Buick Century

Buick Century is a model name used by the Buick division of General Motors for a line of fullsize performance vehicles from 1936 to 1942 and 1954 to 1958; Buick also used the Century name from 1973 to 2004 for its value-added midsize cars.

Fullsize Centuries

1936-1942

Buick renamed its entire model lineup for the 1936 model year to celebrate the engineering improvments and design advancements over their 1935 models. Buick's Series 40 model range became the Special, the Series 80 became the Roadmaster and the Series 90 - Buick's largest and most luxurious vehicles, became the Limited. The Century took the place of the Series 60.

The basic formula for the 1936 to 1942 Century was established by mating shorter wheelbase Buick Special bodies to Buick's eight-cylinder engine. While the Special was powered by Buick's 233 in³ was rated 93 hp at 3200 rpm, Centuries produced between 1936 to 1942 were powered by Buick's inline 320.2 in³ at 120 hp, making them the fastest Buicks of the era and capable of sustained speeds of 95 mph plus, earning the Century the nickname "banker's hotrod".

The Century was discontinued at the end of the abbreviated 1942 model year, during which total model production only accounted for about ten percent of Buick's total output.

1954 - 1958

In 1954, Buick reintroduced the Century using the same formula of mating the smaller, lighter Buick Special body to its V8 engine with the intent of giving Buick a performance vehicle. Included in the model lineup during this perior was a station wagon model, a body style that had been unavailable during the Century's first production period of 1936 to 1942.

In 1955, the California Highway Patrol placed a large fleet order for two-door Century coupes, a body style unavailable to the general public.

Because the Century was considered the senior "small Buick", the model received GM's only hardtop station wagon, the Century Caballero, from 1957 and 1958. The Caballero's tooling expense, plus its limited sales appeal, caused GM to abandon the hardtop station wagon body style going into its planned 1959 divisional wide new design program.