Friends of Buick: Buick Grace

What is the true measure of a fine car?

What lends such an automobile its élan; its distinction?

Authoritative road manners? These, certainly. Graceful static lines must be matched by gracious dynamic confidence.

There must, also, be presence. Perhaps Britain's influential CAR magazine put it best, calling the 1965 Buick Riviera

"the greatest marriage of restraint and raw-boned Detroitness ever parked" (CAR, July 1998). This same car was recently picked by Automobile Magazine, September 2006, as among the 25 Most Beautiful Cars Ever.

A Buick's presence must be fortified with a lasting impression of confidence; confidence in evolved innovation over fleeting fashion, and confidence, in the timeless, enduring values that triumph over transcendent trend.

Classic beauty; a richness of detail, and muscular grace have set Buicks apart for one hundred and three years. Emblematic of neither unadorned purity, nor of brash opulence, the Buick seeks its own niche.

"It's cars like this... that keep me from despairing utterly," wrote Brooks Peterson of the 1995 Buick Riviera for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

"It has a lithe, slithery personality all its own."

Almost forty years earlier, Motor Trend had named the 1959 Buick Invicta the best-looking car, overall, in the industry. "Detroit's most-changed car!" screamed the cover of Motor Trend, October 1958.

Today, international jeweler Nicola Bulgari proudly displays his collection of about 50 vintage and modern Buicks in Rome (he has even more in the United States).

The grace that characterizes Buicks past and present is of three distinct, if related, forms: a graceful presence, when still; timeless grace, through the ages, and dynamic grace, on the road.

For true presence, there's nothing quite like being the first; and in its one hundred and three years, Buick's had more than a few design and styling firsts.

It was, for instance, Buick that offered the first ever concept car: the Y-Job of 1938, designed by Harley Earl (GM's - if not the industry's - first design chief), and built on a production Buick chassis modified by Buick chief engineer Charlie Chayne.

To look at the car today is to realize how far-sighted Earl was. A two-seat sports car that featured hidden headlights; power steering; flush door handles, and electric windows, Buick's Y-Job Concept

looks more like a car from the flamboyant Fifties than a Depression-era design. The Y-Job's streamlined lines, with sleek, organic forms combined with a long and low body, became the norm.

Today, each concept car we admire at motor shows around the world owes a little something to that pioneering Buick! To date (through 2006), Buick has built twenty-three concept cars.

Discover Buick's Graceful Presence

Buick has a long history of graceful design - grace and, yes, presence that has been envied and emulated.

A Buick's presence cannot be simply about size. It is true that, in its restyling for 1989, the new Riviera's warmer reception illustrated the importance of length - and of a wider sail panel (C-pillar) - to the presence of a Buick. Lengthened by eleven inches in its tail, Riviera pleased those who had been unhappy with the truncated look of the previous model.

Yet true Buick presence is rooted in careful, yet authentic, dichotomy; in the longtime paradox between stately and elegant; between upright and swept back, and between brash and understated. Lines may occasionally disappear here and there, but the overall effect must be sincere.

In the elegance of a Buick, aft of the fascia, the automaker has regularly asked the question, should form really be subservient to function?

Recently, former CAR magazine editor Gavin Green asked this very question. We've posted some of his conclusions here.

In form, the Buick has sought a stately, yet elegant presence. A decade after Buick first began producing vehicles, the 1914 Buick Model B-38 was its first production car with a fully-enclosed coupé body. That year, with its rounded hood and nose and fenders set lower than previously, the Model B-55 represented a break from the more staid styling confines of Buick's early years.

Thus, gradually, began the Buick contradiction - albeit a pleasant one - of upright fasciae with swooping carriage lines, within the same vehicle. By 1918, Buick had begun to gradually slope its windshields, their slight rearward slant giving open Buicks a racier appearance.

The gently-sloping hoods and smoothly-molded fenders of the new 1924 Buick attracted much attention as Buick gradually moved from the look of a mass-production automobile to that of a premium car.

This was the brief of the legendary Harley Earl.

It is fitting that Earl was born, in November of 1893, to the son of a custom coachbuilder. He grew up believing that personal transportation should be an extension of personal style - and it was this guiding principle that brought him to Detroit in 1927, named head of GM's newly created Art and Color section. Located on the 10^th floor of the GM Building in Detroit, this was the division that would over the next decade evolve into the industry's first Design and Styling department.

In this vein, for 1927, a Gothic Goddess radiator cap replete with wings topped off the Buick Master Six. Bullet-shaped, nickel-plated headlights replaced barrel-shaped units for 1928. For 1931

celebrating Buick's eight-cylinder line-up, the radiator cap bore a figure eight.

Under Earl, Buick had introduced an innovative new range of paint colors. The press would refer to 1927 as the polychrome year of automobile history. By 1929 (the year of Buick's Silver Anniversary) 43 exterior color options were available.

Earl made his mistakes, to be sure, as Buick pushed forward. 1929

saw a 1½-inch bulge below the beltline that few observers thought elegant, but it was corrected the following year with a height reduction of two inches for 1930. "My primary purpose has been to lengthen and lower the American automobile," Earl would explain toward the end of his career three decades later.

By 1932

the Buick windshield slope had been extended to ten degrees, accentuated by longer, more streamlined fenders, and by dual taillights at the rear. For 1933

the Buick's height was reduced again (by 2¼ inches), as Earl and his team gave front and rear fenders deeper valances and more sweeping curves.

The turret-top Buicks arrived for 1936, their vee-windshields inclined further still, and their front fascias beginning to slope in accordance. For 1937, the body was lowered again, by 1½ inches. Buick hid folded convertible tops in a package tray, eliminating the heretowith cluttered look of that body type.

