(first posted 2/15/2012) For all middle children life is hard. And no life is harder in the automotive world than the middle model or trim level. The most difficult life to live is between the bargain entry point and the lap of luxury in any postwar line up. And in a middle brand family, the pressure to thrive is even harder to survive.
Like Chrysler, Buick was pretty schizophrenic with its series designations and how they were marketed. In 1959 all of the tradition designations dating from the late 1930s were thrown out the door along with bulbous and baroque styling for LeSabre (Buick for the Broke) Electra/Electra 225 (Buick for the Bank President/the slightly flashier bank president).
But the Invicta, although brilliantly named, got lost in between those two dichotomies. Although the Century was particularly cast well as the bankers hot rod, something got lost in the translation of ever faster and more luxurious Body By Fisher creations.
Like Chrysler’s Saratoga, the brilliant name eventually got sidelined for another nameplate that had more of a mystique. While Chrysler did a rather rare name debasement of by adding the 300 Sport series, Buick brought out its own B-body bomber for 1962 in the form of the Wildcat coupe.
Long a show car name for Buick in the 1950s, the name was dropped on a rather undistinguished 2 door hardtop with bucket seats, and didn’t sell as well as the other two specialty B-Body coupes, the Grand Prix and the Starfire. So for the encore season it followed the example the 300 Sport set.
Sprouting a 4 Door hardtop sedan for 1963, the Wildcat ate the Invicta for breakfast, leaving only the den mother of a wagon for one more season. And it also opened a major mixed message. Were these supposed to be exotic equivalents of the newly glammed up Starfire and Grand Prix? Or were they just Buick’s latest middle child searching for an identity.
For one the Wildcat didn’t share the B-Special concave coupe roof of the Grand Prix and Starfire, making it seem like an overtrimmed equivalent of a Super Eighty Eight or…. well, what was the Star Chief’s purpose again? I know it was the whole lotta Pontiac for a little less than a Bonneville, but who really bought them?
When you question what the Wildcat was doing, you really have to question those other two middle children at Pontiac and Oldsmobile, or for that matter the further decontented Bel-Air at Chevrolet. They all seemed awash in the splintering market of 1963, flush with intermediates and luxury compacts.
But the Wildcat did stay on message best. While the other 3 were relics of 3 tiered marketing of the same body shell in escalating trim/power or length configurations best left to the 1950s, the Wildcat clarified it’s role as Buick’s Hot Rod better than the misunderstood Invicta did. Outwardly dressed with more war paint than its predecessor, it actually looked ready to fight. Fight a war that really didn’t exist anymore.
By 1963, the Bucket Seat full size bomb attack had obliterated its own market. No true survivors or winners save the Impala SS really emerged as long term victors. And with more specialized coupe models like Buick’s own Riviera, the only way to survive was to figure out a new strategy.
I don’t know if the 1965-70 Wildcat’s sporty yet zaftig ways (and essential replacement of what used to be the Buick Super role) was all that much more focused. The middle step was banished to the history books at Oldsmobile by 1969, which left Chevrolet and Pontiac continued to play musical chairs along with Buick, killing the cat with the Centurion, which had a brief life as warrior through 1973.
I’m a dog person, and I’m sure most Buick buyers were too. But for a short period of time, the Wildcat made an interesting argument to consider being a crazy Cat-Buick person.
Love the top and bottom pictures. DO WANT. That styling makes me think of Alan Jacksons song “Buicks to the Moon.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUtlvCT22Gk
I love Alan Jackson. He’s one of my favourite country western singers.
My great aunt only drives Buicks- since atleast 1953 I think- Century-Invicta-Wildcat-Centurion-80’s Wagon-Riviera- and now a Le Sabre, so with the exception of the Wagon(Might have been an Electra) and the Riviera she always goes for the mid market car- I think If Buick was traditonally sensible luxury than going for the middle car is the sensible choice of the sensible choice. Middle america modesty in full display. If Electra was the flashy choice for the less flashy buyer, than the mid market cars must have been the less flashy choice for the less flashy buyer. “Buick for the broke”, that almost calls for a duel to defend my Aunt’s honor sir! Permit me to excercise a bit of Buick snobery here but thats what I thought Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles were for…..
I believe quite a few times during the 1950s a Special undercut a comparable base Eighty Eight, and were nearly in Dodge/Mercury territory.
