One of the wonders of a car show, and indeed CC, is finding the familiar car in the unfamiliar setting – a 1948 Morris Minor up against a 1975 Maserati; or as I saw yesterday, a 1990 Cadillac Brougham against a 1955 Morris Oxford and a cricket match. What can be even better is finding the unfamiliar car in the familiar setting – in this case a 1960 Buick Invicta against a Morris Minor Traveller at a predominantly steam traction oriented rally.
Let’s get the confession out of the way – despite too many years (with the Internet Explorer history files and bookcases to prove it) of intensive scholarship and academic rigour, I had not heard of the Invicta. Le Sabre, Electra, Riviera, Skylark were all familiar names, but not Invicta, so some study was required.
From what I can discern, the Invicta was a combination of the body of the LeSabre with the 325 hp 401 cu (6.6 litre) V8 (of course) engine from the larger Electra. So, this is a car with a length of 217 in. – rather than 225 in. like the top of the range Electra 225 – a wheelbase of over 10 ft and weight of 2 tons. All good reason to upgrade from a mere 6 litre V8, and perhaps why the car was known as the Banker’s Hot Rod. Hot Rods are for straight roads, not bends, as well, which may well be appropriate.
This particular car is a 1960 Invicta hardtop, quite possibly the best looking of a striking range of options, privately imported to the UK recently from Lake Tahoe. It has been fitted with some air suspension mods and non-standard wheels, and is in pretty much concours condition, if modified visually by the non-stock wheels and ride height.
This car does something else as well, in Curbsidelandia. Paul Niedermayer recently showed us the Mercedes-Benz 300d Hardtop – a car with a very different heritage to the Buick but from the same year, and what I described in the comments as “the best looking car on CC this year”. Whether the Buick is better looking than the Mercedes is a personal preference; I’m hard pressed to make a choice but I could be swayed by the subtle references to the confidence and excitement of the jet age in the Buick.
For example, look at how the headlights pick up clues for the B52 engine pods, the rear lights and their surroundings look like afterburners (like this car needs afterburners), the drama of the interior with the mirro-magic instruments, aircraft style switches and the sort of style that only an 18 ft long car can manage.
If you want to find out more about these cars (and I know you do), Joseph Dennis had a post some time ago on a convertible model.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
While I’m not a big fifties car guy, there are certain models that truly appeal to me. the 59 and 60 Buicks are among my favorites, with the ’59 being my preferred model- love those canted headlights.
Agree about the 59s “being preferred”. This 60 Is a beautiful car in its own right.
Super nice car, but too bad about those stupid custom wheels!
Agreed. The wheels ruin it.
With a 440 wildcat engine you’re damn right you want one.. you adjust the mirror on the instrument cluster so you can see it. Stomp the gas and off like a prom dress.
That is one hell of a long antenna there. Those wheels just aren’t right for that car in my opinion. Anyway not a common car to see around. I do know someone who has the LeSabre model to go along with some other very nice cars between 1959-1966. Garage in Livermore on the 1913 Lincoln Highway. It was built in 1915. Original segment is now Portola Ave. as it was re-routed away in 1927 when the Carquinez Bridge opened.
While I admire the ’60 Invicta, my favorite of all is the ’59. Those canted headlamps and hood eyebrows scream anger, the response from GM styling to show their anger about no longer being the darlings of car design in the late ’50s as a result of Chrysler. IMO, the ’60 angle change in the headlights is all about compromise, the aligned headlamps just don’t fit the canted eyebrows of the ’59. It says, “Oh, we feel a bit better now.” The ’59 is so much better.
Your humanization of the styling differences between the ’59 and ’60 Buicks is good. I share this way of judging design especially among cars of the 50’s and 60’s. Born in ’53, the radical styling changes occurring on a yearly basis during my childhood was extremely exiting to me.
