The 1951 Buick LeSabre is considered one of the most influential show cars of the 1950s, introducing jaw-dropping styling inspired by the aerospace age. Now, General Motors is providing a look back at some of the design sketches that led to this pivotal moment in GM design.
Recently posted to the official General Motors Design Instagram feed (@generalmotorsdesign), the sketches are done in black and white, drawn by hand in 1949. Each picture shows the Buick LeSabre concept from an exciting angle, while also focusing in on some of the more note-worthy design elements added across the body.
The Buick LeSabre concept is credited to General Motors Art Department head Harley Earl, who sought to bring the streamlined look of jet aircraft down to the pavement. Also known for creating the Buick Y-Job, Earl started the tradition of creating one-off concept vehicles to gauge public reaction to styling cues and design direction, and unsurprisingly, the 1951 Buick LeSabre concept helped to usher in elements like wraparound windshields and tail fins, setting the stage for one of the most iconic periods of American automobile design history.
Like the Y-job, the Buick LeSabre concept would later become Earl’s personal mode of transportation, and was powered by a supercharged 3.5L V8 engine. The LeSabre also came with a rear-mounted Buick Dynaflow automatic transmission, while electric lifting jacks were integrated into the chassis to make tire changes a breeze. The cabin was equipped with heated seats.
While the imagination, technology, and engineering that went into creating the 1951 Buick LeSabre should not be discounted in any way, it’s far easier to appreciate this concept’s incredible design. Contemporary onlookers no doubt saw the LeSabre as a slice of motoring from the future, while these days, the vehicle harkens back to a legendary time in the history of the American automobile.
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Comments
Thank you, Jonathan, for showing us those original sketches of the 1951 Buick LeSabre Concept. But I’m surprised that one of the car’s features, the electric lifting jacks integrated into the chassis, never made it into production even after 70 years.
When designers used more tools than just straight lines.
The car is just called Le Sabre, it is NOT a Buick. In 1959 Buick compressed the name and came out with a model called the LeSabre.
Better look at the top at who was pushing for the Y job and Le Sabre,. Mr. Buick,. Harlow Curtis.
Youre 100% right. It is officially known as the General Motors Le Sabre XP-8. Note that Buick eventually adopted the name, but this is NOT a Buick.
It’d be like calling the Firebird Jet Turbine car (General Motors XP-21 “Firebird”) a Pontiac. Just because the name is there, doesn’t mean it belongs to that brand.
In fact it was called the GM Le Sabre and not the Buick Le Sabre at that time, as Buick came out with its own dream car at the same time (the cars had been developed alongside each other): the Buick XP300.
Both had magnificent technical novelties: a top that would close automatically when it starts to rain; 2 separate fuel tanks – one for regular fuel and one for methanol that would be used when the supercharger got engaged and carburetor openings went over 40%; etc. Both cars also pioneered the big wrap-around windshield.
The XP-300 was tested at the GM proving grounds and reached a top speed of 140 mph (225 km/h) with a modified gearbox – with the regular Dynaflow it was regularly driven up to 110 mph by Charles Chayne, then GM vice-president of engineering; the Le Sabre had a top speed of 120 mph and was mostly driven by Harley Earl.
The cars toured the world when they were first introduced. Le Sabre was the star of the Paris Car Show in 1951.
These cars and the beheamoths that they grew into., both inspired Americans; made legends and resulted in some Limited Editions. We loved them and hated them at the same time. Gasoline and the Japanese soon descended upon us. Today, however, for me, there is no hate left. Only love for these great designs. A Golden Age of Design if there ever was one. AF
Believe the vehicle was parked in the garage area of GMI(now Kettering University) in the mid to late 1960’s.
Designers of today can’t hold a pencil to our grandfather’s of yesterday. Oh wait they don’t even know what a drawing pencil is, only a mouse.
The grandfathers of yesterday could do no better than designers do today if constrained by current and future emission and corporate average fuel economy standards. Even worse than dictating boring styling through unnecessarily excessive regulation, the current administration is hell bent on outlawing holistically superior fossil fuel transportation. Will we let that happen too? Probably.
Bob Crow, Actually all very good points!
Does anybody know I think about Evans the artist that drew these?