I don’t know if it was equally as severe in with LeSabres in the 1960s, but they weren’t far apart in price, and at least in 1964 the Jetstar 88 and LeSabre were pretty decontented compared to a Catalina (which still came with a 389 and a Roto Hyrdamatic as the optional automatic, while Buick and Olds put their A body intermediate drivetrains in their basic B-bodies, the Jetstar all the way down to the smaller F-85 brakes).
Specials (full sized Specials then LeSabres) were priced clearly in Dodge, Pontiac, Mercury and Nash Statesman territory and with Straight then V-8 power, certainly were a lot of car for the money. Specials tended to undercut Olds 88’s – the 88 had an advantage power-wise as the Rocket 2-bbl was hooked up usually to a Hydra-Matic vs. being anchored (in most cases) to a Dyna-slush; Soecials wooed many “low price 3” buyers with a cachet of having a Buick for Bel-Air/Impala. Belvedere or Customline/Fairlane prices.
Maybe when the Century was still around, getting lost in between Specials, Supers/Roadmasters wasn’t an issue, as through ’58, Centuries had a clearly defined role, but once Invictas then Wildcats came along, the mid-line Big Buick became a caveat – rather than a model to be taken as seriously as. Pontiac Grand Prix. I am surprised the Wildcat stayed around as long as it did – Pontiac tried with Star Chiefs/Executives, but they too faded away and “graduated” as a lesser trimmed series of the next model up (think Bonneville vs. Bonneville Brougham/Grand Ville).
Of course, this GM bleed over scrambled up the Sloan ladder and could be the start of the end for GM as we knew it pre-2009.
If that were a Buick Electra, well, I’d have a great story to tell, as my friend’s dad owned a ’63 4 door hardtop, off-white roll-and-pleat-like vinyl interior, dynaflow and all! What a cruiser that thing was. It also ate transmissions on a regular basis, too. The A/C vents on the edges of the dashboard would actually get frost on them when the A/C was on.
That was caused by putting the Dyna-Shush in “Lo” more than occasionally so its mega V-8 would actually accelerate faster than that a VW Bug. Stomping a Dyna-Flow with any regularity, regardless of the transmission selector position, would similarly grenade the transmission. But Buicks of the era were never designed to be driven like this. Their mission was to waft in serenity and the were rather good at that.
This is why the Olds and Caddy guys swore by Hydra-matic. Yes it was a rough shifter and required plenty of maintenance but at least it would last the life of the car.
Buick even worked up a THREE torque converter version of the Dyna-SLOW but it was even too mushy and too complicated for production.
This was somewhat similar to Chevrolet’s Turboglide. The main problem with torque converter automatics was they were horribly inefficient. This was not a big deal early on in the production of automatic transmissions but as good designs like Torqueflight came out, it was clear the planetary gear systems were the way to go.
The main reason GM stuck with this things was cost. It was simply cheaper to make a Dyna-Slush than a Hydramatic. By 1963 it was pretty obvious torque converter transmissions were a dead end.
One reason Buick preferred the torque converter transmissions was that until the early sixties, they still used a torque tube rear axle. Buick had adopted the torque tube around 1938 or thereabouts, in large part because it allowed them to adopt rear coil springs for a softer ride — Olds, Pontiac, and Cadillac all used Hotchkiss drive. Hydra-Matic shifted pretty hard, particularly the early ones, and the torque tube would transmit that jolt to the frame. Chevrolet, which also used a torque tube into the mid-fifties, adopted the similar Powerglide for the same reason (although in 1953 they reengineered it to start in low and shift automatically to high, which Buick never did), then stuck with it for cost reasons.
By the late fifties, GM was developing workable trailing link suspensions that would allow rear coil springs (or air springs, although those didn’t work out too well) with an open driveshaft, so Buick eventually conceded that the torque tube had had its day. Also, the Turbo Hydramatic (which Buick was the first division to adopt) was a good deal smoother than the early Hydra-Matic. (The dual-coupling H-M was also much smoother, although it was quite complex and very expensive to build.)
Twin Dynaflow transmission would run off the line very fast with great 1/4 times. But you had to manually use LOW GEAR; then shift into drive around 60 to 65 MPH. I can’t tell you how many people who own Buicks pre-64 don’t know this. By using low gear you increase the power to the rear wheels by 43 percent. The Dynaflow was a very durable transmission.
A good friend had a 63 Wildcat, metallic blue 2 dr HT with a white roof, no vinyl. A really nice car, he paid $ 700 in 1972. He drove it until 1974, when it was stolen in front of his house.
