FWD X-Body cars are getting scarce even in Eugene. I saw a Citation, in that Creamsicle color-combo, sitting on the top of the scrap steel pile at our local metal recycling facility just the other day. But then, just as I was beginning to despair at the thought of our streets being X-Free, here comes this Skylark, making a left turn while we were waiting to cross the street on our walk. And yes, I’m more convinced than ever that the Skylarks were better built than the Citations, as they seem to have outlived them all.
Bonus: two gen1 Honda CRVs in the shot. Back to the Skylark: this looks to be one of the later year versions, which were undoubtedly better put together than the first ones. But then as I told the story here, I drove a 1980 Skylark as my company car for almost two years, and it was pretty good. The station had four of them, on a fleet purchase, and one of them soldiered on for quite along while.
Well, I’d like to think this one will too.
I like how the juxtaposition of the fire hydrant in the first photo makes it appear that the Skylark has a giant hood ornament!
Yes, I know it was a grab shot…
It’s an evolution of those crown-shaped air fresheners you sometimes see on dashboards. This one perches on the hood and perfumes the entire street!
Personally I think the Skylark’s longevity compared to that of the Citation is mainly due to the demographics of the original buyer.
My former neighbor had one well into the mid 00’s, that she had purchased new. She had purchased it after her kids were grown and she was semi-retired, working as a substitute teacher. So she just didn’t put that many miles on it and since it was usually just her driving it the interior stayed immaculate. It did not cross that 100k mark in the 20 or so years that she had it.
Compare that to the young buyer with a family who was working full time, had kids that were not kind to the interior. Fixing those little things may not be either in the budget or something they care about. Why fix the broken x when you know the kids will just break it again.
Plain and simple the Buick buyer just took better care of their car and probably didn’t drive it as much as the Citation buyer. So 5-6 years in the Skylark is still in good cosmetic condition with low miles and something a new car dealer might keep for themselves while the Citation is in average or worse condition and with average or high miles will head straight to the auction and probably end up at the low end used car dealer.
Thus the disparity of the buyers hangs with the car through the second owner and the Citation simply got used up and beat up faster than the Skylark.
Then when it is 10-12 years old and something even semi-expensive goes wrong with that high mile, poor condition Citation it is off to the wrecking yard because it would cost more to fix than the value of the car. Meanwhile a similarly expensive repair on the Skylark is worth doing since it is in good condition and doesn’t have that many miles on it.
+1
You nailed it.
One other factor in the Skylark’s relative longevity may have been that seemingly a much higher proportion of Skylarks were higher-trimmed models with lots of options than were common on Citations. A substantial percentage of Skylarks were the top-line Limited trim, which included the loose-pillow velour seats and typically also had power windows, doors, and seat, extra lighting, tilt wheel, cruise control, and other items from the dozens available. Most Citations seemed to be sparsely equipped. There was no luxury trim level for the Citation, though there were separately available exterior and interior upgrade packages, the former which included amber rear turn signals and extra chrome trim, the latter with upgraded seats and door panels.
While upmarket cars don’t inherently last longer – if anything the added gizmos break more easily – owners of such cars are more likely to have money to make repairs, and are more likely to want to keep a nice car going. I recall frequently seeing ’85-’88 Nissan Maximas on the road well into the the 2010s, which may be because they were reliable cars with easygoing V6 engines, but also because these were considered luxury cars when new and were often cosseted and garaged, and the multitude of luxury features made them pleasant to drive and ride in compared to, say, a Chevy Corsica that was years newer.
Skylark was outselling Citation toward the end of the X-Car production.
Omega & Phoenix were dropped in 1984 while Skylark & Citation II lasted until 1985.
Of the four X-Cars only the Skylark named was re-used – it lived on until 1998.
Perhaps the Buick was better built?
It happened to be reasonably popular with traditional Buick buyers. If it hadn’t been there, they’d probably have bought a Century.
Buick sales generally weren’t impacted by imports in the early 80s. Chevrolet sales were cut about 50 percent early in the 80s, and the quick descent of the Citation from most popular car in America to poison was a lot of that. Buick and Olds stayed afloat a few more years until the Cutlass buyers switched to Camcords.
Nice catch Paul, I cannot think of when I last saw an X-body in the Portland area. The most surprising car I saw in Eugene was a Pontiac Sunbird with Yellow on Blue Cali Plates.
As someone who scans Craigslist for the state of Tennessee, there’s a 80 or 81 Skylark that has been on the Memphis Craigslist (and I think the Jackson, Tn. Craigslist) for YEARS….I kid you not. If I remember correctly, it isn’t currently running but the ad makes it sound like it could be running (driveable?) with little work.
These look pretty good, one of the better “small” Buicks. They are nearly impossible to find now, but given the X-body’s rep, I’d want one of the ultra rare Skylark T-Type 2 door coupes.
I actually see two of these per week here in Minneapolis. One problem, is they’re always driving, or I’m at work and can’t take a picture. One is light blue with a coach roof, and cheapo Wal-Mart hubcaps that look like Corolla ripoffs, and the other is a gold four door door with factory everything including a HW Bush bumper sticker and Qayle (I think I spelled it right) sticker on the trunklid.
I was the second owner of a 1981 Skylark back in 1990. With the exception of manual windows and locks and no cassette player, it was done up like a mini Regal. I really liked that car. The Iron Duke engine had 68,000 miles on it.
I had it for a year or so before the engine gave up the ghost at around 85,000 miles.
