History of the Buick

Buick – the financial pillar on which General Motors was founded by David Dunbar Buick , a Scotsman, and his associates in the late l800’s, with the creation of the overhead value engine.

Through the years the Buck V-6 became known for smoothness, performance and reliability.

William C. “Billy” Durant known as Flint’s carriage King identified The Buick as a car would become a “self-seller”. He raised the money to present the car at the 1905 Auto Show in New York and took orders for 1,000 Buicks.

He created a racing team to market Buicks. Buck was the only car to complete a 1,000 mile race from Chicago to New York in 1906 and the first car to travel across South American in 1914. By 1908 more than 8,000 Buicks had been produced and sold.

Durant using the Buick brand as the product created General Motors in 1908 – the Buick brand was followed quickly by Oldsmobile and Cadillac and Oakland (which became Pontiac) becoming part of General Motors.

By 1926 General Motors then headed by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., was producing more than 260,000 cars. Market wise, Buick continued to be part of races around the work leading to its prominence.

The depression had hard in 1929 and in 1933 produced was less than 40,000, but the brand was reenergized in 1934 with 78,000 being produced and selling for $865 and by 1936 the Roadmaster line was designed and sold close to 200,000.

During the war Buick turned its capacity to military contracts and built Liberty aircraft engines and Red Cross ambulances.

After the way, Buick sales rose rapidly with their focus on style and engineering with sales of 440,000 in l950 and 745,000 by l955.

Buick introduced Dynaflow, a toothy grille, hardtop convertible styling and portholes along the side of the Roadmaster. In the late 50’s Buick changed the entire product line and came out with new models … LeSabre, Electra and Invicta and then in 1963 introduced the Rivera. Sales were up and then again down in the 70’s with the Old Embargo. Buick has always rebounded. Buick continued in the 80’s to be the prominent car in racing circles with Buick engineers powering the majority of the cars at the Indianapolis 500. Buick introduced the Park Avenue in 1990 and by 1991 Buick led all automakers domestic and import in sales volume in the US.

Buick is one of the brands to have weathered the crisis in the auto industry and remains a popular brand with models in the luxury brand marketplace.

Buick … The All American Car!