CarBrandLogos archive · Buick · 1936

BuickRoadmaster

Buick's big one, and the last American estate with a V8 and wood on the sides.

Photo: IFCAR · Public domain

The story

A defining chapter in Buick history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Buick Roadmaster, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Buick reorganised its range for 1936 and gave every series a name instead of a number. The Roadmaster sat near the top, replacing the Master Six, and came with a straight-eight, a long wheelbase and the kind of hardware that made it a plausible alternative to a Cadillac for a buyer who did not want to look like he had one.

1940 Buick Roadmaster - green - fvr T · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

The car defined Buick's visual language through the post-war years. The 1949 model introduced VentiPorts — the row of portholes on the front wing, initially an in-joke about aircraft exhaust stacks that stuck for seventy years — and the sweepspear side moulding. Dynaflow, General Motors' first torque-converter automatic, arrived on the Roadmaster in 1948, and the Estate Wagon versions with structural ash framing are among the most sought-after American woodies. Production ran from 1935 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1958.

1931 Buick Series 80 Tourer · Sicnag · CC BY 2.0

1936 Buick Roadmaster 80 Brewster - back - fvl

In production

The name came back in 1991 on a full-size rear-drive platform, most memorably as an enormous estate with a small-block V8, vinyl woodgrain flanks and a glass roof panel. It was an anachronism the moment it launched and is now a cult object. Production of that generation ended in 1996 when the Arlington plant was converted to build SUVs — a decision that reads as a fair summary of what happened to the American family car.

1936 Buick Roadmaster 80 Brewster - back - fvl · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0

At a glance