Our Boy Scout troop 2020 has been donated 2 Buick Skylarks, a 63 convertible and 62 hard top.
the 63 is striped down and painted, with a couple of boxes of parts and a rebuilt engine. the 62 is complete minus the gas tank,original engine fired up with a little help, tranny leaks faster that i can pore fluid in and does not work.
Both have sat for 15 years fortunately the convertible in a garage. How do we make our troop the most money with these 2 cars.
How old are the Scouts?
If they are old enough, and interested in restoring cars, you have lots of free labor at your disposal, and it would be very educational for them. That’s the plus.
Restoring cars is time- and money-intensive. Most people lose money on a restoration, and many lose interest before finishing the project. That’s the minus.
Check out http://www.Hemmings.com and buy a copy of “Hemmings Motor News” at your local book store to get an idea what a complete, running '63 Skylark might be worth vs what they are worth as is.
Getting one or both running is going to be a BIG project, requiring lots of tools and specialized equipment. Plus you need garage space. Lots of garage space. Unless you have those things, or access to them, I’d seriously consider selling the cars as is.
The Skylark convertible might have some value and be collectible. The hardtop isn’t going to be worth too much.
If you don’t want to get into restoring them, list them for sale on ebay. Make sure you can document clear titles and they should sell. Who knows at what price?
Thanks for the input.
we do have a small garage available, we were thinking of finishing the drive train on the convertible to make it drivable with the parts from the 62. We have several leaders that are into cars, and 2 of our scouts are 17 and interested.
Sounds like a good plan, as long as the adults will stick with it and the space is available for a long time, these projects always take longer (AND COST LOTS MORE $$$) than you’d expect. And where will the other one go? Will it be ok to have a ‘junker’ in some yard or driveway for months? And don’t count out the under 17-year olds, they can also help. Once finished you could ebay both, have a raffle ticket sale (lots of work) for the convert, etc.
You’re probably not going to make money doing that, but there are more important things than money. Have fun, and make sure the Dads don’t do all the work 
Also, you say ‘small garage’ - will there be enough room to pull the transmission? Does at least one of your dads have experience doing that kind of work?
Great ideas! we would sent the trany out for rebuild, try to get a BSA price.
You know us dads had the best time getting the 62 engine fired up, we had no spark so we showed the boys how the points work and how to clean. then hooked up a boat tank since the gas tank is gone. What a great time showing our boys things i took for granted growing up, Boy Scouts is a great program!
what kind of price would the Raffle ticked be? do you think anyone would want a 63 Buick skylark Convertible from a raffle?
I don’t know, it’s be doubtful you’d get enought money. Those work with old Corvettes, but not likely with an old Skylark. Ebay would be better.
I see a number of Merit Badges (automotive and computer) for the restoration and sales of the car. Harder to see an Eagle project unless the proceeds are donated to a different charity. Good luck!
i like your thought process, you must be a scout! how computer? we have the auto merit badge started.
Yep, Eagle dad/Cubmaster/Scout asst. I was thinking that some of the computer merit badge requirements might (flexibly) be met through research, parts sourcing, and (finally) Ebay sales of the restored car.
Allow me to reply as a former scoutmaster, and many years before that, an Eagle scout.
This reminds me of the old joke, Q "How do you make a small fortune at auto racing? A “start with a large fortune”.
A merit badge is one thing. Restoring 2 old cars is quite a lot more involved and will likely take years. Use the established and approved methods of financing a troop (popcorn sales, etc). Your troop can’t afford to tie up resources (scouts, dads, money) for a for long period of time.
One of the good things about scouting is that it involves many different topics. This project would go against that. Think about this real hard.
You’re right, this will have to be a ‘fix only what’s needed to get the convertible back on the road and sold’ project, not a restoration. Non-runnig cars have MUCH less value on EBAY. OP’s adults will have to make a complete list of what’s needed to do that, and decide if it can be done in only a few months. If it’s a short time project, it would be fun for the troop. Long term project, on the other hand, wouldn’t be a good fit.
great ideas i appreciate the help, i think we make the 63 convertible as a driving “project”, and the 62 as parts, with only 1-2 months of time investment.
Now i got to find someone with e-bay experience, or learn it my self.
You’d be surprised what a 17 year old could teach you about Ebay! You could let that be part of the project.
will do thanks!!!