Buick Special
The Buick Special was an automobile produced by Buick. It was usually Buick's lowest-priced model, starting out as a full-size car in 1936 and returning in 1961 (after a two-year hiatus) as a mid-size. The Special was built for several decades and was offered as a coupe, sedan and later as a station wagon. When GM modernized their entry level products in the 1960s, the Special introduced the modern Buick V6 that became a core engine for GM for several decades and lived on in upgraded form until 2006.
| Buick Special | |
|---|---|
1958 Buick Special Convertible | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Buick (General Motors) |
| Production | 1936–1942 1946-1958 1961–1969 |
| Designer | Harley Earl |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Full-size (1936–1958) Compact (1961-1963) Mid-size (1964–1969) |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Marquette Model 30 Buick Standard Six |
| Successor | Buick LeSabre (1959 full-size) Buick Skylark (1970 mid-size) |
By 1970, Special was no longer offered as a standalone model but the name would later be used for the entry trim on 1975 to 1979 and 1991 to 1996 Century models.
The entry level Buick can trace its heritage to the Buick Model 10, a companion to Buick's first car, the Buick Model B. The Model 10 started out as one of the independent brands merged into Buick, called the Janney.