Cars - Buick Century

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	Cars - Buick Century

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

Full-size Century

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.

Buick's 1959 complete lineup name changes retired the Century name for full-sized cars, replacing the 'most spirited Buick' with the Buick Invicta series.

Mid-Size Century

1973

In 1973, when all of GM's intermediate models were redesigned, the name reappeared on Buick's mid-size sedans and wagons and some coupes (previously the Skylark had been Buick's entry in this market segment). From this point on, along with the new upmarket Regal coupe, Century was a mainstay of Buick's smaller line. With the vanishing of the Skylark coupe after 1972, the Century inherited its potent Gran Sport performance option. While the Stage I 455 in³ (7.5 L) V8 was somewhat diminished from its performance heydays due to emission controls, the Century GS coupes of 1973 to 1975 remained strong performers by the standards of the time. At the other end of the power spectrum, to meet fuel economy regulations, some later models of this generation were equipped with 231 in³ (3.8 L) V6s.

Between 1975 and 1977, a Buick Special coupe (referred to in the Century lineup as the Century Special) was marketed as part of the Century model lineup as an entry level vehicle; the "Century Special" coupe (from Buick literature) was based on the 2-door colonnade bodystyle with the triangular quarter glass. The 1977 Century Special featured a rare landau coupe using the porthole quarter glass common to the 1974 to 1977 Chevrolet Malibu Classic and the Pontiac LeMans.

1978

In 1978, a downsized, redesigned Century appeared in the form of a fastback coupe ("aeroback") and sedan (the bodystyle was shared with the Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon), as well as a more traditionally styled station wagon. V6 engines were standard due to fuel economy regulations. One of the more interesting and rare models of this time was the 1979 to 1980 Century Turbo Coupe, powered by a turbocharged version of the 3.8 L V6, which offered V8-like performance with more reasonable fuel consumption. The Turbo Coupe was not nearly as popular as the similar Regal Turbo Sport Coupe of the time, and total production is estimated to be less than 2,500. The fastback sedan also did not sell well (in common with the similar Cutlass Salon sedan) and it was revamped as a more conventional notchback in 1980. For 1981, the fastback coupe was dropped. With the introduction of the new front wheel drive Century in 1982 (see below), the existing notchback sedan and wagon models were transferred to the Regal line.

1982

In 1982, another downsized Century arrived, this time on the front wheel drive A platform, in coupe and sedan form. In 1984, a station wagon was added to the lineup to replace the departed Regal wagon. 1984 also saw an Olympic version of the Buick Century, comemorating the 1984 games in Los Angeles. In 1986, all versions were "freshened" with a new, more angular front fascia. Wheelbase was 104.9 in (2664 mm), with 189 in (4800mm) overall length. Both four-cylinder and diesel V6 engines were offered in this generation, although neither became popular. Performance versions of several Buick models, including the Century coupe, were offered in the mid 1980s under the T-Type name. With a 181 in³ (3.0 L) V6 producing 110 hp (82 kW), the Century T-Type's performance was modest, but the 3.8 SFI engine, producing 140-150 hp (105-112 kW), offered spirited performance in this relatively lightweight vehicle.

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