Video: It’s a Wonderful Day in Your 1960 Buick

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Join us for a leisurely tour of the countryside in a stylish and luxurious 1960 Buick convertible.

 

We’re not certain about this, but we believe this short 1960 Buick reel was probably first aired on the The Bob Hope Buick Show, a television series that ran on NBC from 1958 through 1961. (In 1955-57, it was The Bob Hope Chevy Show.) The setup is straightforward. Here, Mom, Dad, the kids, and a lovable Saint Bernard pile into their new Buick convertible for a tour of the countryside. It’s a wonderful day in a Buick, the announcer explains.

However, things were not totally wonderful for GM’s Buick division at the time. In 1955-56, Buick had briefly climbed to number three in sales, trailing only Ford and Chevrolet. (See our story here.) But when the 1957 recession hit the sales of mid-priced cars tanked, and by 1960 Buick had fallen to ninth place as volume sank from 730,000 cars in ’55 to 253,000 in ’60, a fall of 65 percent.

Reasons for the steep decline were several, we think, and attributable to a changing consumer market as much as anything. Still, Buick continued to offer its traditional lineup of large, well-equipped cars. Convertibles were especially well represented in 1960, with ragtops available in three separate model lines: LeSabre, Invicta, and Electra 225. Video below.

 

6 thoughts on “Video: It’s a Wonderful Day in Your 1960 Buick”

  2. The appearance was a let-down after the sheer elegance of the `59. Too little was said about the genuinely improved variable-pitch Dynaflow in `60 and `61. These cars were too long for many a garage, Because they were so low slung, the seats were thin and hard. They lacked enough headroom for the hats men still wore then.

  3. Had to chuckle about the line “you don’t stop as often for gas in a Buick”. Don’t stop as often as a drag racer? Or did the car have the imaginary 55 gallon gas tank. Seems fuel economy and Buick, of the era, don’t really go together. 10-12 mpg seems like a reasonable guess.

  4. In 1968, at age 23, I bought a gorgeous black 1960 Buick Le Sabre 2dr HT with help from my dad co-signing the loan. It was the first car I wasn’t afraid to take on a long trip. With my girl and another couple we went 40 miles out to the lake where the alternator (generator?) shorted out, burned up and drained the battery. That wonderfully smooth transmission was really slow off the start and I went through 2 1/2 of them. On our honeymoon trip, a 3500 mile excursion to Expo in Montreal, the gas gauge went out the second day and on the way home the timing chain cover failed and it was pumping coolant into the oil pan. We got it repaired but months later the engine died. At our divorce a year later I got the Buick and she took my 1956 Chev sedan (6 standard). That was a mistake on my part. Eventually the car was crushed and buried after I salvaged what I could including the taillights, clock and new transmission. The car was stylish and I loved its looks. But there was a ’58 Chev convert on the lot that I wish I had picked instead.

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