Published: February 27, 2020, 12:00 AM
Updated: March 4, 2020, 4:21 AM
Bill Mitchell 1956 Buick Century X
Steve Plunkett, of London, Ontario, has more than 90 cars in his collection, including several priceless one-off models, mostly Cadillacs. He doesn’t collect just any car; he prefers ones that are historically significant – “cars that have a story.” That’s the reason he recently acquired a significant car from another General Motors brand – Buick. This beautifully restored 1956 Buick Century X was specially built for Bill Mitchell, GM’s legendary styling chief, and it will be featured at the 25th anniversary Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance on March 8th, 2020.
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Steve Plunkett
Steve Plunkett is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable collectors of Cadillac vehicles in North America. He says he’s always had a passion for that brand and started collecting Cadillacs in 1981 when he was a marketing representative for a picture frame manufacturer. While en route to visit a client, he spotted a 1968 Coupe De Ville sitting in a field near Essex, Ontario. He tracked down the owner and bought the car, then started restoring it himself. “That first restoration was very much hands-on,” he recalls with a grin.
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Cars of Harley Earl
The Buick Century X will be highlighted in the ‘Cars of Harley Earl’ class at Amelia Island. Earl had hand-picked the 23-year-old Mitchell as his successor at GM Styling and Design and the young designer made his initial mark in the business by designing the 1938 Cadillac 60 Special. He later left General Motors to work at Harley Earl Corp., Earl’s private design firm, but rejoined GM in 1953 as its director of styling. Three years later, he created the Buick Century X.
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Special Order No. 90022
It wasn’t a one-off dream car, but a specially modified production car – Special Order No. 90022 – that had 225 unique features not offered on the public iterations. This one-of-a-kind convertible was just one of more than 50 personalized vehicles Mitchell had built during his career – many of which were Corvettes and Camaros. The Century X was the lone Buick model.
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Power-operated Swivel Seats
Many of the changes Mitchell made on the Century X were subtle, but so advanced they didn’t appear on production cars until many years later. Swivel front seats, for example, didn’t show up until the mid ‘70s, and even then they weren’t the power-assisted examples Mitchell had created. The driver’s seat rotates 90 degrees to make access and egress easier…
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180-degree rotation
...while the passenger seat swings 180 degrees so the occupant can chat face-to-face with the folks in the rear seat.
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Power headrests
All four headrests can be raised or lowered at the touch of a button. Consoles front and rear separate the custom bucket-style seats – also a unique interior design in their day.
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Forward-looking details
Special chrome trim on the accelerator, brake and parking brake pedals are a visual indication this car was a Mitchell “special order.” The Century X features fixed metal floor mats covered with blue upholstered inserts that match the custom interior. And special “puddle lights” illuminate the ground as one steps out of the car at night. It’s a feature that’s only now showing up on some cars.
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Red highlights
Red-painted brake drums are visible through the gleaming spokes of the special Skylark-style wire wheels and match the red-painted chassis and fender wells – a signature Mitchell feature.
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One-of-a-kind
Unlike 1956 production models, the Century X has no hood ornament. Instead, there is a pair of ornaments perched atop the front fenders that were poached from the ’55 Buick Roadmaster. The painted headlight bezels were also borrowed from the Roadmaster parts bin.
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Understated elegance
The hood features letters that were hand-built, as was the special grille ornament denoting the car as the “1956 X Century.” The front bumper “bombs” have been modified to include special driving lights. The two tones of blue (Mitchells’ favourite exterior colour) on the hood are separated by a custom piece of trim. It was made of brass so GM craftsmen could more easily work with the one-off part.
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Dual side exhaust outlets
The dual side exhaust outlets were unique in their day, but later were an integral feature of Corvette design.
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Unique details
The rear quarter panels have a custom Century script attached. The corners of the front and rear bumpers have a custom ribbed treatment that’s painted in a matching blue hue. The lower area of the bumpers are also painted.
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More Mitchell touches
The rear deck has custom-made Century lettering, while the tail-lights are unique, with clear lenses over red reflectors.
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Power to match the style
Mitchell had racing blood in his veins, so it’s not surprising his list of Century X modifications included changes to the 322-cubic-inch V-8 engine. The most obvious is the specially built ram-induction intake manifold that draws the air-fuel mixture from four Carter side-draft carburetors. This modification, which is similar to the manifold used on the Wildcat II concept car, required GM engineers to relocate several components under the hood. The automatic transmission is a production Dynaflow unit.
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Multi-year restoration
The Century X was originally restored by Don Mayton of Zeeland, Mich., who’d previously revived GM’s Futurliner No. 10. Looking for another project, he found the Mitchell Buick, which he’d first spotted in a Buick Club ad in 1991. Four years later, Mayton bought the car, which was little more than a rolling chassis and boxes of dusty old parts. Mayton spent years researching the car and in 2010, he and a team of 14 volunteer buddies began working on the car. The project was completed in late 2018.
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Ready for AmeliaIsland
“This car has been off the radar since 1956 an now that it’s freshly restored, we’re kicking off the show circuit with the Amelia Island Concours in March,” says Plunkett, who learned about a year ago that the Century X was available. “I love taking an important car that has been out of sight for decades, but remembered, and reintroducing it again at a significant venue.”
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