When for 1938 Buick introduced parking lights as separate units from the headlamps, they mirrored the bullet headlamps in form.

For 1940, Buick General Manager Harlow Curtice went so far as to introduce a series of custom-bodied vehicles available on special order from Brunn & Company in Buffalo, New York.

For 1941, headlamps were now placed at the edges of the front fascia, as both grilles and bodies grew wider. When the government, anticipating wartime, prohibited the use of chrome trim on January 1^st, 1942, Buick gradually embraced military production.

Chrome brightwork had long been used as as a highlight of the Buick's form - indeed, since 1928, before which Buick had utilized nickel plating (1913) and, before that, brass (1908).

It was no surprise, then, that the chrome would return with force when production resumed for 1946, and would continue through the Fifties, receding but never quite abating through present day.

'50s Buicks, in particular, were famous for their chrome, sporting what was called the Buick dollar grin - thick, highly-polished ribs that somewhat resembled teeth. In Buick's station wagon lines, chrome would visually delineate the final departure of wood as a structural element. Buick was the last to produce a true woody wagon, with the 1953 Buick Super and Roadmaster Estate models: the entire tailgate; liftgate, and rear window posts in the cargo area used large wood pieces or were made entirely of wood.

Today, "chrome bumpers have gone forever... you just couldn't do a visible bumper (with today's safety regulations)," mused Head of MG-Rover Design Peter Stevens recently ('Iconography,' evo, September 2004). Yet Buick's LaCrosse delineates its front corners with chrome spears.

Chrome is not the only aspect of Buick that dates back far further than one might think. The white sidewall tires that today seem so much a product of the Seventies were in fact first made available on 1923 Buick. With cord tires becoming standard across Buick's range on January 1st, 1921, the appearance of a spare tire at the Buick's rear seemed pedestrian; a spare tire cover became standard for 1923.

As Buick called attention to the details, attention to detail surfaced everywhere. Concealed door hinges debuted for 1915, while 1919 saw an increased number of louvers in the Buick hood, perhaps highlighting the prevalence of the Buick Six across the line-up, in much the same way that the number of portholes in today's Buick Lucerne signifies the cylinders under the hood.

With postwar production resumed, Buick was becoming synonymous with style; power, and prestige. Through the early years of the Fifties, Buick continued to embody the power of a high hood; the road-hugging weight of large-radius forms, and the safety of a substantial body that Earl so held dear.

Behind the scenes, however, the postwar automotive design envelope needed a nudge. Buick's 1951 XP-300 Concept provided the impetus, with a puissant 335 horsepower kept in check by cooled four-wheel disc brakes under an aluminum body that, if necessary, could be raised on its own integrated power jacks. Never one for the restriction of compromise, Buick financed a second design department's effort in the 1951 LeSabre Concept, which drew on the XP-300 Concept's mechanicals while visually referencing the sleek USAF F-86 Sabre jet. LeSabre featured the world's first wraparound windshield (foreshadowing an aspect of up and coming Buick production cars, and the wraparound tailgate windows of 1957 and 1958 Buick station wagons), and a magnesium body.

Inspired by Earl's work - this second concept car was a Buick, of course - General Motors created the Motorama, its own touring motor show which annually premiered in New York and crossed the country. It became a national institution. Eight Motoramas were held between 1949 and 1961, attracting more than ten million people.

Buick of 1949 - specifically, with the 1949 Roadmaster Riviera - was a master of the hardtop convertible style, much imitated. Hardtops even featured on the 1957 and 1957 Buick station wagons, although Buick - which gave the buyer a choice of hardtop or B-pillar - found wagon buyers to be the pragmatic sort, opting for the latter. Nonetheless, "more than any other cars, those big brassy Buicks symbolized the new American confidence after the war," recalls Forbes columnist Jerry Flint ('Reinventing Buick,' Forbes, March 4^th, 2003).

By 1956, Earl's staff consisted of 1,200 people, who settled in brand new design facilities in the $125 million Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Designed by Eero Saarinen, it was the first industrial park of its kind - and still hosts much of Buick (and GM) design.

For 1973, Buick's two-door hardtop convertible gave way to the Colonnade coupé design, seen on Century; Century Luxus, and Regal. The combination of hardtop styling; diagonal center pillar, and large quarter windows eventually replaced four-door pillarless hardtops as well.

For those who have wanted true open-topped motoring, Buick has produced several choices, celebrating its 50^th anniversary with the 1953 Skylark convertible, the first Buick to offer a power top. Unfortunately enough, by 1975, the last of the Buick convertibles (a LeSabre) had rolled off the line - only to be reprised with an independent conversion of the 1982 Riviera and, for 1990, the factory Reatta Convertible.

Yet whatever the body style, all Buicks strived for a presence that perhaps Road Test magazine best recognized, in writing of the 1977 Riviera, "it will never embarrass itself or you in any way; this is one car that knows how to arrive in style" (Road Test, July 1977).

For innovation in design, look no further than the 1985 Wildcat II Concept.

This futuristic machine received the coveted 1986 award for prototype projects at the '85 Turin Auto Show.

Buick, notes author Lawrence R. Gustin, has been well represented in entertainment. "A 1940 Limited Phaeton is in the famous airport scene with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca," Gustin notes (David Buick's Marvelous Motor Car, Lawrence R. Gustin, Buick Gallery and Research Center, 2006).

"Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman drive a 1949 Roadmaster convertible across the country in Rain Man.

"Vintage Buicks are prominent in Pearl Harbor and The Road to Perdition.

