Why this 1960 Buick Invicta was Car of the Year

2024’s Kingstown Shipping Car of the Year winner was one very special 1960 Buick Invicta; editor Ben Klemenzson explains why…

Words: Ben Klemenzson   Photography: Matt Richardson

If you were to put a 1958 Buick beside the car which followed it in 1959, you’d struggle to believe the cars were from the same manufacturer, let alone separated by one model year alone! The ’58s were boxy, upright looking and slathered in chrome. The ’59s (and by extension the ’60s, which were mildly facelifted) were long, low and lithe, with a minimum of chrome adornment and wore new distinctive ‘Delta wing’ rear end tailfin design and ‘canted’ front headlights. It’s believed that Chrysler’s new ‘Forward Look’ cars which took the American automotive world by storm in 1957 with their distinctive long, low and be-finned look and were a tremendous sales success and so spooked GM, that clean sheet designs were hastily demanded by the bosses in Flint, resulting in the ’59 Buicks which were such a departure from their predecessors the year before.

But it wasn’t just the styling which was new – new nomenclature was introduced (and carried over for 1960): the base Special became Le Sabre, the mid-level and traditionally sportier Century became Invicta, while the upper-level Super became the Electra and the top of the tree Roadmaster was now designated the Electra 225. Le Sabre used the smaller 250bhp 364cu in V8, while the three upper tier models utilised Buick’s 325bhp 401cu in V8 rated at a beefy 445lb-ft of torque. Transmissions were variously Buick’s twin and triple-turbine for both 1959. LeSabre and Invicta rode on a smaller 123-inch wheelbase (217 overall) while both Electras rode on the larger 126.3-inch (225-inches overall) version.

There were a number of interesting options offered on the ’59s, including GM’s problematic air suspension, known at Buick as ‘Equipoise’, a system widely derided by the motoring press of the time. Similarly, while the Buicks were praised for their new long, low appearance, the reduction in height (and enlarged, higher transmission tunnel which was a direct result of the height drop) resulted in complaints about seating posture and lowered head room – you couldn’t wear a hat in the car, complained one motoring pundit, an important factor in 1959/1960 and maybe something which may have affected sales with its predominantly older, more conservative clientele. Motor Trend said of the car in 1959: “The new lines are good and clean. It appeared fast just sitting, with little evidence of great size… Entry was no trouble, even for all of my six feet two inches… Vision was better than last year … and the ’59 felt more solid.”

The 1960 Buicks were very similar to the ’59s, although one big styling change was the new grille. About the only styling cue carried over from the ’58s to the ’59s had been the grille with its small square rectangles known as the Fashion Aire Dynastar Grille. For 1960 chrome vertical bars replaced this and the headlamps became horizontal, rather than the canted ones used before and, most intriguingly, the traditional Buick ventiports, dropped for ’59 were reintroduced for 1960 (again, possibly another move designed to appeal to older, more traditional buyers). The air suspension and triple Turbine Drive transmission options were dropped and the offending big transmission tunnel was lowered by an inch and a quarter. However, it seems the damage had been done and sales fell in 1960, with a disappointing 10% fewer Buicks sold for 1960 than the year before, dropping to 253,807 cars.

The face is familiar

If you think Colin Shepherd, the owner of this 1960 Buick Invicta which won the 2024 Kingstown Shipping Car of the Year title, looks familiar, well, you might recognise him from the feature we did on his 1959 Buick Invicta four-door hardtop, back in our March 2018/CA323 issue. He was also in the 2014 Car of the Year competition, with his 1966 Pontiac Bonneville. However, you may also recognise him as he’s been a familiar face on the American car scene in this country for decades! Ever since he was a young man, he’s had Yanks, starting off with a 1964 Cadillac Fleetwood (9GXO) which was purchased for the princely sum of £200! This was followed by a ’59 Cadillac (XLT2) and after that a Corvette, which led him to getting involved in the Classic Corvette Club in the Eighties.

Colin’s taste in cars is pretty eclectic and not limited to just American vehicles; however, late Fifties/early Sixties GM cars hold a special place in his heart (although he’s currently also got a 1970 Mustang Mach 1 in his stable too!) and when he became aware of this 1960 Buick Invicta, he set his heart on acquiring it, although that opportunity took a number of years until it became a reality. The former owner, who owned it either from new (or very nearly new) was one George Beretta, an Italian immigrant living in Neasden, northwest London, who moved to the UK as a young man, setting himself up in business with a scooter shop located in Soho. George made a great success of his life, where among other things he was believed to have worked as a stuntman and he acquired this 1960 Buick from GM concessionaires of the time, Lendrum and Hartman, trading in a 1954 Oldsmobile convertible for it. As a Lendrum car it was well optioned with power-seats, -windows, -antennae and has the Turbine Drive automatic transmission, as well as power-steering and a Wonderbar radio with foot-controlled station selection.

