Bought me a Funny Car...

[musclecarjohn]

...and not only any old funny car either...let me introduce you to Ingenue,a 1967 Buick Skylark GS400 flip-top fuel flopper,one of only two bodies ever constructed...and this is the World's only Buick-powered Buick F/C.

My dad actually constructed this car 42 years ago when I was just 10 yrs old and I've been chasing it down for about 5 years now when I had heard it surfaced.
The car ran a best of 7.79 @ 191mph back in the day and needless to say,my dad who is 78 and lives nearby is very pleased to be reunited with it again...he built a whole host of very competitive AA/GD dragsters back in the 60's but this is his only F/C.
The plan is to get it to run then cackle it at events like the CA Reunion in Bakersfield and hopefully,eventually get to see it run down track again.

When it was new,Englishtown,NJ 1968:




Sub 8-seconds at almost 200mph...in this?








Englishtown 1968:


NY National Speedway,1968:






Car is currently on loan to the Gilmore Museum in MI but will be headed out to me in a few weeks before I leave for vacation,here's how it looks now,these are from Hot Rod magazine a few months back:




Stay tuned guys,I'll update this thread after I receive the car.

[Hocky]

Very cool.

Are you going to run it at all? Or will it just be a show piece?

[getn2focus]

That is very cool to see you're getting that car. Nice piece of history.

[bigdaddyzx3]

That is fantastic!

I have a real soft spot for Buicks of that era.

Never should have let my 65 Riviera go.

Please let us know when you have it!

[thefrohn1]

that's awesome that you were able to track it down!

[STANG302]

Thats a great story and find. It's nice to see things come full circle.

[musclecarjohn]

Originally Posted by STANG302

Thats a great story and find. It's nice to see things come full circle.

Thanks guys...I had to join 3 Buick sites because of the interest the car...and the story...were generating.

I have already been invited by reps of two all-Buick events for an all-expense paid trip to bring the car back and display it in the main ballroom.
Frankly,I've been blown away by the attention this car has garnered,many Buick fans consider this car to be among the most historical Buick racecars ever built.I have decided that the car needs to be shown and that's exactly what I plan to do.

Because it is Buick powered,my dad had to construct a timing cover/mag drive because the 8:71 blower interfered with the stock distributor placement.Obviously,no speed parts like that existed for Buick in the day,so everything had to be handmade...so to get it to run,we'll have to re-construct that system of go with a crank trigger system instead.

This will be a cool father-son project...

[HotRodKristina]

That is awesome!! Congrats on finding it again

[bigdaddyzx3]

That is truly amazing! Is your dad still able to turn a wrench? He's the same age as my father...

[musclecarjohn]

Originally Posted by bigdaddyzx3

That is truly amazing! Is your dad still able to turn a wrench? He's the same age as my father...

LOL...pop's is 78 and banging on metal everyday,he still has his machine shop.We'll get right on this car,I need him to first fab up a nice set of headers like in the early pictures,current owner made up some god-awful ones.

[bigdaddyzx3]

Very cool!

My dad is still just as ornery as ever... can't get him to slow down for nothin'.

[MichaelXi]

Awesomely Cool Story!
I'm a "Ford Guy", but History is History, and Cars are Cars.
NEAT Stuff man.

[Apex clipper]

Originally Posted by musclecarjohn

..

Very few things that I see on the 'net' leave me a smiling wreak


What an epic picture.

[wilko]

Cool as ice man.

[musclecarjohn]

Originally Posted by Apex clipper

Very few things that I see on the 'net' leave me a smiling wreak


What an epic picture.

Yeah,pretty cool huh?
Previous owner staged that one,he has a couple more with the leaves that I'd like copies of.

Here's a picture of the only other 1967 Buick Skylark GS400 fiberglass body ever produced,it was made by the owner/driver of this car,Ron Pellegrini and Fiberglass Limited in Chicago.Those guys and Fiberglass Trends made the majority of funny car bodies in those days and Ron made some real accurate reproductions.



This plug for this car was taken directly off of a brand new Skylark sitting on the showroom floor so the dimensions are exact...you can even read the guide #'s and year off of the tail lenses...in fiberglass!



Here's Ron's 1968 Skylark still run under the Chicagoland Buick Dealers banner,this car was also destroyed in a wreck:

[polarisman14]

John,

That car is awesome. It's sweet that you managed to track it down for your dad, I'm sure he really is stoked about that. I've got something similar in my gf's family:



There is an exact replica of that which the owner drives around on occasion, and in their garage sits this:



...Keep up the good work, and if you take it to the track...TAKE VIDEOS

[musclecarjohn]

Originally Posted by polarisman14

John,

That car is awesome. It's sweet that you managed to track it down for your dad, I'm sure he really is stoked about that. I've got something similar in my gf's family:



There is an exact replica of that which the owner drives around on occasion, and in their garage sits this:



...Keep up the good work, and if you take it to the track...TAKE VIDEOS

Wow,cool...what is that a Duster body?

[polarisman14]

^^Yes sir!

[FORDSVTPARTS]

Amazing find!!

You should have some serious fun with it now with all the speed parts that are available for the big block Buicks these days.

I can't wait to see updated pics

[musclecarjohn]

Talked to the transportation company yesterday,they plan on picking the car up next week and delivering it to me the following week...just in time for me to tuck her into bed before I leave for vacation.

I'll post up pics coming off the transporter...

[SOHCTUNER]

thats awesome!

[SVT2RS]

Such a great story. Be sure to get some pics of you and your father standing beside her. I love these kind of car stories, so I'm not surprised you are garnering such widespread attention and interest in showing the car. Again, congrats on finally finding and bringing her home, persistence pays off once more!

[Xenos]

That's awesome. I've always loved the old dragsters and funny cars. Always wonder, Where are they now? when i see old classic footage.

Similar story, a friend's family, 5 brothers, all the brothers sons, everybody, are Mopar freaks. My friend Jesse bought a '70 Challenger 340 4 speed. We picked it up and drove it to the shop at his uncles, where they store and work on all the cars. His dad was excited about it and was there for the arrival. They started looking it over and Bernie got into it and when he grabbed the pistol grip shifter it was like he'd been struck by lightning. He screamed for his brother and told him to check it out, we were lke WTF? ken was in shock too. We finally asked. They both looked at us and said in unison "This is Grandpa's car. Feel the shifter." We both checked it out, Jesse hadn't noticed it. Grandpa was missing half his ring finger on his right hand and it had a stump kinda. Every Mopar he had with a pistol grip got shaved down and whittled to fit his finger because he had to have all five fingers grabbing that shifter "Just Right."

Grandpa gave Jesse a good pat on the back and a cheque for what he paid for the car saying he couldn't let his grandson buy his old car, had to give it to him. Then financed the restoration of it. He'd traded the car for a '68 GTX that is now the full on Dragster for the family in '72.

[musclecarjohn]

Originally Posted by Xenos

That's awesome. I've always loved the old dragsters and funny cars. Always wonder, Where are they now? when i see old classic footage.

Similar story, a friend's family, 5 brothers, all the brothers sons, everybody, are Mopar freaks. My friend Jesse bought a '70 Challenger 340 4 speed. We picked it up and drove it to the shop at his uncles, where they store and work on all the cars. His dad was excited about it and was there for the arrival. They started looking it over and Bernie got into it and when he grabbed the pistol grip shifter it was like he'd been struck by lightning. He screamed for his brother and told him to check it out, we were lke WTF? ken was in shock too. We finally asked. They both looked at us and said in unison "This is Grandpa's car. Feel the shifter." We both checked it out, Jesse hadn't noticed it. Grandpa was missing half his ring finger on his right hand and it had a stump kinda. Every Mopar he had with a pistol grip got shaved down and whittled to fit his finger because he had to have all five fingers grabbing that shifter "Just Right."

Grandpa gave Jesse a good pat on the back and a cheque for what he paid for the car saying he couldn't let his grandson buy his old car, had to give it to him. Then financed the restoration of it. He'd traded the car for a '68 GTX that is now the full on Dragster for the family in '72.

Great story.

Yeah,first up will be plenty of pics with dad & I standing by the car,body up and down.

[boostedzx3]

What a machine damn