Buick does not build many cars like the Buick Special: a 2-door coupe / 2-door convertible / 4-door phaeton / 4-door sedan with 257.5 cuin Buick Straight-6 engine OHV I6, built from 1936 to 1969 when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. Its designer of record is Harley Earl.
The story
The Buick Special was an automobile produced by Buick. It was usually Buick's lowest-priced model, starting out as a full-size car in 1936 and returning in 1961 (after a two-year hiatus) as a compact, changed to mid-size in 1963. The Special was built for several decades and was offered as a coupe, sedan and later as a station wagon.
When GM modernized their entry level products in the 1960s, the Special introduced the modern Buick V6 that became a core engine for GM for several decades and lived on in upgraded form until 2006. By 1970, Special was no longer offered as a standalone model but the name would later be used for the entry trim on 1975 to 1979 and 1991 to 1996 Century models. The entry level Buick can trace its heritage to the Buick Model 10, a companion to Buick's first car, the Buick Model B. The Model 10 started out as one of the independent brands merged into Buick, called the Janney.
What is underneath
Under the skin sits 257.5 cuin Buick Straight-6 engine OHV I6; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 3-speed synchromesh manual. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 117 in / 118 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Where it sits in Buick's history is not in doubt: the Marquette Model 30 / Buick Standard Six came before it; the Buick LeSabre (1959 full-size) / Buick Skylark (1970 mid-size) followed it; it was built at Flint Wagon Works, Flint, Michigan, United States. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Volkswagen Beetle, the Chevrolet Suburban, the Bugatti Type 57. Nearby in the Buick catalogue sit the Buick First Call and the Buick Funeral Car.
The money
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Buick Special has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.