Today, side views of Buick's line-topping Roadmaster and successor Electra over ten generations are presented. (Buick's Series 90 Limited, its prewar top dog, was not revived after the war -- aside from 1958, when a Series 700 Limited on a Roadmaster chassis was marketed.)
Until 1957, General Motors was widely considered the American car industry's styling leader under the helm of Harley Earl. His pre-retirement designs indicated a loss of design touch, as can be seen on 1957-1960 GM products. His successor Bill Mitchell righted the ship during the 1960s. But his skills began to show decline in the early 1970s, and the effects of the 1973 oil crisis and government regulations lessened design quality. He retired in 1977, and by 1980 or soon after, GM styling became largely mediocre.
General Motors' declining market share was another problem, in that it had to economize when developing new models, with examples from different brands often looking more similar than they needed to be. I was keenly aware of these budget problems by the early 1980s when I became a consultant to the firm.
All that said, looking at examples of Buick sedans (hardtop and B-pillared, according to what was being marketed) might be interesting.
Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale.
The first postwar design for Buick on GM's C-body shared with Cadillac and Oldsmobile 98s. A pleasant design, though the rear fender seems heavy in this photo. Note the cascading shapes at the aft end of the car. Plus the first appearance of the brand's trademark "portholes" on the front fender; Roadmasters got four of these, lesser models fewer.
GM's 1948-49 C-bodies were replaced for 1950. I don't think this was a design improvement -- especially the busy fender treatment and overall bulk.
1954 Buicks were considered futuristic due to wraparound (panoramic) windshields. The fenderline was raised, hoods and trunk lids flattened. Note the Sweepspear chrome trim on the side. This first appeared on some 1949 Roadmasters and were common on Buicks in the early 1950s.
This design is nice, but seemed heavy compared to the new, sleek, tailfinned Chryslers.
So it was given this crash-job facelift for '58, a strong argument that Harley Earl was losing his powers.
All GM brands got new bodies for 1959. Buick models were renamed , a bad marketing decision in my judgement -- I never thereafter could keep track of Buick's model hierarchy. No portholes, no Sweepspear. Barrowings from Chrysler included flatter roofs and tail fins.
Panoramic windshields and tail fins disappeared for 1961's redesign (or possible drastic facelift). Here the front fender is extended to a pointed form to provide additional physical and visual length.
Same 126-inch (3200 mm) wheelbase, but visually and actually (4.9 inches, 125 mm) longer. The passenger compartment greenhouse seems quite short, the hood and trunk lid quite long. Simple shapes, horizontal trim and character line, "porthole" strips neatly aligned to the latter. Nothing wrong from a professional design standpoint, given the "package" styling staff had to deal with. Bottom line: package too long, shaping and ornamentation too bland.
Slightly longer than the 1965 generation car, but softer shaping: subtle improvement. Interesting that the side chrome trim is similar to that seen on the 1959 Roadmaster. This is the last of the long Roadmasters/Electras.
First of the shrunken Electras, and the last styled under Bill Mitchell. Simple, like the 1965 version. Perhaps too simple for a top-of-the-line car positioned at the lower edge of the Cadillac brand.
Shrunken further, to the point it doesn't seem like a luxury Buick (on the outside, anyway). GM's styling director was Irv Rybicki, under whose leadership GM styling reached a possibly budget-influenced low point. The Buick design team was led by the competent Bill Porter, who did the best he could given the package he had to work with. 1985-1990 Electras were the last of the line
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