1954 Buick Skylark Model 100

General Motors rolled four Motorama show cars off rotating stages right onto the street in 1953: Chevrolet's Corvette, Cadillac's Eldorado, Oldsmobile's Fiesta and Buick's Skylark. Each topless showboat encountered varying degrees of regular-production success, with Chevy's two-seater still running strong 57 years later. Buick's Skylark remained on the market for two years, and sales for 1953 (1,690) surpassed that year's combined total for the other three by 400. The original Skylark was based on a Roadmaster convertible and featured various custom touches, including fully radiused wheel openings and a sinfully lowered beltline. Gleaming Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels complemented the “chopped” body and were set off by red inner fender liners. Power came from a four-barrel-fed 322-cid V-8 that made 188 horses. Buick's second Skylark convertible was based on the reborn Century, which was originally marketed from 1936 to '42. Wire wheels, a leather interior and reshaped wheel openings appeared again, but the body wasn't cut down; the Century's lines were already low enough. Skylark production for 1954 was 836.