The Buick Master Six (also Series 40 and Series 50 depending on wheelbase) was an automobile built by

Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...

from 1925 to 1928. Previously, the company manufactured the

Buick Six The Buick Six was a top level automobile produced by GM's Buick Division which was first introduced in 1914, and was the senior vehicle to the Buick Series B Four. It was an all new platform which was shared with the Oldsmobile Six and was the ...

that used the overhead valve six-cylinder engine in their high-end cars, and the four-cylinder Buick Four for its smaller, less-expensive model. After 1924, it dropped the four-cylinder engine and designed a small six, the Buick Standard Six, to replace the Buick Four. The name "Master Six" was introduced for high-end cars sharing the

GM B platform The B platform (also known as the B body) is a full-size, rear-wheel drive, body-on-frame car platform, that was produced by General Motors (GM) from 1926 to 1996. Originally made for Oldsmobile and Buick, all of General Motors's five main passe ...

with the Oldsmobile Model 30, and were powered by the Buick inline-6 engine released the year before. The yearly changes were a result of a new business philosophy called

planned obsolescence In economics and industrial design, planned obsolescence (also called built-in obsolescence or premature obsolescence) is the concept of policies planning or designing a good (economics), product with an artificially limited Product lifetime, u ...

History

As GM was sharing platforms and technology within their divisions, the Master Six was related to the Oldsmobile Model 30 with shared wheelbase and engine sizes. Buick had developed a market reputation as being a conservative luxury car, while the

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

and the Packard Six were more flamboyant, extravagant and expensive. The last

Emperor of China Throughout Chinese history, "Emperor" () was the superlative title held by the monarchs of imperial China's various dynasties. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was the " Son of Heaven", an autocrat with the divine mandat ...

Puyi Puyi (7 February 190617 October 1967) was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh monarch of the Qing dynasty from 1908 to 1912. When the Guangxu Emperor died without an heir, Empress Dowager Cixi picked his nephew Puyi, aged tw ...

bought two 1924 Master Six and started the trend of being China's most popular car. To promote its durability, Buick President Harry H. Basset had a Touring Sedan driven around the world via a dealer-to-dealer network, where each location was responsible for driving the car to the next destination and having the log book signed for authenticity. 1927 saw the introduction of the Gothic Goddess hood ornament on all Buick products. The top of the radiator grille adopted a scalloped look that blended into the top of the engine cover which differed from both Oldsmobile and Cadillac sedans of the same year and was only offered from 1925 until 1928. It shared a similar appearance on all Packard products that first appeared in 1904 on the Packard Four, and the recently introduced

Chrysler Imperial The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was Chrysler (division), Chrysler's top-of-the-line vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced under the Chrysler name until 1954, after which Imperial became Imperial (automobile), a standal ...

. Buick named their six-cylinder cars "Buick Six" from 1916 through 1924, and in 1925, divided them into Standard Six and Master Six.p. 86, "Seventy Years of Buick" by George H. Dammann, Crestline Publishing, 1973 The Master Six used Series 121 and 129 designations in 1929 initially to denote the wheelbase dimensions, then renamed the Series 40 in 1930. All were powered by the overhead valve Buick Straight-6 engine, with multiple body styles, and starting in 1926 used the newly established

, which it shared with

Oldsmobile L-Series The Oldsmobile L-Series, or the Oldsmobile 8, was built from the 1932 through 1938. Oldsmobile hadn't offered a full-sized luxury flagship since the cancellation of the Oldsmobile Light Eight in 1923, and the Viking upscale companion brand to Ol ...

. Coachwork continued to be offered by

Fisher Body Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded as the Fisher Body Company by Frederic and Charles Fisher in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan when they absorbed a fledgling autobody maker. By 1916 the concern had grown into one of the world's large ...

who was the primary supplier of all GM products at this time, and Duco automotive lacquer paint, introduced by

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

was the first quick drying multi-color line of nitrocellulose lacquers made especially for the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...

. Roadsters and touring sedans had the ability to fold the windshield forward on top of the cowl for open air driving. The engine used in 1925 was increased in size to for 1926 through 1928. Displacement was increased again to for the Series 121 and 129 in 1929 and Series 40 in 1930, after which all six-cylinder engines were dropped; all models of Buick were equipped with the new Straight 8 for 1931. Buick's special order catalog was more modest than the Cadillac Series 341, but it did benefit from the specialized bodies made by

which gave the Buick customer the same attention to style and refinement but at a modest price. The top level choice for the longest Buick wheelbase of 129 inches was the Imperial Sedan Limousine for US$2145 ($ in dollars ). The Master Six was Buick's high-end offering, above the Standard Six. It was also manufactured from

knock-down kit A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, and then exported to another country or r ...

s at GM's short-lived Japanese factory at Osaka Assembly in

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

. The Master Six was also sold with a junior model, called the Standard Six which was renamed in 1929 as the Series 116 and Series 121. File:1925 Buick Model 50. Sedan - seven passenger. (3592705089).jpg, 1925 Buick Master Six Sedan Model 50 File:Buick Cabriolet 1927.jpg, 1927 Buick Master Six Series 128 Convertible Coupe Model 54CC File:Buick 4-Dorrars Sedan 192.jpg, 1928 Buick Master Six Series 120 4-Door Sedan Model 50 File:Buick 29 49 7 Passenger Touring 1929.jpg, 1929 Buick Master Six Series 129 Touring Sedan Model 49

References

* Slauson, H. W.; Howard Greene (1926). "Leading American Motor Cars". ''Everyman's Guide to Motor Efficiency''. New York: Leslie-Judge Company. {{Automotive industry in the United States Master Six

History

See also

References