I had have to say Buicks biggest contribution - Was GM Motors Corporation, It started with Buick and Buick payed for its expansion. I just Watched the Buick history documentary ( which is part of the redrivs 40th birthday download) Buick was for many many years the backbone of GM. As far as engines the V6 Buick came around in the early 60's was sold to AMC and the bought back later. V8 Buicks have been power leaders since there inception - they just didn't get reputation of being fast because they went in the bigger heavier cars gera for for people who wanted smooth powerful luxurious cars - not racers. Buicks also cost more than chevy counterparts, so for grass roots racers chevys made economic sense.
Buick did the background engineering for the other marks. Oldsmobile was regularly used as a test bed for the Buick engineered features.
Apparently you haven't heard of the Buick Century. But Chevy didn't get a "proper" V-8 till 1955. What were grass roots racers doing beforehand. Certainly they weren't ignoring Buick.
Buick Cadilliac and that flat head ford thing were all popular with hot rodders, and later the semi pro drag racers.
Buick was the division that kept GM alive during the depression. Some of GM's stylists didn't like the look of the fat Buicks and wanted to restyle them. GM's top brass said words to the effect: "Do what you want with the other divisions, but don't touch Buick!" Buick was the only division that made money every year during the 30s.
Yep here's a download link for the Buick history documentary - the talk about the people involved in building GM (some of the names may surprise some people) How Buick was the money maker that allowed guys like Durrant to build GM etc. <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <woNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->[FONT="]http://boattail-riviera-by-buick.com/BoattailRegistryDOWNLOADS/BUICK_History.zip[/FONT] This will be part of the redrivs 40th Birthday download that's coming up June 7th. its now at around 2800 pages of Buick/old car info/ books and articles and close to 10,000 photos (3,000 or so Boattails) this taste also has a nice 20 page pdf on the 55 Buick line.
I working on that and since everyone seems interested here's my draft - its not complete or formatted yet, will be adding pictures. Please pass along any info you have - <!--[if !mso]> <style> v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <woNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1027"/> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:shapelayout v:ext="edit"> <o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/> </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--> Buick innovations and highlights The Buick, first automobile manufactured by the General Motors Corporation,. was built by David Dunbar Buick. Over 17,000,000 cars bearing his name and crest have rolled off production lines, yet he was involved in making only 120 of them. Buick, a plumber and machinist by trade, Some of his earliest inventions included a lawn sprinkler and the process for enameling cast iron baths. In the late 1890s he had begun tinkering with motors for boats and tractors, but he quickly redirected his focus toward designing a powerful engine for the American automobile industry. Walter Marr and his wife were photographed in what is believed to be the first Buick. The original print was found in Walter Marr's personal papers, written on the back of the picture was "1st Buick" and "1898". 1899, Buick sold the plumbing business to organized Buick Auto-Vim and Power Co., for production of gas & gasoline engines and automobiles. By 1901 Buick, Walter L. Marr and Eugene C. Richard had developed a motor that they called the L-head engine. Shaped somewhat like a V, this asymmetrical engine places all of the intake and exhaust valves in the extended half of the cylinder block, or the long part of the L, while all of the spark plugs are placed in the shortened half. In 1902 Buick began building an entire car that featured another new motor design, the valve-in-head engine. This symmetrical design places the intake and exhaust valves directly above the cylinders, rather than to one side as in the L-head configuration, and mounts them entirely within the cylinder head, the result being a more powerful and efficient operation. The valve-in-head engine, later referred to as Overhead Value (OHV) engine, produces more horsepower per cubic inch of displacement than other engine designs. Decades later, all engines would adopt the OHV configurations. By 1903 Buick successfully road tested his first car, and the following year he built an improved version, the Model B, which featured a two-cylinder, valve-in-head engine. Between 1904 and 1908, the Model Bs annual sales rose from 37 to more than 8,800, more than the total number of Fords and Cadillacs combined. 1905 Billy Durant goes to the New York Auto Show and takes orders for 1,000 Buicks before the company had built 40. 1906 Buick builds its first production four-cylinder car, the Model D September 16, 1908, GM came into being in Flint Michigan. It was originally a holding company for Buick which was under the control of William C. Durant, but it acquired Oldsmobile later that year. 1910, the year following Mr. Buicks removal from Flint, he took charge of the affairs of the Buick Oil Company, of which he is President. The company has been one of the successful operating companies in the California fields, and had one well, known as Buick No. 1, which produced 900,000 barrels of oil in ten months of operation. Another well, Buick No. 3, came in as a gusher and produced 550,000 barrels in a period of four months. This was one of the most sensational gushers in the history of California oil, being ranked second in size of flow. 1911 GM became the first car company listed on the stock exchange. 