Buick is a luxury car brand of General Motors. Buick sits above all the regular General Motors brands but sits just below the ultra-luxurious Cadillacs. In 1959 Buick launched the Invicta that came as a replacement for the Buick Century, where the standard Buick LeSabre was mated with Buick’s new Wildcat V8 engine. The Buick Invicta continued till 1963 through two generations before it was replaced by the Buick Wildcat, while the Estate variant of the Invicta was replaced by Buick Sport Wagon in 1965. The name “Invicta” was derived from the Latin term meaning “undefeated” or “unconquered”. However, as glorious as its name was, the Buick Invicta did not have the same level of sales as the top-end Electra or the base model LeSabre. Instead, the sale of the Invicta remained quite consistent with the mid-range models of Buick.
How powerful was the engine?
The predecessor of the Buick Invicta was known to be a powerful car. The Century was one of the few cars of its time that could reach 100 MPH, which gave Buick the idea for the name. This meant that the Buick Invicta had big shoes to fill. The Invicta was powered by Buick’s “Wildcat” 6.6L V8 engine that produced 445 lb-ft of torque @ 2800 RPM, and 325 bhp @ 4400 RPM, which was connected to a 2-speed automatic gearbox. This made the Invicta quite a bit more powerful than its competitors, Pontiac GTO and Chevrolet Chevelle SS.
Did Buick offer too many varieties in terms of exterior design?
The 1959 Buick Invicta was a fantastically designed car that did not hold back. It shrugged away the idea of making traditional body structures with its big accented tail fins, large rear end, and chromed eyebrows over the headlights that continued all the way till the round tail lamps. Moreover, the Invicta came with a choice of body types that included:
- Convertible
- Hardtop Sedan
- Sedan
- Hardtop Coupe
- Estate
The Buick Invicta also had one very odd feature. The construction of the body made it conducive to install invisible traps concealed within the bumpers and undercarriage, which made the car very popular amongst heroin smugglers. The1959 Buick Invicta was 217.4 inches long, 80.7 inches wide with a wheelbase of 123 inches.
What made the Buick Invicta’s interior so special?
Buick being a brand built primarily for comfort and luxury, put a lot of detail into styling and equipping the interiors. The seats were wide and comfortable, with good lumbar support and leather finish and padded with Softex foam. The 1959 Buick Invicta also came standard with a lot of features that were ahead of its time like automatic glove compartment light, cigarette lighter, front and rear door armrest, horizontal redliner speedometer, self-energizing brakes etc. This meant that while the 1959 Buick was fast, it was also a nice place to sit in with the basic comforts of the time within hands reach.
Final Thoughts?
The 1959 Buick Invicta was an underrated member of the Buick’s 1959 lineup. The Invicta was not only beautiful to look at but ran like a rocket for its time given that it was powered by Buicks new “Wildcat” V8 engine. In addition to this, Buick equipped the car with some of the latest tech of the time which would not leave any more to be desired. However, the buyers did not seem to be very interested. While the sales were not a disaster, neither were they as good as the 1959 Buick LeSabre or the 1959 Buick Electra 225. A second generation of the 1959 Buick Invicta was brought about in 1961 with some minor modifications and a reduction in size, however, the car still did not get the attention of the people the way Buick and General Motors had hoped. Eventually, in 1963, the Buick Invicta was killed off after just 4 years of production and was sold a little more than 20,000 Buick Invictas.
