The Buick Y-Job, produced by Buick in 1938, was the auto industry's first concept car[3] (a model intended to show new technology or designs but not be mass-produced for sale to consumers).[4] Designed by Harley J. Earl, the car had power-operated hidden headlamps, a "gunsight" hood ornament, electric windows,[5] wraparound bumpers, flush door handles, and prefigured styling cues used by Buick until the 1950s and the vertical waterfall grille design still used by Buick today.[until when?] It used a Buick Super chassis, indicated by the word "Super" located above the rear license plate.
The car was driven for a number of years by Harley Earl, until he replaced it with a 1951 model car. Sometime after that, the car was restored at the Henry Ford Museum, until 1993 when it was returned to the GM Design Center.[6]
The "Y" in the name has two explanations:
All experimental cars were called "X", so Earl simply went to the next letter in the alphabet.[7]
The "Y" designation was selected by Earl because it was used extensively in the aviation industry denoting the most advanced prototypes.[5]
In 2001, Buick recreated the Y-Job with modern advancements called the Buick Blackhawk drawing extensively from the Y-Job.
Specifications
According to the GM Heritage Center, specifications for the 1938 model were:[8]
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