Buick Skylark 1970 GSX tribute car-MCF George has bragging rights!
George lucked out during the summer of 2014; While cruising around his home town, Lisbon Ohio, he spotted a classic Buick Skylark with a “for sale”sign on the windshield. The car was at the curb, parked in front of a house, George stopped for a closer look.
The owner had not even listed it yet, and was busy making room in his too small three bay garage for the rest of his collection. The garage holds treasure to make any MCF drool-a ’69 Camaro convertible, ’69 Hard Top Camaro along side a ’66 Impala SS convertible; all meticulously maintained or, according to George, “MCF eye candy!”. The two shortly sealed a deal for the 1970 Skylark then agreed on the day and time when George would retrieve his new ride. When he picked his car up, the seller had replaced all the fluids and it was ready to drive home, although some work is already planned. The car had previously been upgraded to the GS455 engine, and is now a GSX clone. George’s deal includes the original low mileage 350 engine mounted with a two barrel carburetor allowing it to be a numbers matching, factory correct version.
The car has been slightly modified, additionally equipped with an electric cooling fan to drop the engine running temperature at sustained low speeds. This Skylark GSX 455 now sports a newly re-cored radiator and will need some bottom end engine work, but George is up to this job and will have it ready to go in time for summer 2016. He is one very pleased MCF now that he has his GSX tribute car. He will keep it, as is, with the more powerful 455 under the hood and the 350 engine safely stored, so George or future owners will have the option to put the car back to its original factory state later. George has promised to update us on the progress as it unfolds, so this story is still in the making.
Images by George!
The advertising campaign in 1970 is focused on the all new “Light your fire vehicles” from the Buick Division of General Motors. The body on the mid-sized Skylark has revised sheet metal this year and it’s now the entry level Buick with the Buick Special dropped from the line up entirely. In 1970 the GSX appearance package is a new addition to the GS lineup and delivers; body strips, hood tach, big tires, heavy duty suspension plus spoilers in front and rear. The roof line of the Chevy Chevelle and Skylark hard tops are identical, but in 1970, there is no pillared coupe available as a Skylark-all the units produced have two doors and are hardtops or convertibles. Buick produced 20,098 Skylarks in 1970 and 1,416 of those were with soft tops.
The basic power for the Skylark in ’70 is a peppy 250 inline six, sourced from the Chevrolet Division, but the standard V8 engine for the Skylark Custom is a small block 350 mounted with a two barrel Rochester carburetor. This 350 engine can be tweaked to develop 230 hp (170 kW) at 4400 rpm. The entry level GS is powered by the 350/2 bbl., but the ultimate option is the GS455. This big block will produce 350 hp (260.99 kW)) and delivers up to 510 lb-ft (691.47 Nm) of torque to the wheels. There is a GM documented, one only Skylark unit roll off the assembly line in ’70 that was further equipped at the factory with a GS455 Stage I engine option, which also includes the suspension, transmission plus brake upgrades. This ultimate Buick power package makes it a very fast, responsive and desirable, but unique muscle car. The only example is badged as a “GS” and was created due to a GM VIN# error during the production process, at least that’s the reason G.M. offers.
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