1972 Buick Skylark

The 1972 Buick Sylark GS Coupe.

The trend toward owning and operating smaller cars in the post-war economy become so pronounced that imports no longer filled the need alone. In the early 1950s several North American automakers fielded small cars but only Nash, with its Rambler, was successful in penetrating the market. Hudson, Willys and Kaiser-Frazier failed miserably with its small cars. Independent Studebaker did very well with its 1959 entry of the Lark.

The 1960 Chevrolet Corvair Monza.

With nearly 30 percent of the domestic market being claimed by small cars, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler took note. Chevrolet introduced the rear-engined Corvair for the 1960 season. It was designed to take on Volkswagen. Ford’s Falcon and Frontenac and Chrysler’s Valiant, on the other hand, went after the market created by Rambler and Studebaker.

When the Corvair did not fare well in the sales game, disappointed GM designers hurried back to the drawing board for a second stab at the small car market. This time around, a more conventional Bowtie passenger car evolved. The Chevy II bowed for the 1961 selling season. To make sure that GM did not lose a single sale, Chev's corporate sisters were given small cars of their own: the Pontiac Tempest, the Oldsmobile F-85 and the Buick Special.

The 1961 Buick Special Station Wagon.

The Buick version was the most luxurious of GM’s compact offerings, with standard equipment and trim levels above its kin. Small did not mean cheap, either. The Special opened at $2,952 with tax—and that was for a completely stripped model. The Deluxe station wagon listed for $3,462.00 before any optional equipment was added to the price tag. A total of 1,091 units were sold throughout the Dominion during the calendar year. Sales dropped to 885 for calendar year 1962, even though it could be ordered with the newly minted Fireball V-6 engine. Sales rebounded to 1,497 units for 1963.

The 1964 Buick Special.

A new, larger body style was bestowed upon the Buick Special and the Skylark for the 1964 selling season. The smallest Buick now rode a 2 921-millimetre (115-inch) wheelbase and was now classed as an intermediate-sized car. Sales mushroomed to 5,448 units in 1964 and inched upwards to 5,901 units delivered in 1965. General Motors opened a new factory in September of 1965 in St. Therese, Quebec, a suburb north of Montreal. The plant turned out Buick Specials.

The 1966  Buick Special.

Substantially revamped look prompted sales to rise to 7,646 units in 1966 but the finish was only good enough for 31^st place—a drop of four notches on the nameplate sales chart. Climbing back up to 29^th place in 1967, Buick Special garnered 8,343 sales. GM Canada began to take advantage of AutoPact, the international trade agreement that came into effect in 1965, and shipped 6,523 Buicks to the USA in 1967.

The 1968  Buick Skylark.

Revamped again and given a much heavier look for 1968, Buick Special was dropped and the Skylark rose to the 20^th spot with 12,862 units sold. Special was returned and along with Skylark racked up 13,851 sales in 1969 and inched up to 19^th place. No doubt the tag line, “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” helped increase sales. The 1970 season saw Special retired—again---and the Skylark tally was 10,111 units, enough for 21^st place. A total of 13,444 sales in 1971 earned Buick’s Skylark 22^nd place.

The 1972 Skylark two-door coupe was the least expensive Buick model. It carried a list price of $3,366.

When the 1972 models bowed, it was the third year for the body style. The car was pitched to young couples with such lines as “you take your wife to a quaint little restaurant” and “It’s your first new car together.” Skylark was also pitched to young black executives, “Skylark goes well with your first great job.” The car came in four trim levels—base, the 350, the Custom and GS. No Buicks were built in Canada that year.

The station wagon was treated separately from the sedans. It was given a standard dual-action tailgate.

The GS designation was given to the high-performance convertible and Sport Coupe. These models were trimmed with all the best that Buick had to offer. Goodies included dual exhaust, functional hood scoops, side terminal energizer, heavy duty springs, shock absorbers and a stabilizer bar. Even the sunroof was standard equipment. These posh speedsters carried the 5.7-litre (350-cubic inch) mill but could be upgraded to the 7.5-litre (455-cubic inch) monster, generating 225 horsepower.

With a price tag of $3,917, the 1972 Buick Skylark Custom four-door hardtop weighed  1 691 kilos (3,729 pounds).

The Custom boasted its own grille and came as a four-door hardtop, a four-door sedan, a two-door hardtop and a convertible. The doors operated the interior light; it got front and rear ash trays, a deluxe steering wheel and carpeting fore and aft. Under the hood was the 150-horsepower V-8 engine, mated to the three-speed manual transmission. The automatic shifter was an extra cost item. The four-door sedan wore Roulet-grain Expanded Vinyl and Madrid-grain Vinyl upholstery.

The 1972 Buick Skylark 350 four-door Sedan weighed in at 1 630 kilos (3,595 pounds).

The Skylark 350 was more modestly trimmed and carried special “350” plaques. It could be had as a four-door sedan or a Sport Coupe. Interiors were upholstered in Kalmara cloth and vinyl and the floor was carpeted.