"Stephen King places a 1954 Buick (but with a '53 mistakenly on the jacket) at the center of one of his horror stories, From a Buick Eight. It became a movie.

"And somewhere out there is the music video, Aliens Ate My Buick."

"For thousands of collector car enthusiasts, the question, wouldn't you really rather have a Buick? is answered with a resounding yes," writes author Terry V. Boyce (Standard Catalog of Buick 1903-2000, Ron Kowalke, Krause, 1999).

Certainly, the Buick brand has passed this test of timelessness through the ages.

Yet for today's designers, if form and function deserve equal priority at Buick, then in form they must be cautious to avoid pandering to fleeting fashion.

Discover Buick's Timeless Grace

Grace endures. Pretentiousness is quickly routed. So, too, is the incongruously shear approach to surfacing that features in some automotive design, and that GM Vice Chairman Lutz dubbed as "jack-o'-lantern" styling at the 2001 Automotive News World Congress.

"It took me two-and-a-half years before I was totally at ease with the exterior design," said BMW's own senior product manager at the E65 BMW 7 series launch to CAR magazine. "Despite a fifth glass of red wine, there was no smile on his face," CAR remarked, with usual good-natured irreverence.

For Buick, grace and confidence must gel. "Looks like Jaguar with a street-rod attitude," wrote Mike DuPre of the 1995-1999 Buick Riviera for the Janesvile Gazette.

Riviera first arrived in the marketplace more than forty years ago, and was quickly labeled a modern classic. By the time the last Riviera rolled off the Orion, Michigan assembly plant on November 25^th, 1998, the car had been named the most dramatic design of the decade, and the most collectible car of the future (by the National Automotive History Collection of the Detroit Public Library).

The modern Buick is never brash, nor pretentious. Chrome is a subtle, if shimmering, detail, highlighting the classic statement of the waterfall grille, and of the ventiport.

Rather than crassly overshadow the car, these details complete the Buick: a car of eloquent musclature; of gently curving, continuous lines; of lasting, stately elegance and romanticism, lovingly executed in the metal of sinuously sculpted panels that fit with eye-pleasing precision.

Precision and presence are timeless.

Timelessness does not imply emulation. Understated the Buick may be, but it nonetheless achieves this effect in its own way. Not for Buick (for instance) the raised rears of German design, emulated en masse by the Japanese after - particularly - the E36 BMW 3 series of 1992.

Why should form be subservient to function? Rather, function and form deserve equal priority, in (with modern Buick sedans) slight downward slope in front and rear.

Even the 1985 Buick Somerset Regal, a car designed to target upscale-import-shopping boomers, offered nuanced incline within its more dramatic wedge shape; flush raked-back windshield, and flush vertical backlight glass.

It has taken the know-how that only decades of design and engineering can provide to grasp the importance of both function and form at Buick, a brand known as much for its ergonomics and engineering as for its grace.

Round-edge window frames first debuted on the 1923 Buick. Wood spoke wheels were discontinued at the end of 1932 as Buick moved toward wire and steel-spoke wheels for the entire line. Cowl-mounted windshield wipers featured across the entire Buick line for 1937. Wood continued to be used in body construction until 1953, after which Buick moved to all-steel body construction.

Certainly, the government prohibited the use of chrome trim upon the eve of 1942. Yet through America's involvement in World War II, and as Buick produced military equipment, the Buick automobile of years past remained in the minds of millions. "During the years just prior to the war, Buick had become one of America's favorite cars," notes author Terry V. Boyce.

"Large, but fast, and with sporting lines, the prewar Buick symbolized upward mobility.

"The Buick's role as part of the postwar dream was more than an ad man's pitch. This was born out by public acceptance of Buick's 1946-1948 models, although they were little more than warmed-over 1942s" (Standard Catalog of Buick 1903-2000, Ron Kowalke, Krause, 1999).

So the Buick, as a desirable automobile, survived World War II - and, today, that period Buick continues to be aspirational among collectors.

At Buick, Harley Earl's 1938 Buick Y-Job Concept was the industry's first concept car. Yet Earl would also introduce innovations such as clay modeling to the design process, bringing styling to the fore.

Fascinated with aerodynamics and sleek, streamlined chassis, Earl sure liked oblongs more than squares and, with the 1938 Y-Job Concept, he bet that the public would, too.

For the industry, it was a revolution: a 1950s design twenty years in advance, with innovations such as electric window regulators and cooled brake drums - and with more than a few touches that would not be adopted by the mainstream for decades hence: disappearing headlights; flush door handles, and a concealed convertible top.

"It was the first Buick with a tapering boat-tail rear end; the first GM car with enclosed headlights; the first without running boards, and the first on which the fenders' curves extended into the door panels," wrote columnist Mark Phelan for the Detroit Free Press recently.

"It also helped establish Buick as a luxury brand, with futuristic features like power windows; a fully automatic power soft-top, and the first DynaFlow automatic transmission.

"The decades have been a friend to the Y-Job" ('Buick Y-Job set the tone for car designs,' Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, May 21^st, 2006).

Yet it must be said that style and engineering have not always gone in timeless hand-in-hand accordance at Buick.

It took Harlow H. "Red" Curtice, formerly of the AC spark plug division, to note that, by the early '30s, Buicks were growing complacently heavier. Curtice lightened the Buick, introducing the Series 40 for 1936. In 1937, for the first time since 1928, Buick production surpassed the 200,000 mark.

