The
1938 Buick Y-Job is generally considered the industry's first
concept car and was used to evaluate public taste towards different
styles. Created at General Motors by Buick Engineering dept,
it was designed by GM stylist George Snyder under the supervision
of Harley J. Earl, GM's first design chief. The two-seat sports
convertible was built on a stretched Buick chassis modified
by Charlie Chayne, then Buick's chief engineer. His engineering
skills allowed the car to sit just 58inches high from the new
13inch tyres to the top of the split front windscreen. Power
was supplied by a 141bhp Buick 320 cubic inch straight 8, the
Y-Job also utilized a bladder type braking system instead of
conventional cylinders. The streamlined body featured styling
cues that would be seen on future Buick and GM cars like the
'bombsight' hood ornament, wraparound bumpers, hidden headlamps,
wide horizontal grille with thin vertical bars and power windows,
power top and electric doors. The streamlined look was helped
by, 'frenching in' the tail lights, fitting flush door handles,
a pop-up trunk lid handle and the omission of running boards.
The most commonly asked question is why is it called the 'Y'?
Quite simply, most idea cars or experimental vehicles were given
the prefix 'X'. Earl wanted to be different and go one step
further with the Y-Job. The car served as Harley's Earl personal
transportation for many years, until he replaced it with GM's
1951 LeSabre dream car.
Text by Peter Grist
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