It's a Buick Rivitera! 😂

It's like you go to hospital, gravely ill, and they bring in a make-up artist instead of a doctor. "We'll get you looking good in no time!"

😂 pop rivet gun for his birthday lmao first time I've heard that one

There's a common saying in my "circle." "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes." This really applies to all makes though. Buying any classic or custom necessitates a careful pre-purchase inspection. Cheapest insurance out there. Great video Kiwi!

Those rear bumpers always looked like they had been hit.

My 17 year old working at a gas station and fooling with cars I could get cheap in 1975 fully approves of all restoration work performed here.

All those repairs were fine back when i was a teenager and those cars were only about 10 years old and absolutely worth nothing and you didn't have the money to do proper repairs but now that they are worth way more than the $200-400 I used to pay for stuff like that theres absolutely no reason for repairing them like that - especially to take advantage of someone. At least he didn't get beat up on what he paid from what you said. I'd just fix the frame and keep it for a driver - those rode and drove so nice and that effortless steering is what I love the most - my '68 F100 steers like that! Another great informational video Kiwi! Hopefully people are paying more attention to what they are buying by watching you!😉

When I was A young man we used pop rivets on floorboards to patch them to get a little more time out of a shit-box.

This video was riveting!

I'm just visualizing all that at the border inspection here in NZ!!

Whenever I see a driver's door close like that my mind skips over "hinge adjustment" and goes right straight to "severe structural rust".

It's a sharp looking car from 50 feet away, but you can see the rear bumper took a shot over time and it's bowed in near the middle and out more on the driver's side. Which probably was the hit that caused the quarters to be funky. Old cars have a long history of good and bad.

Your client is lucky that he can get an honest answer from you.

I would take it right now if I had the money. I would never be able to afford to restore it properly. But I have decent fabrication skills, and by the time I got done with it, I would be even better. I'm from Southern Ohio. Rust doesn't scare me. If this was a more modern or common vehicle. It would be Junkyard bound. But being what it is. It's worth putting some time, effort and money into. Maybe not completely restored. But properly welded in panels and made into a nice, safe driver. To a guy like me with decent experience replacing rusted panels, but without the money to do the interior and drivetrain. This car is the perfect starting point to a great project. If I had the money I'd be all over it

I’m an American who is a 4 generation Ford guy, but I also love my Ford Australian Falcon cars.

Kiwi, Over all the rust and bond that Skylark has 1 good cover the problem paint job!

Man I really enjoy these videos, when you pick a part a car that looks great, but hidden underneath are r issues. Pretty educational. Thank you Keewee.

I would definitely fix the imperfections. I wish i had that Buick!! Great video Kiwi!! Thanks for sharing..👍

Pop goes the rivet! LOL

Man the guy who put those pop rivets it was good! After looking at this , I have the confidence to pop rivet my boat now, thanks!

It's 50 plus years old I love it, I would drive it and like it too

It is a beautiful car. But when the foundation is that far gone, it's tough. I would drive it and just start to collect the parts you need for it, and do as much as you can yourself to save some money.

That would be a good buy for someone who already has a frame for it sitting around or nearby

You guys deserve a medal for staying under it on the lift after seeing the state of the chassis next to where you are lifting it from! I caught your last comment on the Wednesday night live too Kiwi. Glad you liked the design idea. It ties kiwi, ford and kev all in one 🙂

Two rules in life. When going out to eat at a restaurant look at the restroom. The kitchen will be no cleaner. When looking to buy a vehicle looking in nooks and crannies and especially underneath. Some both cases what you don't see 🙈, welcome back to bite you. As always Mr kiwi hair has given us a great tutorial.

While I'm not a Buick fan I can appreciate a good looking car, but that's a shame on the up shot he's got a great mechanical start if he can find a solid roller.👍👍

Get a frame from a salt free state? Maybe. Convertible frames are boxed , and rarer than hens teeth. If you can find one it's not going to be cheap.

Kiwi, there's one thing I was told by an experienced body man years-ago that I never forgot; "Never mud over a seam, it'll quickly come back to haunt you!" Sadly, that generation of Skylark were prone to rust. Being a New Englander, I've seen a lot of them in pretty tough shape,

Nice ride along mate!

This would be a great driver car. Not a show car, not a restoration, just a good driver, which is what most of us can afford, or would be more than happy to drive.

Entertaining and Educational ! Thanks 🥝😊.

It's not too far away from my Buick Wildcat. Came from Canada....but no rivets ....but plenty of rust 😮

Nice too see a fellow Kiwi in the states.Kia Kaha bro!😎

The extra pulleys are probably left over from the A.I.R delete.

Really great shew .😊 Thought and comment provoking car

That Buick isn't safe to be on the road. Thanks Kiwi at you sharing this!

Thank you, for the ride along!

Good stuff Kiwi! It's amazing how many people get screwed over buying classic cars these days... This one is such a nice car, in SUCH terrible shape!