The canted headlights and chrome trim above the headlights definitely gave the ’59s an angrier look than the ’60 Buicks. Absent the chrome, I found the ’60 to be not so much angry, but more of a silent dismissal of the pretenders to its lofty place.
My father owned a 1962 Invicta Estate wagon- dessert sand- like your featured car- with a white top. It had brown plaid upholstery with plaid door inserts. Classy. Very stark difference between this and his ’58 Special Estate wagon. The ’58 was pure Harly Earl. Very 50s with a tiller sized steering wheel. The ’62 was “modern” and light years away from the ponderous ’58. The ’61/’62s were the first GM cars to be completely designed by Bill Mitchell.
For 1959 Buick jettisoned its old model names of Special, Century, Super and Roadmaster for LeSabre, Invicta, Electra and Electra 225. The Invicta essentially replaced the Century, a car on the LeSabre platform but with the Electra engine and a few more niceties. The Invicta name didn’t last long, being replaced by the Wildcat in 1964.
The Invicta replaced the earlier Century model. I guess after more cars could reach and exceed 100 mph. it had lost it’s cachet. The Invicta was replaced in the early 60’s by the Wild Cat, which was replaced in the early ’70’s by the Centurion.These all followed the Banker’s Hot Rod template. Unfortunately the Century name was revived in the late 70’s and applied to the intermediate Buick. Of these different names I prefer the Century and Wildcat. I guess that the Centurion name came about because someone at GM had a thing after the movie Spartacus.
Nah, Buick dumped all of its existing model names for 1959 because both their sales and their reputation for quality had taken a big hit in 1957–1958. All of the previous names other than Super eventually returned, but they were placed on the shelf for a while.
While not really a separate model, the Super name was resurrected as the performance edition of the Lucerne in 2008. Quite rare, in fact I don’t think I ever saw one.
Buick toned down the 59 to create this car, I see a guy building one 59 out of several on the tube, cool cars.
For those not from the West Coast of the USA, the novelty license plate is a reference to the 405 freeway (Interstate 405), a major north-south route that usually has horrendous traffic near any populated area.
405 in Calif is rather a loop off Interstate 5 in the LA area of moderate length. Additionally the same number is used as a loop in both Portland and Seattle to the north. Both loops of I 5 as per the interstate numbering system which of course is a combination of logic and can we get the feds to pay for this project.
Now I-405 is an iconic road, also known as the San Diego Freeway which I traveled daily for a time back in the 70s. It’s also now an old road, I, dimly, remember it from the mid 60s but I think parts of it date from the early 60s, long before I as behind the wheel of anything more than a riding lawn mower.
Driving up from San Diego to the East Bay side of the Bay Area was always done by taking the 405 off of 5 at Irvine up to 5 again at Sylmar. Then the climb up The Grapevine. Did that several times a year from 1972-1982. Key then was leave San Diego at 5:00-6:00 PM to miss the heavier traffic. Coming down leave the Bay Area at 6:00 AM to miss the heavier traffic. Hate to see it today. Mostly all completed by 1964.Why I never took 5 all the way who knows. I guess habit even though 9 miles shorter.
I remember the name Invicta, though I can’t say I really remember what they looked like. Except I want to think garish or something, which the pics above seem to confirm, to my eyes at least. I really don’t like the kind of “side fins” and even with that I think I’d like them better if it was one contiguous line from front to back rather than the front fading to the taillights and another picking up. Way too busy. I know that was kind of the way it was back then, but my eyes still don’t like it. I do see some resemblance to 60-61 Fords, But those were somewhat cleaner and less obtrusive. I suspect Buick stylists at the time would have considered the previous sentence, particularly “less obtrusive” as a complement, but it’s not.
The original French Connection car.
My uncle had this car. Same model year body and colour. He bought it second hand in 1963 and traded in on a new 1965 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 four door hardtop. I remember the year as he showed up with it at the annual family reunion and was showing it off when my father showed up with a brand new 1963 Ford Fairlane 500 Ranch Wagon.