1938 Buick Y-Job-First
Before the Buick Y-Job appeared in 1938, everything looked like a Keystone Cop car. Windshields sprouted up from bodies in a perfectly perpendicular fashion. Running boards ran between cycle-style fenders. Freestanding headlights flanked upright grilles. Bumpers were tacked on, sometimes with enough room to stand between the rear of the bumper bar and the body it protected.Then came the Buick Y-Job — smooth as Clark Gable and sexy as Betty Grable. Truly sleek, its shape pioneered the integrated design ethos that still drives car design today. Riding shotgun with Jacobson behind the gigantic steering wheel (no power steering back then), we couldn't help marveling at the car's nearly silent engine. "Low compression," Jacobson notes. "With such a low compression ratio, each combustion event isn't so noticeable. The straight eight doesn't make a lot of power, but it sure is smooth." Our fact-gathering turned up the compression ratio on the stock 1938 Buick enginethat powers the concept: only 6.35:1. And going hand in hand with that low compression ratio is a relatively low horsepower output of 141 for the engine's 5.2-liter displacement. Compared to modern engines that often have compression ratios over 10:1, there's not a lot happening in those ancient combustion chambers to cause much vibration.
1938 Buick Y-Job-First
The interior sports a gently used patina. Nothing is exactly perfect. Nothing is hooptie rough, either. One can imagine Mr. Earl, topped with a jaunty hat, cruising down Detroit's Woodward Avenue toward the old General Motors on Grand Boulevard. "Even the radio still works," quips Jacobson. No doubt Mr. Earl tuned in the longtime voice of the Great Lakes, WJR-AM, to check on Detroit Tigers games held at the old Briggs Stadium at Michigan Avenue and Trumble.