The all-vinyl “notchback” seat with centre armrest was optional on the 1972 Buick Skylark.

The base Skylark was offered as a four-door sedan, a Sport Coupe and a two-door pillared coupe. It came with heater and defroster. Its cabin was dressed in modest Kasmar Cloth with Madrid-grain Vinyl. It could also be dressed in all Madrid-grain Vinyl.

Magic Mirror colours for the Skylark were Arctic White, Crystal Blue, Hunger Green, Sandalwood, Antique Gold, Silver Mist, Seamist Green, Fire Red and Cascade Blue. The Sportwagon and GS could also be seen in Stratomist Blue, Heritage Green, Burnished Copper, Cortez gold, Sunburst Yellow or Flame Orange. For extra cash a Skylark could also wear Regal Black, Royal Blue, Sierra Tan, Nutmeg, Champagne Gold, Charcoal Mist, Emerald Mist, Deep Chestnut, Burnished Bronze and Vintage Red.

The instrument panel of the 1972 Buick Skylark carried all the luxurious cues of its larger, more expensive brothers.

Optional equipment included an AM/FM stereo radio and tape player, a centre console, power seats, Climate Control air conditioning, Soft-ray tinted glass, rear window defroster, power windows, an electric clock, a mirror map light, tilt steering wheel, speed alert feature, front lamp monitors, a luggage rack, bumper guards, vinyl tops, sport wheels an electric trunk release, a child safety seat, remote-control outside mirrors, seat and shoulder belts and a sunroof.

The 1972 Buick Skylark Custom Convertible weighed in at 1 605 kilos (3,540 pounds) and listed for $3,967 f.o.b. Oshawa, Ontario.

When the dust had settled on the 1972 calendar year, the Skylark had registered 13,448 sales giving it 23^rd place, between Mercury Comet and Plymouth Satellite. It would not return for 1973. In its place was the compact Buick Apollo and in the intermediate slot was filled by the Buick Century.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2005
All rights reserved.

1968 Vauxhall

Vauxhall’s Victor was all-new in 1968 and now rode on a longer  2 590-millimetre (102-inch) wheelbase. Front track was nine centimetres,  (three inches) wider than before.

General Motors of Canada Limited began importing the Vauxhall line of cars from its British subsidiary for the 1948 selling season. The sturdy sedans sold well, through Pontiac-Buick dealers. Canadians appreciated the quality construction, the low initial cost and the inexpensive maintenance costs. Because Vauxhall benefited from GM’s vast global resources, getting parts and service was no harder than watching maple leaves fall off the tree during a good October windstorm. When it came time to trade, a used Vauxhall held its value. Consumers approved and sales were good.

Vauxhall was popular with drivers in Newfoundland and Labrador. An RHD 1948 Velox is seen here.

While Ontario was the largest single market for Vauxhall and Quebec its second most popular delivery destination, Vauxhall’s highest market penetration in the 1950s was in Newfoundland and Labrador. Slightly more than 22 percent of all foreign passenger cars registered with the provincial Ministry of Highways and Byways were Vauxhalls. There is an explanation. Newfoundland had been a British colony until March 31, 1949. Folks who bought Vauxhalls prior to Confederation were, of course, making a domestic purchase. They did not pay the high duties applied to vehicles imported from the Dominion of Canada.

Vauxhall was a top-ten seller in Canada in 1958. Victors are shown but the larger Velox and Cresta were also offered.

By 1958 the little cars from Luton, England had become the tenth best-selling passenger cars in the Dominion of Canada, snapping hard at the heels of Buick and staying ahead of British Fords. Sales simply exploded for Vauxhall in 1959 as the Victor, Velox and Cresta models reached 32,419 units delivered. That astonishing sales total pushed it upward to be the fifth most popular car sold in the Dominion, following Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford and Meteor. Vauxhall outsold Volkswagen by a whisker, topping the West German wonder by 358 units in 1959.

The 1960 Envoy was a badge-engineered Vauxhall exclusive to the Canadian market.

Since there could never be too much of a good thing, a Canada-only Vauxhall clone, badged as Envoy, was prepared and offered through Chev-Olds dealers for the1960 selling season. The Envoy and Epic have their own story, though suffice to say that Vauxhall and the instantly popular Envoy alone accounted for 27 percent of all automobiles imported into this country in 1960.

The 1962 Vauxhall line was popular with Quebeckers.

With heat from domestic compacts such as Rambler, Studebaker’s Lark, the Ford Falcon, the Frontenac, the Valiant and Chevrolet’s rear-engined Corvair, Vauxhall sales cooled considerably. By 1963 Vauxhall had slid to the 24^th spot, resting between Cadillac and a new domestic entry, Volvo.

