Another Buick Super Article from the NY TIMES 4/1

[BUICK RACER]

Look, It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's the Buick Super (in Reruns)

The New York Times

By Charles McEwen

April 1, 2007

Buick is bringing back the Super. After a 50-year hiatus, it will again produce cars with the Super name: a premium 2008 LaCrosse in a few months and, later, a premium 2008 Lucerne.

Both can be seen at the New York International Auto Show, which opens Friday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The LaCrosse, with a 300-horsepower 5.3-liter V-8, is scheduled to go on sale this summer, and the Lucerne, with a 4.6-liter 292-horsepower Northstar V-8, will come in spring 2008.

Super is one of a dwindling handful of names from Buick's storied past that still has some resonance - the General Motors division has already recycled Limited, Roadmaster, Century, Special and Skylark. (It should probably skip Apollo and Skyhawk, two small cars that diminished Buick's luxury image.)

Buick Supers were born in 1940, filling a hole in the Buick line. At the bottom was the Special (Series 40). Then came the Super (Series 50), followed by the sporty Century (Series 60) and the luxurious Roadmaster (Series 70) and Limited (Series 80 and 90).

"Sharing its 248-cubic-inch engine and 121-inch wheelbase with the Special and its body with the Roadmaster, the Super was available at introduction as a four-door touring sedan and a sport coupe with full rear seat," Terry B. Dunham and Lawrence R. Gustin wrote in "The Buick: A Complete History" (Automobile Quarterly, 2002). "During the model year the series would be expanded to include the new Estate Wagon, a convertible coupe and a convertible sedan, the latter two styles also being added to the Roadmaster series."

William F. Hufstader, Buick's sales manager at the time, predicted that the Supers would ignite a "super sales bonfire," Mr. Dunham and Mr. Gustin noted, adding: "He was right. Dealers couldn't get enough of the cars."

The Super name survived in the Buick lineup until 1958, and, traditionally, Supers followed the pattern set at the beginning: they got the same size bodies as the Roadmasters, but often smaller engines. For the hotter Century, it was the reverse: lighter Special bodies, but more powerful engines.

In 1949, when Buick introduced its trademark portholes (officially VentiPorts) on its front fenders, Supers had three. And three it was until 1955, when the Super finally got four, befitting what had become an upmarket model just a notch below the Roadmaster, which always had four.

As a nod to Buick's heritage, the LaCrosse Super and Lucerne Super will have four stylized portholes on their front fenders.

William C. Anderson of Gambrills, Md., a restorer, appraiser and historian who is the vice president of the Buick Heritage Alliance, remembers his family's Super fondly.

"My father bought a 1947 Buick Super two-door Sedanet after World War II," he wrote in an e-mail message. "I was 4 years old at the time. He waited over six months to get it. We had that car several years and took two trips across the Western U.S. in it in 1947 and 1949 - Iowa to California and back by way of Montana and Arizona."

Over the years, there have been other memorable Supers. The 1940 models, of course, because they were the first. Then in 1949, Supers could be ordered with Dynaflow, Buick's fully automatic transmission that was first offered as an option on Roadmasters the year before.

In 1950, the vertical waterfall grille that Buick introduced in 1942 had became a flood, with chrome bars extending over the front bumper on all Buicks, Supers included.

Buick had a banner year in 1955, when 738,814 were sold, making it third in domestic car sales for the model year. By then, the faster Century had eclipsed the bigger and slower Super. (The Century also had a four-door hardtop, new for '55, and the Super didn't.) In any case, about 133,000 Supers were sold for the model year, compared with about 159,000 Centurys.

The end of the Super line came in 1958. The next year, Buick introduced the new model names LeSabre, Invicta, Electra and Electra 225.

With Supers, as with any collectible cars, the usual hierarchy applies. Assuming that the condition and equipment are the same, convertibles are usually worth more than two-door hardtops, two-door hardtops are worth more than four-door hardtops, and four-door hardtops are worth more than four-door sedans.

The April issue of the Old Cars Price Guide bears this out. It says that a 1940 Super four-door sedan in top condition is worth $23,000 and a convertible coupe, $53,000. A 1949 Super sedan, again in top condition, is worth $22,000 and a Super convertible, $37,000. The guide puts the value of a 1955 Super sedan at $20,000 and a Super convertible at $47,000.