Back to Members        Back To Home Page

Click on Thumbnail Photos to View Full Size

By Ray Vanderlinde

In 1953 and in 1954 Buick produced luxury sports convertibles with many unique features including Buick's first V-8 engine, 322 cubic inches with a 4 barrel carburetor rated at 200 horsepower, Dynaflow automatic transmission, power brakes, power steering, a built in hydraulic fluid system operating the power windows, power bench seat and power top, Selectronic radio with powered antenna, a clock, leather seating, dual heaters, a custom body design with cutaway fenders, EZ Eye Tinted Glass, safety group, and Kelsey Hayes chrome wire wheels with WSW tires, all as standard equipment. Unlike, the previous top level Roadmasters, identifiable by four large side port holes for all of one's neighbors to view, the Skylarks reached new heights with an absence of port holes. The 1953 Skylarks had the conventional sloping windshield but the cowl was chopped 3 or 4 inches and a curving dip placed in the body side window area giving the car a very stylish distinctive appearance. Additionally, factory ordered 1953 Skylarks had the name of the owner embossed in the center plastic steering wheel hub and came with special side body Skylark emblems and wheel spinners with red, white and blue centers for the wire wheels but carried the regular rear deck Roadmaster emblem. In 1954 the new wrap around windshield with rectangular vent windows was introduced on the larger GM cars and the Roadmaster chassis was increased from 122 inches to 127 inches. However, it was felt that the new custom designed 1954 Skylark with a unique rounded over rear deck lid with two round raised stripes down to special chrome pads meeting the bumper guards and foot high chrome tail lights which extended about 16 inches along each rear fender would look better on the new 122 inch Special/Super chassis.

Both years the Roadmaster convertibles cost about $4,000 while the Skylarks cost 25% more or $5,000. In 1953 Buick produced 1690 Skylark convertibles but with the 1954 Skylark built on a chassis smaller than the new Roadmaster, no portholes, and a very glitzy appearance they sold so poorly that only 836 were produced. The front grille, the convertible doors and bumpers were interchangeable with the production 1954 Buicks but all of the other sheet metal and most of the chrome parts were unique to the Skylark. Highlighting the front bumper area of the car were two large protruding pods nicknamed "Dagmars" after the well endowed famous actress.

Sometime in the middle 80s I saw a 1953 Skylark at the very large Ludwig's Corners, PA AACA car show and I said: "Wow, I've never seen a car like that before." Subsequently I heard about the 1953/1954 Skylark Club which met once a year somewhere east of the Mississippi in the home area of one or more owners. In August of 1988 1 attended the Skylark Meet at the Seven Springs Resort, east of Pittsburgh and signed in as their guest with the notation, "Want to buy a good driver 1954 Skylark." Their response was to laugh and say, "You'll never find one." However, early on Saturday morning I was out looking over the 18 or so Skylarks already at the meet when a gentleman from the nearby Vintage Chevrolet Club of America car show came over. After kibitzing a while about the cars, he told me about one probably available in suburban Indianapolis from a Ray Knapp. I had to return home to suburban Philly for our monthly dinner bridge game that evening but on Sunday morning I called information, soon got hold of Ray Knapp and bought my 1954 Skylark over the phone, subject to it being satisfactory at inspection. Ruth insisted I fly to Indianapolis to see the car which I did on Wednesday and I had the same flat-bed service that took it two months earlier to Ray Knapp's garage, take it to a friend's restoration shop near Wayne, PA for $600. It just so happened that they were leaving for the Carlisle Auto Flea Market that evening with a car and put mine on the flat-bed truck and the other car on a trailer, dropping it off first at Carlisle. The car had a suspension steering problem, making it undriveable, but it was a complete all original 83,000 mile 1954 Buick Skylark, showable but basically needing complete restoration. Among its faults were a broken convertible top latch pin, a damaged front suspension, deluxe seat covers covering the deteriorating leather interior, old tires and the addition of an electronic fuel pump to avoid vapor lock, which was characteristic of these cars and which I left on the engine as it made the car much more driveable in mountainous areas.

The original purchaser of my 1954 Buick Skylark, Edwin T. French, owned an industrial laundry in Indianapolis and had the car equipped with twin factory spotlights as he lived off the beaten path in a mansion. In 1968 he sold the car to his brother-in-law, Ray Heinzen, who also worked at the laundry as did Ray Knapp. When the original owner's young sons took over the business, they released Ray Knapp, a supervisor who was nearing retirement age, and each year at the company reunion Ray Knapp would say to Ray Heinzen, "Are you ready to sell that car yet?" It happened in May of 1988 and I heard about the car by coincidence in July, as the guest of the Skylark Club at their Meet.

The first year of ownership was spent in having the car repaired and put in first class mechanical condition for safe high speed driving. In 1989 we drove it to the Buick National in Batavia, NY , the only year the Skylark Club met with the national group. The good part about the Skylark Meets is that the owners were very sociable, friendly, helpful likeable people and we spent most of our time sharing information on where to get this or that or how to do this or that. Never were there any trophies or discussion about whose Skylark was the best. During the second year of my ownership there was a complete restoration of the exterior with the "leading in" of body sheet metal damage behind the driver's side of the convertible top and near the driver side door jam. The door jams and the interior dash were taken through the same ten step refinishing process as the exterior with the car being redone in a medium metallic blue with clear coat resembling its original color. My '54 Skylark was the only one I ever saw, except for a Skylark in a collector car magazine, with the exposed custom inner front fender panels (usually from the factory in red or green) and in addition the side panel below the curved chrome body side molding finished in a contrasting color (optional on regular production cars). My Skylark had the cut away underfenders and this extended spear in white when I bought it, and I had it refinished in white which made my car even more spectacular and more readily recognizable as a Buick. The exterior restoration took much longer than anticipated but I got it back just in time to drive it in 1990 to the Skylark Meet in Newport, RI.

