In 1957-60, Buick and Pininfarina teamed up to create a stunning experimental two-seat coupe called the Skylark III. Here’s more on this beautiful but little-known prototype.
REVISED AND EXPANDED — The Skylark III story begins in 1957 when General Motors executives and stylists, including Harley Earl, Harlow Curtice, and Ned Nickless, directed the construction of a full-scale clay model that was originally known as the Buick Skylark II. Built on a radically shortened Buick passenger car chassis, the model employed close-coupled two-seat coupe bodywork, but closely tracing the lines and styling theme of what was soon to become the 1959 Buick production car.
Management was pleased enough with the full-scale clay proposal that it contracted with the famed coachbuilder Pininfarina of Cambiano, Italy, just south of Turin, to build an operating prototype. Actually, GM ordered two complete cars. One was a white coupe with sweeping, tapered tailfins (a little like the Forward Look 1960 Dodge, folks might note today) and an elaborate, segmented grille, as shown in the top two photos above. Another version was painted silver and employed sharp, diagonal tail fins that mirrored those found on the production ’59 Buick. GM lined up the two Skylarks for a comparison photo, below.
In this form, the car—or cars, we should say— were now known as the Skylark III, bearing the internal GM experimental designation XP-75. Obviously, the Skylark III never made it to the showrooms, and Buick would not offer a production two-seater until the Reatta was introduced in 1988. But the Skylark III did cut quite a dashing figure, and it did accurately foreshadow the dramatic styling of the ’59 Buick production cars.
Details on the two Pininfarina prototypes included leather bucket seats, a vertically oriented radio in the center of the dash, power windows and air conditioning, and automatic transmissions with floor-mounted shift levers. The white coupe, assigned to a Fisher Body executive, was reportedly ordered to be scrapped in mid-1964 while the silver version, shown in the two photos below, seemed to disappear from the GM inventory in 1967, reportedly, and it is presumed (but not confirmed) that both cars no longer exist. There was a Skylark IV, by the way—a LeSabre coupe with a twin-bubble rear window that never made it beyond the studio. Photos by General Motors.
Photos by General Motors.
That’s an awful lot of sheet metal for just a two seater. But it plays along with the idiom of the time…Longer, lower and wider.
Buick’s wild 1959 diagonal “wings” and the 1959 Impala’s almost as garish were considerably tamed for the 1960 model year…
Well you really see the upcoming 59’s in this concept. The great story to me is how some stylists from the GM Tech Center were coming up Mound Rd. from lunch and driving past the Chrysler facility at 8 mile. They spotted some prototype 57 Chrysler products parked outside and immediately pulled over. They raced back to the Tech Center and grabbed some cameras and their peers and raced back to grab what they could, needless to say those cars were pulled back out of site but not before a lot of good photos and mental images captured. At that point they realized they needed to scrap all their current plans and start with a clean sheet of paper, thus the 1 year only 58’s. The hardest part was selling Harley Earle but once he and Bill Mitchell saw the results they were pretty blown away!
A replica would be a great custom project and pretty much do-able.
Thank God the 58’s were only a one year run. IMHO, the 57, and 58 Buicks, Olds and Caddies looked like bloated hippos. I never liked that reverse angle front window (57/58’s) they reminded me of the fugly Fords. The only car to pull off that design were the 58 to 60 T-Birds. The GM full size 4 door and station wagons (Buick/Olds) reminded me of tubas on wheels. They were bloated and garrish. At least with the 59’s they started looking sleeker. The 59’s were so over the top they were kitschy. The rounded reverse angle vent window on the 59 and 60 creampuffs from the General reminded me of Gondolas. The ventless design of the Skylark IIi both versions were cool looking. Definitely a preview of the 59 and 60 GM full size land yachts. There are pictures of the original 59 offerings from GM on the web they were still plump and stodgy but much better than the tubas on wheels from 57 and 58. With the exception of the Fury and the T-Bird the cars from Ford and GM for 1958 were fugly to the max. All that was excessive for late 50’s styling.
Hey buddy….I’m a professional tuba player, and resent your comment about them. There is nothing about them that is ugly, and they play a very prominent part in the symphony orchestra.
I don’t see a likeness between the 1958 GM full size bombs,.. but I really wondered what Buick was thinking when they came out with the ‘57 and ‘58’s!
The ‘59 Buick (my dad had one) was all to die for according to popular ramblings,.. but, I believe we now know who was behind the car I believe should be on the (very) short list of the finest sculpturing in primary sheet metal of all time,.. the 1960 Buick!
Now we know it was an outsourced off-shored contractor (think Ferrari?) that was behind the sexiest Buick ever made!?
I’m still susceptible to buying one,.. and updating the “Wildcat 445” V-8!!!