In the early 1950s, Buick General Manager Harlow Curtice commissioned two concept cars to suit both sides: the LeSabre, under chief stylist Harley Earl, and the XP-300, under chief engineer Charles A. Chayne. Chayne was the man who had given Buicks aluminum pistons in the '30s. Excited about the XP-300, Chayne exclaimed, "we could go as far off the beaten path mechanically as we planned to go style-wise."

The XP-300 Concept was, Buick determined, the way forward - and thus was 1953 the year that Buick's grace blossomed.

As previewed by XP-300 Concept's new sheetmetal; trim, and waterfall grille, the limited-production 1953 Skylark Convertible, largely penned by Ned Nickles, debuted to promote Buick design leadership. Vestigial rear fender forms disappeared into the body; full-cutout wheel openings were a first for Buick, and windshields integrated themselves into the sheetmetal and glass surrounding them, and a leather interior.

The 1953 Skylark prototype used forty-spoke wire wheels produced by Carlo Borrani, and imported from Italy.

In production, Skylark outsold its Oldsmobile Fiesta and Cadillac Eldorado counterparts, combined, by twofold.

Recently, a 1954 Skylark sold for $181,500, including buyer's premium, at the Russo and Steele Scottsdale sale on January 20^th, 2006. This followed the $189,000 sale of another '54 Skylark at the Barrett-Jackson auction at West Palm in April 2005.

It was the Skylark that really spawned the idea of Buick grace, as the new Buicks debuted for 1954. "The Beautiful Buy was all many Buick ads said... it was a becoming modesty," muse authors Dunham and Gustin (Buick: A Complete History, Terry B. Dunham & Lawrence R. Gustin, Automobile Quarterly, 2002).

Skylark would influence everything after it - even the Wildcat I Concept of 1953, which went a step further in mounting the traditional Buick ventiports atop the fenders; couched the taillights and fender-tops in glass, and kept its front discs stationary behind the revolving wheels.

Drawing from Skylark, the Buick of 1954 sat its driver behind a sweeping expanse of gracefully-contoured glass, wrapping across the body for both style and visibility, with a proud, gleaming Wide-Screen grille up front and a smart sweep in its tail assembly at the rear.

1955, under Nickles and assistant chief designer Homer LaGassey, saw the chrome-tooth grille evolve into a mesh surface, adding the glitter to the front that chrome taillight bezels added to the rear (themselves drawn from the Wildcat II). As it had been in 1954, the Buick was again the third best-selling nameplate industrywide.

Briefly, an intermission was again permitted with the 1956 Centurion Concept:

a four passenger coupé with fiberglass body; all-glass top, and the definite air of an extravagant jet. Yet so confident was Buick in the success of the burgeoning curvaceousness in its production models that the Centurion's crisper surfaces remained on the drawing board.

The 1957 Buick's roof bulged outwardly, reigned in at the rear with arched definition lines. These were heavier Buicks - and, for the first time, Buick had found the limit of its mandate. Sales dropped, and attempts to lengthen and lower the Buick over the next two years were too cautious for the market, if too far for Buick. An economic recession was partly to blame, but was stoic perfection, no matter the climate, not the essence of Buick?

The 1958 Buick was a masterpiece of detailing, with 160 faceted diecast chrome squares making up its Fashion-Aire Dynastar Grille.

In many ways, the 1958 Buick XP-75 Concept, designed by Pininfarina in Italy, was a better portent of the future. It previewed wing-like rear fins and sculptured metal sides - and, on this evidence, Buick began to rethink its plans.

With the curiously unperturbed vigor that would become a hallmark of the marque's attitude, Buick for 1959 replaced round with razor. A 126.3-inch wheelbase on the Electra 225 flagship extended horizontally to an expansive deck, while slender roof pillars and wing-like blade fins pushed the vertical extremities of the 1959 Buick.

Less baroque than before, and more delicate in the years to follow yet still a substantial motorcar, Buick had found its balance.

The 1959 Buick, it was said, was the year's most changed car. Yet nothing could prepare for 1963.

Buick had previously applied the Riviera name to the 1949 Roadmaster Riviera, as well as to other hardtop convertibles of the '50s; now, it drew from the name's glamorous beginnings to create a coupé in its own right: Model 4747, the 1963 Riviera.

Perhaps no Buick has been as synonymous with style. A sharply sculptured roofline; sheer side panels; a low silhouette, and unique frameless side-window glass stood Riviera apart. This was uncompromised style, too, with shielded headlights camouflaged by masks that flipped open wide at a touch of the light switch, a feature that would continue through 1969. "If it means that we have to spend a little more to give you a little better - we do," Buick explained. "A marvelously balanced prestige car," said Ward's Automotive Yearbook.

Yet uncompromised style was not style for the sake of it. "The Riviera proclaims by purity of line and understatement that its occupants have enough confidence in their tastes to eschew ostentation," wrote Car Life in February 1966.

Car and Driver noted, "it stands alone among American cars in providing a combination of luxury; performance, and general roadworthiness that approaches Bentley Continental standards, at less than half the price."

Automobile magazine recently credited the 1963 Buick Riviera as the inspiration for the 1968-79 Jaguar XJ6. "When the Mark X sedan flopped in the States in the early 1960s," they write, "Jaguar chief executive Sir William Lyons, as always, looked around to see what people were buying instead.

"He took the 1963 Buick Riviera as the inspiration for a four-place GT car, which he later turned into a sedan, adding mix-and-match Jaguar styling elements. When the XJ6 launched in 1968, it garnered almost universal acclaim as the most beautiful car in the world. The car's gorgeous shape endured in production until 1979, and its lithe elegance has influenced every Jaguar since" (Automobile, September 2006).