A year later, it was found stripped in a city 30 miles away. The city sent him a bill for impound and storage fees. His lawyer got him off the hook. I guess the city disposed of it.
The Wildcat was my favorite Buick from these early-mid 1960s years. I will also second your nomination of “Invicta” as one of the greatest names of the 60s that was never given a chance. Buick is crazy to not resurrect it. Ditto “Centurion”.
You are right – every brand seemed to think in terms of 3s. Mainline-Customline-Crestiline, 150-210-Bel Air, Plaza-Savoy-Belvedere and so on. It seemed to work for awhile on the low-priced cars when the bottom end model was a complete strippo and the top end model was fairly luxurious. But in a Buick or a Chrysler, there just wasn’t room for “good-better-best” when you had Oldsmobile and Cadillac there too.
The only one I can think of in later years was after Chrysler canned the Imperial for 1976-78. The Newport stayed pretty much the same, the New Yorker name was put on the Imperial, and the Newport Custom had a nice niche in the middle with what had been the New Yorker the year before. Maybe the base Newport was one of the things that killed the big Gran Fury, though, so maybe it didn’t work out so well after all.
As always, love the imaginative photography.
I always thought the ’63 Wildcat had one of the best looking faces of the 1960’s, versus the overly aggressive face of the ’59.
Those canted headlights just dial up the crazy.
And Jesus sat at the right hand of the Father.
And Jesus’ giant magnet sat at the right hand of Jesus.
Amen.
“While Chrysler did a rather rare name debasement of by adding the 300 Sport series, Buick brought out its own B-body bomber for 1962 in the form of the Wildcat coupe. Long a show car name for Buick in the 1950s, the name was dropped on a rather undistinguished 2 door hardtop with bucket seats, and didn’t sell as well as the other two specialty B-Body coupes, the Grand Prix and the Starfire. So for the encore season it followed the example the 300 Sport set.”
To add to the confusion over exactly what the Wildcat was supposed to be, I believe it later switched to the larger C-body for a few years (maybe 1965-68?) before returning back to the B-body.
“Sprouting a 4 Door hardtop sedan for 1963, the Wildcat ate the Invicta for breakfast, leaving only the den mother of a wagon for one more season.”
IINM, the middle trim level had been the main focus of Buick’s fulll-size wagon marketing over the previous few years, and the Invicta had been the only full-size Buick model available as a wagon in 1962. This probably explains why the Invicta name continued on the wagon for ’63 when it had otherwise been replaced by the Wildcat. Buick apparently didn’t want to call the wagon a Wildcat, but wanted it to remain at that middle trim level. So it remained an Invicta, even though the Invicta otherwise no longer existed.
For ’64 Buick tried a different approach, badging the wagon as a LeSabre but still VIN-coding it as part of the Wildcat/(former) Invicta series. Following that model year, Buick dropped full-size wagons for several years, relying on the A-body-based Sportwagon as its entry in the segment.
In that way it’s interesting that Buick gave the luxury wagon market solely over to Chrysler in those years, as the 1963-64 New Yorker Town & Country was pretty lavish and expensive.
But as you point out, Buick had long moved away from the posh Roadmaster Estate series (last being offered in 1953). Which is a market that Chrysler never seemed to abandon, even if sales were relatively low (although with Cadillac like prices it must have been profitable). It’s interesting that Buick never continually offered an all out luxury wagon, nor saw the continuous halo effect of one. I don’t see the marketing difference of a New Yorker versus a Electra 225.
And That brings into question of where the Clamshell Estates were marketed (or the Custom Cruiser) since they didn’t get all of the Brougham-y detail of their other C body relatives.
In ’64 Buick had the new long-wheelbase A-body Sportwagon (mate to the better-known Olds Vista Cruiser. One uncle had the Sportwagon and it was very plush. There was a waiting list for those, so the B-body Buick and Olds wagons didnt sell very well those years.
Since Chrysler generally shared full-size wagon bodies across the board from ’57 on, the marginal cost of making up a T&C was pretty low – and the profit margin accordingly high.
Ironically, the relatively weak position of Plymouth and Dodge (and DeSoto, when they were around) in the lower-levels of the wagon market probably helped Chrysler get away with a common body in a way that Buick, Olds, or Mercury ever could; the Mercury, especially always screamed dressed-up Ford to me.
