The car that started it all was my 1981 Buick Skylark Limited sedan which is pictured below and on the main page. I never used to be "into" cars like Buicks, although I had always thought they were very nice (more on that below). I had always been interested in cars from the "muscle" era. However, this car definitely proved its worthiness over the years.
It has been in the family since it was new. It was my mother's, then my sister's, then mine. I took my driver's road test in it. I inherited it during college, in June of 1994, at a time when I new NOTHING about cars or how they worked. Even though it was 13 years old at the time, I was always able to depend on it. It took me on MANY road trips, including frequent 550 mile trips from New Jersey to North Carolina and back. I've also made numerous road trips around North Carolina. Some years I drove 24,000 miles in a year. Not once did I get stuck! I'm indebted to the Buick for that.
In the summer of 1995 the car was beginning to need repairs occasionally, and being a poor college student I didn't have a lot of money. I decided to learn as much as possible about the car and try to do as much of my own work to keep it running. I really needed a reliable road trip car. Through the car's own built-in longevity as well as my efforts to keep it maintained, the Skylark has proven to be roadworthy for long trips even in its old age. At this writing, it has 182,000 miles on it, and shows no signs of letting up anytime soon. I'm sure most other people would not bother keeping a car this long unless it was newer and was worth more money. However, to me, that's not the point. This car has shown that maintaining a car well can allow you to keep it for many years.
One unique thing about my car is that it is the only Skylark (and the only X car) I have ever seen that was built at the Tarrytown, NY plant which is on the Hudson River just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge, about 10 miles from where I used to live. (VIN plant code T - 11th digit.) I don't know why this is. Production of the Skylark occurred in Willow Run, Michigan (W) and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (6). I don't know if all X cars were made at these plants, or if there were separate plants for Buick, Olds, Pontiac, and Chevrolet. I can't even find a record of X cars being built at the Tarrytown plant- so I think this is odd. However, my VIN code and the original sales sheet of the car confirm it was made there. Update- just recently I found out of another Skylark that was built there, Leonard Sparks' 82 Skylark Limited (see the "Other People's Cars" page). But I'm digressing here...
In the fall of 1995, I made the precursor to this homepage, the Skylark/Omega page.
Homepages and car clubs abound for the owners of many "niche" vehicles. However, most of us drive more common vehicles which have proven worthy of our appreciation.
New cars just aren't cool at all. I really don't want to drive a jellybean shaped plastic thing with rock hard seats and an ugly interior. It seems I am meeting more and more people who also feel this way. The problem is that new cars have no personality and absolutely no sense of style whatsoever. They also have no structural integrity compared to automobiles of the past.
I don't want to give up my old car, because today's automobile offerings could never please me as much as my old one has. This is one reason why people hold on to ther older cars, let alone the fact that you have to spend at least $20,000 to get a new car- and then you are a slave to car payments. You're just so much better off getting something older. It is possible to find older cars which fill your transportation needs at a much lower cost.
Most X body owners you talk to are pleased to own their cars. Although there are still many 1980-85 Skylarks and their X body cousins still around, few owners can fully appreciate their vehicles or discuss problems with other owners. Perhaps this page will provide a way to do this.
When I wrote the Skylark/Omega homepage, the cars were 10-15 years old. Now that they are fast approaching 15-20 years of age, many are in need of help, without which they faced being junked. They are of an age at which they are being junked at rapid rates. The yards are full of them. It is a shame because many of them are still decent vehicles that probably could have been easily repaired. However, most people succumb to the "lure" of a new car sooner or later. I'm glad I'm not one of them.
I hope that those who read this page will gain information and hopefully appreciation about their vehicles, and perhaps keep them on the road just a bit longer than they otherwise might have. They really are worth keeping. And hey, you save $20 grand every time you DON'T buy a new car!
Options:
I have to check the billing sheet- I'll get back to this.
Most people ask me just how it is that I got into cars in the first place. The first car I really thought was cool was my folks' 62 Buick Skylark. It was a 2 door coupe, blue with a white roof, had a 215 cubic inch aluminum Buick V8 engine, and a 2 speed automatic transmission. For whatever reason at 5-6 years of age I thought this car was unbelievably cool. It lasted 18 years, and was replaced by the aforementioned 81 Skylark. Some other cars I liked at age 5-6 were my grandfather's 75 Dodge Dart, my other grandfather's 75 Buick Century, and my neighbors' 76 Ford LTD and 67 Pontiac LeMans. We also had a Toyota but we had lots of problems with it, so we switched back to American cars after that.