Writing a decade after the Riviera was first introduced, Cars magazine - which had jointly given the Gran Sport Riviera and GS Skylark its Top Performance Car of the Year award in 1965, summarized, "it has for many years maintained the position of the top luxury/ performance vehicle in this country. In its heyday, there was nothing in its class that could stay with one from a traffic light; a drag strip Christmas Tree, or a twisty mountain road" (Cars, February 1973).

Britain's influential CAR magazine has reminisced, "the W-section nose with those slatted sidelights is unrepeatable, and to make the rest of the car live up to the front is a mean achievement... a car fine enough for a world top ten" (CAR, July 1998).

Riviera's style extended to period, Sixties counterparts. In 1965, "everybody anticipated the Buick - the top-of-the-line Electra 225," recalls a colleague who was stationed at Fort Louis, Washington at the time, and who remembers making a trip from the base to the nearest Buick dealership. "It had everything you could want on a car... luxuries, at an affordable price, and bulletproof dependability."

Indeed, director of the Buick Lucerne's interior design Michael J. Burton recalls being a boy in Chicago when one of his uncles bought an Electra 225 every four years. "They called it a Deuce and a Quarter," he reminisced recently for Buick's The Style Review in-house magazine.

1965 marked the beginning of the full-length Buick tail-light, a characteristic of the marque that has (largely) continued today.

"Enjoyment of a Buick Riviera starts long before the ignition key is turned," noted Car Life magazine of Buick's '68 model.

"It starts even before one enters the car.

"In fact, it starts with that first good look. The 1966-1968 Riviera is a beautiful car. Seldom has any car achieved such widespread acceptance of styling" (Car Life, November 1967).

It's been called the boat-tail. Some refer to it as a torpedo back. No doubt, the 1971-1974 Buick Riviera's rear stirred opinions, and continues to do so. Yet Motor Trend's period writing was perhaps the most surprising. "A return to some of the solid values of earlier times," said the magazine of the '71 Riviera, articulating the dichotomy that car represented in noting that "in spite of the fact that the car is a bold departure from what is current and accepted," the new Buick bore resemblance to the 1963 Corvette, and 1951 Cadillac LeSabre (Motor Trend, December 1970).

Paradoxically enough, perhaps, the key to being timeless is not being restricted to being merely a product of one's time. When Buick is done stealing the eye, it may well turn to cheating the wind. By 1968, concealed wipers were standard on all Buicks - but streamlining, in the modern sense, began at Buick a decade later, for 1978, with the Century Aeroback. It proved too early for the market, but lessons learned were applied to the 1980 LeSabre, where a rear deck spoiler; sloping hood, and reduced front-end radius cut air drag by 14%. For the 1981 Regal, an aerodynamic restyle reduced the drag coefficient by 18%. The 1982 Century offered the lowest coefficient-of-drag in the Buick line-up, with flush-mounted glass and outside mirrors integrated into the basic body form. The 1986 Riviera boased a coefficient-of-drag of C_d=0.36.

The silver-blue 1988 Lucerne Concept streamlined the traditional Buick front while retaining its elegance in detailing. Some of its lessons were applied to the 1988 Regal, marking a 33% improvement in aerodynamics over its predecessor, and becoming the most aerodynamic design of any Buick in history to that point.

The advance was made possible by the use of flush glass, and door-into-roof construction.

The light-green 1989 Park Avenue Essence Concept - a preview of the much-heralded 1991-1996 Park Avenue - that Buick began integrating front bumper and grille together, with elongated, elliptical grille opening of which Harley Earl, what with his love of ellipses, would likely have approved. As times changed, it would not do to ignore aerodynamics; the production 1991 Park Avenue would offer a drag coefficient of C_d=0.31.

The rear was the next subject for experimentation. The 1990 Bolero Concept sat its rear deck slightly higher than the hood, with fiberoptic light panel extending across its width. Up front were fixed a deeply-raked windshield and vertical bar grille. Across the body, the emphasis was on delicacy, with slim roof pillars and recessed door frames accentuated by slivers of chrome.

Bolero was a wedge shape that would be expanded upon by the 1992 Sceptre, in preparation for the all-new Buick Skylark. This would be a more aggressive theme intended to offer more youthful Buick expression - and boasting a 0.319 coefficient-of-drag versus the 0.374 of the previous Skylark design. LeSabre, also new for 1992, boasted a C_d of 0.32.

For all of the improvements in efficiency made as time has marched on, these modern cars are still Buicks, and must reference a design heritage that many a manufacturer would love to have.

New for 1992, the Skylark's

grille was inspired by that of the 1939 Buick. Some thought it a touch odd for such a small car, and it was clear that historical references would need to be made more inherently: in form, rather than simply detail.

Under Bill Porter, '90s Buicks reprised an old Buick design cue: the sweepspear, in the Forties a curved line running the length of the car which curved gently down - almost to the rocker panel - before curving around the rear wheel and meeting the tail-light. The sweepspear would last for over thirty years before being relegated for 1970, in favor of more open wheelhouses. When Porter referenced it, he did so in a somewhat wavy beltline that dropped subtly at the waistline.

Another old Buick design cue has made a comeback. 1949 was the first year for the Buick VentiPorts. Inspired by World War II fighter planes, Buick designer Ned Nickles had cut holes in the sides of the hood of his 1948 Buick Roadmaster convertible, installing flashing amber lights astride them to give the impression of a potent engine with a flaming exhaust.

Buick Chief Harlow Curtice liked the portholes so much that he ordered them used (without the lights). They feature today on the 2006 Lucerne.

