(EXPANDED FROM 12/23/2022)
The 1961 Buick represented a pivot point for General Motors’ troubled premium-priced brand. The car’s styling lurched from the swaggering flamboyance of the 1950s to the utilitarian conservatism of the 1962-64 models.
This shift was particularly apparent in the bubble-shaped, two-door hardtop Buick LeSabre shown above. The roof’s design, which was shared with GM’s other lower-priced big cars, was offered for only one year.
Like the sci-fi designs of the previous decade, the 1961 Buick still had a fair amount of rounded contours. The brand also sported a few gaudy details, such as the Nash-like taillights and spear-shaped front fenders (with even more pointed bumper tips).
Despite all that, the tail fins were replaced by a tapered and horizontal rear end that was admirably free of chrome.
Meanwhile, side sculpting was much more angular . . . and rather plain. This hinted at the stylistic direction of the 1962-64 Buicks.
Buick marketing called its 1961 models “the clean look of action.” That wording suggested an apology for the overamped styling of the 1959-60 designs, which had extravagant fins in both the front and rear.
New design was downsized and more practical
In addition to new sheetmetal, the 1961 Buick was given a modest downsizing. The LeSabre two-door hardtop saw reductions in weight (around 100 pounds), length (almost five inches) and width (two inches).
This was still a big car: It topped two tons, was 213.2 inches long and 78 inches wide. Compared to a 1952 Buick, that was a good 400 pounds heavier, 8.4 inches longer and 1.5 inches wider. Even so, GM head designer William Mitchell would question whether downsizing 1961 models was a good idea (go here for further discussion).
Not surprisingly, in succeeding years the Buick would once again grow in size. The 1964 LeSabre was six inches inches longer; by 1973 the car had grown by 11 inches.
The most significant visual change to the 1961 Buick was the disappearance of a “dogleg” windshield. A Buick brochure stated that the A-pillar’s more traditional, swept-back shape allowed “the easiest getting in and out in years.”
This was a frank acknowledgement that the dogleg could be challenging to navigate around, particularly as GM cars got lower. I would also imagine that the less complex shape of the new windshield was cheaper to manufacture.
Designers did maintain a hint of the old A-pillar’s design by giving its base a curve. Note that the beltline now arched upward into the A-pillar, which helped to better integrate the greenhouse with the rest of the car. This was unusual for that era.
GM apparently decided that its two-door hardtop body style needed more headroom because 1961 models had a less rounded rear window. As with the A-pillar, note how the C-pillar is more integrated into the beltline.
Buick carried forward an unusual interior feature
Styling on the inside of the 1961 Buick was also toned down somewhat. However, carried over from the previous year was an oddly-called “Mirromagic” instrument panel. This was an unusual setup whereby the speedometer and other gauges were reflected onto a mirror rather than seen directly by the driver.
Buick argued that this allowed you to “adjust the mirror to your most comfortable viewing height and at the same time direct eye-straining glare and reflection out of your line of vision.” Did it live up to its claims? I don’t know, but the feature was discontinued for 1962.
Buick’s makeover was a response to changing times
The most striking aspect of the Buick’s new design was that it was more generic. The brand’s most iconic styling cue — the side sweepspear — was ditched. Fairly small, fake portholes were now the main way to identify a Buick.
In addition, the entry-level LeSabre was pruned to the point where it was only four inches longer than a low-priced Chevrolet, down from seven inches in 1960.
The brand seemed to be running away from the big, bold styling of its past. That made a certain amount of sense because output had fallen to under 254,000 units in 1960. This represented a disastrous 66 percent drop from Buick’s peak of almost 739,000 units in 1955. To add insult to injury, in recent years Buick had been outsold by Oldsmobile and Pontiac, which it had traditionally bested.
The zeitgeist had changed. The big, glitzy and powerful cars that Buick championed in the 1950s had fallen out of favor due to a recession and social criticism. GM management responded to Buick’s sales collapse by giving the brand a makeover in 1961. In addition to redesigning the full-sized cars, a new compact was introduced. Dubbed the Special, this lineup generated almost a third of Buick’s output in its introductory year (go here for further discussion).
How did Buick compare to GM’s other 1961 big cars?
For 1961 the Buick lineup was still priced higher than GM’s three other high-volume brands. For example, the list price of Buick’s entry-level LeSabre two-door hardtop was around $450 more than a top-end Chevrolet Impala, $400 more than an entry-level Pontiac Catalina and $200 more than Oldsmobile’s entry-level Dynamic 88.
