A rare one rarely seen.......Matrix 1959 Buick Skylark lll XP-75 Pininfarina

Matrix did an extraordinary job on this model. 

The fastback roof line and fins won me over with this model.

The spoked knock-off wheels are exceptional.

Scroll down below to read the history on this fantastic experimental car.

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. Another version was painted silver and employed sharp, diagonal tail fins that mirrored those found on the production ’59 Buick.

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.