1953 Buick Skylark

Ned F. Nickles liked his European sports cars. At various times, he owned an MG TD and a TC, as well as an Italian Siata. What the head of Buick’s design studio didn’t like was driving those cars for long distances. The tipping point might’ve come during a rainy 600-mile road trip in the Siata that resulted in wet trousers and numerous stops at repair shops to keep the little roadster running.

Nickels also owned a brand-new open-top 1951 Buick Roadmaster convertible, built by his employer. It was everything the sporty Europeans weren’t: solidly built, substantial, and weathertight with a top that opened and closed at the touch of a button. It was curvaceous, too, but not in the slinky, low-slung style of a true sports car — a style that Nickles admired. So, according to a story by (multi-time Indy 500 champ) Wilbur Shaw in the October 1952 issue of , Nickles began sketching out some modifications he could make to his Roadmaster’s body