A Review of the 1957 Buick Roadmaster

According to a recent article on Autoblog.com, Jay Leno has always been known as a car lover.

In several episodes of Jay Leno’s Garage, his attention was recently turned to the classics, notably a Buick model. The 1957 Buick Roadmaster is one of those classics. It was crafted the way cars were back then. They were huge, sturdy and built to last. Like Jay pointed out, they featured lots of chrome and they were better left exactly the way they came from the factory, original.

Jay is known for having vehicles restored, but said that some are almost too classic to put them through restoration. He expresses an affinity for things like the Roadmaster’s 364 cubic inch engine and its 300 horsepower. He praises features like the car’s Dynaflow transmission. This transmission normally had a bad reputation, but he feels that it gave vehicles a smoother ride.

Features that were cutting edge in the 1950’s are humorous today. There was one in particular called a safety minder. It was actually a buzzer that sounded when the driver exceeded a preset speed. Back then, it was advertised as a radical new safety feature. It makes one wonder what they would think of today’s standard airbags, anti-lock brakes and other modern safety features.

Cars from the 1950’s were made to be huge and comfortable. The 1957 Buick Roadmaster was built using the largest wheel base that Buick had at that time. It was second only to the wheel base size of a limousine. Roadmaster’s were made by Buick between 1936 and 1958. They were produced again from 1991 to 1996, in a revamped, modern style. In 1957, the Roadmaster featured windshields that were panoramic and reverse-slanting windshield pillars.

Another feature was a wonder bar radio that would search for radio signals at the touch of a button. In a unique twist, there was an added button on the floor for the driver to control. Jay tells a humorous story of an uncle who used that floor button to “magically” make the stations change, filling him with wonder as a child, until he grew up and realized what his uncle had done.

Classic cars like the 1957 Buick Roadmaster bring back memories of a simpler time when people were exceptionally courteous drivers. Cars were built to be dependable and last. Unique styling caused them to be called dinosaurs. However, there is something very appealing about a lot of chrome, real noisy horns and huge doors.