When those people dressed in their short-sleeved button-down shirts and clip-on ties come to my door and ask me if I’ve heard the Good News about Buick and try to tell me of the legend of the Three Shields and the great Skyhawk, I generally shoo them away, because generally I’m not someone who thinks that much about Buicks. This isn’t a slight to the storied marque, they’re just not really a kind of car that meshes with my own particular set of perversions.
But there is one exception. A strange one that doesn’t even really make sense to me. The Skylark. But not just any Skylark; not the bulbously charming ’50s ones or the cool ones from the ’60s or even the strange Iranian-built late ’70s ones. I’m talking about the early seventh-generation ones, built between 1992 and 1995.
The ones with the big pointy beak:
I remember when these first came out, and I was genuinely surprised that a staid brand like Buick would release something so unusual and striking-looking. It was mostly that front end, with the dramatically pointed prow, though the rear of the car was fairly dramatic as well:
There was that upward rear rake, the partially skirted rear wheel arch, defined by those molding lines that encircled the car, which also provided good bump protection, even around the sides.
The daring look of the car was telegraphed by Buick’s 1990 concept car, the Bolero:
You can some of the general body lines in that concept, but this is one of those rare cases where I think the production car ended up looking more dramatic than the concept car.
This sort of dramatically pointed beak had been used in cars plenty of times before; not just by Buick, which enjoyed these beak-grilles plenty, but many 1970s cars, especially like Ford LTDs and Chrysler New Yorkers. It’d largely fallen out of favor in the 1980s, and was genuinely unexpected to see in the early 1990s.
Designed by Wayne Kady, the car was said not to have a single flat panel, a reaction to the very boxy ’80s designs. It got a fair amount of attention at the time for its styling, which was good because the second-gen N-body platform it was built on wasn’t anything especially remarkable, though it was a little longer, and more attempts were made to differentiate the various GM cars built on the platform, as GM was tired of being made fun of for their lazy badge engineering.
I think the ones with the body-colored grilles were the most interesting, too, if you were wondering.
You could get a 3.3-liter V6 in these cars, but those were making only about 160 hp and connected to either a three- or four-speed auto, so these cars were never really especially engaging to drive, but they were pretty comfortable, at least.
They also had anti-lock brakes, which was deemed important enough to warrant its own commercial that involved a big car-shaped balloon:
Also, unrelated, I found something kind of bonkers in the Skylark owner’s manual.
Even in the early ’90s, people still weren’t totally sold on seat belts it seems, so they had to convey how important they were by setting up a poor fictional child to have a nasty bike wreck:
Seriously, illustrated kid, use your damn eyes! You can see that huge cinder block right there! I guess this shows the value of seat belts, but it’s also not a bad lesson in don’t be afraid to turn so you do drive into shit.
Want to see what Motorweek thought of the car? Sure you do; you’re human:
I haven’t seen one of these in years. They later updated the styling in 1996 to something far more timid, and then I went back to my usual state of not caring about Buick. But for one short period of time, there actually was a Buick that got my attention.
Top graphic image: GM
there is one of these in 2 dr coupe form thats solid white, languishing away in a yard on the way to my kids dance studio. i stare in awe every time i see it and wonder how this came to be. the design that is. how it made it to public consumption stages and who is the person that plopped the money down on it vs the other 90’s buffet style models to pick from.
I always found these to be deeply unattractive cars. These and the Olds Achieva, both just mercilessly ugly. I grew up in Michigan and toured the Lansing assembly plant as a teen when these were being built. The tour was really interesting and fun, but the Skylark was a depressingly unappealing car typically owned by equally unappealing people.
These days, this gen Skylark would be a good car for Radwood in the ironic hideous type of way.
100% agree. I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, because I have no idea what Jason sees in these. I thought they looked cheap and old-fashioned back then, and I still do. This was probably the only car in the 90s that had the partially covered rear wheels, a style that was popular in the 70s and 80s, but was otherwise gone in the 90s. The feeling of cheapness wasn’t helped by the acres of plastic siding that only GM was doing. Compared to what the Japanese companies were putting out in the 90s, this car felt at least a decade out of date.
From the lead photo it gives me “wide EV1” vibes. I didn’t like that pointed beak at the time but now I do. Back when Buicks and most cars didn’t have too much visual and touch complexity and business in the interior / IP / door panels…
Always loved the snout and covered rear wheels.
!!!! My eyes! Those Buicks are hideous and I’d forgotten about them until just now.
I’ve always thought they were pretty weird looking. That concept is lovely though, wish they had stuck a little more to that! I always thought the Eighth gen Riviera that came out a few years after that was one of Buicks best looking cars of that era.
it got my attention also: as typically ugly POS from your friends at GM. Ghastly Metal. I will gladly die on the Beetle and 2CV mountain with y’all but this is beyond hideous. Please hide it under at least 6 feet of dirt.
Had one as a rental in FL once. It was not a drivers car, typical of GM cars of the era. Felt flimsy and handled poorly. Looks are definitely unique.
I thought these were terrible looking when they came out. After not seeing one for probably a decade until now, I don’t completely hate the body colored nose on the GS model. Or maybe it is just the colors other than grayscale that are making me look at it favorably compared to today’s options.
Also miss the days when you could get a red interior on a car that was relatively cheap. Today you’re lucky if the cheaper model has a gray option.