With Cadillac chasing a more technical interpretation of design, Buick is free to explore a more traditional side of American luxury. "The form language; shape, and expression (inherent in Buick) are very muscular, with free-flowing, animal forms... they are not machine shapes," says John Taylor of GM's Advanced Portfolio Exploration Group (APEx).

"They are very much connected to the psyche of the traditional person. There is a straight art - visual relationship - between the way the car looks; moves, and flows, and the way that person's mind works" (American Car Design Now, C. Edison Armi, Rizzoli, 2003).

Dr. C. Edison Armi, graduate professor of Art History at the University of California at Santa-Barbara, clarifies, "whereas Cadillac projects a message that it was designed inside a computer, untouched by hands, the Buick projects a message that it was hand-sculptured."

It is, Armi adds, "a visual language with (what former GM Design Vice-President Wayne Cherry calls) classic flowing curvature, the sculptured look - that is what Buick does" (American Car Design Now, C. Edison Armi, Rizzoli, 2003).

True perfection lies not solely in beauty, but in the understanding that some things are imperfect: roads, for instance, and driving conditions.

The first production Buick debuted fifteen years after John Boyd Dunlop developed the idea of using the air contained in a sealed hose to make his bicycle rides somewhat less painful, and twelve years after the invention of the modern pneumatic tire by Edouard Michelin.

Ever since, the Buick recipe has been to blend quiet with excellent roadability.

Discover Buick's Dynamic Grace

In many a Buick, from the LeSabre Coupé of the Eighties to today's LaCrosse and Lucerne CXS models, customers have been able to select variants with stiffer springs and damping; larger stabilizers, and faster-ratio power steering, sometimes matched to forced-induction engines routing power through shorter axle ratios with positraction rear differentials (where applicable) and dual exhausts, and offering comprehensive instrumentation. Through history, these have been badged Gran Sport (or GS); Gran Touring (F41), or T-Type.

Yet the fluidity of the more traditional Buick should not be underestimated. The key here is not to engineer the front to feel as though all is made of rubber; but, rather, to offer pliancy with precision. Without compromising ride quality, there should be no scruffy scrambling of tires wanting to let go when the Buick is bent into a turn; no refusal to go in a new direction. Rather, one searches a moderate body lean and a gradual increase in side loading from centrifugal force, mated to what Buick refers to as a Skyhook suspension: the feeling that the faster one drives, the further the limit of adhesion dances on ahead.

"I was surprised by how well it held the road; took the turns; accelerated onto freeways, and isolated its occupants from noise and bumps," wrote the New York Times of the 2000 Buick LeSabre, calling it "a compelling value."

Indeed, Buick is among the few manufacturers whose products' dynamic gait is an integral part of its brand.

As Autocar Executive Editor Richard Bremner writes, "Peugeots lope. Ancient Minis jerk and bounce; modern Minis do the same if they're Coopers. Citroens proceed in a state of well-controlled float, while Jaguars pad with quiet serenity. Porsches steer brilliantly despite carrying the burden of power aft of the driver, while Lotuses advance with their own brand of darting suppleness" ('Turning the Corner,' Autocar, April 6^th, 2004).

The Buick gently cushions, responding fluidly to the road's imperfections. It has not always been thus, but Buick has done much work toward this moving goal. It is so vital a target at Buick that the 1997 Riviera's rear suspension was redesigned in aluminum - mid-cycle - in its control arms; knuckles, and related hardware, resulting in a reduction in unsprung mass and correspondingly more responsive ride.

That's an expensive mid-cycle change. Yet, for a Buick long focused on continuous improvement, it is unsurprising.

On larger Buicks for 1911, full-elliptic rear springs gave way to three-quarter elliptics. Buick rear suspensions switched to cantilevered rear springs for 1915, and to semi-elliptic units for 1917, being affixed more flexibly to the car body. Cord tires were standard on Buicks produced after January 1^st, 1921, while balloon tires followed for the 1925 Buick.

Suspension systems were lowered and refined further for 1923, with revised rear spring hanger positions to reduce rebound and side sway. A new stronger, double-drop frame with deeper side channels for 1928 enabled the body height to be reduced by three inches. Four-wheel Lovejoy hydraulic shock absorbers were used on the 1928 Buick.

Independent front suspension has been a feature of the Buick since 1934; at the time, dubbed Knee Action, and mated to a rear anti-roll bar. For 1937, the torque-free spring enabled a stable ride, one that would become a hallmark of Buick. All-around coils debuted for 1938.

BusinessWeek recently drove a 1940 Buick Limited Model 91, and marveled that, more than sixty years after the car's debut, "driving it is almost effortless, without the loss of road feel... the large steering-wheel and long-throw column shifter are well-positioned, in front of the high seat, (and) both move smoothly and easily.

"More interesting, though, is that the car doesn't seem as large as it is. The ride is soft by modern standards, but not soft enough that it feels ponderous" (BusinessWeek, May 16^th, 2006).

In 1958, Buick became the first manufacturer to develop and produce all-around air suspension. Authors Dunham and Gustin explain, "a high-pressure tank, fed from a compressor run by the engine, was mounted on the car frame. The air in the bellows was to be kept at 100 pounds per square inch, counteracting roll and sway on curves or crowned roads.

"Each bellows was composed of a chamber consisting of a metal container, into which a rubber diaphragm was compressed by means of a plunger connected to the suspension.

"An added feature was a lift actuated by a lever under the instrument panel. It permitted the driver to raise the car body five-and-a-half inches and was designed primarily for use in tire-changing; getting out of deep mud or snow, or when a high curb interfered with door opening" (Buick: A Complete History, Terry B. Dunham & Lawrence R. Gustin, Automobile Quarterly, 2002).

