The finest cars of Buick

By a small margin, Buick is the oldest North American company still building cars today, was the first to be incorporated into General Motors, and marked its 120th birthday in 2023.

To have survived so long, Buick has clearly been doing something right for the last 120 odd years, which is as good a reason as any for us to delve into its history:

David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929) was born in Arbroath on the east coast of Scotland, but was taken by his family to the US at the age of two. Like Henry Ford (1863-1948), he created three companies, the last of which was by far the most successful.

The Buick Motor Company was incorporated on 19 May 1903, two months before Ford. Its predecessors had built cars, but this was the one that took the business seriously.

The first Buick to go to market, in 1904, was the Model B, which was renamed several times as it was developed over the years. None are believed to survive, but there are still over a dozen examples of the Model C derivative.

These cars had exceptional performance for their day, largely because their valves were mounted above the cylinders rather than alongside. This was due to the work of chief engineer Walter Marr (1865-1941), an early adopted of overhead-valve technology.

PICTURE: 1905 Buick Model C

The Buick Motor Company got into deep financial trouble very quickly, and might not have lasted for much more than a year. It was saved by William Durant (1861-1947, pictured), who had made a fortune selling horse-drawn carriages. Not initially keen on cars, Durant was impressed by the Buick, and bought the company.

In 1908, he created a holding company called General Motors, Durant realizing before others that autos were going to be a huge new consumer product and economies of scale were key to producing them efficiently. Buick, by now very successful after its shaky start, was its first acquisition. Founder David Buick left the business in 1906 with a $100,000 pay off (around $3 million in today's money), but subsequent business ventures didn’t work out and he died, apparently broke, in March 1929.

Buick Four is the collective name for a series of cars built after the GM takeover, whose engines had four cylinders, rather than the two in the Model B and its successors. Each cylinder was only slightly smaller than those of the older engine, and since there were twice as many of them the capacity almost doubled.

Oddly, Buick reverted to the less efficient sidevalve (or flathead) arrangement for this engine, but even in its earliest form it was far more powerful at 30bhp.

PICTURE: 1909 Buick Model 10 Runabout

The Six was the last Buick launched before the US entered the First World War, and marked the debut of the company's first six-cylinder engine. Its cylinders were arranged in-line, and Buick reverted to the overhead valve head it had started out with.

The Six was in production from 1914 until 1925, but the engine was still being used as late as 1930. Available in capacities ranging from 3.1 to 5.4 litres, it was also fitted to the upmarket Master Six and the junior-level Standard Six.

In the 1920s, GM tried to increase its market penetration by creating companion makes for four of its five brands (the exception being Chevrolet). Buick's companion was Marquette, a new division whose name had last been used in 1912. Powered by an uncharacteristic sidevalve/flathead engine, the Marquette was a single model available in six body styles, and was cheaper than contemporary Buicks.

Marquette survived only for the 1930 model year before being discontinued. Two other companion makes lasted hardly any longer, though Pontiac (created as a junior brand to Oakland) uniquely outlived its senior partner and remained active until 2010.

Originally a carriage maker, Ontario-based McLaughlin moved into the car industry in the early years of the 20th century. In 1918, it was merged with Chevrolet's Canadian arm to become General Motors Canada.

Its cars later became known as McLaughlin-Buicks. This name survived until the US entered the Second World War. In the post-War period, the McLaughlin name was dropped, and the cars were sold simply as Buicks.

Straight-eight engines became almost the default choice for premium North American cars in the 1920s, despite the structural and packaging advantages of the more compact V8. Buick was late to the party, but it added its own overhead-valve straight-eight to its entire range in the 1931 model year.

The engine was available across a wide variety of displacements from 3.6 litres to 5.2 litres, and was still being fitted to some Buicks as late as 1953.

PICTURE: 1934 Buick Series 60 with straight-eight engine

Buick has used periodically Century as a name since the 1936 model year. Its first appearance was on a fashionably streamlined update of the car previously known as the Model 60.

This was by no means the biggest Buick of its time, but it was fitted with the largest (5.2 litres) and most powerful (120bhp) version of the straight-eight engine. The Century name was chosen because the car could reach 100mph, or at least had a speedometer which suggested that it might.

Buick began to use the name Limited (suggesting exclusivity rather than parsimony) in the 1936 model year. The original Limited was an update of the Series 90. It was so large and luxurious that Buick almost seemed to be encroaching on the territory of GM's poshest brand, Cadillac.

Including a major mid-life update, production continued for more than half a decade until Buick was obliged by world events to shift its focus in 1942.

