General Motors Le Sabre

This article is about the Concept car. For the General Motors car manufactured by the Buick brand, see Buick LeSabre.

General Motors Le Sabre

The General Motors Le Sabre is a 1951 concept car. Possibly the most important show car of the 1950s, it introduced aircraft-inspired design elements such as the wrap-around windshield and tail fins, which became common on automotive designs during the second half of the decade.

The Le Sabre is owned by the GM Heritage Center, and still occasionally appears at car shows.

This was GM's first use of the Le Sabre name, which would be later adopted by Buick for a new production model in 1959.

History

Front 3/4 view

The Le Sabre was the brainchild of General Motors Art Department head Harley Earl. The design was Earl's attempt to incorporate the look of modern jet fighter aircraft into automotive design. As jets replaced prop-driven aircraft in the late 1940s, they symbolized the very latest in design and engineering, and Earl had hoped to carry this concept into automobile design.

The project was a follow-up to Earl's famous 1938 Buick Y-Job. Like all his projects, it was built to be roadworthy, and became Earl's personal automobile for two years after finishing its tour of the auto show circuit.

Design and features

With a body made of aluminium, magnesium, and fiberglass, it was powered by a supercharged aluminum V8 able to run on gasoline (petrol) or methanol (like Indy roadsters of the period did), and was GM's first use of a rear-mounted transmission.

As to the fins, Harley Earl wrote, “People ask, ‘isn’t your exaggerated design just for effect?’ The answer is definitely no. Typically, the twin fins on Le Sabre serve the functional purpose of carrying aircraft-type 20-gallon rubberized fuel cells.”

In addition to its jet-inspired design, the 1951 Le Sabre featured numerous other advanced features, including a 12-volt electrical system (all American cars of 1951 were 6-volt), heated seats, electric headlights concealed behind the center oval "jet intake", front bumper Dagmars (made famous on 1951-8 Cadillacs), a water sensor to activate the power top, and electric lifting jacks integral to the chassis to aid tire changes. (This idea would be copied decades later by Formula One race teams.)

The rear-mounted automatic transmission was originally a Buick Dynaflow, but this was later changed to a GM Hydramatic.

This early-development aluminum V8 was unique to the Le Sabre and the Buick XP300 concept cars. The concept 215ci V8 used a hemispherical combustion chamber design, similar to early Chrysler V8s of the 1950s era. It was a "Square" engine, with matching 3.3" bore and stroke dimensions. Although they shared a common displacement of 215 cu in (3.5 L), this concept engine is not the same as the production "Oversquare" aluminum Buick 215 introduced in the GM Y-body compact cars in 1961. They have virtually no interchangeability in parts or design.

Rear

Reproductions

In 1999 the Franklin Mint introduced a 1:24 scale die-cast reproduction on the 1951 Le Sabre. It became one of their best-selling automobile miniatures. A smaller scale Le Sabre also exists as a Hot Wheels model. Glencoe Models made a simple 1:72 scale plastic kit, which had the wrong shape at the rear. Berkley Models made a 1:24 scale kit with a body of curved balsa wood.