By
Kurt Ernst
—
Updated
in Classics, Restorations
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1956X Buick Century, reportedly built for Bill Mitchell. Photo courtesy GM Media Archives, colorized by Ed Heys.
Nearly every Tuesday, a dozen or so automotive craftsmen gather at a barn in Zeeland, Michigan. The building itself bears no shop name, and the group of dedicated automotive restorers would be anonymous to most in the collector car hobby. Those recognizing a face or remembering a name would soon realize that this same group previously restored GM Futurliner number 10, the space-age bus that GM used to promote its wares in the 1940s and 1950s. The band’s latest mission is equally ambitious, and perhaps even less certain: to restore the one-of-a-kind 1956X Buick Century reportedly created for the personal use of legendary General Motors designer Bill Mitchell.
By 1956, Bill Mitchell had been with General Motors for some 20 years, and reported to Harley Earl (who’d recruited him from Barron Collier Advertising in 1935) as GM’s Director of Styling. Mitchell had already designed or contributed to the styling of cars like Cadillac’s 1938 Sixty Special, 1949 Coupe de Ville and the 1955-1957 Chevrolet Bel Air. He’d go on to be identified with cars like the Buick Riviera, the Corvette Stingray and the second-generation Chevrolet Camaro, and was reportedly as passionate about driving cars as he was about designing them. As the son of a Buick dealer, Mitchell had an affinity for Buick and his role as director of styling allowed him some latitude with the creation of “styling exercises.” One such vehicle was the 1956X Century, a two-tone convertible sprayed in medium metallic blue and dark metallic blue, with side-exit exhausts, wire wheels, a performance-tuned V-8 engine and powered front bucket seats that swiveled to facilitate exit. As a one-off vehicle, the car carried a unique serial plate, bearing the number S.O.90022.
Originally delivered in black, the car was resprayed a two-tone blue. Photo courtesy GM Media Archives.
While it can’t be proven that this vehicle was built specifically for Mitchell’s private use, that’s the understanding of the group currently behind its restoration. Somewhat unclear is the car’s post-Bill Mitchell history, although much of this was clarified when a former owner read an article on the car’s restoration. Gary Meyer, a retired school teacher currently living in North Carolina, purchased the car from Steigenga Auto Sales in Standale, Michigan, for $195 in 1963. As Meyer relates, the car was faster than a 409-cu.in. V-8 powered Chevrolet, and it carried a dash plaque stating that the car had been raced by Mitchell at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. While this supports the belief that the car’s original V-8 was enhanced for Mitchell’s amusem*nt, it certainly doesn’t make the task of restoration any less complex.
Don Mayton, barn owner, retired GM plant manager and one of the dedicated crew behind the Buick’s restoration, purchased the Buick from Gary Meyer’s brother, Dana. Mayton estimates that the Buick carried some 225 unique parts compared to a commercially available 1956 Buick Century, based on the car’s original shop order. Some, like the car’s specialized intake manifold (necessitated by its side-draft carburetors) can be created by modern computerized milling methods, but this won’t deliver the hand tooling marks found on the original manifold (long ago lost to history). The car’s steering wheel was crafted from a unique rubber compound, but Mayton believes a supplier in Phoenix, Arizona, may be capable of duplicating this. The Buick’s original clear taillamp lenses are intact, but badly aged, raising the question of whether it’s simply better to have new parts molded. The mechanisms for its original powered swivel seats (which allowed 90 degrees of motion for the driver and 180 degrees of motion for the passenger) have been recreated, thanks to the knowledge of a retired GM engineer who originally worked to develop them in the 1950s. Even the prototype’s instrumentation was unique, and disassembly of the dash showed that the Speed Minder-equipped speedometer was an early prototype constructed in the AC Division’s Model Shop.
The frame, in its original Sequoia Red, and the contrasting trunk panel in two-tone blue. Image credit Al Batts.
A quick glance at the latest pages of the group’s restoration log shows that there’s much work remaining before the 1956X Buick is ready for public display, but that hardly negates the monumental progress made since Mayton acquired the car in 2006. Then, the car’s floor pan was completely rusted through in spots, and the single-color paint was badly faded. Its unique swivel seats, wrapped in bright blue vinyl, were absent, as were the wiring harnesses to power the mechanisms (though the remainder of the electrical components associated with this system were found behind the left under-dash kick panel). Today, the car’s frame carries the original Seminole Sequoia Red paint and it’s once again fitted with a functional (but not yet entirely accurate) drivetrain. Much of the body has been repaired and primered, but there’s no shortage of detail work remaining before the car can be resprayed in the equivalent of its original two-tone blue paint. Bill Mitchell, it appears, had a strong preference for colors not typically found in the GM catalog, but enough of the car’s custom paint was unearthed to allow a match.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the restoration process is that it’s conducted entirely by unpaid volunteers, most retired from the automotive industry. The work on Bill Mitchell’s unique Buick is hardly the group’s only task, as other cars are in the process of being reborn in Don Mayton’s barn, too. There’s the Futurliner to attend to as well, as the group also oversees its participation in regional and national auto show events and sells a line of Futurliner-related merchandise. Most volunteers have restoration projects parked in their own barns and garages, too, yet somehow find time to contribute to the rebirth of historically significant cars like Bill Mitchell’s 1956X Buick. Given that the average age of most volunteers is well past the age of retirement, the group’s energy is particularly admirable.
The interior, showing the original blue with red trim. Image credit Al Batts.
Mayton believes that the project will take another two and a half years before the Buick is ready for public display, but he won’t estimate how much of his own money he’s already spent on the car’s restoration. It’s equally unclear how the car will be displayed once it is finished, although if the Futurliner is any indication, expect to see it make the rounds at key concours d’elegance events nationwide. There are surely projects beyond this one, too, as the former GM plant manager refers to the Buick’s restoration process as “the adventure of getting there.” Given the past accomplishments of Mayton and his dedicated group of craftsmen, we hope there are many more adventures in their future.