Buick is credited with being the first manufacturer to build a concept car - one designed to be seen in public and show off its maker's ability, but with no suggestion that a production model would follow.

GM's chief designer Harley Earl (1893-1969) wanted the 1938 Y-Job to be as low and sleek as possible. To achieve this, he specified 13-inch diameter wheels at a time when 16s were the norm. Earl used the car as his daily driver for several years. According to GM, it then "languished in dusty anonymity" for a while before being fully restored.

Buick has used the British term ‘wagon’ to describe cars which would normally be called station wagons in North America. It first did this in 1940, applying the name to an extra-roomy derivative of the Buick Super. This policy continued until the final Roadmaster Wagon was built in 1996.

PICTURE: 1940 Buick Super Wagon

General Motors put enormous energy into building armaments for the Second World War. Buick's major contribution was the design and construction of the very fast M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, which was capable of travelling at 55mph despite weighing around 18 tons.

Just over 2500 were built in 1943 and 1944. It performed service in all theaters, but mainly Europe, and was admired for its 50mph top speed, which gave it the ability to outmaneuver slower German tanks; Germany’s Panther could only muster 34mph.

By 1950, two styling features which would become familiar on Buicks for several years were already well established. One was a distinctive chrome grille featuring a large number of vertical elements placed side by side.

Buicks were also notable for their VentiPorts - three or four (depending on model) air outlets on the front fenders behind and above the wheels. In the UK, Sunbeam would later use similar (though less obvious) outlets on its MkIII sedan.

PICTURE: 1949 Buick Roadmaster Riviera convertible showing both features

Buick's stylists also developed the Sweepspear, which first appeared on the 1949 Roadmaster Riviera. This elaborate chrome strip ran almost the whole length of the car, starting high before curving down to sill level, then swooping up over the rear wheels.

PICTURE: 1954 Buick Skylark Convertible with Sweepspear

Buick's first V8 engine was nicknamed Nailhead because its narrow valves, arranged vertically in the cylinder head, resembled a row of nails. Initially available in 4.3-litre and 5.3-litre forms, it was fitted to a wide variety of Buicks from 1953, and occasionally to the Chevrolet Task Force truck. In its second generation, the Nailhead reached a capacity of 7.0 litres.

PICTURE: 1955 Buick Roadmaster with 5.3-litre Nailhead V8

In 1959, Buick introduced the first of several models called Electra. It was named after Electra Waggoner Biggs (1912-2001), the sister-in-law of recently retired GM and former Buick president Harlow Curtice (1893-1962), who was TIME magazine's Person of the Year in 1955. The town of Electra, Texas is named after her mother.

Typically for American cars of the time, the Electra featured very large rear fins, known as Delta fins. When the second-generation car was launched in 1961 fashion had quickly changed, and there was almost no sign of them.

PICTURE: 1959 Buick Electra Convertible

The Nailhead engine was replaced in 1961 by a new 3.5-litre aluminum V8, named 215. Highly respected for its combination of high power and low weight, it was used both by Buick and by several other GM brands for a few years before being abandoned due to its high manufacturing cost, with iron-blocked engines used instead.

Britain’s Rover however urgently needed a powerful new engine and bought the rights to the engine, modified it and began using it in its high-end cars, including (from 1970) the original Range Rover. Short-lived as an American engine, it survived for many years as a British one in Rovers, MGs, Triumphs, Morgans, TVRs and a very large number of home-built competition cars.

PICTURE: Range Rover with Buick-derived V8 engine

Buick had used the Riviera name for special versions of other cars for several years before assigning it to a standalone model in 1962. Like the Ford Thunderbird, this was a personal luxury car - a relatively sporty model but one with an emphasis on comfort rather than performance, despite being fitted with the mighty second-generation Nailhead V8 engine.

The Riviera’s lustrous design is partly because it was originally destined to be a Cadillac, one notch higher in the GM firmament, but Cadillac didn’t want it. Buick created other production Rivieras up to the end of the 20th century, and a couple of concepts with that name in the 21st.

PICTURE: 1963 Buick Riviera

The 1962 Buick Special was the first car fitted with Buick's new V6 engine, a layout almost completely unknown in North American markets at that time. Initially known as the Fireball, it was sold to Kaiser-Jeep, but GM bought the rights back after the oil crisis of the early 1970s.

Development continued for years afterwards. Latterly known as the 3800, the engine remained in production until 2008; its last application was in the 2009 Buick LaCrosse sedan.

PICTURE: 1963 Buick Special Convertible

High-performance Buicks have been named either Gran Sport or GS since 1965, when a Skylark with a 7.0-litre Nailhead V8 engine was introduced. The series included the 1970 GSX, which easily qualifies as a muscle car.

