Earl & Curtice’s special Roadmasters

Readers may recall our earlier Old Cars article about the three other Shop Order 1955 Buick custom convertibles also revealed through Shop Order car images acquired from a reader by Old Cars Editor Angelo Van Bogart. The photos presented in this article reveal yet two more specially built Buicks modified by General Motors. Their story is presented here.

After taking a look at the 1950 Roadmaster convertible photo presented above, Christo Datini, head of the GM Design Archive and Special Collections team, provided us with a scan of the original GM Styling Shop Order (aka “SO”) Parts List for the Buick in the photo. He noted that the document listed unique exterior parts requiring fabrication for not one but two “1950 Special Roadmaster Convertible Coupes.” The descriptions and quantities of the requested special parts were the same for both cars.

Notations on the sheet confirm that “Car #1” was SO number 01153, and “Car #2” was SO 01188. Further notations show that the first Styling drawings ordering parts for the duo were received by GM’s internal fabrication shops in early February 1950. That was just weeks after the first of the 2,964 Model 76C Roadmaster convertibles that Buick built for the 1950 model year rolled off the production line.

Larry Kinsel, head of the GM Archive and Special Collections team, followed up with scanned images of the two cars, made from negatives found in period GM Photographic shoot envelopes, linked to our subject Buicks through notation of their respective SO numbers on the envelopes.

The images are signed by “Mueller,” the GM Photographic cameraman who took the photos in the GM Styling Section area of the Argonaut building in Detroit. The shoot envelopes carry a hand-written “Special Interiors” notation, so it’s not surprising that the negatives include interior shots. However, Larry discovered that the images also included detailed exterior views — among them the very image that led to the discovery of the two forgotten SO ’50 Roadmasters.

The envelope annotations also provided the names of the Buicks’ intended recipients. Photographed on March 16, 1950, SO 01153 was destined for GM Vice President of Styling Harley J. Earl, the founder and already legendary leader of GM’s internal design operations. Nearly a month later, on April 14, Mueller returned for a go-around shoot of SO 01188. Tagged for delivery to GM Executive Vice-President Harlow H. Curtice, it was an almost exact duplicate of the Earl car (more about that later). After serving with great success as head of Buick since 1934, Curtice had become GM’s EVP of Staff Activities in 1948. (He would go on to serve as President of General Motors between 1952 and 1958.)

Both envelopes also bore the directive, “Prints to McDaniel.” Hired by Harley Earl in the founding days of what became GM Styling, James S. “Steve” McDaniel had designed the interior for Earl’s 1938 Y-Job experimental car, among many other special assignments. 

When Earl reorganized GM’s interior styling operations in 1949, he selected former Buick Chief Designer Henry Lauve to direct Styling’s consolidated Color and Fabrics centralized studios. At the same time, McDaniel’s role was broadened to include managing the activities of Styling’s newly expanded internal fabrication shops.

The special exterior styling touches evident in the photos of the two cars reflected near-term future expressions of two significant styling features first introduced by Buick in 1949. 

Conceived by Buick’s then-lead stylist Ned Nickles, the front-fender Ventiports (also known as “portholes”) debuted in production on the 1949 Roadmaster and Super lines. (That year’s Specials retained prewar styling and were thus “port-free.”) The round 1949 Ventiports were functionally designed to channel under-hood heat out of the engine compartment.

The second 1949 styling touch destined to become a Buick tradition was the bold checkmark-like “sweepspear” bright bodyside trim, which entered production as a standard feature of that year’s late-arriving Roadmaster Riviera hardtop coupe. An immediate hit with the public, the sweepspear trim became optional on 1949 Roadmaster convertibles soon after the first Riviera hardtops reached dealerships.

When Buick released its 1950 Roadmaster Riviera hardtop and convertible models in late January of that calendar year, both styles came with standard sweepspear trim. By May 1950, sweepspears were also standard on the 1950 Roadmaster Model 79 Estate Wagon and Model 72R Riviera Sedan.

Ventiports also returned for ’50, and were now seen on all series. The production ’50 editions had a horizontal rectangle shape and were set into the hood sides. The new design retained a passive ventilation capability.

