(first posted 1/16/2017) The great singer-songwriter Carole King once sang in her lyrics to “Been To Canaan”, “Though I’m content with myself, sometimes I long to be somewhere else.” As this year (2017) in Chicago has started with its usual Arctic chill (though an uncharacteristic high of forty degrees Fahrenheit has been forecast for today), these lyrics came to mind as I remembered this Skylark I had spotted during a trip to my hometown a couple of years ago. Its factory “Flame Orange” paint looked very warm and tropical to my eyes, especially combined with its “halo” roof treatment and interior both in white vinyl. In the interest of full, initial disclosure, this piece is less technical in nature than it is of my own reflections on this car.
I try to get back to Flint at least once a quarter. It’s usually a bittersweet return, as I embrace the loved ones, places and things still there that I continue to hold dear, with my elation of being home again often counterbalanced with a sense of sadness and anger I feel about the decline of my birthplace. Hope remains in Genesee County, Michigan, and many good people there still fight for what’s right, for survival, and to make it a better place both in the present and for the future. Flint is nothing if not unflinchingly tough and resilient.
I suppose that a sense of what defines “decline” is all relative. When I lived in Flint from the 1970’s through the early 90’s, I remember many folks – both peers and adults, and just people in general – complaining in those times about what a terrible place Flint was to live. In a lot of ways, it really wasn’t, even if its halcyon days (which only some and not all were able to fully experience and enjoy) of the late-50’s and early-60’s were far behind by the time I grew up there. If there was any way to predict twenty-five years ago just how far things would fall – loss of jobs, revenue, population, even clean, safe tap water – I’d consider emptying my entire savings account today if that could make things there return to the way they were in 1992.
As all of this relates to our featured car, I remember thinking as a teenager in the early 90’s about how exciting my family’s impending move from Flint to southwest Florida was going to be. The color of this Skylark, similar to that of a Tropicana orange, looks sweet and delicious – and it stands in total contrast to the decidedly untropical, Midwestern, Rust Belt backdrop of its surroundings. It’s also from the last year of true, GM A-body hardtop coupes. In the 80’s and 90’s, a straight-bodied, rust-free car like this in Flint would likely have been sourced from the warm, salt-free South (as were many former GM workers). Most cars of this era in this part of the U.S. would have disintegrated into rusty piles within maybe seven years of continuous, regular use if their owners were lucky, even if the car still ran reasonably well by the end of its life.
One of about 34,300 Custom hardtop coupes, our featured car was the second-most popular iteration of the ’72 Skylark line, being outsold by the standard/350 hardtop coupe (84,900), out of about 225,300 total. (The GS convertible moved only 852 units at the other end of the Skylark sales spectrum). Weighing 3,500 pounds before options, our orange Custom hardtop came standard with a 150-horsepower Buick 350 V8 with a Rochester two-barrel carburetor, with a 180-hp four-barrel version also available. Prices for the Custom hardtop coupe started at $3,255 (about $18,800 in 2017).
This is exactly the kind of car I wanted as a teenager, and like many car-crazy kids my age in the birthplace city of General Motors, I pined for a 20-something year old A-Body in any form. I had my heart set on finding the “Southern car” of my dreams once my family had moved, one like this Skylark. Fort Myers, Florida, however, though a very nice place, turned out to be not quite my ideal in the three months between moving there in the summer of 1992 and starting college that fall in Gainesville. Though I first considered it a blessing that I had escaped the blunt, pragmatic, no-nonsense, blue collar ethos of Flint, I actually found myself really missing it after experiencing that life in southwest Florida (as with anywhere, in all fairness) presented its own, specific, different set of challenges. Shangri-La simply does not exist, though some cities are a better fit for some than others.
Ultimately, my take-away when looking at this orange Skylark and remembering my youthful hope of greener, warmer, sunnier pastures is this: perhaps contentment may be found anytime and anyplace you deliberately open your eyes to find it. Instead of simply longing for the future, there may also be real value in embracing the present and being thankful for what’s good right now. I say this while comparing the Flint of 2017 with the one I left in 1992. While I love and am truly thankful for my life in Chicago, perhaps when I celebrate my birthday in the Vehicle City later this year, I will take a little extra time to savor a couple of coney dogs at the neighborhood greasy spoon, or a stack of pancakes at my favorite diner at the Dort Mall. After all, and like the citrus fruit that shares the color of our featured car, life is sweet – even if everything isn’t exactly the way you want it to be.
