Buick Muscle Cars (Muscle Car Color History) (Paperback)

~ Bill Holder (Author), Phillip Kunz (Author) "Buick. It's a name with many faces-many more than you can probably imagine..." (more)
Key Phrases: pace car replicas, muscle car era, grille design, Grand National, Gran Sport, Buick Motor Division (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Sporty Buicks at shows, on the street, and at speed from the 1950s through today! This detailed development history is told in the words of the men who designed, built, and raced the Buick ohv V-8 of the early 1950s, the Century, Wildcat, Riviera (1963-65), Skylark Gran Sport (1965-67), Gran Sport (1968-72), GSX, Regal Turbo, Grand National-GNX, and Reatta. Filled with historical photographs, advertisements, and original drawings from Buick archives. Also includes Buick pace and concept cars.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; First edition (November 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760301530
• ISBN-13: 978-0760301531
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,163,821 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected, March 18, 2002

By A Customer

While there is some good information in this book, I was expecting more photos, especially of the various Wildcat and Invicta models and the various engine options offered in those vehicles. For instance, not one mention is made of the fact that "445" on a Wildcat engine was not only used in other vehicles, it also stood for the amount of torque the engine put out (and was *not* the cubic-inch displacement). The word "complete" used to describe this book was something of a misnomer...I found some information quite lacking here. Also, the writer(s) seemed a bit befuddled at times, and there are a few instances of incorrect information that have crept into the book. It's also hard to take it seriously where one Buick model is spelled incorrectly throughout the entire book (it's "Centurion," not "Centurian"...plainly visible on the first Centurion photo in the book). In all, there was little, if anything, I didn't already know about Buicks, and I'm far from an expert. For the price, I didn't feel it was worth the money. This one's "almost there," but a small disappointment to a fan of older "big engine" Buicks like myself.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing read, March 21, 2004

By	BK (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

Although known as a "professionals" car tied to a very uninspiring image, Buick has sometimes come out with fascinating and exciting automobiles that shocked many in the industry. Cars such as the GSX, Grand National and the GNX were just a few performance cars made by this "boring" make which created image envy in the industry. Saying all this however, "Buick Muscle Cars" unfortunately does not do justice to Buick's performance past for a few key reasons. Firstly, I found very little new and exciting information in this book. This book mainly focused on year-to-year engine and minor cosmetic changes made to the cars which easily could have been summed up in easy to read bullets instead of long drawn-out sentences. I expected a story telling me about the people involved, the changing industry and the trends of the time which inspired models such as the GSX. However, this book was written in a time vacuum with no discussion on what was going on in the industry at the time nor outside of it (except of course to briefly interject about how the government and insurance eradicated performance). There also seemed to have been a little too much focus on newer models which frankly, really didn't belong in this book as this was not a history of Buick but of Buick's performance cars (90's Skylark's and Regal's with non-supercharged V6's really have no place in a book aptly titled). Another issue was the quality of writing which I found to be poor. Although I do not wish to refer to a dictionary for every sentence, I had hoped that the authors would have refrained from using phrases such as "no way" and "could it get better than this" in a book such as this. On the positive, this book did discuss models such as the Wildcat and Centurion, two cars rarely mentioned in current literature, and many of the photos were of a high quality. Overall however, "Buick Muscle Cars" was a very disappointing book. The writing quality was poor, the information provided lacked any emotion and the book was written in a time vacuum never telling us why the GNX, GSX and other models came to be. I would recommend that you save your money on this one and hope a more comprehensive book on Buick Muscle Cars comes out soon as Buick rightfully deserves to have its performance history told in an exciting and informative manner (such as David Newhardt's excellent coverage of Mercury in "Mercury Muscle Cars", in the Muscle Color History Series).

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buick Muscle Cars - A Must Have!, October 26, 2000

By	Joey O'Connor (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews

Buick Muscle Cars is a must have for the Buick 'Muscle Car' Enthusiast! and, actually for the Buick Enthusiast in general! From the first Buick Muscle cars like the Century, the Centurian, the Wildcat, and the Riviera...to the Gran Sport Stage 1 and GSX, the Turbo Regal Grand National and GNX...and even a few 'modern day' Buick muscle cars like the late 90's Supercharged Riviera...They are all in this book! Full color pictures and descriptions. There's even special sections on Buick Race Cars, Special Buick Engines, Proto-type Buicks, and Buick Concept Cars!