1969 Buick Skylark

GS400 Coupe

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

Gasoline

Exterior Color: Verde Green Interior Color: Parchment (1969 white) Canadian Built Exterior: Paint is a 7 of 10. As far as I can tell it has the original paint. It is lacquer. Emblems are original and have been color match repainted. Larger 15” diameter rims and tires (245/60R15) are in great condition. Car has some scratches typical of a used car but still cleans up and shines nice. Chrome is in good shape and shines nice with Mother’s Polish. Front bumper has a little peeling but not much, see pictures. All glass is in very good shape, windows all work as they should. New roof rail molding so it feels very good closing the doors. Head lights are T3 high beams. Engine bay is in excellent condition. Inner fenders are perfect and have never been patched. Core support is also excellent. I grafted two donor core supports into one and it is perfect. Exterior fenders were off the car so they are painted on the inside. Trunk is perfect. Solid and re-sprayed with NAPA trunk splatter painted. Looks perfect. Mechanical: Engine: Original RS code 400 matching vin number. Engine was rebuilt by Michael’s Auto here in Macedonia Ohio about 5 years ago. 400 was bored to a 430, the 430 and 400 are the same block in 69 so I decided to bore to 430 and use 430 pistons. Rods were reconditioned and new bearings, complete lower rebuild. Heads have been shaved .030” and valves were upgraded to stage one. Bigger cam was installed, Schneider Cam, I believe it is an 284-94H. Carburetor was rebuilt with a bigger pump. Timing set is a double roller. Distributor is upgraded to Pertronix breakerless Ignition with a Pertronix high energy coil and new plug wires. Radiator is a high efficiency 3 core. The original two core was rebuilt to a 3 core with tighter spacing. The tanks were reused but all else is new. Car never goes above 180 degrees. Drive train: TH400 automatic transmission is original BA code and vin matching. Transmission was rebuilt and “built”. Vehicle shifts nice and hard and chirps in 1,2 and 2,3 shifts. The 1,2 is more of a “break loose” but it grips pretty quick. Trans is a real pleasure. Rear Differential: GM Canada used a Chevy 12 bolt. Rear end is original. When I redid the car five years ago, I had the rear end gears swapped from 3.08 to 3.73. Last year I had the gears replaced again back to the 3.08. So, they are original gears in the rear that have been inspected and re-installed. 3.73 just are not good car show gears; the car was tacking to high at speed. Under Carriage: Body was completely off of the frame and the entire under side was sand blasted by my Craftsman sand blaster and compressor. The entire under body was then painted with POR 15. Still looks great. The frame was professionally sand blasted and painted chassis black. The bushings were all replaced.. Ball joints are all new. The car looks great underneath, I don’t have a lift to get good pics under the car. Brakes are all new, rebuilt master, all new lines from distribution block out (including the flex lines in front) rebuilt wheel cylinders, rebuilt booster. It is a power drum car, aluminum front drums. Springs are all new. Fronts are a 350 w/air Skylark spring which dropped the front about an inch, seems to handle a little better too with less body roll. End links on the anti-sway bar and bushings are new, all poly stuff. The steering gear box was replaced with a late 70’s GM box so it has quicker ratio compared to what came in the cars in 1969. Lock to lock out is fewer turns so it drives tighter than most muscle cars. The entire car handles well for a classic car. Interior: Front buckets with floor shift. Car was originally a bench/column car that was changed to a bucket seat interior. Front buckets are redone with new foam and covers. I have a new cover for the rear bench that I have not had the chance to recover. Floor is solid. I removed the original asphalt sound deadening and replaced with FatMat. Carpet is in great shape and original. Center console is in great shape, all lights work. The shifter position is indicated on the console and moves the needle in the dash as it should. The column is a floor shift from a 1970 and is repainted satin black to match the interior. The dash is in great shape and all factory gauges work. Factory AM/FM radio works and the single front speaker still sounds 1969 quality. I installed a Pioneer headunit under the dash in a custom box with front 4” speakers. The left speaker intrudes on the driver leg but not bad, it’s worth it to get front sound and I didn’t want to cut anything inside. I have Infinity 6.5” rear speakers in boxes on the package tray. The amplifier in the trunk is an Alpine unit with a 10” MTX sub. The sub is bridged across the rear speaker output and sounds great. Not too much bass, just enough for rock music. Miscellaneous: Battery is a newer Duralast. Has AutoMeter tripack gauges under dash (oil, temp, volt). VDO tachometer is mounted on A-pillar. Outstanding Issues: If I keep this car, I would recommend upgrading the alternator system to the newer internally regulated alternators, GM SI one wire unit. The factory charging system barely keeps up with the sound system. The battery will get run down after an hour of cruising. I’ve owned this car for 10+ years and have enjoyed every minute. I still take off the cover and just look at it sometimes but I do not have the time to enjoy as I once did. I have a son starting college and need the cash. I still have the Protecto-plate that came with the car. I was told from a person who came to look at the car that it did have body work done at some point, I could not tell but he seemed to know what he was talking about. He also thought there was an electrical draw on the battery that he thought could be an alternator or starter issue. I'm not sure if this is legit but again he seemed to be knowledgable. Finally, it did stall when he drove it, could have just been cold but it seemes to run fine for me, maybe an adjustment is needed. Because of this and this is the third listing, I've lowered the reserve. Good luck.