Flint, Michigan.
Friday, August 14, 2015.
Related reading from:
What a sharp car.
I do wonder how many screaming orange cars they could sell to the typical Buick buyers.
On the other hand, I assume in Flint that Buick grabbed a lot of sales that would have gone to Olds or Pontiac elsewhere. That was certainly the case with Olds in Lansing.
Perhaps this car was ordered by someone at the younger end of the “Buick demographic “, A 30 something who wanted something a bit “higher” than a Pontiac, but still somewhat “showy”. In those days when actually ordering a car was common. a dealer needn’t worry about “non conservative ” colored cars left on the lot. OTOH it was the Early 70’s when vibrant colors were “in” I have seen many “chartreuse ” (violently puke green) Electra 225s of the era. And Electra buyers were the most conservative buyers on the planet!
Or even a 20-something, as this was back in the good old days when many a mere high-school graduate could get a good job that would let them afford a nice new car like this Skylark Custom.
Dan, you hit the nail on the head – there has always been a disproportionately high concentration of Buicks in Flint.
Like Heinz ketchup in Pittsburgh,Or Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Hometown pride is a MAJOR component. One gets odd looks (at minimum) for buying Hunt’s ketchup here. (amazingly it is sold here ?!) I imagine buying a Pepsi in Atlanta or a non GM (esp. Buick) in Flint got a “What?!? are a Communist or worse?!?” look. ?
Don’t recall a lot of ‘bright color, 70’s Skylark’s”. That orangish-brown color on the “coupe” in the ad was my fav color of the day then. The vent windows appealed to me too. After just a few years without them, I was over “ventless widows”. lol( Miss them to this day.)
When my mother was car shopping in the summer of 1972, she briefly considered a Skylark before settling on another Cutlass to replace our 64. I don’t remember why she passed over the Skylark. Maybe price? Or maybe we just weren’t Buick people.
I remember that orange being offered on Cutlasses, but you hardly ever saw it. It was probably even less common on Skylarks.
I knew someone that had a 72 Cutlass in these same colors. It stood out like a beacon in the dark. It was the only one around like it.
On looking at this car again later in the day, I am surprised to decide that the front end is unexpectedly crude in a way I never remembered. That odd front molding above the grille and the huge gaps around the color-matching headlight panels look very amateurish to me, not at all in keeping with GM’s usual excellent front end treatments during that era.
I always found the front ends of these cars very nicely done, but maybe most that I have paid attention to have been darker colors which serve to highlight the brightwork, taking the eye away from other elements.
I hate seeing stuff like this on cars I like.
The 1972 facelifts for the GM mid-sizers were kind of a hasty, last-minute thing. The cars originally intended to replace the 1971 mid-sizers (the Colonades) were delayed until the 1973 model year.
JP, I can’t un-see these details! LOL. I still really like this example – this exact car does so much for me, especially with the white vinyl interior.
JP, this particular car has some front end sheetmetal fitment issues. We had one of these cars, and it did not have big gaps like this car.
Here is one with properly aligned sheetmetal:
I agree. The grille pattern is hideous. Take a look at a ’71 and see how much better looking it is. I’ve always said ’72 was the year in which GM’s downward spiral really started to pick up steam.
Joseph, I like your writing style. New cars, like travel, marriage, and other new beginnings, imply hope and excitement. It doesn’t always work out as expected, but it is quite a ride and an important part of life.
I hope the Dort Mall diner pancakes are still as good as remembered.
+2!
That’s quite a compliment coming from you, rlplaut.
(Thank you both.)
Alison was a cheerleader while we were in high school. The social order was clear: a pencil-necked geek like me could not have any sort of official relationship, even friendship, with her as we were not in the same caste. Yet in the one class we shared our senior year, we sat next to each other and chatted amiably every day. I fell hard, dreaming daily of her big brown eyes until I got to see her again.
But I kept it to myself. And then we graduated. And then college knocked both of us around hard, stripping us of our silly high-school pretense. We encountered each other on break and immediately began to see each other.
