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Full-size Century
1936–1942Buick renamed its entire model lineup for the 1936 model year to celebrate the engineering improvements 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.
1954–1958In 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 period 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 Century 2-door sedans, 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 through 1958. The Caballero's expensive tooling, 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
1973Buick Century was placed on the rear-wheel drive A-body sharing with siblings like Pontiac Grand Prix, Pontiac LeMans, Pontiac GTO, Pontiac Cam-Am, Pontiac Grand Am, and Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. When all of GM's intermediate models were redesigned in 1973, the Century 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.) Beginning at this point, Century was a mainstay of Buick's smaller line, along with the new upmarket Regal coupe. With the vanishing of the Skylark coupe after 1972, the Century inherited the 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.
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