The last X car I saw was a nice looking blue Citation parked across the street from where I work. Unfortunately, it became a victim of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Colin:
You almost never see a word spelled with a Q that doesn’t also us a U.
The doofus spells his last name Quayle….unless I am as big a doofus.
That gold color must have been a popular color for Skylarks, IIRC the one on the Jackson Craigslist is a gold 4 door
No, no, it’s P-O-T-A-T-O-E
That is an approved alternative spelling – same for ‘tomatoe’ – I learned this back in the 1970s and the dictionary I used also showed it as well.
A huge nothingburger because they couldn’t find something else to attack him about.
A huge nothingburger because they couldn’t find something else to attack him about.
Yeah, it’s hard to attack a vacuum. 🙂
Here’s just a small sampling of attributed/verified quotes by him:
“Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.”
“Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts.”
“Mars is essentially in the same orbit . . . Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have
seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.”
“What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
“The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century.”
Lots more here: https://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/quayle.asp
And no, I haven’t violated our no-politics policy, as this is not political; just funny. Or not.
Up until last summer I used to see an early FWD Pontiac Phoenix 4 door driving around Kennewick WA that was in good shape, I did see it for sale last summer but the seller didn’t put much info on the car.
This citation recently appeared around here.
In original condition, no less!
That looks like a 1981-82 judging by the front end and the side mirrors.
Eggcrate grille identifies it as an ’81. 1982 and later Citations had thinly-spaced horizontal bar grilles.
This is comparable to spotting a unicorn; I haven’t seen one the X-cars in years. I have to disagree with the statement that the Skylarks were better built; I had a 1980 Skylark and it was simply the worst car I ever owned-and after a Vega and an Opel that is saying something. And I took really good care of it-it kept breaking down and malfunctioning constantly.
I haven’t seen any Skylarks in a while, but did spot this Citation back in October.
Based on the blue plates, it is probably registered as a historic vehicle.
Anyone want to make a guess on the model year? Upright headlamp cluster with inboard parking/turn lights means ’82 or later. Modern-style rear view mirrors nestled against the A pillar started in ’83, as did the taillights seen here. The grille looks alot like the ’83 or maybe ’85; the ’84 had a few horizontal dividers in it I don’t see here. What’s confusing me a bit is that the front seats (visible through the windows in the first photo) appear to be of the high-back button-tufted style used in ’80-’82 Limiteds as shown in the pic i’ve attached, whereas the ’83-’85 used low-back seats with less pleating.
Wow! Those seats convey sort of a luxurious, high-quality image in an automobile. Haven’t seen seats like those in quite some time.
Regarding Honda CRV, my casual observations are the first generation of CRV seems last longer than the 2nd generation. In central NJ, the first generation is still common so as the first generation of Toyota RAV4, which routinely out last the 2nd gen model. My mechanic friend said the front wheel drive of 1st gen CRV lasts even longer, his relative has one over 250k miles
As a question, were the X-Cars amongst the GM platforms produced across multiple plants? If they were, maybe that would explain the better build quality.
Yes, the Buick models were made in Flint at Buick City, which made some of the best-built GM cars and they received awards for it.
That entire manufacturing complex has now been torn down, sadly.
While upmarket cars don’t inherently last longer – if anything the added gizmos break more easily –
That line reminds me of the time I tried selling my friends Cadillac Cimarron to a little buy here pay here car lot. The car was given to him when he turned 16 by an uncle who owned a junk yard and would rebuild wrecked cars and sell them for super cheap. By the time he was 17 he wanted something else. I don’t recall the Cadillac Cavalier ever having an issue other than just being a crappy car, but needless to say by 1997 it just wasn’t a cool car for a high school kid. I brought it to this little car lot thinking they would buy it if anyone was going to buy it. They were know for their wonderful selection of older crappy but cheap cars. The salesman was a very polite older guy who said that he wished he could help me out but that having that car on the lot would just cost him money. He said if it had just been a Chevy Cavalier they would buy it, but that being a Cimarron, it just had to many extra things to break. I couldn’t hardly give that car away. I think his uncle ended up taking it back and then gave him a Nissan Pulsar with that weird top thing on the back that made it squared off. You didn’t see many with that piece. But that car was just a place holder till his uncle finished the “new car” he was working on for him. Again, the Pulsar never had a single problem either. Then he got the next car, a 1984 Toyota Cellica. I don’t know what condition the car had been in before his uncle fixed it up but when he gave it to my friend it looked brand new. It was like a brand new 15 year old car. My friend thought he had a real sports car. I didn’t like it because it was an automatic but looking back now, i have a huge respect for the car and his uncle for how nice the car looked and drove.
The funny thing is that on the pretty rare occurrence that I see an earlier J-car on the road, it seems about equally likely to be a Cimarron as it is a Cavalier, despite the Chevy vastly outselling the Cadillac. There’s a slim chance it might be a Sunbird, and I can’t remember seeing the Buick or Oldsmobile versions in years.
Omegas and Phoenixes never caught on, even RWD versions. Skylark was a hit after gas crunches with older buyers, and carried over to the FWD cars. Another reason was pricing, “getting a Buick for less cash.”
I agree about Citations as “disposable” cars, and buyers went to imports/Ford/. While Skylark owners got A/N bodies as replacements.
To add, Omega had to compete with hugely successful Cutlass line for showroom space and entry buyers. Olds dealers didn’t want to bother.
Same with Pontiac and Ventura/Phoenix, they competed with Firebird and Grand Prix’s for attention.
Buick dealers gladly ordered well equipped Skylarks and sold many.