For 1936, the Buick division at General Motors stuck its largest straight-8 engine into a smaller, lighter chassis, creating a memorable performer called the Century. 

Automotive writers have a game we like to play. You could call it “name the first muscle car,” and it’s performed by giving the term muscle car some elasticity and then stretching it this way and that. Personally, we’re strict purists on the subject, noting that  the American muscle car era didn’t truly begin until 1964.

But the process does repeatedly turn up a number of interesting cars, including this one: the 1936 Buick Century. It’s been featured on any number of proto-muscle car lists. And while it’s not really a muscle car in the strictest sense, the Century does share one important muscle car attribute. Buick stuck its biggest, most powerful engine in one of its smaller, lighter cars. And in doing so, Buick produced one of the hot performance cars of the era.

The Century name was based in part on a broad Buick claim that the car could do an honest 100 mph. “Watch the speed indicator climb, climb, climb until it shadows the 100 mark,” the factory literature boasted.  The power to perform this feat was supplied by  Buick’s well-regarded overhead-valve straight 8, freshly reengineered for 1936. With 320 cubic inches of displacement, it was rated at 120 horsepower and was identical to the engine used in the big Roadmasters and Limiteds. For comparison, note that the ’36 Ford offered 85 hp and Chevy a meager 79 hp.

With its 122-inch wheelbase chassis, the Series 60 Century was considerably smaller than the Roadmaster (131 in.) and Limited (138 in.) but a bit longer than the Special (118 in) at the bottom of the lineup. More to the point, the Century was 400 to 800 lbs lighter than the big senior Buicks, depending on body styles. And naturally, the reduced weight was beneficial not just to acceleration but to handling and braking as well. At some point the Century picked up the title of “banker’s hot rod.”

The available body styles (above) included a Sport Coupe, a Convertible Coupe, a two-door, five-passenger coach that Buick called a Victoria Coupe, and a four-door, five passenger Sedan. The Coupe was offered with or without a rumble seat, while the feature was standard in the Convertible Coupe. All incorporated GM’s all-steel Turret Top construction, which Buick adopted one year later than the other GM divisions. At around 18,000 units the Sedan was by far the biggest seller in the Century line, accounting for more than two-thirds of the production for 1936.

The Century formula was a winner for the Buick division and it was a mainstay of the product line for decades, adding some pizzazz to the brand’s conservative image. The name itself actually survived at Buick until 2005, although in its final years it no longer had any particular significance, performance or otherwise.