I believe the outrageous prices seen for these cars on tv auctions is cause for much of these. I had a 64 Pontiac and a 72 Chevelle, both rusted away horrible but today they're everywhere looking awesome, for ten times what they're worth.

Seems like its time to find a new convertible for that guy, I can't say I have ever been to the part of TN where its "raining Buick" great video and nice convertible drive !

My current project is a 68 hardtop, about to receive a 454/TH400

It is a nice ride for it age All the parts are there

Imagine taking that car to a VTNZ for a wof in New Zealand .... pink sticker material

Swiss cheese frame would crumble in a wreck. Watch out for bondo shards flying. Maybe a good parts car.

All those buicks originally had double pulley alternators when they had AC. The AC compressor hung to the right side type that would be passenger side of the alternator. The car did not have an AC firewall. When they didn't have air conditioning, they ran a double belt on the alternator with air conditioning the ac belt kind of passed over the extra pully groove

Your audio is so much better now.

Almost 20g subs looking good 😁🇬🇸👍

It will be interesting to find out what the owner decides. The truth, and the reason for the popularity of aftermarket chassis swaps, is that many of these once common muscle era cars have seen enough road time to have compromised chassis and rotten quarters and floors. If the owner really likes this body style he could try to find a nicer example - but he is only likely to find one that while nicer, is still not great and also needs floors and quarters. If he really wants a next level car he might as well spend the money on this one.

I thought of Uncle Tony as soon as you showed us the trunk. Its a classic flipper special . My condolences to the customer. That beautiful skylark was done dirty by some heathens .

Just like that beautiful Cougar

I bought a '68 to '72 A-body frame about 18 years ago from a junkyard in Pennsylvania that would use a behind the firewall frame of a '69 to '72 Grand Prix or a Monte Carlo and the front section of an A-body frame. Those 2 cars the frames were the same as an A-body convertible so welding the 2 together made a convertible frame. Not sure if that yard is still there, the guy was older back then. He claimed he had a jig to weld to 2 frame sections together. It seemed to work well, if the owner is a big diy guy he might be able to use the front section of his frame if that section isn't as rusty as the middle section and buy the above mentioned frame to combine.🤔😎👍

He had a friend from high school. He had a 68 Buick convert. Took it in for some minor body work and rust repair. They found an entire quarter panel over. The existing quarter panel original Was slightly damaged.They took off the extra quarter panel and fixed the original

Car looks great from here! Sounds like the owner (even though he bought it sight unseen - paid accordingly) I don’t think us as your viewers have ever seen so many pop rivets! And they didn’t even try to hide most of them! I would think he should just sell it and look elsewhere. Maybe someone that can do the work themselves would love this project! Thanks, Kiwi!

I like a 350 wildcat,and have made good power with them. Finding the parts to do so,is probably getting harder. I don't mind repairs,and have seen people with the popgun,doing panel repair. Some think that is how it's done. I don't blame for making the car look,and it's convertible. The paint cost the same,whether it's after weeks of prep,or a couple of 6packs. I can't think of anything a pop rivet is good for. Zip screws are nice for,sizing and placement. When you take em out, put a rosette.

Surpringly you saw a lot of this done in the 80s and before. It wasn't till the 90s and all the car shows on tv that you saw mostly top notch body jobs starting to be the norm.

Kiwi, You found enough at the 2:30 mark for me to say stop. I'll buy a couple cases of beer.

I had a 1968 Buick Sport Wagon with the glass windows in the roof. It was a medium blue.

Another case of looks good from far but far from good

With that funky rear deck, I was thinking maybe someone converted a hardtop to convertible

Reminds me of a 340 buick special I once had, though it only had 76,000 miles on it with no rust!

Pretty car, and a driver Buick. A project for an ambitious owner. Needs a donor frame, floor pans, and most likely more. Drive and enjoy for a while, and then either repair or sell it on.

Bunder-Coat, just a spray away from perfect

Nice Video Kiwi 👍👍 it’s not worth restoring at that Cost never get your Money out of it !! Thanks again for a Great Video Kiwi 👍👍

The car is what it is, no improvement is Worth it being born in the rust belt many years ago. Just drive and enjoy.

At a fair price a great fun car that will last for lots of drives to the ice cream shop with the grand kids. All you need for fun to last as long as many ever did when new in the rust belt.

I riveted my first car back in the 80's.. l didnt have a welder. With the plastic filler the repair lasted 10 years till the frame rusted out.

That went south quickly.

That's the way they used to get fixed up back in the day.

In Minnesota, your car would look like this in less than 10 years.

My uncle had a 69 skylark convertible for years. He blew up the original motor and put a Buick 350 in it instead. It was your typical Midwest car. Bondo, paint job done in the early 80’s. Was maroon with a white interior and white top. He sold it a couple years before he died, and the guy who bought it put some big stupid donk wheels on it

My favorite rims for so long, maybs still

Those GM quarters ( Olds, Pontiac and Buick) have always made me nervous , they were notorious for hiding rust. Up here in the Northeast a five year old car would already need lower quarter repair.

