Introduced for the 1936 model year, this Buick nameplate began as the division’s largest and most prestigious production series, launched during Buick’s mid-1930s redesign era. Early cars were part of Buick’s straight-eight lineup and established the badge as one of the brand’s top-tier full-size offerings. After the interruption of World War II production, it returned for the postwar years and remained one of Buick’s flagship lines through the 1940s and 1950s, when it became associated with Buick’s biggest bodies, upscale trim, and the brand’s most advanced engines and automatic transmission technology of the period. The original run ended after the 1958 model year.
The nameplate later returned in 1991 on a very different car: a full-size, rear-wheel-drive Buick built on GM’s B-body platform and aimed at buyers who still wanted traditional American sedan-and-wagon size, V8 power, and a roomy, formal layout. This revival continued through the 1996 model year, when production ended as GM shut down its big rear-drive car line in favor of truck production. Because the badge appeared in two separate eras with a long gap in between, it is best understood as a revived historical Buick name rather than a single uninterrupted model line. The Roadmaster remains notable among enthusiasts as one of Buick’s most storied full-size nameplates, spanning both the classic prewar/postwar luxury-car era and the final years of traditional American rear-drive family cars.