The economical and reliable Buick

1911 Buick Model 26 Roadster (from the collection of the author)

Yet another shot from the mid-1950s showing what I believe is a 1911 Buick Model 26 Roadster. Early Buick's have always been popular with brass era collectors. They are economical, having been produced in large numbers, and reliable touring cars. In this picture, the Buick makes a great contrast to Rob Blood's 1907 Packard Model 30 (chassis 3924) sitting next to it.

Buick produced a prototype roadster in 1904 (now in the Sloan Museum) and by 1906 was producing 1400 cars annually. The company start producing cars in Jackson, Michigan and in 1907 opened a new factory in Flint. Production would overlap between both facilities until 1912 when they moved all car manufacturing to Flint for good. The company grew quickly, and when this car was made, Buick was the fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the United States behind Ford, Sudebaker / EMF, Willys-Overland, and Maxwell.

The Model 26 is said to be the roadster version of the Model 27 with a 34hp, 4-cylinder engine.