I think I was really lucky growing up in a time when all the cars were still American. I'd hate to be born now and only know today's plastic foreign cars, because you can't repair them yourself! At 8 years old I was sure that by the age of 12 I was going to be able to repair the 62 Skylark's cracked aluminum engine block. Well, that dream was never realized, though I continued to be quite into 60s and 70s cars that my friend's folks owned through elementary school. Even in the early 80s, basically everyone I knew was driving GM cars, especially Caprice Classic sedans and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser station wagons. I can remember going by new car dealerships when the cars in there were actually cool, and you looked forward to the new models. My only regret is that I was not 10-15 years older and able to buy a new car that is actually structurally well built and nicely styled.
I kind of lost interest through middle school and high school. In the middle of high school, nearing driving age, I acquired "muscle car" fever- and started buying all of these car magazines. It was cool, and I learned a lot. However, it was near impossible to buy a car like this at age 16. Not that I stopped liking them, I just realized that there are cars out there that are cool in other ways. I learned to drive on the 81 Skylark, but that was my mother's and later my sister's car around this time. The 75 Dart, which had been my grandfather's and later my father's, was destined to be mine in high school/college had a burnt valve which relegated it to the family garage for a number of years. Instead I got to drive my father's car at the time, an 81 Buick Century. This car was more like a Cadillac than a Buick. It was a Century Limited, jade green with this really nice light green velour interior. It had a Buick 3.8 V6 and had SO much power! You barely had to touch the gas and you were flying. The interior was so comfortable and the car rode SO smoothly. It only had an AM radio and had roll down windows, but it was still such a nice car. The whole lots of power/nice interior/phenomenal ride thing really left an impression on me that made me realize what a nice car really was, despite the fact that it was around 10 years old and had over 100K miles on it. Plus that this car gave us so little trouble. Thanks to inept mechanics the engine was ruined in the Century due to them messing up the timing chain and subsequently the oil pump (no I do not think mechanics are inept but these were high school kids working on cars). My sister's boyfriend at the time was a mechanic but he didn't have time to fix the car. I hoped to fix this one up myself, but this car went to junkyard heaven in '95 and is likely crushed for scrap metal by now. A picture of an 81 Buick Century is below. (I sincerely hope I can find another 81 Buick Century Limited, green with a green interior, even if it has a Pontiac 265 V8 instead of a 3.8 V6. I am keeping my eyes open.)
The 62 Skylark had been junked in '87, so after losing 2 cool cars I was determined that neither the Dart nor the 81 Skylark would not have this same fate. The summer of 94 was when I acquired the 81 Skylark for use in college. Had it not been for getting rid of the Century, that would have been my college car. Also around this time I began to get interested in car swap meets and in going to the racetrack to watch stock car races.
When I got the 81 Skylark, I had to learn to take care of it to save money, so wound up buying books on it and learning more about it. When I finally fixed the Dart's burnt valve problem in '96, I got REALLY interested in cars. Afterwards I started taking courses at a local community college on automotive repair. It was a great experience and I am so happy I did it. I started scoping junkyards and found a lot of cool vehicles. My interest has only grown from there.
I will NEVER buy a new car. I simply don't see cars becoming more cool than they already have been. Styling has simply gotten ever uglier since the late 80s when cars started becoming aerodynamically styled. Chrome is no longer used on cars. They aren't made of metal. Carburetors and distributors have gone away. Computers now control everything, even the suspension and seat positions. I don't like the new materials used to make the seats- they are too hard and uncomfortable. The steering on newer cars is all stiff. Cars just don't ride nice any more. The engines sound wimpy. I am not into this. Even GM, which stayed the most "American" of the big three, even into the 90s, now has succumbed to building their cars looking like everyone else's. If I had to buy a new car I would still get some kind of GM vehicle before any other. At least they still have horns that go "honk".
Well, I've said enough here. You've gotten the gist of my opinions...