Vintage Snapshots: Buick Style In The 1950s-1970s

Text by Patrick Bell.

Today we are going to wish David Dunbar Buick a belated Happy Birthday.  He was born on September 17, 1854, in Scotland, and moved to Detroit with his family when he was two.  He began what became the Buick Motor Company in 1899, and resigned and sold his stock to William Durant in 1906.  Durant bought a few other car companies and merged them together to form General Motors.

Instead of dealing with 171 candles, let’s take a look at some Buicks that Mr. Buick never knew about.

Our first shot was a lady posing with a new looking ’55 Century 2-Door Riviera.  Perhaps it was her new car.  The Century was Buick’s ‘performance’ model as it shared the short wheelbase body of the Special coupled with the senior series larger 322 cubic inch V8.  Parked across the street was a ’51 Ford Victoria.

It was a warmish winter day in Connecticut, with some melting occurring, but there was still lots of snow.  The Buick was a ’56 4 door that could have been a Super, Century, or Special trim level.  Next to it was a Metropolitan of ’59 or ’60 vintage as both license plates appear to have been dated 1960.  I would imagine the Metropolitan did not get out much in the winter, as small tires and low ground clearance do not work well in deep snow.

The Special name was always used for the low priced series, so it made sense for Buick to use it on their new compact offering that came out in ’61. This Special Deluxe 4 door sedan was a ’62 model, and looked good in its two tone paint treatment.  Plus there were a couple of two wheelers in the shadows for any bicycle fans.

LeSabre became the low priced full size nameplate, and this ’62 4 door sedan was also the most popular of all models for the year.  It may have been a trailer tower as there was a hitch on the front bumper commonly used for backing.

Here was the aftermath of the Blizzard of ’66 in the Syracruse/Oswego, New York area.  A man was marvelling at the depth of the snowdrift, along with a ’64 Wildcat 4 door sedan, which, of course, was equipped with snow tires on the rear.

A lady was holding on to a ’64 Skylark Sport Coupe at some sort of scenic overlook or park.  It was the newest car in the crowd.  On the other side of it was a ’60 Pontiac Star Chief Sedan.  Over to the right was a light blue ’61 Ford Falcon Tudor, and what looked like a green ’63 Ford 300 4 door sedan.

A man in uniform was caught with his eyes closed while standing with a ’67 GS 400 Sport Coupe.  It looked good with two tone paint and road wheels.  It also had a trailer hitch, and a license plate with the letters ‘DV’ which I presume indicated Disabled Veteran.  However I cannot read the state of issue. In the background may have been a ’59 Chevrolet El Camino.

There were two Buicks in this image, along with what appears to be three generations of a family.  On the left was a ’66 LeSabre 4 door sedan from Illinois, and on the right a 4 door hardtop that could have been a ’65 or ’66 LeSabre or Wildcat.  In the background was a brown ’62 Dodge Dart 4 door sedan.

This one was a ’70 Wildcat Custom 4 door hardtop, which was the final year for the Wildcat.  It was renamed the Centurion in ’71.  It had the optional but common vinyl roof, and it looked like they were taking a break while traveling through the desert.

And our final shot is another ’70 model, a Skylark 2 door sedan, which was the entry level model in the Skylark line.  It came with a 250 cubic inch 6 cylinder and a 3 speed manual transmission as standard equipment, but I doubt many were actually ordered that way.  The blonde looked like she was in pain from bending her leg back, and the dude didn’t look too happy either.  They apparently were traveling with a loaded roof rack, and had made a stop at the beach.

In the center background was a blue ’72 Ford Gran Torino Squire wagon, with a tan ’64 or ’65 Rambler American 4 door sedan in the rear.  In the right background a ’71-’74 Ford Econoline or Club Wagon van on the right edge, with a ’69 or ’70 Chevrolet C-20 Fleetside with a cabover camper further back.

For a different view of these travelers, go HERE.

Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

More Vintage Photos Here