1954 Buick Wildcat II Motorama Dream Car

Irreverence and passion can go hand-in-hand. This is Ken Mitson’s virtually identical recreation of the GM Autorama showcar from ’54 called the Buick Wildcat II. Identical with one big exception. It’s running a 425 Buick Nail Head hooked to a T-10 four-speed. Let’s face, those old Corvettes and two-seater T-birds rode like crap. And handled the same. And were woefully lacking power. So if you’re going to all of the trouble to recreate one of the greatest showcars from the GM Motorama era. Why not enjoy driving it once it’s done. That’s why Ken chose the later Nail Head and a four-speed for fun. We wonder if Ken is up for HOT ROD flogging his baby?

This is a rakish sports convertible. Now painted and trimmed in bright blue (the original color, after being shown for years in tan), it features what Buick called 'a revolutionary front-end design wîth flying-wing fenders that flare straight out from the body, exposing the entire front wheel and part of the front-end suspension.'

The body is fiberglass. The engine is a 220-hp V-8. It is owned by Sloan Museum.

The second Wildcat was a real head turner sports car. It rode on a 100-inch wheelbase. Only 40.2-inches high with top up, the sexy two-seater featured Roto-Static, and later wire wheels, cutaway louvered front fenders, prominent 'Dagmar' style front bumper guards, Ventiports, a Panoramic windscreen and prominent twin swiveling headlights, mounted alongside the windscreen. The engine was a 322 cubic-inch 220 bhp Buick V8 with four side-draft carburetors and dual exhausts that protruded from the lower edge of the rear body panel. Presented in it's originally painted Electric Blue color scheme, then repainted in metallic platinum, it's presently back in its original color.

Following is the January 17, 1954 Buick Motor Division News release:
"This rakish sports convertible is Buick's new Wildcat "dream" car, described by its designers as the only sports car with truly American styling. Built of fiberglass and mounted on a 100-inch wheelbase, the new Wildcat features radical new front fender styling that exposes the under side of the fender and the front end suspension. Headlamps are mounted on the cowl with parking and directional signal lights on the front end, underneath the fender shroud. Painted a bright blue with white leather trim, the Wildcat is powered by a standard Buick V-8 engine equipped with four carburetors that boost its horsepower output to 220. The Wildcat will make its public debut at the General Motors Motorama in New York City."

The Wildcat II now resides at the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan. It sported plenty of the 1950s most popular design features. The body was made of fiberglass and was the inspiration for the Chevrolet Corvette

The maverick spirit of Harley Earl is on full display on the SEMA 2013 show floor in the very accurate recreation of the legendary 1954 Buick Wildcat II concept car that Earl and his legendary design team birthed. This car is both visually jarring and arresting at the same time. At first glance it appears to be a complete freak show but when you give it a second and actually pay attention to what the car is telling your eyes, it becomes something to spend some time with, examine from different angles, and drink in all the stuff that is happening. This car is not the original Buick Wildcat II concept car, it is an extremely accurate recreation of the car. The original lives in the Alfred P. Sloan Musuem in Flint, Michigan.

So what the hell is this thing? Like the concept cars from the golden age of the genre, this is a styling exercise where Harley Earl turned his guys loose to let their freak flag fly and push the boundaries of what people thought as possible in the 1950s. Earl’s influence is unmistakeable in this car. From the big “Dagmar” bumper to the rear end that is a virtual copy of the Corvette of the day, and the “waterfall” styling of the interior it bears his fingerprints. Power was supplied by a 220hp, 322ci Nailhead V8 in 1954. This car has a 425ci Nailhead in it, which we think is boss. The transmission here is a T-10 four speed.  The hood was down on this car but we’re going to assume that the four carb setup also lives on this engine as the rest of the car is a near perfect duplication of the original.

Believe it or not, the body of the car is fiberglass. Again, the Corvette influence is shown there. The use of fiberglass in production cars was in its infancy when the first generation Corvette hit the streets in 1953. Those bodies were laid up on amazing mahogany molds at the original ‘Vette plant in Flint, Michigan. This car was a radical departure from the Corvette in the front and quite similar in the rear. To us, the great concept cars have those elements of both shock and familiarity happening at the same time. With a total length of just 170-inches and a height of 35-inches at the cowl, this was not the Buick that people knew. Why? The shortest 1954 Buick was nearly three feet longer than the Wildcat II and the shortest one was still taller than this one by 30-inches or more. This car may as well have been a space craft with respect to every other Buick on the planet. This space craft landed in front of the public at the 1954 New York Motorama

If we understand press reports and photos of the day when the car debuted, it had a spotlight/headlight mounted up on the cowl. This car does not have it and it seems that the original car no longer has that light either, so it may have been deleted early in the car’s life. The wheels were wire pieces straight off of a Buick Skylark. The paint color you see on the car was the one it wore at the initial unveiling and release to the public, same as the white interior. Later, the Buick was painted a dark tannish color and a two tone interior was added. We think that the blue hue with white guts is more cool and dramatic. The portholes were moved from the fender to the top of the hood, but they were still there as a familiar Buick styling cue.

As much as we love wildly modified muscle cars and altered modern machines, it is cars like this that really pique our interest. Looking at this car literally made us feel like one of the thousands that saw it in 1954 and sharing that experience that people had nearly 60 years ago is pretty awesome. Check out a bunch of our photos featuring the car below. This is one awesome hunk of iron  fiberglass.

Let's face it the 2015 Detroit Autorama is being held in Motown and that is the home of the automotive industry in America. Not only everyday drivers but also all like and manner of performance car and the dream cars—or Concept Cars as they are formally referred.
And that brings us to one of the specialty displays here in Cobo Hall—the 1954 Buick Wildcat II. When the Wildcat I came out in 1953 it was an astounding success. Some even thought it was too good and shelved so that the Chevrolet Corvette could gain its own traction and move forward. Well, there are stories and while we may not be sure it can be agreed upon that we wish Buick had come out with the Wildcat I or II—as this car was way to cool to be left languishing in a back room of a design center.

Over the past few years both Wildcats have graced the Cobo floor and crowds have always gone by to take a look. Will you may find the entire exercise interesting there is little doubt that the radical fender design was both distinctive and captivating. Everyone remarks about the styling associated with the fenders. No fence sitters here—you either liked it or you didn't. (I've always liked it as it did make the car noticeably different than the Corvette.) Buick stayed out of the two-seater sporty car crowd until much later but you can see elements of its design such as the front bumper and rear taillights from the Wildcat II in later full-size car design.

The Wildcat II weighed in at a rather robust 3,770 pounds, which would have hurt its performance back in the day. Its wheelbase was a "short" by ‘50s standards at 100 inches but neatly nestled between its framerails was a 322-inch V-8 topped with four carburetors that pumped out a respectable, by the days' standards, 220 horsepower. In fact, it would have been all the Corvette of '54 would have wanted to tangle with; knowing the outcome probably would have been unwanted. Only one was ever made but we wish they had made a lot more.