1969 Buick Skylark GS 400 Convertible - Strong Enough For a Man But Made for a Woman

 

When I was a kid, I felt these uniquely styled Buick Skylark's to be cars exclusively for women. Funny, these days I have to tell myself they're not every time I see one; old habits die hard, I guess. That was probably because my childhood friend Lori's mother had one. A kind although genteel woman, she let it be known to us neighborhood kids in the carpool circuit that it was her car, not her husband's. Lori's mom's car was a 1969 Skylark in "Cameo Creme" whereas my Facebook Marketplace find here is a 1969 GS400 in "Signal Red". Like ads for Secret anti-perspirant used to claim, "strong enough for a man but made for a woman". 

The Buick GS was marketed as a separate model from the Skylark although it was just a Skylark with stronger engines, heavier duty shocks and springs, wider wheels and tires and unique trim pieces and ornamentation. 

For 1967, GM updated what they referred to internally as their "A-body" intermediate or mid-sized models taking out three-inches of wheelbase from the coupes to improve, they claimed, handling, balance and directional stability. For 1968, stylists also whipped up, subjectively, some of the best looking and today some of the most valuable automobiles ever made. The wildest of them all the Buick Skylark and GS. Speaking of value, while this car is not as valuable as say a 1968 Chevelle convertible, Pontiac GTO or Oldsmobile 4-4-2 would be, it still commands and asking price of $24,995. 

Some thought the styling so avant garde they first believed these cars to be a new-for-1968 Riviera as its lines purportedly ape those of the then current Riviera. I don't get that although I do appreciate the "sweep spear" styling detail that would wane as a Buick staple as the 1960's melted into the blur that was the '70's. The convertible top on our '69 here does mute the flying buttress effect of the rear windshield flowing into an all but hatchback inspired trunk or deck lid on fixed roof models. 

The "400" in "GS400" denotes Buick's new for 1967 400 cubic-inch V-8 and was a powerhouse. Making 340-(gross rated) horsepower, it was the big mill that replaced the curious Buick "Nailhead" V-8 engine. The little brother to the Buick 430 and later 455 cubic-inch V-8's, there may have been no difference between the Buick 400 and 430 as GM had a stipulation at the time limiting the size of engines in their intermediates to 400 cubic-inches. There's scuttlebutt there was no difference between Chevrolet's 396 and 427 engines, so anything is in fact possible. 

There was also a GS350 - that car powered by Buick's 350 cubic-inch V-8 engine. Tuned to 280 gross rated horsepower, like all GM 350's back in the day, it was unique to Buick and shared little with other "350's" Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet made. Cadillac never made a "350". 

Buick updated the series for 1970-1972 removing just about everything that made the 1968 and 1969 models distinctive making the Skylark all but a trim level of the Chevrolet Chevelle. Not in and of itself a bad thing but being one rung below lordly Cadillac on the GM pricing ladder, you'd think a "Buick" would at least be somewhat distinctive. By the early 1970's GM had long run out of ideas as to why buyers should pay more for one make over another. 

Secret anti-perspirant's famous tag line was introduced in 1972 and to this day remains one of the most famous advertising lines of all time.