The 1963 Volvo Canadian was assembled in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

This year will be the low point for Vauxhall. Sales were off substantially because Parliament, concerned about the vast number of imports and the health of the domestic auto industry, passed a bill in the House of Commons to collect taxes on cars from Britain. Vehicles from the UK and other Commonwealth countries had previously entered Canada free of duty. Taxes or not, the super economical, subcompact Viva was introduced and Vauxhall’s popularity with consumers rose appreciably.

The 1965 Rambler American was assembled in Brampton, Ontario.

With 8,758 sales in 1965, Vauxhall was good for the 23^rd spot behind the Rambler American and just a hair’s breadth ahead of Oldsmobile’s compact F-85. Sales tumbled in 1966 as only 6,850 units sold. Vauxhall claimed 34^th spot behind GM's Acadian and just ahead of Austin.

The Vauxhall Viva was given a new body style for the 1967 season.

Sales slid again for a third year in a row to 5,789 units in 1967, despite a complete new look for Viva. Vauxhall laid claim to the 35^th spot in the domestic sales pie, trailing Mercury Comet but ahead of Renault.

It must have been a late decision to import the beautiful new Victor that appeared on Vauxhall-Pontiac showroom floors for 1968. Advertising was nothing more than a single sheet, colour on the front with black and white print on the flip side. Dated January 1968, it is possible that only few sales were expected from the compact, as Canadians had grown very choosy about their imports. Foreign cars fell into two categories: very small or very fast. The classy Victor was neither, but it was prestigious. Track and Traffic listed the price for the elegant four-door sedan at $2,332 and the four-door Estate Wagon at $2,552.

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Low, clean and refreshing, advertising hailed the updated look as “uncluttered.” A deeply recessed, subtly V-eed, single Venturi grille carried fine horizontal ribs. Recessed, dual headlights flanked the grille. The Vauxhall griffin adorned the centre of the hood, enshrined in a round medallion.

Weighing in at 1 042.7 kilos (2,321 pounds) when it bowed in 1968, Vauxhall’s Victor was cleanly styled. This one, used in early publicity photos, does not carry the new illuminated side markers required by Ottawa that year.

From the side, Victor’s envelope was one of gentle curves, culminating in a classic coke-bottle swell at the rear quarter panel. The long hood, short deck theme was a perfect fit. A strikingly pronounced, straight-line crease gave relief to the body above sharply emphasized wheelwells. The roofline was slim though the C posts were a stylishly raked landau type and pitched sharply into the trunk. Vent windows were eliminated. A formal, squarish rear held long, horizontal taillights, set into the ends of a recessed, rectangular cove in which the word “Vauxhall” was spelled out in sizable chrome letters. The bumper made a stylish accent beneath the cove.

 1 052.7 The four-door station Vauxhall Victor station wagon was sold to Canadians. A RHD model is seen here.

Owners could order the 1600-cc engine with its respectable 83 horsepower under the hood or the hotted up 2000-cc variant of the four-cylinder, overhead cam mill with a mean 120 horsepower rating. With the latter, dubbed as the 474 option, one could also order a three-speed automatic transmission, though an extra-cost, four-speed, floor mounted manual shifter was also available. Victor owners were promised “sedan riding comfort with sports-car-like handling.” To back up that fact, the car sported rack and pinion steering and a computer designed suspension claimed to have eliminated a full 20 percent of pitch and roll. The entire package rode on 6.90x13 four-ply, low-profile tires, mounted on wide rims.

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Advertising skimped on details (how much information can one squeeze onto a single page?) but did promise luxurious interiors that were well appointed. If one ordered bucket seats, they not only got them up front, “bucket-styled” rear seats were fitted into the cabin as well. Other than the new air ducts at the extreme ends, the instrument panel was virtually blank, giving the cabin a very classy look. All the dials and gauges were pulled together in front of the driver in a tight package, capped off under a neat little hood.

Under the hood of subcompact Viva was an 1100-cc (70.7-cubic inch) four banger, generating 56.2 horsepower. Advertising claimed it was smooth, quiet and vibration free.”

In contrast to big brother Victor, Viva was given a full colour fold-out and fold-down catalogue. New last year, the pint-sized, two-door subcompact was adorably chubby on its short, 24330 millimetre (95.8-inch) wheelbase. If the base model didn’t please at $1,900 and the Deluxe model wasn’t quite enough, a swanky SL package was available for the tiny Viva at $2,003. 

The new Viva station wagon’s load dimensions were 152 centimetres (59.9 inches) in length, 83.2 centimetres (33 inches) between wheel arches and had a load height of  79.2 centimetres (31.2 inches). It held .52 cubic metres (18.6 cubic feet) of cargo with the back seat in the upright position.

A new model--an Estate wagon--bowed with a list price of $2,100. The two-door wagon was truly a unique Canada-only creature; it was never offered in any other market, not even in the UK.

A total of 9,357 Vauxhalls sold in 1968, giving it 26^th place in the domestic market, behind the Ford Cortina and ahead of the Chevrolet Nova.

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Copyright James C. Mays 2004
 All rights reserved.