Load-leveling systems have been a key feature of Buick suspensions in several years hence. The 1983 Century T-Type placed a sensor at the Panhard rod of its rear suspension, telling an air pump in the trunk to add more air to the rear shocks or let some out. A 1986 Buick Electra Park Avenue offered load-leveling rear suspension, a ride-control feature that would again be made available for 1993, once Park Avenue had become a nameplate in and of itself.

Testing the 1968 Buick Riviera GS

against four domestic competitors, Motor Trend found that only the innovative Oldsmobile Toronado could match its ride/ handling combination. "The two of them are clearly ahead of the others in this regard," wrote the testers.

"Both are truly superb road cars that beg to be cruised around 100 mph. They feel very secure and stable at high speeds and are practically immune to crosswinds; undulating surfaces, and other perturbations" (Motor Trend, August 1967).

Buick had a lighter side, too - and the Buick Stage 1 455 GSX, one of the fastest muscle cars ever produced, exhibited it well. "The Buick GSX is the best handling supercar we have ever driven," gushed Cars magazine.

"Bar none.

"Yes, we know that's a pretty hairy statement and it takes in a lot of territory. But it's true.

"Why? Because Buick engineers have found the perfect combination of springs; shocks; anti-roll stabilizer bars; wheels, and tires for their car" (Cars, October 1970).

Road Test magazine agreed, noting, "for the first time, an auto manufacturer has incorporated all of its luxury achievements and performance achievements into one car without losing any quality from either" (Road Test, September 1970).

By 1970, Buick was learning much from Mercedes-Benz, another storied brand with a certain timelessness in its looks and demeanor. A wide span, triangular front lower control arm permitted better dive control than had the lateral control arm with locating strut, and reduced bump steer in the '71 Riviera, while the four-link rear suspension was redesigned, a result of the switch to a full perimeter frame. "Updated suspensions and the phenomenal recent success of Mercedes have blessed the affluent with a firm but comfortable ride, and the ability to hustle around a corner in a level attitude," mused Motor Trend, December 1970.

This was Accudrive, Buick's term for a suspension geometry arrangement which produced a counterforce to the centrifugal force generated during cornering that caused body rotation or lean. First introduced in 1970, Accudrive for 1971 relocated the steering gear and linkage from the traditional location above and behind the front wheels to a new position in front of and below them. Also for 1971, rear shocks were moved forward of the axle, to reduce road shock. "The most obvious characteristic of the new suspension setup is the almost complete absence of body roll under really hard cornering conditions," mused Road Test, January 1971, who concluded that the 1971 Buick Centurion offered "the best handling of any full-sized car we have tested."

Riviera, in one comparison test, was the only car in Motor Trend's test group - which included the Ford Thunderbird and Oldsmobile Toronado - to feature variable-ratio steering, dropping to 14.56:1 (well below the rest) to improve on-center responsiveness, against just 2.94 turns, lock-to-lock.

Variable-ratio steering soon became standard on all full-size Buicks. Through the years to follow, large Buicks would offer this feature, with the 1995 Buick Riviera becoming the first to combine hydraulic; electronic, and magnetic control to provide variable steering assist.

"The new Riviera is a big car," wrote Cars magazine of the '73 Buick coupe, yet adding, "however, it is rather agile for a car its size; the power front discs work beautifully, and the power steering offers great road feel" (Cars, February 1973).

Meanwhile, Buick's AccuDrive suspension was steadily evolving. The geometry involved in and around those wide lower A-arms aimed at countering all road; motion, and other forces within the suspension, to minimize need for steering-wheel course corrections under conditions such as crosswinds and rough road driving. In the new intermediate Century/ Century Regal Buicks for 1973, AccuDrive placed steering-gear parts and linkage ahead of the frame front end for maximum stability, and cast the steering knuckle with the integral steering arm and disc-brake mounting bracket for greater ride and handling uniformity.

"The car goes where pointed, and doesn't require constant fresh corrective inputs," noted Road Test magazine.

"The ride is soft and comfortable on the top end, on a good road, but firm under that for good control on irregular surfaces. Response to driver inputs is excellent and with some of the crispness of sports car underpinnings" (Road Test, May 1973).

At the rear, Buick's new midsize cars offered a wide-splay, four-link rear with shock absorbers mounted ahead of the axle for an optimized combination of vehicle control and ride comfort. For 1976, Teflon inside coatings improved shock absorber operation.

T-Type Buicks from 1983 through 1989 offered firmer springs; recalibrated shocks, and hefty stabilizers to control their additional power.

By the late 1980s, the Buick was as fluently responsive as the pyramid of deflected-disc valves in each of its Dynaride shock absorbers was fluid; fluidly adjusting in diameter and thickness to changing driving conditions, as encountered. Even the entry-level 1997 Buick Century continued Buick's modern tradition of deflected-disc valving technology in its shocks and struts.

For 1991, new steering gear - mid-cycle - improved the Riviera's on-center feel. All Skylarks for 1995, mid-cycle, benefited from a new tubular rear axle which placed rear springs and shocks along the wheel center line, improving handling and smoothing the ride.

For 1999, the Century - mid-cycle - received increased rear shock valving and larger front and rear stabilizers to reduce body roll. meanwhile, the Regal received a new steering intermediate shaft with concentric isolator, offering more precise steering, mated to a quicker steering gear (13.3:1, from 15.2:1). Engine mounts in Regals were of a more rigid rubber; chassis mounts were more rigid, and shock absorber valving was increased.

