These days, the minivan is considered a soulless transportation brick to ferry the brood to and fro. However, back in the ‘50s, GMC had something much more stylish and desirable in mind, as evidenced by the following concept photos recently unearthed by GM Design.
What we have here is the 1955 GMC L’Universelle, a vehicle considered an early precursor to the minivan. However, unlike the current crop of minivans, the 1955 GMC L’Universelle concept was simply dripping with style and sex appeal.
Pulled from the GM Design Archives & Special Collections, these photos were recently posted to the official GM Design Instagram feed, giving us a look at not only the final concept, but also a brief glimpse at the design process, including the vehicle’s creation in clay.
Making its debut at the 1955 Motorama show, the GMC L’Universelle included a front-mounted 287 V8 engine driving the front wheels. As such, the vehicle provided oodles of space in the rear for, well, whatever you could imagine.
The design was penned under the direction of Harley Earl and Charles Jordan, and featured gullwing doors for easy access to the cabin space, as well as a rear door section that would lift up for easy access to the cargo area.
The name is French for “the universal,” an appropriate title given the concept’s myriad applications. At the time, General Motors envisaged the vehicle’s use as a delivery truck, taxi, bus, or station wagon, as well as transportation for outdoor enthusiasts.
In addition to a wide variety of possible uses, the 1955 GMC L’Universelle was simply gorgeous to look at as well, with large bumpers, tail fins, and a two-tone color scheme with pink on silver.
Unfortunately, the 1955 GMC L’Universelle never made it beyond the concept stage. However, the design did provide a inspiration for production vehicles to follow, such as the Chevrolet Corvair Greenbriar.
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Also note that the photo was taken with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, about 35 miles north of the Tesla factory in Fremont. Elon, they’re coming to get you.
Elon SHOULD worry, we all know what happened to Sodom.
LOL, is that a reference to the “Open Butthole” Tesla Easter egg?
The “Tesla” plant that built Chevrolet and Pontiac for decades? That plant?
Don’t forget the Geo Prizm, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Tacoma, in addition to the Chevrolet Nova and Pontiac Vibe. Prior to that, the FWD GM “A” body until 1982, and the El Camino, and…
and… Tesla won’t be there all that much longer. Production is headed for Texas and China.
I’m old enough to remember GM in Fremont, South Gate, and Van Nuys. Ford in Pico Rivera and San José. Chrysler in City of Commerce / Los Angeles. That was a lot of strikes and a lot of union work actions ago.
Yes, Toyota headed for Texas, Alabama and Mexico when it left Fremont. While there is no union at Tesla, plenty of labor action…
The union problems were so bad that GM closed Fremont. When NUMMI, the joint Toyota/GM lashup was proposed, the union made a lot of noise. I am not sure if this is so, but I am led to understand that Toyota wanted NO former Fremont plant workers at all, and that if any WERE hired, they would have no seniority rights over anyone else.
It all went nasty after a while, and when Pontiac was closed up, Toyota saw the chance to move the pickup production out and to cancel the Matrix. “Insufficient demand for capacity” was the given reason.
(I had a Vibe (Matrix) on rental once, kinda a kick to drive!)
Dual headlights and it would be very close to an early 60’s Corvair Greenbriar wagon……
“These days, the minivan is considered a soulless transportation brick to ferry the brood to and fro.” Ironic that only gm’s mini vans fit this description.
gm makes a minivan???
they should come out with an ev minivan. first to market. they are already part way there with the brightdrop vans.
GM’s Nissan minivans.
A minivan way before Iacocca brought it to the masses. Looks like mini Greyhound Bus!
The bi-fold gull wing door is a pretty cool solution to the problem of not needing to find two adjacent empty parking spaces in order to open the side door. The design is a pretty good work-around as an alternative to a sliding door with the dirt and corrosion problems in the bottom track.
Also +1 for the “Dagmar” front bumper – looks a lot like the front bumper of the 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood I had.
