No, the 1960 Buicks were not powered by gas turbine engines. But there was a purpose behind the Turbine Drive label that’s worth exploring.

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Buick has employed some noteworthy words and phrases in its marketing over the years. We recall the Fireball 8, the Dynaflash, and “When better cars are built, Buick will build them.” And who can forget “Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” But maybe the most intriguing verbiage of all came in the 1960 season, when the cars were described almost exclusively in company materials as “the Turbine Drive Buicks.” No, Buick was not trying to imply the car was powered by a gas turbine engine. The copywriters were actually referring to the transmission.

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By 1959, Buick had backed away from its Dynaflow trade name in favor of Twin Turbine for the GM division’s unorthodox automatic transmission, which used the torque converter for torque multiplication under acceleration rather than planetary gears. Twin Turbine was in reference to the dual hydraulic turbines in the torque converter incorporated in the Dynaflow for 1953. (In 1958 there was also a Flight Pitch Dynaflow aka Triple Turbine, but the bugs couldn’t be worked out and it was cancelled in 1959.)

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As if to drive the point home for good, in 1960 the entire product line was widely  marketed as “the Turbine Drive Buicks.” In truth the Dynaflow label had been a mixed blessing and ultimately, it was determined to be a liability. For the stereotypical Buick owner who accelerated at a leisurely pace, the transmission was utterly smooth, free of gear changes. But when greater acceleration was demanded, as your more average driver might, the feel was not unlike that of a modern CVT (continuously variable transmission), with a seeming disconnect between engine rpm and road speed. This, and deficient acceleration overall, earned the transmission nicknames like “Dynaslow” and “Dynaslush,”  which became as popular in the car world as Dynaflow itself.

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It could never be said  the Dynaflow aka Twin Turbine aka Turbine Drive transmission was a failure. Most Buick owners liked it just fine. It provided reliable service in millions of cars, and in 1960, around 99.4 percent of Buick buyers opted for the unconventional automatic transmission. However, the only alternative on the purchase order was a three-on-the-tree manual gearbox. It would be interesting to learn what Buick shoppers would have chosen if the division had offered the GM Hydra-Matic, a more conventional automatic, as an option alongside Turbine Drive.

For multiple reasons, no doubt, Buick sales continued to slide in 1960 to not quite 254,000 cars. That was roughly a third the volume of Buick’s landmark 1955 season as the division nearly fell out of the top 10. The “Turbine Drive” label for the Buick line was used for only a single year, though the transmission stuck to the name until 1964, when the GM corporate Turbo-Hydramatic was adopted by Buick, where it was called the Super Turbine 400.

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