1912 GM's Bill Kettering introduces the electric self-starter 1915 the new head of Buick, Walter P. Chrysler. In 1918, the Ontario-based McLaughlin Motor Car Company, manufacturer of the McLaughlin-Buick car, was acquired, and renamed General Motors Canada, Ltd., though R. S. "Colonel Sam" McLaughlin was retained as its first president. 1920s, Buick was becoming the car of choice for kings, sultans and political leaders and winning competitions from South America to Australia to the Soviet Union. 1920 Buick gained fame for setting a record of 103 mph at Muroc Lake. 1920 Walter P. Chrysler left Buick 1923 Adventurer Lowell Thomas used a Buick in the first motor expedition into Afghanistan in 1923. 1923. British royalty favored Buicks - they could claim they were buying "Empire" cars as Buicks were built in Canada. 1923 Buick debuts four-wheel brakes on 1924 Models 1925, Buick and GM Export sent a Buick around the world passing the vehicle from one sales/service operation to another to demonstrate the worldwide reach of GM's operations. 1925 Flxible chose a Buick chassis for its motorbuses, of which 31 were built that year. Between 1925 and 1928 Flxible built a few buses on Cadillac, Reo and Studebaker chassis, but most were built on Buick chassis. 1925 Flxible began building ambulances and funeral cars. Buick's longest chassis in 1925 was 128 inches, so the first professional car and bus chassis were stretched by forty inches. Buick's engines used in professional cars was the 255 cid six-cylinder that produced 70 bhp. 1925 Buick abandoned hand operated windshield wipers introducing vacuum operated wipers. 1925 Buick adopted balloon tires. 1926 The combination starter/generator was superseded by separate units which were more efficient and reliable. 1926 Harley Earl was hired as a consultant to the Fisher Cadillac Division 1927 The first In-House design department The Art and Colour Section" created and led by Harley Earl 1929 the Opel company was acquired by General Motors. 1929 Buick introduces a smaller 6-cylinder sedan which is named the Marquette. It is discontinued by 1931. 1930 Buick increased the size of their six-cylinder engine to 331 cid and 99 bhp 1931 A new straight eight engine, the 344cid produced 104 bhp. It featured an oil temperature regulator that either cooled or heated the engine oil depending on conditions. 1931 The Shafer Buick 8 qualified for the Indy 500 at 105 mph. 1933 was also the year Buick adopted hydraulic brakes as standard equipment. 1936 Dual-brake system introduced 1936 The Buick Roadmaster designed by Harley Earl is introduced it became a milestone in styling, 1937 Cowl mounted wipers were introduced. 1938 GM Design Department builds the first concept car the Buick Y-job. Designed in 1938 by the famous General Motors designer Harley Earl, the Buick Y-Job is considered by most to be the first concept car. The car had power-operated hidden headlamps, "gunsight" hood ornament, wraparound bumpers, flush door handles, and prefigured styling cues used by Buick until the 1950s. 1938 A Buick was the first production car to be fitted with an electrical turn indicator in 1938. 1940 Buick Fire ball 320 straight-eights, now produced 141 bhp. 1941 introduced the two-way hood, which could be opened from either side or removed completely. The design was clever if at least one side remained latched. By 1948, the automatic transmission had evolved into the hydraulic torque converter that we know today coupled to a planetary geartrain. The first to use the converter was Buick. In 1948 Buick offered the Dynaflow fully automatic transmission as a $244 option on the Roadmaster. Within three years, 85 percent of Buicks had the Dynaflow. The Dynaflow was the model for present-day automatic transmissions. Others soon followed with similar units -- Chevrolet Powerglide, Fordomatic and Merc-O-Matic in 1950; and the Chrysler M-6 Torque Converter Automatic in 1951. 1951 Buick's LeSabre and XP-300, two custom-built super-streamlined concept cars, are introduced to test GM's new advances in styling and mechanical features. 1958 to 1975 the Opel name was used in the United States; the cars being sold by Buick dealers. 1949 Stylist Harley Earl designs "tailfins" for Cadillac, a distinctive feature of American cars in the 1950's 1949 Venti-ports a series of three or four portholes or vents on the front fender behind the front wheels. The source for this traditional Buick styling cue was Buick stylist Ned Nickles, who in 1948 built a custom car which in addition to the ports had a flashing light within each hole each synchronized with a specific spark plug simulating the flames from the exhaust stack of a fighter airplane 1961 first V6 engine goes into production, the sleekly styled "Special," introduced in 1962, was named Motor Trend Magazine's "Car of the Year" 1963 Buick introduces the prestige, E-body Riviera. 1966 GM introduces the industry's first energy absorbing steering column. 1967 GM introduces front seat shoulder belts on 1967 models. (Rear seat shoulder belts are available as a dealer installed option.) 1971 Experimental airbags tested in Riviera, 1971, GM pioneered the use of engines that could run on low-lead or unleaded gasoline. 1972 A new combined lap and shoulder belt system with both a light and a buzzer to remind the front occupants that they should "buckle-up" becomes standard on all GM cars. 1973 GM tested airbags on the 1973 model Chevrolet automobile that were only sold for government use. The 1973, Oldsmobile Toronado was the first car with a passenger air bag intended for sale to the public. General Motors later offered an option to the general public of driver side airbags in full-sized Buick's in 1974. 1976 In response to the fuel crisis, Buick downsizes it full-size and luxury vehicles. 1979 Introduction of the newly designed front-wheel-drive compact car, the Buick Skylark. 1983 The $200 million project "Buick City" is announced to consolidate assembly operations in Flint with Fisher Body Divisions metal fabricating and body assembly facilities. 1988 Buick GN [FONT="]1999 General Motors' new joint venture assembly plant in Shanghai, China, begins production of Buick Regals for the Chinese market.[/FONT]
