Gary is a full blooded car guy and is interested in the H body. He said if there was enough H design info it would make for an interesting post on his site. I emailed Pininfarina in April and May but haven’t received a response. I was hoping they might add some info. I did send him a link to a post here where you guys go over the design of the Monza viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25982&hilit=design+monza+design
Gary worked on all the Buick Pace cars and the Grand National. He doesn’t remember too much about the Skyhawk’s but here is what he does.
I do remember this story. Buick division wanted to have a brushed metal applique on the back between the taillights. I created a mock up using railroad board, brushed film, and chrome/white/black tape. We showed it to Buick in the styling garage. Anyway, they liked it, but didn't have the budget to make it a real part. So they reproduced my mock-up as a decal. No wonder GM lost its reputation.
If this is the applique, then they omitted the brushed part.
Buick omitted the brushed part after 75. The 75 applique is what Gary is talking about.
This is looking more familiar to me. I remember laying out the front wheel arch stripes. I probably did the whole thing patterned off of the pace car. These must be '77 models. I did the tailights on the '77 Electra. Ha. I do remember that Jerry Hirschberg gave me the task of doing something to the front to make it look like a Buick. I did the ice cube tray grill and divided the headlights. In production nothing was true or square.
I remember that the studio engineer, Ron Nowicki, bought a black Skywawk and blacked it out further. It looked pretty good and it was eventually shown to Buick management. Perhaps that was the beginning of the Nighthawk.
I found a couple of photos of the Nighthawk. That was based on Ron Nowicki's personal car. The stripe was reflective. I either did it or Don Johnson did it. I'm sure Ron's car didn't have that huge b-pillar molding. Looks completely out of place.
This photo was taken in Chevy 3 production studio (Corvette, Camaro). Of the group looking at the clay model, the third man in the open jacket is Hank Hega, who was the studio chief at the time (mid '70s). I recognize a few other faces. They were obviously struggling with the design of the bumpers. Production studios were upstairs, had high ceilings, and linoleum tiled floors.
This is probably Chevy 3 studio. That is a fastback Chevy A-body in the background, and photos of a Corvette prototype on the wall.
Maybe down the road some other information might come up. Thanks Gary!
Brian
8-12-10 I googled Ron Wonicki and found a reference to his Son at Specter Werkes/Sports. After emailing Specter I got a response from Matt Shipes. Matt has been nice enough to relay my questions and send pictures of Ron's Skyhawk. 1976 Black Skyhawk, Ron blacked out window frames, silver plastic wheel disk were painted gold, and gold skyhawk decals on the fenders.
Matt thanks for answering all my emails and Ron thank you for finding your pictures and sharing them! Brian
The trim around the tail lights has been blacked out also. I like the look but the production Nighthawk did not use it.
