1938 Buick Y-Job Concept Car

Some folks call General Motors' Buick Y-Job (Wikipedia entry here, more information here) the first - or perhaps first American - concept car.

I dispute that, citing the 1933-34 Chicago World's Fair where the Briggs-Tjaarda Sterkenburg, ancestor of the 1936 Lincoln-Zephyr, the Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow and Cadillac's more conventional looking  Aerodynamic Coupe were displayed.

Nevertheless, the Y-Job is important in the history of automobile styling.  That's because it was GM's first publicly displayed explicit concept, and that it indeed previewed features found on the corporation's production cars by the early 1940s.  I must add that it was far better-looking than the Sterkenburg and Silver Arrow (see the last link for images).

Below are some General Motors photos of the Y-Job taken in 1938 and 1940.

Gallery

The most important feature is the "suitcase" shape front fender that extends onto the door.  This first appeared on an American GM car for the 1941 model year, and was nearly-universal on the 1942 line.

Buick used a similar grille design for 1942.  The canvas top is not especially attractive, and most publicity photos have it retracted.

"Speed lines" on the fenders also appeared on future GM production cars.

The Y-Job's rear is not predictive of future production models, given the trunk lid's boat-tail shape.

The styling is basically attractive, though details such as the grill shape and rear end lights are not well integrated with the body sculpting.