The 1956 Buick Centurion had no rear-view mirror. Instead, a small television camera in the tail looked backward and sent its picture to a screen in the middle of the dashboard. Buick showed the red-and-white dream car at the 1956 General Motors Motorama, decades before backup cameras reached showrooms.
Today, nearly every new car has a camera like it. In 1956, though, a TV screen in a car’s dashboard looked like pure science fiction.
The camera wasn’t the Centurion’s only party trick. It also wore a clear bubble roof, space-age tailfins and a red leather cockpit, all drawn by GM stylist Chuck Jordan early in his career.
How the Buick Centurion camera was meant to work
At first glance, the setup was simple. A small, television-style lens sat in the trunk area, according to Jalopnik’s look at the Centurion XP-301. It replaced the rear-view mirror, and its hardware took up most of the car’s cargo room.
Then, up front, the picture appeared on a 4-by-6-inch screen in the center of the dash. SlashGear adds that the car had no side mirrors either. It also describes a monochrome, shock-resistant camera with a wide-angle lens that weighed about six pounds. University Broadcasting System, Inc. supplied it, according to SlashGear.
Whether it truly worked on the road is less clear. SlashGear calls it “a fully functional TV camera” with a low-resolution live feed, and Jalopnik also describes live video reaching the screen. However, other references say the system was never shown to be functional. Either way, Buick never offered the camera, or the car, to buyers, SlashGear notes.
Even so, the thinking behind it was sound. A conventional mirror shows only what the rear window frames, and tall fins and a sloping tail can hide a lot. A camera mounted low in the tail, by contrast, looks straight back from the bumper line. It is the same logic behind the rear cameras on cars today.
Chuck Jordan’s first big design
The Centurion was the first major passenger-car design by GM stylist Charles M. “Chuck” Jordan. That’s according to Mac’s Motor City Garage, which calls the car his calling card. The commission helped him climb through GM’s styling studios.
For the shape, Jordan gave it a “fierce bird-of-prey front-end theme” and “batwing rear quarters,” Mac’s notes. On top, meanwhile, sat a striking acrylic plastic roof. Jalopnik describes it as a clear plastic “bubble top” that left the cabin open to the sky.
Meanwhile, the body itself was fiberglass, SlashGear says. That material was cheaper and easier to shape than steel for a one-off show car.
A cockpit full of ideas
Inside, the Centurion went even further. Mac’s describes “lipstick red leather everywhere.” SlashGear, for its part, notes a cantilevered steering wheel and column, so the wheel seemed to float out from the dash.
Jalopnik points out two more oddities. The radio lived in a chrome-capped tube that stuck out from the dash. In addition, a rotary gear selector sat in the center of the steering wheel.
Real Buick power under the show paint
Still, the Centurion wasn’t just a shell. It used a 322-cubic-inch Buick V8 tuned to 325 horsepower, according to Mac’s Motor City Garage. That engine drove through a Dynaflow automatic transmission.
SlashGear agrees on the 322 V8, which it identifies as a Nailhead, and gives the same reported 325 horsepower. In other words, the dream car carried a real, running Buick engine rather than a mock-up.
How long the backup camera took to catch on
After the show, the idea sat on the shelf for decades. Japanese carmakers eventually led the way with production rear cameras, Jalopnik notes. In the United States, the first rear camera arrived on the 2002 Infiniti Q45, according to both Jalopnik and SlashGear.
That means American buyers waited roughly 46 years to get what Buick had shown on a Motorama stage. Even then, the camera arrived on a flagship luxury sedan, much as the Centurion had shown it on a Buick dream car.
Where to see the Buick Centurion now
The Centurion also survived its show career. SlashGear reports that it was apparently spared from scrapping at Warhoops Auto and Truck Parts in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
As a result, the car is still around in fine original condition, Mac’s says. In its view, the Centurion stands as one of the most striking and original cars of the whole Motorama era. You can see the Buick Centurion at the Sloan Museum in Flint, Michigan.
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