Marque: Buick - Company History & Models - Cars By Brand

Buick

The Buick marque is one of the oldest motor manufacturing companies in the USA and indeed the world. Its founder David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929) was born in Arbroath, Scotland, but at the age of two he emigrated to the USA with his parents and they went to live in Detroit. When he was 15 David went to work for the Alexander Manufacturing Company of Detroit, which produced plumbing products and later…

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Buick Regal

PRICE: £8000-£10,000 (much for a GNX model)

The first generation Regals were launched in 1973, but it’s the second generation 1978 – 1982 of these sporting two-door compact coupes that were the most reverred. 1978 was the first year that the Regal was available with a 3.8 litre V6 turbocharged engine. In 1982 the Grand National package was created to celebrate the Buick’s success on the NASCAR circuit in the Grand National Winston Cup Series and it took the title in 1981 and 1982. The Grand National was available with special charcoal grey and silver grey paintwork, stripes and other body accents. The 4.1-litre V6 engine was rated at 125bhp, hardly mind blowing, but greater things were to come! The Grand National available between 1985-1987 was Flint’s final factory Hot Rod. The limited edition GNX of 1987, a joint Buick-McLaren development featured a fuel-injected turbocharged V6 engine that pushed out 276bhp, and only 547 were built. Nowadays the greatest problem is finding an example that hasn’t been thrashed to within an inch of its life!

Buick Riviera

PRICE: £6000-£15,000

The Riviera name first saw the light of day way back in 1949 as the Buick Roadmaster Riviera, but the model that was to prove quintessential fame for Buick was the 1963 – 1965 Riviera. It was originally intended to become a model for the Cadillac range as a La Salle, but instead it went to Buick to help improve a drop in sales, it worked and 40,000 cars were sold in the first year. The Riviera was a milestone car of the 1960s era, with styling by GM legend Bill Mitchell. Interestingly it didn’t share its bodyshell with any other model from GM. This handsome two-door coupe sat on a cruciform frame and was powered by Buick’s 425ci Wildcat engine rated at 360bhp in full tune, which equated to a 0 – 60mph time of a mere 7.7 seconds. The underpinnings comprised of double wishbones at the front, a live axle to the rear, located by trailing arms, with coil springs all round and drum brakes. With razor edge styling this luxury coupe featured a W-section frontal aspect, an egg-crate grille inspired by the Ferrari 250GT, no less.

Buick Skylark

PRICE: £5000-£10,000

The Skylark was launched in 1953 as a two-door convertible to mark the 50th Anniversary of Buick and at around $5000 wasn’t cheap! The third generation Skylark 1964 – 1972 included a striking twodoor fastback Gran Sport Coupe for 1968. The model featured the distinctive side sculptured ‘Sweepspear’ design, a reminder of the styling infl uences from the 1950s. Skylarks sold in record numbers in 1968, effectively as Specials were trimmed to just three Deluxe models. The following year Buick built 665,000 cars. The Skylark engine options ranged from a 250ci straight-six rated at 155bhp though to a 455cii V8 at 225bhp. The Skylark was Buick’s musclecar model of the era, a response to Pontiac’s best selling GTO. It was available as a two-door hardtop coupe, a four-door saloon and the Custom also came as a convertible. Well built, solid, fast with fi ne looks, the Skylark represented the last of Flint’s muscular middleweights, dropped in 1972.

Buick Wildcat

PRICE: £6000-£12,000

The Wildcat name first emerged as a sub model of the Invicta range, but became a model in its own right from 1963 and continued in production right up to 1970. This luxurious sporting coupe was also pretty powerful too, and was initially optioned with a 401cii Nailhead V8 rated at 325bhp and 455lb ft of torque, the latter figure which later gave the engine the name of Wildcat 455. In 1965 there was a bewildering 10 model line-up, comprising of five saloons and five coupes that included a convertible. The Wildcat was also regarded by many as Buick’s first real performance car, even though it was a fairly large model at almost 18ft long and reasonably heavy too, it’s the powerful engines that were ostensibly responsible for this, rather than ultimate speed and handling. However, the car acquitted itself rather well, being a comfortable long distance tourer, well appointed and powerful model. The 1965-1966 Wildcat Gran Sport package saw engines of 425ci rated at 340bhp and 360bhp, while the zenith of huge capacity engines peaked in 1970 with the 455ci rated at 370bhp and a treepulling torque of 510lbft. The only drawback was a healthy thirst for premium petrol which it gulped down at the rate of 12mpg!

Buick Century

PRICE: £5000-£11,000

1954 saw the return of the Century model that was initially produced between 1936-1942 and got its name from its near 100mph top speed. The Century saw a revival for Flint’s hot rod model which was powered by the 322ci ‘Fireball’ V8 rated at 195bhp with either manual or Dynaflow automatic transmission. It became one of the ‘hottest’ production cars in the USA of the era with a rapid performance with an impressive 0-60mph time of under 11 seconds. 1955 was a good year for Century sales which stood at 159,000. Also in 1955 the California Highway Patrol placed a sizeable order for the Century as a two-door saloon, something that was not generally available to the public. A more powerful engine arrived in 1957 with the 354ci 300bhp ‘Fireball’ V8. Styling included lots of chrome with front Dagmar type bumpers, ‘Sweepspear’ body lines, and lots of front wing portholes, three in ’54 and four in ’55, ‘56’ and ’57, but they were gone for ’58 when an all new bodystyle was introduced. This included even more chrome embellishment with a giant full width grille that held 160 individual chrome squares!

Buick Electra

PRICE: £15,000-£35,000

Arriving in 1959 was the all new Electra with some of the wildest and most flamboyant styling ever conceived in Flint! The front wings were slanted, ditto for the quad headlamps and it was a similar story at the rear, with huge a huge rear deck and startling canted fins. The Electra was longer, wider and lower than anything that had gone before and the top of the range Electra 225, named after its 225-inches in length, was also referred to as the Deuce & a Quarter! There was also lots new from an engineering view point, the old cross braced Buick chassis gave way to the K-Braced with boxed in side rails, there were 12-inch finned brake drums and power steering and brakes came as standard on the Electra 225. Front suspension was upper and lower A-arms with coils springs and to the rear was a live axle and coil springs. However, the standard and only engine option for ’59 was the 401ci which packed a healthy 325bhp. Transmissions were either the twin-turbine or triple-turbine Dynaflow automatic. The Electra was perhaps at its most outrageous in convertible form, and only 5493 were built in ’59 and cost $4192.

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