mobile-menu-icon
GM Authority

Happy 110th Birthday, Buick!

On Sunday, May 19, 2013, Buick turned 110 years old. So Happy Birthday, Buick.

The story behind the founding of the automotive brand is rather interesting: after coming to Detroit from Scotland with his parents in 1956 at the age of two, David Dunbar Buick turned to building gasoline engines for boats on the Detroit River during the 1890s. By 1900, his first motor firm, Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company, was operating near what is now the southwest corner of Beaubien and Lafayette Streets. The firm’s overhead valve engines became famous for power.

After experimenting with automobiles built at his home, Mr. Buick incorporated the Buick Motor Company (on May 19, 1903). That fall, he sold the firm to Flint Wagon Works in Flint, where the very first retail Buicks were built in 1904. The first production Buick, the Model B, was offered to retail customers in 1905.

Today, Buick is a luxury (semi-luxury?) brand, offering five vehicles in North America, including the Encore and Enclave crossovers and the LaCrosse, Regal, and Verano sedans. In China, the brand offers other nameplates, including the GL8 van, the Park Avenue full-size luxury sedan, the Excelle GT (aka Verano), Excelle XT (hatchback), and the original Excelle.

Take a photo tour of Buick’s history by browsing the gallery below.

[nggallery id=536]

The GM Authority staff is comprised of columnists, interns, and other reporters who provide coverage of the latest General Motors news.

Subscribe to GM Authority

For around-the-clock GM news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest GM news. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Come on Buick light my fire! What a great brand. I think Buick has kept its styling identity the best over the years. I was the proud owner of an ’85 LeSabre Limited coupe once (it was a “beater car,” yet still had presence). Happy Birthday Buick.

    Reply
  2. “Scotty: Aye. And if my grandmother had wheels, she’d be a wagon.” Lol 🙂

    Reply
    1. Buick dosen’t build Excelsior class starships. 😛

      Reply
  3. Thank you for the photo tour, I enjoyed it. Still miss that ’04 Le Sabre. Bought it brand new and had it almost 8 yrs. What a quality automobile. Loved it.

    Reply
  4. This is going to sound crazy but I thought the 2007 Buick Riviera Concept Coupe was cool 🙂

    Reply
  5. Strangely a lot in common with Vauxhall’s history & beginnings (also 1903) happy birthday Buick 🙂

    Reply
  6. 生日快乐!Shēng rì Kùai lè!

    That is happy birthday in Mandarin as if not for China we would not be celebrating this event.

    Lets hope the new product we will see soon in America will let Buick take advantage of their second chance. So far the patched up line is good I can’t wait for the new GM money to show itself.

    Reply
  7. Buick badly needs a full-size car in the US, as far as i’m concerned, it could use two, or three different full-size models. 😀 Buicks should be big, with pillow seats, and many cows worth of leather. 😀 Like my ’93 Roadmaster…I woulden’t mind seeing a ’14, or ’15 Roadmaster roll into the dealership I work at. 😀 At the very least, bring the Chinese Park Avenue to the US. and return the Red, White, and Blue to the Tri-Shield emblem!

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel