I just watched what I'm pretty certain was a '54 Century sold as a Roadmaster on the B-J auction. The car sold so quickly that I can't be certain, but the script on the side seemed waaay too short to be "Roadmaster."

So, I emailed Magnante and kidded him about not catching it. I also said that he should have pointed out that the Century also got the 4th porthole. After I sent the email, I thought I'd Google up a picture of the '54 Century. When I did, the picture showed only 3 portholes! What's going on!!! Was there a mid-year change? The '54 Century models used in Broderick Crawford's "Highway Patrol" had 4 portholes. I had a '53 Super and the Century I looked at in the showroom, on the introduction date, had 4 portholes. In other words, the 4th porthole was connected with the big V8, NOT the model.

Can someone explain?

From Motor Trend:

"Century models carried, like the top-of-the-line Roadmaster, four
portholes alongside their front fenders to denote the high-output of
their V-8s. Count the portholes alongside Goltz’s Buick and it comes up
one short. The Goltz car is a Special 46R: a pillarless hardtop as
opposed to the two-door "post" sedan the CHP actually had. "It wasn’t
such a big compromise," says Goltz. After he bought his Special, he
took it to Les Randolph’s Brockton Automotive in Riverside, California,
near Goltz’s own home in Upland. "Les was into restoring cars and owned
several Buicks. His favorite was his genuine ’55 Buick Century model 68
CHP car. When I saw that car I was in awe! At first Les and I discussed
some form of trade, but we decided to redo my car instead. Les felt my
Buick could be made to look like a rather realistic highway patrol car.
We decided against adding extra portholes or changing the Special
nameplate to a Century. I wanted to protect my Buick’s integrity as a
Special. Besides as a boy, I always thought the ’55 Buicks used on
"Highway Patrol" were Specials." Under the hood of Goltz’s car lies a
264-cubic-inch version of the Buick V-8 topped by a two-barrel carb and
rated at just 188 gross horsepower at 4800 rpm."

But, this still doesn't explain why the pictures of Century models on the 'net all show only 3 portholes.