Buick Roadmaster in Context
Any Buick Roadmaster overview starts with hierarchy. From the 1930s onward the Roadmaster name marked the largest and most lavishly finished Buick, positioned above the Special, Century and Super series and built on the longer wheelbase shared with Buick's senior cars. By the late 1950s it competed directly with the upper trims of Oldsmobile and the lower Cadillac range, which explains the generous chrome, the sweeping rear treatment and the emphasis on ride comfort over agility. Across the Buick Roadmaster generations, each redesign tracked General Motors' broader styling cycles, so the seventh series should be read as a late-1950s expression of a long-running flagship rather than a stand-alone model.
Understanding 7 generation
The seventh generation is defined by its two model years and the two Buick Roadmaster body styles catalogued here: Cabrio and Coupe. Both were open or pillarless-style bodies typical of the era's premium market, when hardtop coupes and convertibles carried the prestige image and sedans handled volume. The 1958 update brought heavier brightwork and a revised front and rear appearance, so cars from the two years are visually easy to tell apart despite sharing their basic structure. Buick Roadmaster dimensions for this generation place it firmly among full-size American cars, with a long hood and wide track that shaped how the car sits and drives. A detailed modification table for engines and transmissions is not yet published on this page.