👌🏼⛽️👊🏼

Kiwis Pop rivets and soda cans

It is a shame, those Buicks of all type in that era were beautiful cars. My grandpa had a 56 Century 2drht white on black , loved that car.

I had a buddy in high school whose Dad had a 72 or 74 Buick 350 4 bbl. Dead stock. It would top out at about 110 mph, so we figure it must have had some "trailer pulling" gearing. He would flip the air breather lid over and drive the half hour to the city and race people stop light to stop light. He would regularly beat hopped up Mustangs and Camaros! Those Buick 350s were good engines and I believe that they were about 50 lbs lighter than the 350 Chevy.

In one sense, I do enjoy Kiwi's reveals. His walk-arounds of gorgeous cars with myriad hidden issues is always an education, but I have to say, I'm always left feeling a bit depressed. This one doesn't come close to penciling out. Probably paid $25 to $30K for the car warts and all. It will need at least $60K to make right. Would owner get his $90-$100K return on investment? Not likely. Sad.

Looks about normal to me. My dad had '65 & '71 Skylark ragtops that both rusted to death! My '73 Centurion went the same way. They all ran great until! As Kiwi said, the salty roads....

door adjustment hope it's the only thing. good looking car.

Rivets are an old school way of doing it. Not really right but not really wrong if the seams are done correctly

If I could afford it, I would bring you my unrestored 74 maverick grabber, one of 186 with my options and have you do it right. The one thing it doesn't need is floor pans... But the quarters are hosed and so are the doors thanks to another car shop.

Everyone hopes for the “ cream puff “call from you. And I always hope for that in the video but damn it’s not the norm we’d all hope it should be ! Take care

Mr. B. Here ! 🍔🍺👀😎👍. To the viewers who call them self experts these vehicles are used vehicles, we in hobby rebuild them to factory specifications must shop patch & get out to make big money quick ! Buy be where ! This inspection should determine the price of the vehicle . Lipstick on a pig ! Am sorry Mr. Pig ! LOL ! My dollar is $7,500 !

It's a real difficult one you've got there. What a shame that someone put all that effort into doing it wrong in the past. Perhaps the best option would be to use it as is for another two years until the paint gives up and then either fix it properly or scrap it.

Until you got to the chassis rail, I'd have said typical DIY rust repairs from the 90s, on a car that didn't mean much. Good 10 foot car weekend cruiser. Now, not so sure, it's another "Mustang" job. 🥴 That steering reminds me of the Aussie Valiants with power steering. Sneeze and you've changed two lanes without trying. Not a pleasant feeling. In fact, no feel full stop.

The other option is to drive it and enjoy it until you can't anymore.

That looks like a back yard fixer-upper from a time before home mig welders became an actual thing. Not many people were actually even able to weld 40 years ago, much less, able to weld sheet metal. I remember back when I was a kid if a car was that rusted out it was pretty much like you "had" to use pop rivets to put in some kind of metal, just so you could put some tiger hair bondo over it to at least give it something to sorta "hook" onto. But pretty much every time a car got that rusty, they went to the junkyard's crushers. And replacement panels???? There pretty much was no such a thing as replacement panels back then..... It sure was a sad time back before small mig welders became a regular thing.

A pretty paint job can sell anything..

I have not seen a car in that condition for many years ( Australia ) they just will not pass a roadworthy test here. I personally would give the owner a detailed list of faults found, give it back and say " you have a nice day ya hear ".

It is what it is..

When buying always ask if it’s a “California car” …. less or no rust! Guessing in New Zealand the cooler weather wouldn’t be kind on cars like this for rust

Thats why I always bring a magnet & mirror to investigate the condition w/o a lift. It's now a parts car.

Your customer is lucky to have bought it cheap because it needs some work. You were talking about pre inspection (can you really in spect a car at an auction) I think these auction should have inspections made by qualified people through the auction house because there would be less flipping of cars then

Thats called a daily driver. Not worth replacing panels etc. Thats a cheap resto job. I would simply drive it and enjoy it as is. My 300 is similar. Has some mud on the lower fenders and quarters. Patch panels in the trunk and a couple on the floor. Frame is rock solid. They definitely did not do quality metal work on that Skylark. Paint looks nice.

Tell him to send this down Mecum and he will probably get $100K for it

Speaking of Buicks, any idea how Dallas is doing?

Dana "60" Glass. I've owned 2 of these, both hardtops. One a '68 Skylark Custom, the other a '69 GS400. Both had major rear quarter panel issues as well as under the front fenders. It is an A body, so frames are available, but a convertible needs a boxed frame. 2 door Chevelle, Cutlass, LeMans will all fit from '68 to '72. Shame about the way the quarter panels and floor boards were done. Hope the owner didn't pay a lot for this.

Too bad about the frame and extensive bondo. Nice interior and always liked that vintage Buick steering wheel. Local car cruising only, until she gives up.

Definitely a fifty footer. Here in Nova Scotia it’s illegal to use pop rivets on a unibody car.

A Big hi from Auckland New Zealand where in kiwi land you from Mate