image – although to my eye it has lost a lot of its clarity. For example, the “California” script is no longer legible. Perhaps it was stripped of too many pixels? Third time is the charm, as they say –
One last try –
My grade 9 teacher had a 68 GS 350 in red.
The car stood out back then because the model was not common on the streets where I lived. I assume because the model was more expensive than other muscle cars, only gentlemen earning a good wage bought them. The same demographic perhaps that bought Oldsmobile 442, Pontiac GTO.
Some cars should not be painted red, and this is one of them. Really, these only looked good as either a 4 door hardtop or a wagon.
I like them. A confession, I’ve owned my ’69 for 12 years now, so I am biased. My rear bumper is one of the few that fit well.
For the size of the car, the trunk is laughable. Ditto the rear seat room. Since it’s my hobby car that doesn’t matter.
Matching numbers engine & gearbox, sold new by Terry Buick of Huntington Beach, CA.
Now roaming Brisbane, Australia.
A set of 15 inch Buick chrome wheels would set this one off nicely.
A High School friend’s dad was the Buick zone manager so I was fortunate to experience most of their offerings.
This car was one of my favorites.
Neighbors, around the corner, had a brown, 4 door, “68 Buick Special”. Looked less awkward, imo, then did the coupes.
A bit more up the hill and around the next corner, a lady had a burgundy “68 Skylark” coupe. It stayed in neighborhood longer; come “1975-6”, it was a monument to rust. Got replaced with a “75 Skylark”.
That one was a nice car, as I recall.