Buick had an old slogan “Valve-in-head, ahead in value” and was also applicable for the 1950-’52 Buick Roadmaster. The rest of the industry-led by Oldsmobile and Cadillac was finally coming to a conclusion that overhead valves were going replace side valves. Chevrolet, Buick, and Nash were the only major American producers to use the valve-in-head engine. By the mid-sixties everybody in the automobile industry would be using it. Roadmaster was a name that had emerged in 1936 and lasted till 1959 when it was removed. It was the perfect definition of Buick’s top of the line vehicle, a car bordering on Cadillac price territory, most preferred transport for both the top and up-coming professionals and anybody who couldn’t afford a Cadillac.
Buick catered for this lot of clients with more flashy styling and by far the flashiest of GM divisions and its luxurious and novel design ideas. The luxury ideas included the famous pop-art grille, the gun-sight hood ornament, the hardtop convertible, the sweep spear, and the porthole. The latter three were introduced in 1949 at a time when Buick’s sales increased by over 50 percent and doubled in 1950. At that time, this was the car America wanted and bought.
The 1950-‘2 Roadmasters were serious automobiles, built with high integrity, were of quality and durable which lasted around 1955 and has not been around ever since. It has been remarked that there was more steel in the dashboard of an early fifties Buick than an entire Suburu. The roadmaster had hoods clang down-like manhole covers, the doors would shut with a solid clunk, the radios had that deep voice rear to find on transistors. They were offered as a four-door sedan in all three years, Riviera hardtop, convertible, and wagon, with the latter making use of real tree wood. These Buicks represented the last of the long-running overhead valve straight eight, and it pumped a creditable horsepower in the Roadmaster. The smaller Buick Special retained the straight-eight in 1953, and the entire line received V-8 power for 1954.