1934 Buick Series 40

The Buick company was founded by David Dunbar Buick and its first automobiles were made in 1899, and many of the mechanical marvels birthed from the company were the work of chief-engineer Walter Marr before he left in 1901 to found his own automobile company under his own name. Most significant was the valve-in-head (overhead valve) engine which was awarded a patent to his replacement Eugene Richard in the name of Buick in 1904. Buick's early success is attributed to the valve-in-head engine design.

Richard built the third Buick automobile in 1903, and by 1904, David Buick had formed the 'Buick Motor Company' and moved from Detroit to Flint, Michigan, although Richard stayed behind. Marr was rehired and given the chief engineer position, and the Buick company produced 37 automobiles that year, followed by 750 in 1905 and 1,400 in 1906. In 1908 they produced 8,800 vehicles which earned them the number one spot in U.S. automobile production, followed by Oldsmobile, Ford, and Maxwell.

William C. Durant became a controlling investor in the company in 1904 and was instrumental in transforming Buick into the biggest-selling automobile brand in the United States. Durant's wealth had come from co-ownership of the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, which by 1904 was the largest carriage-making company in the country and ranked among the largest in the world. In 1906, David Buick sold his stock in the Buick company and left the company. In 1908, Durant embarked on a series of corporate acquisitions under the General Motors banner. The collective companies pooled resources and each company targeted a designated market segment, with Buick near the top, below Cadillac. The Buick automobiles shared a common platform with Chevrolet, Oakland, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac, called the GM A platform.

Eight Cylidner
Buick's line of eight-cylinder models for 1931 included the Series 50 with a 114-inch wheelbase, the Series with a 118-inch wheelbase, the Series 80 resting on a 124-inch platform, and the Series 90 on a 132-inch wheelbase. The 220.7 cubic-inch eight in the Series 50 delivered 77 horsepower, the Series 60 was fitted with a 272.6 CID eight with 90 horsepower, and the Series 80 and Series 90 had a 344.8 CID eight with 104 horsepower. All engines had overhead valves, mechanical valve lifters, and five main bearings, and all were backed by a three-speed sliding gear transmission with synchromesh. The series 50 and 60 had a single dry plate clutch and the Series 80 and Series 90 had a double dry plate clutch. Stopping power was provided by mechanical brakes on four wheels.

1934 Buick Series 40
Buick used the Series 40 designation in 1930 to represent its entry-level models. The designation did not re-appear again on Buick models until 1934.

The 1934 Buick Series 40 was available in several body styles including a sedan, business coupe, sport coupe, and touring sedan. Pricing ranged from $855 to $925. Power was from an overhead valve eight-cylinder engine which offered 93 horsepower. They had a sliding gear, three-speed synchromesh gearbox which now had helical gears. The headlights were updated for 1934, which now produced 20-percent more illumination. In the front were three horizontal hood louvers while the other models in the Buick lineup had four louvers. The automatic starting mechanism was improved to prevent the starter from being used when the ignition was locked.

The Series 40 rested on a 114-inch wheelbase, the Series 50 on a 119-, the Series 60 on a 128-, and the Series 90 on a 136-inch wheelbase. The Series 50 was priced from $1,100 to $1,230; the series 60 was priced from $1,375 to $1,470; and the Series 90 had a factory base price range of $1,875 to $2,150.

Buick styling was courtesy of GM's Art and Colour department, a trend that began with the Series 116 in 1929. The first General Motors marque to wear styling by the Art and Colour department headed by Harley Earl was the LaSalle (introduced on March 5th of 1927), a new company positioned between the price gap that existed between Buick and Cadillac.

The 1934 Series 40 was the only model within the Buick lineup without dual exterior-mounted horns. Body styles included a sedan priced at $895 (or $925 with a built-in trunk), a touring sedan with built-in trunk ($865), a business coupe ($795), and a sport coupe with a rumble seat ($855). The sedan with trunk was the most popular with 10,953 examples built, followed by 7,425 of the sedan, 4,779 of the Touring sedan, 1,806 of the business coupe, and 1,232 of the sport coupe. The total 26,195 examples buit for 1934 accounted for approximately thirty-seven percent of Buicks total production.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2012