1954 Buick Series 100 Skylark

The Motorama-inspired 1954 Buick Skylark was based on the Century and equipped with a more powerful 322 cubic inch V8 'Fireball' engine offering 200 horsepower. The new-for-1954 Skylark wore extended wheel cutouts that allowed the owner to have a contrasting color to the overall body tone. The upper rear-quarter panels were cut down and topped with distinctive chrome extensions housing the taillights. These were essentially factory-built custom cars with a shortlist of options due to the staggering number of factory standards. It was a combination of flight-inspired design lines, road-holding compactness, and pulse-inducing performance.

General Motors Limited Production Luxury Convertibles
General Motors had released a stunning quartet of special Motorama-inspired, top-of-the-line convertibles for sale to the American motoring public for 1953, including the Cadillac Eldorado, Oldsmobile Fiesta, Chevrolet Corvette, and Buick Skylark. All but the Fiesta returned to GM dealer showrooms for 1954, with the Harley Earl-designed Buick Skylark now based upon the Shorter Century chassis with a wheelbase length of 122 inches. The higher-output version of Buick's 322 CID V8 was thanks to a compression boost and backed by the company's smooth-shifting Twin-Turbine Dynaflow automatic transmission.

While the 1953 Skylark was part of Buick's Roadmaster model lineup, for 1954, it was given unique status as the single-model Series 100 in recognition of its unique, top-line positioning and limited-production cachet. As in 1953, the 1954 Skylark's body was created through significant hand labor effort at the factory and was very much a factory-built custom car endowed with a host of cutting-edge restyling techniques of the era.

Standard Equipment
Among the list of standard equipment included richly patterned leather upholstery, a heater/defroster, and an abundant list of power features that operated the brakes, front seats, steering gear, windows, convertible top, and even the AM radio antenna. The 40-spoke Kelsey-Hayes chrome wire wheels were wrapped with wide whitewall tires.

Pricing and Production
Priced from $4,483, the 1954 Skylark was more expensive than both the Cadillac Series 62 convertible and Buick's own Roadmaster convertible. As such, production remained exclusive, with just 836 examples built, less than half as many as in 1953.

Mechanical Specification
The 1954 Buick Skylark rested on a 121.5-inch wheelbase platform with an overall length of 207.6 inches, a width of 79.9 inches, and a height of 58.9 inches. The front-mounted 322 cubic-inch Fireball V8 engine with overhead valves, hydraulic valve lifters, five main bearings, a four-barrel carburetor, 8.0:1 compression ratio, and delivering 200 horsepower at 4,100 RPM. It was paired with a Dynaflow automotive transmission, and four-wheel drum brakes provided the stopping power. The suspension comprised coil shocks at the front and leaf springs at the rear.

1954 Buick Model Lineup
Buick's lineup for 1954 included the Special priced from $2,200 to $3,160 and resting on a 122-inch wheelbase platform that was shared with the Century and the Skylark. The 264 cubic-inch V8 engine had overhead valves, a 7.2:1 compression ratio, hydraulic valve lifters, a Stromberg or Carter carburetor, five main bearings, and delivered 143 horsepower at 4,200 RPM. The Century and Skylark used the same 322 cubic-inch V8 engine, with the version in the Century having 7.2:1 compression and producing 195 horsepower, while the 8.0:1 compression of the Skylark's engine brought horsepower to 200 bhp. The Super Series 50 rested on the new and larger General Motors C-body platform shared with the Roadmaster and measuring 127-inches. Bodystyles of the Super included a sedan priced at $2,710, a hardtop coupe at $2,630, and a convertible coupe at $2,965. The Roadmaster had the same list of body styles but was approximately $500 higher.

1954 Buick Production
The most popular 1954 Buick model was the Special with 190,884 examples sold, accounting for approximately 43 percent of the total production. The 81,982 examples of the Century represented around 18% of production and the 50,571 of the Roadmaster was 11% of production. The 836 examples of the Skylark were just 0.2% of Buick's total production for 1954.

by Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2021