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Rare example of extreme streamlining show car resurfaces after 60 years

By Rain Noe - June 17, 2010

in Object Culture

I take back anything bad I ever said about engineers doing design.

Images have started popping up online of this recently-restored Buick Streamliner, a working show car that was originally designed and built in 1948 by mechanical engineer Norman E. Timbs. As the name implies and your eye can confirm, the car is the epitome of the streamlining style; it's also got an aluminum body that was hand-formed over a wooden form and ate up 80% of the entire cost of the car (ten large in 1948 dollars).

Practical? No. Insanely beautiful? Yes.

The car was "discovered in the desert" and restored by the California couple who purchased it at auction, and recently appeared at the 2010 Concours D'Elegance. There's a must-see gallery of the car here.

via supercars and the coolist

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Shalin

14 years ago

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@ditullo - agreed on the fish look from some angles... and yet, it seems like this "old" style has a timeless and astounding amount of sexy all over it...
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Shalin

14 years ago

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wooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... droooooolllllllll, wipe, repeat...

Hipstomp, very kind of you to "take back anything bad I ever said about engineers doing design." ;)

--S
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ditullo

14 years ago

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I can't make up my mind, somethings are really cool (the front bumper is amazing), some of the arcs are pretty, but something is almost a little repulsive about it, like a wet fish.... the fenders also oddly flatten at points, and I wish the tail was a continuous arc but instead it has an odd break in profile.
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Shirty

14 years ago

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I implore anybody who sees this to click through to see more photos... you don't see beauty like this everyday, so when you do, take 2 minutes to relish it...
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