I presume challenge of packaging the running gear all up front, especially trying to fit everything around the 287 V8 and cooling was one of the reasons this design never made it past the concept stage.
Not many know what a Dagmar bumper is. I remember the lady. WOWZER!
I kind of gave away my age with that comment. LOL.
Interesting. I just went to the ‘net and searched for some more information and there are pictures of the bare chassis with running gear mounted. The 287 is actually mounted “backwards” with the output shaft facing forward with side mounted transmission and a mid mounted radiator off to the side that would have been behind the driver’s seat… and I thought the ‘72 Toronado I owned was peculiar with its engine/transmission/final drive mounting. The radiator behind the driver’s seat has a shrouded fan which is mechanically driven by what appears to be about an eight foot folded, long v-belt and various idlers. That reminds me of the Corvair’s long belt driving the fan. Long belts must be a GM engineering thing of that time.
The front end reminds of the Vauxhall Victors GM imported from 1957 to 1962.
She’s beautiful! She’s got instantly recognizable (side) profile lines of that era’s station wagons. If it were available today, I’d probably buy one.
Tail lights are similar if not the same as the ’55 passenger car. Also the side lines.
It sure reminds me of the Corvair!
That’s a really cool van.
I immediately saw Corvair Greenbriar there. Reminded me of a George Barris custom. I love that side treatment but, the bumper is too much. That side door is excellent and would be a welcomed addition on trucks and SUVs today.
Notice they didn’t show the driver’s door open? Climbing in over the wheel arch might not be easy.
You’re right about the driver’s door. I had a 1969 G10 van where the back half of of the door’s bottom edge was above the wheel arch… and that is about belt line level of many cars. The door of the L’Universelle is even larger and longer. I ran across photos of the L’Universelle with open door at an auto show and the door is large indeed. Don’t park the L’Universelle next to other cars in windy parking lots.
The other bad thing about this design – and it was even worse on the G10 was there was nothing but a piece of sheet metal and five inches of air in front of your knees and anything you might hit. The steering column is also a ramrod straight spear. If you crashed into anything, you were almost certainly dead. The G10 doors were also thin sheet metal with no reinforcement. Getting T-boned in the door would have been very bad – form both the direct hit and the tire coming up from below. Safety in trucks was an afterthought up through the early 1960s.
If you check out motorcity-org, there is some more about info about the L’Universelle. That crazy radiator location amidships is pretty weird. According to other articles, the cooling air was pulled in from below and exhausted out a vent grille in the top of the truck. In the winter, the interior would have been nice and toasty if not exactly quiet! Another GM I have had in my car stable was a 1969 G10 van with a mid engine L head 250 six cylinder. The engine was right next to the driver seat with the radiator about even with one’s thigh. In the summer with short pants, some care of leg positioning was in order.
The L’Universelle concept must have gone pretty far beyond just a roller in clay. There is a photo on the web of a L’Universelle parked on a beach being inspected by a a couple of young ladies. The roof air outlet is clearly visible.
Make it electric to compete with the Buzz and I’m all in.
The clay 57 truck in the background!
WOW!!!
Late to party. Busy life. Looks French.
All right Mr. thumbs down. Step up to the plate. State your case. Don’t hide behind a thumbs down. You’re a coward. Man up dude.
That’s what I thought.
There are some who will down-tick virtually every comment. I don’t know why.
It totally looks like the inspiration for the Vruck (van looking truck). I drive past one almost daily.
I see a 1955 Nomad with a blunt nose. GM designers today need refresher course in automotive design. They should your the warehouses once in a while.
Looks like something from one of the Fallout games.
Looks like an early model Greenbriar.
To the guy who said only GM minivans are ugly have you seen the Nissan Quest?….The design team can’t figure out weather or not to be boxy or curvy it’s just awful. Besides my wife’s Enclave hold almost as much as a minivan.