There it is. The 300 with the end chopped off. I always get the original motor mixed up :laugh: That was the start of the corporate v6 that GM uses. As for the Buick inspiration on the gen3/4 I can't help you. I have a book explaining the development of the gen3 motors and they didn't mention using the 3800 as a strating point. They basically just say that they put in certain features because the standard gen1/2 features were lacking in some way. It was more of a "how do we make this bolt better?" situation. Basically the same way the original odd-fire 231 turned into the supercharged Series 3 3800 many years and small adjustments later. It is fun though to note how they started designing the gen3 motor the same time the gen2 went into production because they considered the original design to be maxed out and needed a new direction. It was between the LS1 and the LT5 and they prefered the throttle response of the LS1 more since it had a lower powerband and in turn didn't need to rev so high to make power. The LT1 was designated as the guinea pig for some of the engineers new ideas and they figured if it didn't work it wouldn't be a big deal since it was a limited production motor. The head design got carried over as a success and the rest was pretty much cast off to the reject pile.
Hey Rob I've got some edits for your list 1976 In response to the fuel crisis, Buick downsizes it full-size and luxury vehicles. The GM downsizing actually occured for the '77 model year across the divisions. 1976 was the last year for the really big cars. 1988 Buick GN Not sure where you're going with this, but here's a couple things to help. The Regal and Lesabre came available with a turbo charged 231 v6 in 1978. They were the blow through carb design and were created by a group of school children. The Buick Grand National was first introduced in 1982 to honor the Nascar series. They were painted silver with some fancy body tweaks and styling cues that made them really stand out from all the other Regals that they were based on. Most of the 215 GN's were equipped with the NA 4.1 motor, while less than 50 actually got both the GN package and the turbo 3.8 option. 1987 was the last year of production for the G-body based GN and it had a great sendoff with the GNX becoming available.
Thanks for the correction, _ 77 Buick Downsized car - seems kind of funny when think of todays cars or even the mid 80's downsizing. Of course just get into 76 Park Ave - and you get the idea. I'm not sure where I was going with GN note, still working on the list ( added another page of info since putting it here) I'm starting to include milestones as well as innovations, GN/GNX, turbos, as well as GS/GSx, Riviera, V6 special, 48 Roadmaster, are definitely some milestones. I added you comments for Regal GN , dont get the school children reference - you referring to cars or the turbo V6s ( Riviera had the turbo around then to - my new note to myself}. Anybody care to nominate, point out some others. - I will put the corporate knowledge from here in final edition
Here's info on the early turbo cars http://www.beforeblack.net/abouttur.htm The first turbo 3.8 was the Indy Pace Car Century Coupe in 1976 As for the kids thing, there's an old story that some kids group similar to the boyscouts came up with the idea of putting a turbo on the little 3.8 and Buick liked the idea and decided to try it out.
Nice link thanks good stuff - I forgot all about the Free Spirit Edition and I even have a pace car poster picture some where - never knew about the turbo monte c's.
Not Buick related, but I think the Cadillac Northstar is, basically, what became of the lessons learned from the LT5 (Corvette ZR-1). The LT5 was just too expensive to put in anything other than a specially-optioned high end car. My father-in-law once owned a 1990 ZR-1 and it was seriously fun.
Now that we got the turbo buicks sorted out - anybody fuel injection on Buicks prior the 80's 3800, I thinking ther may have been back in the fifties - when the Bonneville and Belair had mechanical Rochester units - did one ever make onto a Buick????
Great writeup. Regarding the dates, make sure you differentiate Calender Year and Model Year when the specific info is available. Devon
Chevy and Pontiac in 1957 and dropped after 1959 on all but the Vette, which was dropped in 1965. Caddy used it in 1976 on the seville. It was designed by GM, Bosch, and Bendix and was used on an Oldsmobile engine. It was an analog computer controlled design and pioneered the ecm that we all know and love today. Basically Buick was the last GM to get fuel injection. I think its first was the 82 Skylark with the 2.5 but I'm not even close to positive on that. I know the Bendix unit was only available on the Olds motor so Buick didn't get that system.
Yep i'm gonna have go thru and try to sort that out, there's probably more like that. - thats what happened with the 76 /77model downsizing thing.
Just gotta throw this picture because I found it, while looking for the other 500 pace car pictures. some other B uick pace cars and Buick bug Indy racers