The 1954 Skylarks had a cubed pattern, like an older fluorescent light fixture, imprinted into the leather seating areas which had to be stitched into the correct color vinyl to make an interior resembling the original. In 1990 Lou Jenkins, a professional restorer in North Carolina, in some very innovative manner was able to make interiors available identical to the original, perhaps through the original vendor. A Skylark buff in Memphis, TN sold me sufficient yardage of the original blue Grosse Point carpet for the interior and trunk floors. Dave Brady, an interior restorer and fellow member of the Free Spirit Buick Club of Allentown to which we belonged as it was only one hour distant, did a superb job restoring the interior and trunk and replacing the convertible top . In 1991 we drove it from Wayne, PA to the Skylark Meet in Frederick, MD where it was the first 1954 Skylark to have been restored with an interior identical to the original.

My Skylark was sold to a gentleman in Michigan the month before we moved to the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, MD in May 1993.

By Ray Vanderlinde

The following article, authored by Ray Vanderlinde but written as if the car was talking, was published as "Pony Car of the Month' in the January 1986 Newsletter of the Valley Forge Mustang Club.

"At Meteuchen, NJ on April 14, 1967 1 was assembled and delivered through the Newark DSO to lower New York State. My first owner was very proud of his sharp new luxury GTA convertible in metallic vintage burgundy with light parchment top and deluxe white interior. I was well equipped with the exterior decor package, ribbed rear grille, 225 H.P 4 barrel V-8 with dual exhausts and narrow WSW F70-14 wide oval tires. My deluxe features included folding glass rear window, interior decor, console, tilt steering wheel, PS, PT and, of course, automatic transmission and power disc front brakes as part of the GTA package. However, after only two years my first owner sold me to his brother-in-law, Charles Wilmer, a service man in Texas. He had dealer air conditioning installed and over the next three years I roamed the hills and plains of Texas and the New York City area."

"In 1972 1 was sold to Charlie Johnson, also a service man stationed in Texas who was from Sodus, in upstate New York. By the time Charlie was discharged from the service in 1978 1 had traveled 160,000 miles. At this point Charlie obtained a 1967 parts car convertible with 60,000 miles on the odometer and transferred the parts car engine and the black interior to me along with a new black top. Over the next five years I was driven another 50,000 miles. This was mostly in the good weather months because my owner valued me so much that he usually picked up a second hand junker to drive in the winter ice and snow."

"Finally in 1982 I was purchased by Randy DeLisio of Super 'Stang, Inc. of Clyde, NY as being a good restoration project. However, Charlie had retained in his basement my original engine and white interior which were included in the purchase. Randy soon became so impressed with my solid body and uniqueness as a GTA (GT plus A for automatic transmission) convertible that he decided to do a ground up restoration for his wife, Mary. Soon everything was taken apart that's possible to remove and over the next year I was restored to immaculate condition, all by Randy with some assistance from wife, Mary and one helper. My original engine was rebuilt, as was my transmission, AC, etc. My differential was replaced by one from a wrecked Ford with 23,000 miles on it. While my floors were in reasonable shape, Randy decided that for a quality restoration they should be replaced. My undercarriage was painted with the same vintage burgundy acrylic enamel paint as my exterior and extra care was taken with everything with over 500 hours of labor involved."

"I am featured in my newly restored condition on Page 48 of the Oct/Nov 1985 issue of Super Ford magazine as the highlight of the Mustang Gallery Section."

"Since Randy and Mary only drove me in parades and on special occasions and wanted capital to expand their business, I became expendable. Ray Vanderlinde, a native upstate New Yorker, had looked me over briefly Fourth of July weekend 1985, when on vacation in the area and he had dropped by for his annual summer visit to Super 'Stang. Hence it came as no surprise to be sold subsequently to Ray Vanderlinde who had Randy trailer me to Mid County Mustang in Exton, Pennsylvania in October for winter storage. Ray plans to retread me in the spring with Firestone wide oval tires and do some detailing. He's looking forward to driving me for the first time and enjoying all my luxurious features as well as my beauty and attraction."

Continuing with my antique car hobby, I won a second place Grand National Award with my new GTA Mustang convertible at the first national meeting of the Mustang Club of America, held at Valley Forge PA in August of 1986. While I was a certified judge for all classes and years of Mustangs, they were not eligible for the Antique Auto Club of America which requires cars to be 25 years old. Even though I won many trophies at various Mustang and Ford shows, all the nitpicking in the judging took much of the pleasure and joy out of what I wanted to be a fun relaxing hobby. Also I was always the oldest person by far in the Valley Forge Club, made up mostly of much younger people. Mustangs and convertibles in general are excellent investments because of the large market for them and in each case I sold my Mustang convertible for exactly what I had invested in it.