The Super was a car that Buick launched in 1940. Like its Cadillac, Pontiac and Oldsmobile counterparts, the Buick Super was built on the General Motors C-body platform. The C-body platform was General Motors newest large sedan chassis that was designed to be longer, wider and lower to the ground than previous generations. It had an aggressive looking stance that provided more interior room while at the same time improving aerodynamics and styling.
General Motor’s Buick automobiles were designed to appeal to customers looking for more luxury than the Pontiac and Chevrolet models provided, but who lacked the financial resources to purchase a Cadillac.
Buick only built the first-generation C-body cars during 1940 and 1941. In 1942 the second generation C-body automobiles went through dramatic exterior styling. Instead of bulbus “pontoon” fenders, t he airfoil fenders flowed down the side of the car integrating with the flared rear fender wells. The front grille now featured bold vertical bars with a heavy chrome outline flowing seamlessly together with the elaborate triple chrome bumper. The most breathtaking improvement in 1942 is the introduction of the Sedanette two door Coupe. Hoffman in Hagerstown, MD explains that this is the equivalent of what we today refer to as a fastback design.
Unfortunately, all domestic automobile manufacturing came to a halt in late 1941 when the United States entered into WWII. Most of automobile and truck manufacturers switched over to making war time machinery, things such as aircraft, tanks and guns.
After the war was over, the American automobile manufacturing industry switched back to making cars and trucks. It was at this time that one of General Motors most famous designers, Harley J Earl arose. Many of the exterior design details featured on the post war Buick Super came directly from Harley Earl’s concept car known as “the Buick Y-Job.” They credit Harley J Earl with designing this first ever concept car which allowed design teams to test out new styles and gain feedback from the general public before pushing forward with any new design ideas.
Harley is also the first automotive engineer to utilize free hand sketching and clay modeling for the design and visualization of new car styling concepts. Because of his talents and ideas, Earl became the first director of General Motors art and color department.
By 1947, Detroit was in full swing again making automobiles. For Buick, the Super was their best seller. In fact, in 1948 the Super model represented more than 75 percent of the total cars that Buick sold for the year. For 1949, Buick turned up the heat and offered vent ports on the gently restyled front fenders. Although they started out as true engine compartment vents, in the following model year, they became nonfunctional trim. These iconic fender ports are still used on some Buick models today. By the end of the year Buick sold more than 250,000 Super model units, setting the all time high sales record for any single model in the company’s history up until that point.