It was a special version of the second-generation Skylark with a 7.5-litre V8, front and rear spoilers and stiffer than normal suspension. Buick built 678 examples in 1970, 500 of them painted Saturn Yellow and 178 Apollo White.

Buick did not get round to producing a front-wheel drive car until 1979, half a century after the Cord L-29 had gone on sale with that layout. It wasn't even a new development for General Motors. The sixth-generation Riviera was related to the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado, both of which had been FWD since the mid 1960s.

Earlier Rivieras had been based on the same platform as those cars too, but Buick had made a point of converting it to rear-wheel drive for its own purposes.

Buicks were driven in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) for many years, but never with more success than in 1981 and 1982. 1981 was the first year of NASCAR's Generation 3 regulations. Buick's contender was the Regal, in which Darrell Waltrip won the first of his three Drivers' titles, while Buick won the Manufacturers' crown.

Both achievements were repeated the following year. Bobby Allison used a Buick for most of 1983 and became the Driver's champion, though the top manufacturer overall that year was Chevrolet.

Buick celebrated its NASCAR triumph of 1981 by creating a Grand National version of the Regal, which went on sale the following year. The road car was fitted with the by now very well established 3.8-litre V6 engine, rather than the 5.8-litre V8 used in the racer.

For the 1987 model year Buick created the ultimate variant named GNX: good for over 300 hp, just 547 were made and flew off the lots. One of them with just 568 miles on the clock sold in January 2022 for a cool $308,000, and you won’t get near a rather more used example for less than $50,000 today.

Buick first won a race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909, two years before the first 500-mile race. In the 1980s, Buick developed a competition version of its road-going V6 for Indy racing. The rules of the time allowed 'stock block' engines to be larger than ones designed from the start for competition, and to have higher levels of turbo boost.

The Buick V6 never won the 500, but it was a popular choice for many teams. Buick pulled out of the project in 1992, citing decreasing relevance to engines used in production cars.

After being used for a trim level on the Electra, Park Avenue became a model name for Buick's full-size luxury sedan. It was built in two generations from 1990 to 2005, and was powered by the 3.8-litre V6 in either supercharged or naturally aspirated form.

A third Park Avenue was launched in China in 2007, and remained on the market for five years. This was essentially a slightly altered Holden Caprice, assembled in Shanghai from parts shipped in from Australia.

Buick has been popular in China for many years. According to GM, statesman and philosopher Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), Emperor Pu Yi (1906-1967) and Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) all either owned or were driven in the company's cars and that status has served the US brand very well in the country, helping GM become by far the most successful of the Big 3 in China.

Buick manufacturing within China itself began in 1999. The first models were a local version of the Regal and the original GL8 MPV. 

Based on the Opel Corsa, the Sail was the first low-cost Buick built and sold in China. The problem with this was that the car did not fit with China’s upmarket perception of the brand. In 2005, GM switched to selling it as a Chevrolet.

Chevrolet was perceived as having a younger image than Buick.

Very few manufacturers nowadays can get away without having at least one crossover SUV in its line-up. Buick entered this market sector in 2001 with the Rendezvous, a corporate cousin of the Pontiac Aztek.

The Rendezvous had an unusual appearance, but it looked far less regrettable than its Pontiac equivalent, which is widely regarded as one of the ugliest cars ever sold. Probably for this reason, the Rendezvous outsold the Aztek in a big way every year until they were both discontinued in 2007.

Of the nameplates currently used by Buick in North America, the oldest is Enclave. The three-row SUV went into production in 2007, and went into its second generation ten years later. It was given a mid-life update in 2021.

A two-row Enclave based on a shorter version of the same platform went on sale in China in 2020.

To an even greater extent than the Sail mentioned earlier, the Cascada was a renamed Opel rather than a 'proper' Buick. The four-seat convertible was developed by GM Europe and sold on that continent as an Opel or, in the UK, a Vauxhall. It was marketed as a Holden in Australia and a Buick in North America.

Several engines were available in most markets, but only the most powerful - a 1.6-litre petrol turbo producing just short of 200 hp - was offered in the Buick.

Buick used the Velite name for a roadster concept in 2004, and then for the Chinese version of the second-generation Chevrolet Volt hybrid, known as the Velite 5. The current Velite 6 is a compact hatchback which made its debut as an EV but is now also available as a plug-in hybrid.

The Velite 7 crossover, offered only as an EV, is built on the same platform as the Velite 6 and all-electric Chevrolet models sold in North America and elsewhere.

PICTURE: Buick Velite 7