1956X Buick Century featured hundreds of subtle modifications
During his tenure as General Motors' vice-president of styling, Bill Mitchell built a reputation as a sports- and muscle-car enthusiast.
The man oversaw the design of the second- and third-generation Corvettes — the former was directly inspired by Mitchell's own 1959 Stingray race car — and when he retired in 1977, he asked the automaker to gift him just one car, his 1970 Pontiac Firebird-based “Pegasus” concept.
But there's more to Mitchell than sporty cars and racy roadsters.
Mitchell's father was a Buick dealer in Pennsylvania, and it's obvious GM'S premium marque made quite the impression on him from a young age. His fondness for the tri-shield brand would manifest most famously in his steering the development of the Buick Riviera, but it was perhaps earliest made apparent when, after being appointed GM director of styling in 1954, he made one of his first design concepts the 1956X Buick Century.
The 1956X — the X is, of course, for “experimental” — is based on a production Buick Century convertible, but was treated to some 225 or so tweaks by GM stylists, making “special order 90022” something of a factory custom. Most of those modifications probably aren't jumping out at you, and that's in part because many of these subtle changes eventually made their way to mass-market General Motors vehicle lines — the 1956X Century just got 'em first.
We'll spare you running down all 225, but call your attention to, for example, the lower rocker panels. From the factory, they weren't set off at all from the rest of the body side, but the '56X sees them covered in a piece of stainless trim; the section under the door is ribbed, and, just ahead of the rear wheel, you'll find an exhaust outlet poking through.
If that sounds familiar, it's because a similar esthetic wound up on later Corvettes, a half-decadeplus after debuting on this Buick.
Open the door and you're greeted by a puddle light shining out from behind that trick rocker panel, a feature most consumers only started seeing splashed onto their driveways in the past 25 years. Tilt your chin up and you'll find a cabin trimmed in metallic five-shades-of-blue upholstery, broken up by a pair of red stripes on the door cards. The steering wheel is wrapped with then-novel padding and the gas and brake pedal see a chrome finish, a Bill Mitchell signature.
But the highlight of the cockpit is the eight-way power swivel front seats, which pivot out to welcome you to the driver's chair; or, in the case of the passenger, can rotate a full 180 degrees to chat face-toface with the folks in the back. They're capped off by a pair of power-telescoping headrests, as is the rear bench — if their going up and down via switch doesn't impress you, we'll remind you that no North-american-market car in 1956 had headrests at all, never mind power ones, and wouldn't until roughly 1967.
There are another 200-odd features we can mention — among them Seminole-red-painted inner fender liners, another Mitchell signature, and a unique Corvette-inspired intake manifold with four side-draft Carter YH carburetors, recreated from scratch by the car's restorers.
Unlike its prototype Cadillac stablemates, the 1956X Buick was not a Motorama show car, and it's thought Mitchell raced it more than he ever displayed it in public.
The 1956X Century's owner, Steve Plunkett, is aiming to take the opposite tact, and put as many eyeballs as possible on this ahead-of-its-time car and its 225 features.
After picking up the car fresh off an eight-year restoration by its prior owner, Plunkett gave the Buick a debut at the Amelia Island Concours d'elegance in March 2020.
When the Cobble Beach Concours d'elegance spotlighted “120 Years of Buick” in September 2023, it graced the lawn, there, too.
It was most recently shown at the 2024 Arizona Concours d'elegance in January, and don't expect that to be the end of its tour, either.
Plunkett says when it comes to the 1956X Buick Century, “we're going to show it as much as we can.”