A man’s got to know his limitations.

Some people really enjoy working on their own cars. There are a variety of reasons for this. For some it’s the cost savings. There just isn’t the budget for paying someone else to do the work so the only way to realize their dream car is to do it themselves.

Others like working with their hands, a lot. Futzing around in the shop is relaxing, almost therapeutic. The processes and the project itself is where the joy is. They don’t care how long it takes. Sure, they want to drive it someday but there’s no rush – they are having a good time right where they are.

Still others have trust issues and just don’t want anyone else to work on their car because they want to be sure that it’s done “right”.

Scott Phillips, on the other hand, did a masterful job of blending all of the above along with a good healthy dose of knowing when it was best to get some professional help.

This Skylark has been in the family since 1977 when Scott’s wife Eileen and her mother found and bought the car for her dad. The Skylark went to Eileen’s brother after their dad passed away but eventually Scott and Eileen were able to purchase it from him.

Scott started the restoration himself but soon involved the help of Steve Bruce who owned a race shop. Steve was great with the mechanicals and rebuilt the original 350 and rear end adding a Sure-Grip differential. He also re-welded and boxed the frame and set up the fuel system. Scott was right in there providing any help that he could.

As the restoration continued, a fiberglass GSX hood was obtained and fitted to the car, the interior was painted and door panels and dash pad restored. Disc brakes were added all the way around and the wheels were upgraded to 15 inches. New glass and power window motors were installed. Scott wisely outsourced the paint work to another shop and had a new convertible top fitted.

Scott’s plan was to have the car finished as a 25th wedding anniversary gift to Eileen.

That didn’t happen. The car was mostly done and had even been driven a few blocks back in August of 2015 but the interior was not yet complete and the engine drive train had not been tested and tuned.

By the time of Scott and Eileen’s 30th anniversary, Steve had moved on to another business interest so the Buick had to come home and Scott, in his own words, “Just ran out of gas” regarding working on the Buick anymore.

It was then that they turned to Muscle Car Restorations to help them get this project over the goal line. Most obvious was finishing the interior and shaking out all the mechanicals. According to Scott, Eileen’s Skylark was 90% done but there were a lot of “little” things that needed to be tackled.

Since it never got to be an anniversary gift, Scott and Eileen changed the goal. Now they want to fly in to Chippewa Falls, WI, pick up their Buick and drive it back to their home in Kansas. They always intended to drive it so why not give it a thorough shake down out on the open road with a 550+ mile, 8 ½ hour road trip?

The key to making sure that it will be an enjoyable but uneventful ride is MCR’s Mustang Dyno which let’s MCR thoroughly shake out any bugs that could be hiding in the build by putting enough miles on the car to ensure that everything is working as it should – all while being able to keep a close watch on every system.

Scott put a lot of hard work into this restoration and the results are really nice. The team at MCR felt privileged to be able to help finish the dream and we expect the Phillip’s will now have many years to enjoy something that has so many memories and has been in the family for so long.

Thanks you two. We enjoyed the project.

It’s not a full GSX clone but the Stratomist Blue accented by White Diamond Pearl paint makes it a lot more eye catching than a stock Skylark.
Fiberglass hoods are notorious for not fitting correctly out of the box. This one required some work but the effort was worth it.
The hood scoops are non-functional but nevertheless add greatly to the overall look.
Wheels were upgraded to 15-inch Buicks partly to accommodate disc brakes all the way around.
Modern LED headlights really complement the look of the rest of the car. That thin white line that you see in front of the hood pin is a thin clear film that MCR can apply to protect sensitive areas of the paint. Considering that the cars first outing will be a 500+ mile road trip this makes a lot of sense.
The hood mounted tach is functional and was added by MCR. 5000 RPM seems like a pretty short redline but Buick engines made their power down low.
The rear spoiler is classic GSX.
Eileen’s initials were added to the trailing edge of the rear spoiler. There is no doubt whose car this is. Remember when bumpers were works of art all on their own?
Can you imagine this car without a white convertible top? We can’t either.
This is the original 350 that came with the car. It has been warmed up a bit to produce 237 HP and 266 pounds of torque at the rear wheels. It was built and in the car along with a new Turbo 400 trans when it came to MCR but neither had been set up or broken in. MCR’s Mustang Dyno is the perfect tool to do that as the car can be run as it would be on the street while still being closely monitored for any irregularities.
The trunk paint is actually the factory gray splatter paint. The blue tint comes from a strip of LEDs mounted up under the package shelf.
One of the major areas of the Skylark that needed to be finished was the seats. Scott had previously restored the door panels and the dash but the seats were still in need of help. So MCR rebuilt the seats and sewed new seat covers. The blue piping adds a custom look without losing the overall theme of the car.
One change made to the dash, and the rest of the car where possible, was using LED lights both for their consistent look and long life. No one ever wants to have to change dash bulbs.