Circle of Buick Dreams

The 1938 Buick Y-Job was the Industry's First "Concept Car"

 Buick celebrated it's 90th Anniversary in 1993 with a presence at major Classic Car Shows. There was a very special Anniversary Celebration at the Eyes On The Classics, held at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe, MI. Buick dealers from all over the country were invited and promised a very special display.

Special it was. All of the existing Buick concept cars were arranged in a circle in the center of the show field. No ropes, no guards- easy to walk up to and admire.  The circle included the 1938 Buick Y-Job, the 1951 GM Le Sabre, the 1951  XP-300, the 1953 Wildcat and the 1954 Wildcat II, the 1956 Centurion, Bill Mitchell's Silver Arrow of 1963, and modern concepts-  Lucerne of 1988, Essence of 1989, the 1990 Bolero and the 1991 Sceptre. In addition, several custom bodied one-off Buicks were on the field as well.

We recently came upon our photos from the event and will be sharing them over the next couple of weeks. It was a great day for Buick fans!

The 1951 GM Le Sabre was Harley Earl's personal transport. It gave its name to a Buick model in 1959.

The 1951 Buick XP-300 featured a V-8 engine and a fully automatic top with a rain sensor.

The 1953 Buick Wildcat closely predicted the styling of the 1955 Buick line.

The Buick Wildcat II was built for the 1953 Motorama.

Chuck Jordan created the Centurion for the 1956 Motorama. It  is packed with  innovations, including a glass roof and rear view camera. 

Bill Mitchell's Silver Arrow was created for his personal use. A rolling laboratory, it underwent many updates and revisions.

The 1989 Essence predicted the styling of the 1991 park Avenue. The Lucerne in the background was the forerunner of the 1995 Riviera. 

The 1991 Sceptre donated some styling cues to the 1997 Regal. The Bolero concept car to the right predicted the 1992 Skylark. 

Silver Arrow- a Riviera for Mr. Mitchell

Silver Arrow at the Styling Pond, GM Tech Center

There's an old line that "It's Good to be King," and while that may be true, it might have been even better to have been GM's Bill Mitchell. Because Bill not only avoided all those dreary court functions, he also got GM to build him special cars whenever the mood struck. Take for example the fall of 1963, and the gorgeous new 1963 Buick Riviera had just begun rolling off Buick's assembly lines. Riviera was a personal favorite of Mitchell's, but as is often the case, he didn't get absolutely everything he wanted on the production car.

Wasn't it nice that he had the talented craftsmen of the GM Design Center at his disposal? He had a silver production 1963 Riviera sent over for some touches. First, the top was shopped two inches and the front fenders and hood lengthened about four. The vent windows were eliminated. Cibie headlamps were mounted behind the vertical fender grilles. The side scoops were enlarged. Genuine wire wheels were fitted, although the actual tire choice varied between whitewalls and black- both were seen.

Inside the car had special silver leather bucket seats, revised instrumentation including a tachometer and a clock mounted in the wood trimmed console. Mitchell's signature chrome strips over leather floor covering was utilized, and even the black gauge faces were unique to Silver Arrow. It was also the first car to display the R logo stand up hood ornament.

The car was named Silver Arrow and when not being displayed at Auto Shows, it was Mitchell's personal transportation. Perhaps the only car that could top a 1963 Riviera was this magnificent Silver Arrow.

After about a year the car was revised. The egg  crate grille was replaced with four thermostatically controlled cooling slots. The wire wheels were replaced with art deco inspired color matched wheel discs and the car was fitted with wide whitewall tires. This is the look the Silver Arrow wears to this day, and became a Mitchell signature that would be seen again and again.

Silver Arrow was so popular that it became an icon for the Buick Riviera, and the exercise was to be repeated on subsquent generations of Riv. It resides today in the Buick Heritage Gallery of the Sloan Museum in Buick's hometown of Flint.

Silver Arrow upon completion at the GM Tech Center

Winter Shot alongside the GM Styling Center

After Revision, on display at the Pebble Beach Concours

After

Silver Arrow on display at the Buick Gallery in Flint

Mitchell's signature color matched wheel cover and wide whitewalls

Special silver leather buckets and unique instrumentation

Special rear side scoop

Revised tail lamps and special Silver Arrow badging