Ironically, the ’62-64 period was the one time when Chrysler violated it’s own strategy, thanks to the Plymouth-Dodge B-Bodies; Chrysler could only share it’s wagon with the Dodge 880, and there was less common sheetmetal than usual after the Chrysler re-skin in ’63.
Our Neighbors had a gold 63 Buick Wagon. IIRC, Full size , these taillights. The Dad Was a NYC Bank President, I Remember They Previously had a 62 Country Squire, but they kept the Buick For 7 Years or So.
I Think They also had a olds 98 Conv or An Electra 225
~
I Think our 63 Grand Prix in Maroon Holds Up / Beats this Wildcat/LeSabre, but The Buick is Quite Attractive for a one year only style.
Another neighbor had a succession of Lesabres, Inc, a Yellow 63, a 66 in Yellow, Maybe the 63 was White…. after this The Bought a 70 Buick but They Moved to a New Street.
GM is stupid for not resurrecting the Invicta and Electra names. Unlike many well-remember names of the past, they actually still sound fresh in today’s market. Regal…not so much. “LaCrosse” is a clunker, and “Verano” and “Enclave” sound like the results of the world’s dullest focus group.
As for “Wildcat”…Buick is a long way from offering a car worthy of the name.
Agreed. While they might have had some trouble positioning the cars within the range, Buick had some superb model names back in the day. If they could have found a worthy car and scored a huge success with it, a few of them had the potential of coming close to having name recognition as well-known as Mustang. The names were that good.
But today’s Buick names? Not really.
The should reserve the Electra name for a Buick version of the next Chevy Volt.
Uh, NO…
Remember, when they put GRAND names like the Le Mans, Nova on lil FWD foreign garbage? No thanks.
Even worse was putting the Mercury Monterey name on, of all, means of transport… a stupid MINIVAN??
Unless, the Electra name is on a powerful RWD luxury car that Buick can be proud of to compete with Mercedes, BMW and even Cadillac.
It’s better to let some classic car names rest in peace… than to resurrect them and put them on crap. 😉
“Verano”….isn’t that a Nissan? 🙂
The other uncle bought a Wildcat coupe in ’65. It was “sporty” looking for such a boat, even in dull tan, but why? After the ’64 A-bodies came out, B-body cars with bucket seats seemed stupid.
I REALLY love me some 1965 Wildcat. One of my dream cars. I’m still dreaming. And I consider the Wildcat to be anything but stupid. It was gorgeous. The 1966 took the gorgeous down a notch or 2.
When I was in high school a friend had a new 1965 red Wildcat convertible that I got to drive occasionally. It had the “465” engine (425 cu in with 465 pound-feet of torque) and four speed. The 465 did a good job of moving that large car. Most people were surprised when they looked in and saw the four speed – I imagine production numbers were pretty low for that setup (the friend’s father owned a Buick dealership and special ordered the car for her).
These Taillights Belong on a Predicessor to the 71 Olds 98….
My Grandfather Who Could easily afford a Cadillac, Preferred a Buick in 68, and 74 No Less…LeSabre Customs at best Not Limited, though in 65 it Had Been A Fleetwood Limo…
Centurion Made NO Sense I guess It Sounded More Seventies ?
lax, Another mid-fifties Buick one-off show car.
A suggestion for a future thread: go through the 1960s full-size lineups of the various GM brands and discuss what purpose each model served. The basic structure is pretty straightforward (Biscayne/BelAir/Impala/Caprice, Catalina/Bonneville, 88/98, LeSabre/Electra, DeVille/Fleetwood) but where some of the oddballs fit in (like a Wildcat or Jetstar 88 or Executive) is less clear, at least from today’s point of view.
The Jetstar, especially, drives me nuts, because it basically made Oldsmobile have 5 different models of the same B-Body car in 1964, 5 if you count the blossoming of the Delta 88 for 1965. Did Oldsmobile really need 5 variations of the same car, from oversized F-85 (Jetstar 88) to flamboyant Thunderbird wannabe (Starfire).
I think it was something that was confusing as the A-body intermediates gained prominence in the Pontiac and Oldsmobile lines in particular. Ironically the Dynamic 88 actually moved up a rung (or was undercut, depending on how you look at it) before they died.
I think the Executive/Star Chief makes more sense, if you think of them as spiritual successors of the Buick Super (More actual car, less fancy than the line topper). The Dynamic/Super 88 were throwbacks in name to the 1950s, and I can see how Oldsmobile wanted to rename them with more “Modern” series names. They just kept too many names with the only key differences being interior trim and compression ratios on the market.
Isn’t it all about price points? Once a customer is in the dealership sell them something. Maybe even create a little confusion. Let them look at an Electra then offer them a Wildcat/Invicta that is “almost as good” and a bunch cheaper. Anything necessary to make the sale…
And let’s not forget the Delmont 88 which popped up later in the decade!
I’ve always been intrigued by the Starfire – Old’s answer to the Grand Prix and the Rivera, but curiously lacking both the panache of the Pontiac or the exclusivity of the Buick. It was basically a B-body convertible with buckets and console, better fabrics, and unique exterior trim. It did get a bit more exclusive with the ’65 hardtops sporting a unique (I think) roof and full rear wheel cutouts on both models, but park one next to a contemporary GP or Riv, and it’s definitely the shrinking violet.
My Grandad had a ’63 LeSabre wagon, and I loved the ‘footprint’ or ‘clothes iron’ shaped tailights. As a lil kid then, the Wildcat was the ‘fast Buick’, and wanted one when I grew up. 63 or 64.
When Buick dropped the full sized wagons [65-69], Grandad went to Chrysler Town and Country wagons, but my Grandma hated the Mopars, compared to her Electras. Mostly that starting the T&C was touchier, and easy to flood. “I wished he got a Chevy!”
“…No true survivors or winners [big sporty cars] save the Impala SS”
One other thing, the full size Pontiac GP survived at least until ’68, Impala SS last year [original run] was ’69.
But by sales Volume the Grand Prix slacked off in 1965-66 (and even changed focus quite a bit, to not really having one. I’d actually say the Starfire at Oldsmobile projected a sportier image that the optionally fender skirted Grand Prix). Like the Jetstar I to the Starfire, the Grand Prix had internal competition from the Catalina 2+2 package. The Grand Prix only survived by being the game changer and introducing a more accessible package of personal luxury.
The only one in the traditional “gussied up bucket seat” category that had a consistent following was the Impala SS. Ford did offer Galaxie XL’s for years too, but weren’t as popular as the SS, or the LTD for that matter.
I always liked the Wildcats and Skylarks from the ’60’s. And a friend’s dad had a ’71 Centurion with the 455. Sweet ride. I was sad when he traded it for a ’79 Caprice. The Caprice wasn’t a bad car, but it just didn’t hold up next to the Centurion.
I recall seeing a friend of my father’s new 1963 Buick Wildcat in Tasmania,the only one in the State.The Wildcat was a 4 door in a light metallic gold,an impressive looking car beside all the antiquated Holden cars.Many years later I saw the Wildcat being driven by a young guy who had it painted metallic turquoise,I thought it ruined the look of the car.A famous circus owner in Australia always bought Buicks and one year we saw his new 1969 red 2door Wildcat.Buicks were expensive in Australia, the saying was “Win Tatts and buy a Buick”. Tatts was the Aust lottery.Rivieras were great looking cars and I think Buick made a big mistake not producing the Buick Velite convertible,the Velite still looks good today.
My favourite cars are the 1963 Buick Wildcat, the 1964 Buick, the 1967 Wildcat, the 1968 Wildcat, the 1969 and 1970 Wildcat.
It should be said that both the Wildcat and Invicta were essentially successors to the Buick Century, a prewar nameplate that Buick resurrected in the mid-50s after the introduction of the Nailhead V-8. The appeal of the Century was that it gave you the bigger engine from the Super and Roadmaster in a better-trimmed version of the smaller Special, which made the Century sort of a proto-muscle car.
The reason Buick dumped the earlier names in favor of LeSabre, Invicta, and Electra was that Buick had overreached very badly in 1957, which left it with the same kind of poor-quality stigma Chrysler got with its ’57 cars. Then the recession hit and sales tanked. So, the new names were an attempt to clean the slate and distance the later cars from the disastrous ’57s. Buick did revive the Special name for the senior compact in ’61, I assume in hopes that the familiar name would emphasize that the Special was really a Buick, albeit a smaller one.
Obviously, later generations of management would decide that enough time had passed and that Century and Roadmaster were names too good to give up, but Buick managers in the ’60s were well aware that GM had come very close to shutting Buick down after the ’57–’58 debacle. Even in the early ’70s, Buick hedged with “Centurion” rather than “Century.” So, it wasn’t schizophrenia so much as corporate PTSD.
