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HomePick of the DayPick of the Day: ’77 Buick Skyhawk is a project waiting to...

Pick of the Day: ’77 Buick Skyhawk is a project waiting to be done

Single-family car needs work to bring it back to life

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You wouldn’t normally consider a Buick Skyhawk to be a collector car. In fact, you might have even remember that there was such a car.  But we’re selecting one — a 1977 Buick Skyhawk S — as the Pick of the Day because of its history and the sales pitch being made in the car’s advertisement on ClassicCars.com.

The car has been owned by one family since new, and it is being advertised for sale by a dealership in Alsip, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, that has the car as a consignment.

Right up front we’ll note that this car is being offered for only $3,900, and it needs work, but the dealership says it could be the ideal “father-and-son” project, to which we’ll add that it also might be the ideal father-and-daughter restoration project. The dealership also suggests the Buick could be the basis for a car to take to the drag strip (presumably because there’s room under the hood for a small-block V8). 

“The ‘First Generation’ Buick Skyhawk is a subcompact, four-passenger, hatchback automobile produced for the 1975 through 1980 model years sharing a wheelbase and width with the Chevrolet Vega,” the dealership reminds, adding that other GM H-body cars were the Chevrolet Monza (which many folks did take to the race track), Oldsmobile Starfire and Pontiac Sunbird.

The “S” signifies a hatchback body style for the Pick of the Day. Buick also produced Skyhawks in standard formal roof architectures. The advertising dealership notes that Skyhawks were produced in Canada, and that only 5,821 of them were made for the 1977 model year.

This one was purchased new from Baber Buick-Opel in Fox Lake, Illinois, but moved to Wyoming with a family member and was stored outdoors there.

“Does start but will require some work to get roadworthy,” the dealership points out. “Carpets removed to show solid rust-free floors. Will need fuel pump to fire up, will also need complete brake work.”

By the way, that new fuel pump comes with the car, but needs to be installed, and there are other spare parts as well.

The car does have a 231cid V6 engine linked to an automatic transmission, an aftermarket AM/FM/CD audio and a “rare 3-piece spoiler is included with the car.” 

The 231 V6 was rated at only 105 horsepower, but pumped out 185 pound-feet of torque when new. It is believed the car and engine have been driven only 61,381 since new.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.

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Larry Edsall
Larry Edsall
A former daily newspaper sports editor, Larry Edsall spent a dozen years as an editor at AutoWeek magazine before making the transition to writing for the web and becoming the author of more than 15 automotive books. In addition to being founding editor at ClassicCars.com, Larry has written for The New York Times and The Detroit News and was an adjunct honors professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Yikes! Baaad memories! Had the Monza version. Horrible car. Noisy, tendency to fail at inopportune times, ugly. I tried dressing it up, but it didn’t respond. Finally removed all the doodads and handed it off to an unaware buyer. I think they’re still trying to find me. Remember when we’d take cars and sell hammer strikes for a buck each? Great candidate.

  2. Had 76 model same color but w 5sp stick. Bought new in 76 sold in 84 w 100k miles. The s designation was a lower trim level. No idea only 100 hp.

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