In many ways, we could refer to this particular Buick as a ‘unicorn’ vehicle – not in that it is super rare (we know Buick knocked out 5236 Invicta convertibles for the 1960 model year) but in the sense that its provenance is so unique, being sold new in the UK, having a single owner for most of that time and for surviving virtually unscathed and in original condition through its life. George apparently used the car to drive into central London to his business in Soho and the car was used to travel to Italy to visit family near Milan most summers. One thing’s for sure, George really loved this car and took great care of it, as was proven by its excellent condition when Colin acquired it. One amusing anecdote was how the Buick had made a guest appearance in an episode of EastEnders as a wedding car and Ross Kemp, who plays Grant Mitchell in the show, expressed an interest in acquiring the car; however, George declined his offer as he wasn’t impressed with the way he slammed the door on his beloved Buick!

Towards the end of his life, George Beretta started making noises about moving the car on, and it was through meeting George’s niece Anna Maria at Jive classes, that Colin was introduced to George in 2013 and began the process of negotiating with him to acquire the car. It wasn’t straightforward, as understandably, after a lifetime with the Buick, it proved hard for him to part company with it. In fact, the process took so long that Colin acquired his ’59 Invicta hardtop in 2015, as he thought the ’60 would never become his. It was only after George’s death that a deal was done in 2017 with his widow to acquire the car. Understandably, they wanted the Invicta to go to someone with an interest in it and who would look after it, and Colin more than fitted the bill.

The car had sat in the Berettas’ garage for a number of years and as we know, this sedentary life can often spell trouble for cars and in this case necessitated quite a bit of recommissioning. It still wore its original convertible top, carpets and interior upholstery, all of which had seen better days. Likewise, the unique Casino Cream paintwork (a sort of pale-yellow colour, similar to Ford’s Sixties Springtime Yellow hue) was looking tired, as was some of the chrome. Colin flat-bedded the Buick in September 2017 to his workshop and began the long process of reviving the car.

The big reveal

The good news was that in dismantling the car, Colin found there to be no serious corrosion and what little rust there was, was only surface. Luckily, his skills as a heavy plant engineer meant a project like this was not daunting, but a pleasure even. And although he decided not to undertake a body-off restoration, the wings, doors, bonnet and boot were removed and the whole car was pretty much dismantled, along with removing the engine, transmission and rear axle. Fortunately for Colin this long, arduous process happened to coincide with the start of Covid, so that’s what he spent his lockdowns doing!

Where possible Colin retained as much of the car’s original parts, but some items had to be replaced, such as the pitted front grille. He managed to find an NOS one in North Dakota, along with light lenses in Florida and light surrounds from California, all still in their original GM boxes. And while the rear seat material had survived well, the front was a different story, so Colin sourced a replacement cover set from American interior specialists SMS (www.smsautofrabrics.com). Mechanically the transmission had a new seal kit fitted, while the engine was inspected and found just to need a bit of a valve job, a clean-up and new cam shaft. The carb was rebuilt at the same time while the radiator was re-cored. A new exhaust was made up by Waldron’s of Centreville, Michigan (www.waldronexhaust.com ) and one of the final tasks was having the bumpers re-chromed by Colonnade of Wembley (www.colonnademetal.com/[email protected]/Tel: 020-8902-7722). What little corrosion there was Colin tackled with a friend, although the most challenging area proved to be the convertible drain channels. Colin even painted the car himself in a home-made paint booth in his barn. All in all, he spent 18 months working on the car before it began to near completion and reassembly. Says Colin of the whole experience: “I like old school ‘mechanic-ing’ where you can fix things rather than replacing them… The Buick was a personal thing and I’ve done more to that than any car I’ve ever had. The NEC was a bit of a pinnacle of achievement for me and a bit of a swansong… I don’t think I could do another job like that; I don’t think I have the willpower or the strength and determination!” Well, whatever it was Colin put into the Buick over that restoration, it was definitely worth it, as it garnered the Buick the highest accolade any American car can have in this country: Car of the Year!

Colin and his 1960 Buick Invicta scrapbook

Pictured here are images from the Buick’s life with its former keeper George Beretta, as well as images of Colin and his American cars over the year, plus some shots of the Buick as it was when Colin collected it.

The hard yards

Colin did pretty much all the restoration work on his Buick himself (although the transmission was sent away to a specialist) including dismantling the car, welding it, rebuilding the engine and the carb and painting it. Well done that man!