Yet as the modern Buick rounds a corner, too, there must be positive, linear adaptation of body to road. The low frequency oscillations desired by passengers cannot override driver control.

The Buick's unsprung weight is managed to meet sprung weight with the same perfection as an expertly-massaged design meets the eye of the customer.

The Buick platform must be torsionally rigid to hold rattles to a minimum. Through the Eighties and into the early-Nineties, Buicks LeSabre and Electra were gradually structurally reinforced. "An affordable contender in the Euro-sedan wars," wrote Road & Track of Electra (Road & Track, November 1985).

Little things, like lower rail reinforcements; new steering-column supports, and stiffer cowl bars and dash barriers produced notable improvements in ride from year to year. Note that the 1995-1999 Riviera

offered, at a measured twenty-five hertz, the highest torsional rigidity of any personal luxury coupé in the world.

Buick does not often flash these numbers about - yet the Buick driver notices the effort. Certainly, Car and Driver noticed the 2000 LeSabre's evolution in demeanor, writing at the car's launch, "even dominated the fun-to-drive voting... some of LeSabre's increased ability to flash a little attitude comes from a greater structural rigidity... it steers precisely without the need to make constant minor corrections, and it takes the edge off a rough road."

It takes the edge off a rough road. That's practically this brand's mission statement. The Buick must be long enough in wheelbase to smooth the ride over bumps and dips. Only then can Buick engineers massage the modern Buick's all-around independent suspension to isolate each wheel.

A Buick's primary controls - steering; throttle, and brakes - must be linear. The late, great LJK Setright once advised, "whatever control you operate, do it progressively, not sharply.

"If it be a pedal, do not kick it; squeeze it.

"Whether your build-up to the full requisite pressure takes two seconds or two-tenths of a second is up to you; the rule remains, and it is equally applicable to the release of pressure."

Wrote Road Test magazine of the 1977 Buick Riviera, "the brakes exhibited proper proportioning and reasonably short panic stopping distances" (Road Test, July 1977).

We cannot conclude this section without a word on Buick's efforts in sports cars. Grand touring coupés - Rivieras - better befit the brand, but Buick has nonetheless experimented with a harder-edged car. During Harley Earl's era, Buick produced a one-off that came closest to a Buick sports car: the 1954 Wildcat II Concept, bearing resemblance to the Chevrolet Corvette with dramatic front fender cutouts and bolder front and rear styling. Thirty years later, for the 1985 Wildcat II Concept, Buick worked with McLaren on the turbocharged, dual-overhead-cam motor, and with Indy Car sponsor PPG industries on the revolutionary body: a body which blended windshield and hood together in a unique aerodynamic design which joined transparent and solid portions together. There were no traditional doors: as the canopy raised, the steering-wheel tilts forward.

It would not be until January 1988 that the promise of a production Buick sports car was filled: the Reatta.

Recall that, at the end of the Harley Earl, Fifties era, Buick had elected to downsize and somewhat de-chrome its vehicles, and had found perfect balance. For all its impressive 0.34 drag coefficient, the two-passenger Reatta was - perhaps - a step too far away from Buick's traditional grace (and ergonomic space), much as cool reception to the 1986, more compact restyling of the Riviera had prompted Buick to smooth and lengthen the lines for 1989.

Lessons learned from Reatta and Riviera would produce the final Riviera for 1995. Through 1999, this magnificent machine cleaved the air much as had the original, 1963 model that bore its name, while offering Buick's traditional strength in packaging.

It has been deemed a modern classic. "Remember Riviera: it's the most beautiful machine on wheels this year," mused Bob Plunkett for the Houston Post. "Riviera, the car, represents beautiful vistas on wheels in a personal luxury coupé whose distinctive extended prow and dramatic exterior lines have set styling trends in automotive circles dating back to the first edition in 1963."

Bill J. Jinkins of the Grapevine Sun found "silky, one-of-a-kind looks; responsive performance, and handling plus interior volume that rivals a gigantic 2-1/2 ton Bentley Continental R coupé."

Al Haas of the Philadelphia Inquirer called the Riviera's styling "the most original and arresting to come along in this decade. This car's body has a kind of voluptuous muscularity and packs as many visual surprises as a nervous chameleon. As you move around it, styling elements reveal and conceal themselves, creating different looks, allowing the car to reinvent itself constantly."

In 1995, Wheels gave the Riviera its Future Collectible Classic award; Popular Mechanics lent it its Design and Engineering award, and the Chicago Sun-Times listed it among the 10 Best 1995 Vehicles.

The final, 1999 Riviera was produced in Orion Township, Michigan. For twenty years, the Riviera Owners Association has catered to drivers of these 1963-1999 coupés, in all their generations.

The original 1963 Riviera

became the Riviera Silver Arrow I Concept

which lowered the roofline; lengthened the hood, and eventually became the personal car of GM Design Chief Bill Mitchell.

Finally in the world of Buick hedonism, the Buick Blackhawk Concept was not simply a customized car - but one with classic styling combined with contemporary proportions.

A 2+2 convertible with a retractable top, Blackhawk featured the classic 1939 Buick grille: a pattern of fine vertical bars. Its major sheetmetal combined the sleek bodies of 1941 and 1948 Buick Roadmasters. All but the grille was modified, and the final appearance - featuring black cherry paint; doors without handles, and hidden headlamps - was that of a streamlined yet retro head-turner.

The Buick Motor Division seeks to ensure that driving in a Buick is a sensuous experience for drivers and passengers.

Thus are the aesthetic and dynamic goals of the Buick defined: to ride the road with renowned comfort and composure, projecting with that sophistication a confident, if understated, presence.