Yet there was a level of romance she sought, one I could not provide. At heart, I’m reserved and pragmatic. As our nascent love pitched and rolled, Alison made me a mix tape. The singer-songwriters with which she filled it sang of perfect lovers and of faraway fantasy places. In other words, of discontent with me.
She led the tape with “Been to Canaan.” It marked the beginning of the end of our relationship.
Her car, by the way: a Buick Skylark. It would be too perfect if it had been an early-70s A body, but alas, it was a FWD X-body.
Good story. Cars can take you back just as surely as songs can.
+1!
+2. Well shared, Jim.
Enjoyable read Joseph. Seeing a 1972 Skylark transports me to another time too. This was one of the cars that I learned to drive one. Albeit, the one we had was a 1972 Buick Skylark 4-door hardtop in black. At the time that old Buick was nothing special to most people, but I have a lot of great memories of that car. I remember the soft suspension being lots of fun the hilly country roads when you hit the gas as you crested small hill peaks. I remember doing my first powerslide in that car, it’s 350 Buick having lots of bottom end torque (not much top end though). I also remember how weak the drum brakes were, the awful fuel mileage and one of the lifters in the engine going leading to a rhythmic “tic-tic”. It was a good car, but ultimately rust finished it off.
“Love the car you’re with.”
Joe, you’ve hit the nail on the head – at least for me. The second sentence of your second paragraph encapsulates your entire article and it does so quite well.
How?
This past Wednesday I made a hasty day trip back to near where I grew up due to the sudden onset of illness in a grandparent. Part of my trip necessitated going through a town I’m quite familiar with, a town that is inexplicably in a marked decline.
What do I see sitting at the city limits? A cream-colored ’72 Skylark coupe, the sibling of this one. It was rather symbolic of how some things change (people and surroundings), others simply don’t – but they do age.
Thank you. Your article has done this gentleman some good this morning.
CC effect in reverse? And I hope “Albert” and “Iris” are okay, if you’re referring to one of them. I’ll say a prayer for them.
My friend Randy’s mom had a 71 Skylark when I first met him when we started 7th grade in 79. She kept it until around 84-85 when the rust monster finally showed up starting in the trunk floor. Rode in it many a saturday morning when she would take us garage saleing. I really liked that car.
That color scheme sure brings memories. In the early 70s I knew three people who owned GM midsize coupes of that combination: two Olds and a Pontiac. One called hers the “Creamsicle” after an ice cream bar still popular today. Seeing these photos brings memories of the taste of Creamsicles as much as of the cars.
Thanks. Now I’m gonna get odd looks fpr having a Creamsicle in the middle of January in Pittsburgh! 🙂
No judgement here! That actually sounds really good.
In our rather gray winter season, it’s always cheering to see a brightly colored car (most likely older) among the sea of silver, gray, and taupe cars. We’ve embraced bright colors more than ever since moving to the PNW; you should see our kitchen!
Nice essay; I certainly feel somewhat similarly when I take a drive through the wvast wasted areas of Baltimore, but then it’s hardly the same as it’s not my birthplace. It must be tough.
Thanks, Paul. My friends in the area and I just try to make the best of what’s still around (to quote The Police) when I get back there. There is good stuff in Flint – just not as much of it as many of us remember.
I’d love to check out Flint next time I’m in MI.
I remember these cars well…The last year of that generation before the horrid “colonnade” A bodies…Living in Buffalo I noticed that these cars were more durable corrosion wise compared to the comparable Chrysler and Ford mid size cars…Torinos were real rust buckets…
These also hearken back to a simpler time at GM and Buick….This was Buick’s smallest car and only V-8’s were available…and only two displacements…350 and 455
Great colour and a car made more interesting by the context you provide. All the factors affecting survival that impact over time make these sightings really remarkable.Thanks for the write up.
Thanks so much, Jim.
What a stunning colour! It’s very tropical!
I love Buicks but, alas, the ’70-72 Skylark leaves me cold. The ’68-69 was so much more distinctive! And the ’70-72 Cutlass was, by far, the looker of the bunch especially with its distinctive taillights (the Skylark’s taillights look cheap by comparison). This looks far too much like a Chevelle or Cutlass. Say what you will about the Colonnades, but at least GM made more of an effort to make the Colonnade models look different from each other.