That was also part of the reason the sporty image Ed Rollert started cultivating with the Wildcat and Riviera was sort of amorphous. Doing anything too racy would bring cease-and-desist cries from corporate, and while Pontiac and Chevrolet managers were willing to bend the rules a bit, Rollert was well aware he’d been brought in to ‘fix’ a division that was hanging by a thread when he arrived, so he wasn’t going to push his luck too far.
Once Buick was healthier and after Pontiac had paved the way a bit, Buick went a bit more aggressively, but it would have taken a pretty substantial effort to go after the young performance-minded buyer in a serious way. When Buick wasn’t doing as well, corporate probably wouldn’t have let them try (Frederic Donner was very serious about the no-racing policy, and thought even economy trials were pushing it), and once Buick was selling half a million cars a year again, there wasn’t a strong incentive. They were at a price disadvantage anyway, which would have been a big handicap against Pontiac and Chevrolet.
So, Buick ended up trying to sell Wildcats and Gran Sports to traditional Buick customers, who were about as interested as you would expect. Not a lot of buyers who had the money for a Wildcat wanted a four-speed stick or stiffer suspension, even when those were offered, and the kids who liked performance cars couldn’t afford and probably wouldn’t have considered a Buick.
Buick peak production (in the 50’s) was 1955, with 1957’s production back to “normal” at 400,000 or so. Buick’s capacity was about 400,000, so exceeding that resulted in poor quality, which then shows up then with Buick moving down to 9th place. They had been consistently 4th place in the early 50’s.
One other point worth making is that the nailhead engine was pretty much tuned as hot as really possible I think.
Well, it was more that it was tuned about as hot as most Buick buyers would readily tolerate. The Nailhead had been popular for a while as a drag engine, so it was certainly capable of more maximum horsepower, but each bump in tune or displacement eroded idle quality and so forth, which was part of the reason Buick later developed the 400/430/455 family that adapted the 215/300’s more conventional combustion chamber design and valve layout.
That really wasn’t a major consideration with the original Wildcat and so forth, though. It was more, “What is our market and how much is it willing to bear?”
Aaron:
You are probably too young to remember: ” LeSabre, Invicta, Eleeectra. A new generation of Buicks is here.”
Although I am loathe to debate you on any automobile subject, my recollection of the ’57 Buicks is that they were quiet handsome cars and were received enthusiastically in the market place. I believe they sold better than either the Pontiacs or the Olds. All of the ’58 General Motors cars were disasters, not just Buick. I cannot conceive of any General Motors executive remotely considering shutting down Buick, at that time, with the track record the make had.
1955 was a big year for sales, 58 was bad for everyone, not just GM. Buick’s sales were up a bit for 59, then down for 60. It was 1962 before they really recovered.
The ’57 Buicks were sort of like the ’57 Chryslers: They looked good, were well-received initially, and then developed bad word of mouth. They were still No. 4 overall in ’57, but sales end up down a bunch from the previous year.
I suspect that what most alarmed corporate was the magnitude and abruptness of Buick’s decline. Their sales were down some for ’56, but nothing scary considering how overstretched everything had gotten in 1955. Then Buick dropped almost 40 percent for 1957 and another 40 percent for 1958.
GM obviously recognized that 1958 had been a bad year pretty much all around because of the recession, but Buick was hit much harder than other GM makes. (Percentage-wise, Chevrolet and Oldsmobile were down only about 20 percent from 1957 to 1958.) Beyond that, everybody else was rebounding for 1959, but Buick sales were still running less than half of 1956. That’s the sort of thing that scares the hell out of corporate executives and suggests that something is seriously wrong.
It was at that point that Rollert was brought in on a “turn this around or we may have to shut it down” mandate. The 1959–1960 sales levels weren’t yet bad enough to merit shuttering Buick down, but GM didn’t know whether the negative trend would continue or for how long. It was sort of like a person: If someone’s vital signs drop abruptly and keep dropping, you don’t necessarily start immediately sizing them up for a coffin, but they’re probably going to end up in intensive care because any further declines are going to be rough.
I think it’s also important to remember that really big companies are not sentimental about these things and were even less so back then, when the modern Cult of the Brand was less established. Some individual executives were more attached to certain names or ideas, but the corporation’s concern was what would make the best numbers. The bigger the company, the more people you have screaming about ROI and margins. GM had axed brands before and would obviously do so again.