Even so, the LeSabre no longer looked appreciably gaudier than its lower-priced siblings. In most respects it was more conservative. And where the Buick did show a little flair, it was surprisingly similar to the Oldsmobile. Both brands had double horizontal creases along their sides. In addition, the Buick’s pointed front fenders were echoed in the Oldsmobile’s rear fenders.
Did Buick still have a reason for existing? Production figures for 1961 gave a modest “yes” answer. Buick’s share of GM’s premium-priced, big-car output inched up three points to over 28 percent from 1960. However, for the next three years it settled back to around 25 percent.
Buick’s big cars didn’t regain their mojo for a few years
One could argue that the 1961 redesign of the big Buick was a step in the right direction. Output was down by 25 percent to under 190,000 units, but that was a smaller drop in this recessionary year than for Oldsmobile (-30.5 percent) and Pontiac (-40.5 percent).
Buick was still outsold by both of its corporate siblings, but by a much smaller margin than in 1959-60. In addition, the high-end Electra bested the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight this year.
Buick’s full-sized cars didn’t fully regain their mojo until later in the decade. Production didn’t top 300,000 units until 1965, and Buick didn’t outsell both Oldsmobile and Pontiac until 1969. That partly reflected the declining fortunes of those other two brands’ big cars. However, between 1962 and 1969 Buick’s output only fell once — in 1966. That was a pretty good run.
Did more Buick-like styling help sales?
The full-sized Buick didn’t outsell Oldsmobile once again until 1967. This was the same year that Buick’s sweepspear reappeared. I am not suggesting that styling was the most-important factor in Buick’s rebound, nor that the sweepspear was the key to success. However, I suspect that it helped. The cars were once again immediately recognizable as Buicks.
The 1961 Buick could thus be seen as a mixed bag. The more efficient size was a welcome — if brief — reprieve from GM’s fixation with ever-bigger cars. The less flamboyant and more generic design signaled that Buick was changing with the times. Even so, one could still argue that Buick didn’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
NOTES:
This article was originally posted on Dec. 23, 2022 and expanded on Dec. 19, 2025. Production figures, specifications and prices are from the auto editors of Consumer Guide (2006), Flory (2004, 2009, 2013), Gunnell (2002), Automobile Catalog (2022) and Wikipedia (2022).
Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.
RE:SOURCES
- Auto editors of Consumer Guide; 2006. Encyclopedia of American Cars. Publications International, Lincolnwood, Ill.
- Automobile Catalog; 2022. Accessed Dec. 20.
- Flory, J. “Kelly” Jr.; 2004. American Cars, 1960-1972. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- ——; 2009. American Cars, 1946-1959: Every Model, Year by Year. McFarland & Co.
- ——; 2013. American Cars, 1973-1980. McFarland & Co., Inc.
- Gunnell, John; 2002. Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975. Revised 4th Ed. Krause Publications, Iola, WI.
- Wikipedia; 2022. “U.S. Automobile Production Figures.” Page last modified Jan. 26 (no longer available).
ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:
- autohistorypreservationsociety.org: Buick (1961); Chevrolet (1961); Oldsmobile (1961); Pontiac (1961)
- oldcarbrochures.org: Buick (1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967); Buick Century (1973)
Concerning the mirrored speedometer, I think I may have an answer why they stopped using it. I bought a ’61 rust free parts car from west Texas, as I needed the lower body parts to replace a north eastern rust bucket’s missing body parts. When I sat in the car after it was dropped off at my shop, I noticed the speedometer’s horizontal face was covered with a coating of baked-on dust/dirt, that after cleaning, left the clear plastic speedo cover badly scratched.
We could wonder if the arrival of the “senior compact”, the Special along with the Skylark coupe for the 1961 model year (who’ll evolve into an intermediate for 1964) and to a latter extent, the introduction of the Riviera might have get the attention of some full-size Buick buyers?
While Buick motor company did continue to produce a fine automobile over the years , probably the main reason their sales declined was due to higher costs for models like the Electra or Lasabre which was notably higher than other GM cars of that era . Sure, a Buick is always going to cost more to purchase than a Ford or Chevrolet . Theres an old saying : ” You cannot get a Cadillac for the price of a Chevrolet ” and that was true back in the old days and is still true today ! Happy Motoring !