Will, I agree that the taillight clusters on this generation of Cutlass was one of the inspired stylistic touches that just elevated their looks above others in the midsize pack.
As for the Skylark, though, I much prefer the 1970 – ’72 models over the 1968 – ’69 ones, for whatever reason. I think the earlier cars just had too many curves for such a relatively short wheelbase.
William, if you can make it to the July All American Day this year, I can promise you a ride in my ’69 Skylark. Sunday July 2nd.
Sounds good to me! I’ll have to put that in my calendar. I went last year but it was really a cameo appearance for me because I had other plans that morning. I did see your Skylark, although I didn’t see you. She’s a beauty!
I also need to find out when the next British car show is on around our region.
Any one of the GM’s late 60s/early 70s mid-sized coupes built on the 112″ wheelbase was a sweet car when equipped with one of the 4 different 350 cubic inch V8s and the good-old Turbo-Hydramatic 400.
Pictures of the orange Skylark taken very near the SE corner of Lapeer Rd. & Dort Hwy.
I have a much more “hopeless” view of Flint, MI. Just taking a drive around the neighborhoods in the area where this Skylark was photographed would be an eye opening experience to anyone not acclaimated to some of the blight.
Tek, you nailed the location – right outside of Sherm’s (http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2013/05/local_jazz_legend_sherm_mitche.html).
I will say that the current state of the Sunset Village mobile home park, just one light south of this intersection, was jarring. I am encouraged, though, when I drive through nearby Evergreen Valley (the first neighborhood of my memories) and the Evergreen Estates. That area seems to have weathered the times very well, along with the East Court area.
People need something to hope for and to know that they matter. I don’t know what the answer is. I just know I’ll be coming back and sending support to Flint as long as I’m able.
More people need your attitude! Too many leave and forget all about their hometowns. Uh Oh….. Now I’ll have Springsteen in my head,
In high school I had a 71 Cutlass S and my buddy had a 72 Skylark Custom, it was amazing how similar they were– 350 2bbl, TH350, Bench seat and column shift, no vinyl roof, no A/C just power brakes and steering–of course both 2 door hardtops. We raced more than a few times and again it was usually a dead heat. And both were early 70’s earth tone metallic browns. I’d love to have either one today.
Happier days in Flint
I love this – thank you for posting it, Guardstang. And agreed on those A-bodies… either one would be great to have today. I think I know the metallic brown you’re talking about.
It is happy because it is at home where it was built in “Buick City” a/k/a Flint, Michigan.
So great to see this car Joseph because we had a ’72 Skylark in the exact same Flame Orange with white top! Oddly ours was a 4 door post sedan, and I’d bet it was one of very few sedans in that bold color. Oddly it was special ordered new at Brooks Buick in Towson (MD) by an old lady (!) who traded it in at 6 yrs old. We bought it there as well in 1978 when I was done with maintenance-intensive BMW and MBs and wanted to go back to US V8/automatic dependability. 38k miles when we got it and 150k when we traded it for a big Plymouth wagon in 1983. It was a real workhorse; we drove it all over the US in our “camping out West “days with our baby daughter. Have no full pics of it, but here it is in the background corner in a 1980-ish photo of my Uncles ’39 Olds!
Hey, that’s my car!
I’ve owned it since April 95. Put a 430 in it for a while (while I was young) and now it is back to a 350 car with a 200-4r transmission.
And it does have a Flint VIN tag. It was also near the end of the run because, based on the Sloan report, it was built the 5th week of June 72.
Matt, that’s so cool! I love it when this happens. You’ve owned this car for most of its “life”! It was great to spot your car that week, and it’s in a great color combo. Hopefully you were able to participate in some of the B2B festivities that year. It’s hard to believe these pictures are almost eight years old.
It was my daily driver during the non-winter months for several years. I’ve put about 80k miles on it in the 28 years I’ve had it. Had some downtime due to the engine needing replaced right before 2020, so that got delayed. Still have not broken the new 350 in yet.
I go to the B2B shows and I also do the tours (although not always with this car). Had it on the flat lot at B2B last year when they celebrated 50 years of 1972 vehicles. Planning on taking it on the tour this year.