Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick”—old General Motors tag line
Although I’ve never owned one, I have documented my love affair with classic Buicks on my car photography website. The car is named for automotive pioneer David Buick and was one of the first American automobile marques. In 1908, it was the company that established General Motors and GM’s founder William C. Durant originally served as Buick’s general manager and was a major investor.
My Favorite Buicks
In addition to my all-time favorite Buick, the Grand National, here’s another one of my favorites. Created to mark Buick’s 50th anniversary, the Roadmaster Skylark was a top-of-the-line, limited-production convertible that General Motors introduced in 1953 to promote its design prowess. They sold 1,690 units of the 1953 Skylark that had a sticker price of $5,000 or about $58,834 in today’s dollars. For a comparison, the German-made (and now discontinued) 2019 Buick Cascada convertible started at $33,070. On the other hand, a well-preserved 1953 Skylark in #1 condition is worth more than $250,000, according to Hot Cars.
How I made this shot: This image was made on a deserted parking lot in an industrial area north of Denver. The camera used was a Fujifilm FinePix S3Pro DSLR with 35-70mm f/2.8 lens (at 62mm) with a Program mode exposure of 1/1500 sec at f/9.5 and ISO 400. Image was slightly cropped for an original, for some reason, 16×9 image.
Skylark production ran for only two years and featured Buick’s new 322 cubic-inch Nailhead V8 in place of their old stand-by straight 8 and the car had a 12-volt electrical system, which was a big deal at the time. The Skylark also had sporty full-cutout wheel openings, a styling cue that the entire 1954 Buick line ultimately used. The Skylark had red or white wheel wells and featured chrome Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels with plated and painted Skylark center emblems. (Below right.)
In 1954 the Skylark returned with wheel fender linings that could be painted in a contrasting color to the body. The trunk was restyled into a semi-barrel shape and tail lights were moved from the fender onto chromed fins that were mounted atop the rear fenders, which is the easiest way to spot a 1954 model. Skylark production for 1954 was just 836 cars. Trivia: Although officially called the Roadmaster Skylark, Buick aficionados will note the lack of the traditional Roadmaster “portholes.”
You can see a 1953 Skylark, similar to the one above, at the Cussler Museum that’s dedicated to the preservation of rare and vintage automobiles from around the world. This extensive collection was established by the late, best-selling author Clive Cussler and has more than 100 of what he considered to be significant automobiles, ranging in years from 1906 to 1965. The museum is open, May though September, Thursdays, Fridays, and the first Saturday of every month, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.