Buick climbed up to third place among the Motor City carmakers in 1955, only to see its sales tumble 67 percent by 1958 when the economy took a downward turn.
Limited Convertible
As the largest manufacturing enterprise in all the world, General Motors projected an air of invincibility in the ’50s, but when we look a little closer there were some cracks in the edifice. For example, at the Buick division. As the economy boomed, Buick rose to third in U.S. volume in 1955, but when the first real postwar recession arrived in August of 1957, sales tanked. While all the mid-priced brands stumbled in the downturn, Buick was hit harder than most. Though there was never any serious talk of killing the brand, as there was at Cadillac in 1933, it was clear there was trouble at GM’s oldest brand.
For ’58, Buick continued on the same path as it had all through the ’50s, offering more every year: more power, more size and weight, more chrome. The four model lines—Special, Century, Super, and Roadmaster—continued, while a fifth was added, the Limited, with even more features and pizzaz than the Roadmaster. With prices ranging from $2,700 for a Special four-door sedan to $5,125 for a Limited convertible, there was seemingly something for everyone in the congested and competitive mid-priced field.
Special Sedan
The four-door Special, Buick’s base model, was by far the biggest seller in ’58 at better than 48,000 cars. Meanwhile, the Special Riviera two-door hardtop was the second-best seller at nearly 35,000 units. No real surprises here: It was on the strength of the low-priced Special that Buick had taken the number-three spot in ’55. A two-tone cloth-and-vinyl interior and a 364 CID, 250 V8 were standard for ’58, though the Dynaflow automatic transmission was an extra-cost option. Here was the car Buick could point to with its familiar ’50s slogan, “If you can afford any new car, you can afford a Buick.”
From there, the Buick line presented a bonanza of choices. In four of the five model lines, a convertible was available: on the Special and Century sharing the 122-in wheelbase chassis, and the big Roadmaster and Limited on the longer 127.5-in platform. However, all four combined sold only around 10,000 copies. There were Estate Wagons in multiple trim levels, too, including a Special Riviera and the luxury Caballero (see our feature here). Together they racked up around 11,500 sales.
Century 4-Door Riviera
All the automakers (except American Motors) took a beating in the ’58 recession, but Buick was slammed. Sales fell to 240,000 cars, a 67 percent decline from the ’55 peak. So apart from the economy, what went wrong? Styling, features, pricing? Buick took no chances. For 1959, everything was changed: radically new exterior design, bigger engine, lower prices on the deluxe models. Even the model names were new for ’59. The division rallied, but it didn’t really recover for a few more years.
Special Convertible
I’m not going to say the styling had anything to do with it, but it kind of is a cartoon of itself.
It’s especially odd on that black 4 door Special with its painted window frames and drip rails, dog dish hubcaps, and full helping of the excess side chrome that takes the optioned-up ones over the top. They could’ve built a tastefully well trimmed car for the same money but somehow made it look austere without looking any less excessive.
That’s a Ford engineering photo of all things. I presume they acquired the car for competitive analysis and teardown and got the cheapest one they could find.
I agree. If they removed the “door shovels”, reduced the rear bumper wrap around, and toned down the nose a little bit it would look a little better.
Perhaps a complimentary five-gallon bucket of chrome polish would have eased the pain. A fellow could spend hours on that grille alone.
Dad told me in ’85 that there were more ’58 GM products on the road than there were in ’63…
After this cartoon-like lack of inspiration, they had the most beautiful USA car ever, in `59.
Sounds like they were afflicted with the problem you identified in the ’58 Edsel. Too many model variations in too small a market. It’s hard to succeed if you give up economy of scale.
Hmm…Buick was older than Oldsmobile???
Technically correct. Oldsmobile was the older marque but not the older GM brand. Buick is GM’s elder child, currently and in the past.
Buick was acquired on October 1, 1908, General Motors went on to purchase a number of other automakers. Oldsmobile also became a General Motors brand on November 12, 1908. They were among the first brands (and possibly the first two) purchased by GM head William Durant.
Do not toy with MCG’s giant brain.
No toying….Thank you for the clarification. I can sleep now😂
Grandma had a blue/green ’58 Century as her first ever car (bought lightly used; she was in her late ’40s when she got her license). It had the air suspension. Grandma would dress her then 4 grandchildren up in their Sunday best and take us out to lunch. Grandma like to heel-and-toe drive; the air suspension quickly refunded our fancy lunches. Grandma wasn’t pleased. She followed up the Century with a ’67 2 door Special, and then went on to her final car, a loaded ’77 Regal. Grandma liked her Buicks.
That Special Sedan is pretty amazing. I’ve never seen one…
At one time in the mid-1960s, my oldest brother had a 1958 Special 2-door sedan (the least expensive Buick of all) equipped with the usual Dynaflow, power brakes and steering–and painted in what I think was called Reef Coral and white (which to me was a pastel shade of pink!). Nobody ever razzed him about that pink-and-white Buick–as a big, beefy police officer who had served in the Navy in the mid-’50s, nobody dared!
I remember the story that GM designers wanted Harley Earl to CHOOSE BETWEEN the full length side sweep and all the bright work towards the rear. Mr. Earl walked in, took one look and quickly gave his approval to the whole thing not realizing there was a choice to be made. I think by the 1958 and 1959 models, Harley Earl had kind of lost it and just thought more chrome solved all problems. Bill Mitchell started toning things down with the 1960 models.
Clearly the author of this article does not understand the internal structure of GM in the 50’s and 60’s, and the platform sharing that all but Cadillac mandated to follow. GM could not have predicted the fall 57 recession and was already done the design of all 58 models, which were purposely one year only body styles to make the transition into the coming “low, wide, long” style of the 60’s.
Are ’58 GM models the best cars, or most practical cars GM ever built? Probably not. But individually by namepate, or as a group, they are some of the most beautiful and elegant mass produced cars ever built.
Sorry, I am not following you at all. Are you sure you are referring to the article above? Please note we didn’t offer any criticism of the styling, engineering, or build quality. We only noted that sales cratered in 1958, and that is simply a fact.