With Buicks of the 1950s being such eye-grabbing designs, it’s only natural that they easily stand out in vintage images. As such, it’s time again to celebrate the brand from Flint with this collection of images featuring Buicks on the road, as they were back in the day.
CC readers know this is an ongoing feature, as Buicks from this era have their following (Part 1 is found HERE and Part 2 HERE). In today’s collection, the images once again concentrate on photos taken mostly in the 1950s. Each image, with at least one Buick to be found.
That black Buick in the snowstorm must have just pulled out of the garage. There’s not a spot on it!
#7: Three persons on front steps
I getting a tropical vive here. The wide open windows to capture the breeze, functional storm shutters, metal roof on house, vegetation in the yard, gravel road, etc. I’ll take a guess its Puerto Rico since the remaining islands were dominated by European territories.
Someone familiar with plant life could pin it down further.
The two older gals with their blue `53 sedan must be proud. Their car has factory AC–a rather pricey & scarce option that was new at GM that year! The wire wheel covers add a nice touch!
Two rarities. A ’51 Frazer (I think) in the first picture and a Pontiac sedan delivery in the 8th.
That white or cream ’57 Buick is perfect!
I called the ’56 taillights Daffy Duck when I was a kid. ’57 fixed that.
#4 – the 50 still looks like a trimmer with a No. 2 guard.
#8 – I love the 49 Roadmaster in the foreground. Assuming the Lark in the background to be new-ish, it shows what 10 years would do to even the nicest cars back then.
’55-’57 are some of the best styled cars of that era. I love the full rounded wheel openings. On the other hand, who signed off on the hideous 1950 grille?
I was going to say the same thing about the ’56-7 and include Oldsmobile. Makes me wonder if the horrid ’58s caused the famous recession.
To me these ’50’s Buick perfectly personify the postwar Pax Americana: overwhelming US power and hegemony: massive, powerful, dominating, somewhat restrained compared to Cadillac. The ’56 Buicks, Lincolns and senior Packards were the zenith of this confident American zeitgeist, but it all started to get out of hand in the ’57-59 time period. The restraint disappeared, perhaps a reflection of the feelings of vulnerability and fear of threats of nuclear war and losing the space race and a need to declare that we’re over-the-top, untouchable, the stylists tapping into the current psyche. The hysteria being expressed by crazily extroverted designs so typified by the insane (to our eyes) 1959 Cadillac. I’ll take a ’55 or ’56 Roadmaster anytime: confident, powerful, elegant, in a mid 1950s vein. Merry Christmas!
A great collection of pictures! I really love the styling of the ’57 Buicks, they commanded attention and suggested wealth but in a much more subtle way than Cadillac did. To me, Buicks suggested old wealth and owners who were wealthy but did not flaunt their wealth as opposed to Cadillac. The sad thing is now compared to the vehicles of the 1950’s, Buick is building nothing more than nondescript SUVs, CUVs and crossovers. How sad.