One other thing that certainly didn’t help Buick in the late 50s was the retirement of two of its corporate champions: President Harlow Curtice and Harley Earl. Curtice came to the 14th floor after taking over Buick and making it a success in the 30s – not least by bringing the original Century to market, while Earl’s first three dream cars, the Y-Job, the LeSabre and the XP-300, were all badged as Buicks.
Ironically, the brand today remains alive thanks to a new set of powerful patrons in China…
Yup — it was Curtice’s successor, Jack Gordon, who installed Rollert.
My grandparents on my mother’s side drove Buicks up to about the mid-70s, before mostly driving Chevys. My grandpa had a 1965 Chevy C10 pickup while my grandma had a 1971 Buick LeSabre. 🙂
My dad’s 66 Wildcat was his first “big” car — something he wanted after living with a couple of budget-friendly Ramblers for several years. Gas was cheap, and his 90 minute highway commute was much nicer in the big Cat. I learned to drive in that boat, and there was no point in pretending it was my car when I cruised the local teenage hangouts.
My dad had one of these. Traded it in for a 1967 Chrysler 300 convertible. He was Comptroller at the U of Michigan at the time. Kind of like a banker, so i guess he had the right car.
My friend’s dad had a very similar 1963 Buick Electra. Nice car – 4 door hardtop, off-white, nice ribbed vinyl interior, gold-ish exterior color in all its Dynaflow glory!
Those chromed cast pot metal tail light housings were heavy!
My Buick history book (Postwar Years) addresses Buick decline in the 1950’s in chapter four (From Wiles to Ragsdale). The basic problem is quite simple to understand – Buick factory capacity is about 400,000 cars annually. Beginning with the 1949 model year production is not less than 400,000 except for the 1952 model year. The 1957 model year is over 400,000, but the peak year was 1955 with more than 700,000. Quality control probably was not too bad when production was well under 600,000, but by 1957 there were at least 4 years (1950, 53, 55 & 56) when quality was probably worst. So, by 1957 owners are probably not saying good things.
In addition, Buicks brakes were designed in the 30’s, so by the 50’s they were not up to the needs. New brakes were designed for the late 50’s (phased in for 58 [front] and 59). There were problems with the triple turbine transmission available in 57-58. Ragsdale retired from management of Buick (and GM) in 59. Rollert took over. Previous Buick managers were still at GM, in top level position, so there was no danger of Buick getting dumped. But it was clear that there was a mess to clean up.. The triple turbine (fixed for 59) was dumped for 61.
Very nice writeup and as always , terrific photography .
-Nate
I keep on looking at that eighth photo, the one with the attractive, bespectacled brown-haired woman driving the Buick. To me it’s like a flashback…she looks like some friend’s mom picking up at school in the afternoon.
My grandparents had a 1968 Wildcat when I was an infant. They must’ve sold it soon after, because I don’t remember ever seeing it.
Wishing Laurence well, last I heard he was in Portland. And I always love his photography & writing.
LeSabre(Buick for the Broke)? Really? Choosing a LeSabre during this period reflected a superior sense of taste and style that few entry level Chevrolet buyers could only dream to possess.. The Buick for the Broke was the Special- geez, it didn’t even have a real name! Ugh….Maintaining status is a real pain in the butt.
I recall in fall of ’65, my Dad was car shopping (our ’61 Pontiac had been in an accident that August, and the repair was less than impressive. Plus, the Rotohydromatic-also known as a POS-was giving a few signs of trouble.) Anyway, Dad brought home a used bronze ’64 Wildcat from the Buick dealer. Then he brought home the salesman’s yellow ’65 Wildcat demonstrator! I was an enthralled and car-obsessed 9 year old! Alas, he waited and bought a Seafoam Green ’66 LeSabre, which was a bit more practical…regular fuel vs. premium…and not quite as attention getting as that yellow Wildcat! Still, there’s a soft spot in my heart for Buick’s middle child. Wildcat was a whole lot more impressive than “Centurion”, which took over in ’71!
AHEM! By 1967, the Buick Wildcat was a symphony of smooth design. I offer a photo for you all.
My older brother has a 63 Wildcat 4 door. Takes about a week to walk around the thing. He loves the beast. it is teal green with a brown interior.
Here’s a picture he took last weekend. Like I said , he loves it.
Dash view.