1953 Buick Skylark: A Flashy Full-Size Semi-Custom Luxury Convertible

If the words “Buick Skylark” make you think of Buick’s long-running A-body intermediate, it may come as a surprise to learn that Buick’s first Skylark was a full-size car, a posh semi-custom convertible introduced in 1953 to celebrate Buick’s 50th anniversary.

The original Buick Skylark was conceived by Ned F. Nickles, who was chief of the Buick design studio from the end of World War 2 until the late 1950s. Nickles was responsible for a lot of styling hallmarks of postwar Buicks, including the famous VentiPorts, the bombsight hood ornament, and the two-door hardtop coupe. (Later, after moving to the corporate Advanced studio in 1958, Nickles also designed what eventually became the 1963 Buick Riviera.)

Nickles was in the habit of customizing his personal cars — Buick’s VentiPorts had originated with a rather gimmicky modification he’d made to his own 1948 Roadmaster — and the Skylark began the same way. In spring 1951, he sketched some modifications he had in mind for his latest 1951 Roadmaster convertible, which caught the attention of Buick general manager Ivan L. Wiles. Wiles decided to order a prototype of the customized convertible on a 1952 Roadmaster chassis. This was shown publicly the following summer, with hints that Buick might put it into limited production for the division’s forthcoming golden anniversary. (Buick turned 50 in 1953.)

The prototype got a lot of attention, although Buick antagonized some auto enthusiasts by describing the Skylark as a “six-passenger sports car.” At this time, Detroit was slowly awakening to the public interest in European sports cars, and the car magazines were hopeful that this might lead to some real domestic sports cars. The Skylark was not that, and it prompted angry letters to the editors of publications as diverse as Road & Track and the industry trade journal Steel.

Really, the Skylark was more a reflection of the growing auto customizer movement. While traditional coachbuilding was on the decline, there were quite a few people who still wanted to personalize their cars, just as Nickles did, and a new array of custom body shops that could do the work at prices young and/or working-class people could conceivably afford. This was already producing its own trends and its own vocabulary: chopping, channeling, sectioning, etc. The 1953 Skylark was an early example of that movement feeding back into Detroit.

Much like the 1938 Cadillac Sixty Special of 15 years earlier, it can be hard to recognize why the Skylark was stylistically novel unless you have a point of comparison. Above is a standard 1953 Roadmaster convertible …

… and the Skylark. Note the cut-down doors, wider round wheel arches, slimmer Sweepspear moldings, and absence of VentiPorts.

Here’s the Roadmaster from the opposite angle. Note that the bulbousness of the styling made these cars look smaller than they were — they were both 207.6 inches long on a 121.5-inch wheelbase, weighing over 4,400 lb with a full tank of gas.

Here’s a corresponding view of the Skylark. Buick made much of the fact that the Skylark’s overall height with the top up was under 5 feet (58.9 inches, per the specifications), low-slung by early ’50s standards. Around this time, Buick chief engineer Charles A. Chayne remarked ruefully, “The stylists always want to build cars very low and never seem to understand that underneath the body must be certain things that make the car go and stop.”

The Skylark prototype had been built on a 1952 chassis, so it had the outgoing straight-eight engine. The production car, which arrived early in the 1953 calendar year, used the brand-new 322 cid Fireball V-8 — the first “Nailhead” — with 188 gross hp. Like the Roadmaster, the Skylark came with the latest Twin Turbine Dynaflow automatic; no manual transmission was offered.

Although the production Skylark was designed to minimize the cost of executing the various modifications (it was considerably less expensive to build than the contemporary Cadillac Eldorado), it was quite a costly piece. When Buick first hinted that they might offer this model for sale, the rumor was that it was likely to cost between $5,500 and $6,000. The figure that finally appeared in 1953 price lists was a still formidable $5,000 (a relative worth of about $91,600 in 2025 dollars). At the time, a Roadmaster convertible listed for $3,505.56.

Like the Roadmaster convertible, the Skylark had extensive standard equipment, including Dynaflow, power steering, power brakes, power windows, and a power top.

On top of that, the Skylark came with just about everything on the 1953 Roadmaster options list except air conditioning, which was not yet available on convertibles.

The Skylark prototype had used a set of imported Borrani wheels, but they were much too pricey for production, even in this league, so the production Skylark used 15-inch Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels. These weren’t cheap either — when Buick began offering them as a factory option on other models in 1954, they cost $317.20 per set.

The WeatherWarden Venti-Heater and Selectronic radio were the same offered equipment on other Buick models, but only the Skylark included them as standard.

Also standard was two-tone leather upholstery, with a choice of red, blue, light green, or black inserts in white bolsters.

Other than Wilbur Shaw’s brief driving impression of the prototype in the October 1952 Popular Science, I haven’t found any period road tests of the 1953 Skylark — it was a late introduction, and there may not have been any press cars. However, I don’t imagine it drove much differently from a standard Roadmaster convertible except in having a slightly lower center of gravity. The Skylark was only 65 lb heavier than a Model 76C convertible (with the extra standard equipment accounting for most of that), so I’d expect 0 to 60 mph in around 15 seconds and an actual top speed of more than 100 mph, pretty good going for the time.

With such a high price tag, few of the sports car fans writing angry letters about the Skylark could have afforded one anyway. Production eventually totaled 1,690 cars, which wasn’t bad, considering. This was the kind of car sold mostly to celebrities and local VIPs. I assume the closest most people got to one was a display model at the dealer, on their way to buy a Special sedan costing about half as much.

Since the Skylark was to some extent a 50th anniversary special, and its styling features previewed the direction of the regular 1953 line, Buick could just as easily have dropped the Skylark at the end of the 1953 model year. However, they brought it back for 1954, now riding the shorter Special/Century chassis.

The Skylark was now counted as a separate series, and it was about 10.5 inches shorter than the 1954 Roadmaster. It was around 100 lb lighter than in 1953, and Buick trimmed the list price to $4,483 (a relative worth of about $80,125 in 2025 dollars).

Aside from the wire wheels, the 1954 Skylark’s big claims to fame were its tacked-on tail fins and modified rear deck.

The Skylark was still well-equipped and well-trimmed, but you could now have a loaded Roadmaster — or, from April 1954, a well-equipped Century convertible — for significantly less money. Sales soon tapered off; 1954 Skylark production totaled only 836 cars.

While Cadillac made a simplified and somewhat less expensive Eldorado an ongoing part of its lineup, Buick decided it was time to ground the Skylark, at least temporarily. It didn’t drop out in disgrace — the Skylark was a promotional item that had served its purpose, and so it was probably wise to shelve it while it still had some glamour left. Buick revived the nameplate in 1961 for the fanciest version of the Y-body compact, and it was used on various other models through 1998.

 

Related Reading

Design History: Buick’s Fully-Open Rear Wheel Wells (1953 – 1957) – The Year-By-Year Opening (by Paul N)

1953 Buick Roadmaster Convertible: Spring Green Time Machine (by Stephen Pellegrino)

Curbside Comparison: 1953 Buick Super Riviera vs. 1953 Buick Special Riviera – A Beta Test For A New Generation of Buicks (by Aaron65)

1961 Buick Skylark Sport Coupe: A Smaller Buick, But Not An Economy Car (by me)