In addition to custom takes on the contemporary 1950 Buick sweepspear and Ventiport designs, the two SO 76Cs sported other special exterior embellishments. The special touches are documented on the parts list for SO 01153 and 01188 as follows:

• On Feb. 6, 1950, a specially fabricated side-molding package for the twin custom convertibles was released for installation. Individual pieces included a “body side sweep-down molding, stone shield [and] rocker panel molding.” The addition of the rocker panel molding anticipated the coming 1951 Series 70 Roadmaster’s side-trim design, while the stone shield and sweep trim echoed the 1950 appearance.

• A unique and attractive “rear fender upper cap and molding” set was next released. The special molding trailed rearward from the helmet-like cap positioned at the leading edge of the rear fender, terminating just above the gas-filler door. 

• Although not noted on the SO parts list, the Buicks additionally had bright lower-fender trim panels aft of their rear wheelhouses, with a narrow bright extension visually connecting them to the sweepspear ensemble. (Similarly placed bright panels would be standard on 1953 Roadmasters.)

• Perhaps the most dramatic changes made to the cars were their special streamlined “ports.” These were to be mounted four in line on top of the front fenders. Released on February 16, 1950, the angled ports resembled the exhaust ports of the GM Allison V-12 engine, as used in the World War II Bell P-39 Airacobra, but rotated to a vertical orientation. The chromed ports exhausted under-hood air through a base with integral grille work, which also incorporated the assembly’s retainer. A hand-lettered note on the SO order sheet, dated March 7, called for a revised “hood-top” installation of the angled ports. However, subsequent photos of the completed cars show the fender-top ports mounted as initially specified, so the relocation cannot be confirmed. (Nothing more was seen of the 1950 custom convertibles’ angled stand-up ports. However, the original 1953 Buick Wildcat Motorama car would have trios of custom Ventiports set almost flush into its front-fender tops.)

• Styling drawings calling for a bold redesign of the chromed “belt saddle” moldings running beneath the cars’ side windows were also received. Echoing the curvature of the sweepspear bodyside trim, the new moldings crafted for the custom Roadmasters forecasted the 1951 production design.

• A directive to etch the Roadmaster series name into the new belt saddle moldings was canceled on March 13, 1950. The completed custom 76Cs would instead have chromed “Roadmaster” scripts on their rear fenders.
Drawings for a “Door Nameplate Etching” treatment were also released, but an annotation suggests regular production door nameplates were ultimately used.

• The dual rear-mounted power radio antennas on the custom Buicks replaced the production 1950 antenna, which was centered above the windshield. Control switches for the convertible top and dual antennas were nestled into a revised convertible top switch housing, and a special mounting was fabricated for the antenna control valve assembly.

The GM photos reveal additional modifications to the cars that incorporated parts designed for Buick’s upcoming 1951 models. 

While their frontal ensembles retained the singular 1950 bumper-guard-filled grille and hood badge, the twin customs were fitted with the coming 1951-style “bombsight” hood ornament. Both cars were equipped with 1951-style full wheelcovers, on which “BUICK” was spelled out in script, in place of the block lettering seen on 1939-’50 caps and covers. The whitewall width on the tires appears narrower than on production 1950-’51 Buicks, suggesting they may have been special equipment.

Although Buick did not offer factory two-tones with a secondary color below the sweepspear trim prior to 1954, the twin executive customs featured such a two-tone paint scheme, with the darker tone applied below the side trim. While the black-and-white images make it impossible to confirm, the paint combination may have reflected the same custom Hollywood Blue over darker Beverly Blue treatment seen on the first Roadmaster Convertible with sweepspear trim, a show-custom 1949 76C revealed at the April 1949 “GM Transportation Unlimited” product review presented by the automaker in Detroit.

The color-coordinated and seemingly identical custom two-tone leather interiors for the twin ’50 Buicks featured attractive and sporty pleated seat inserts. Sweepspear inspirations were reflected in the bright work of their specially crafted and richly detailed interior door and quarter-trim panels. The dash and steering wheel were also color-matched, while standard 1950 instrumentation was retained.

Unlike those of regular-production 1950 Buick convertibles, the customs’ tops had a fixed-in-place rear curtain, with the rear window frame invisibly sewn in — a subtly elegant touch that echoed a treatment sometimes seen on prestigious coachbuilt cabriolets, both European and domestic.

Presumably, the Buicks were powered by the Roadmaster line’s standard 320-cid Buick overhead-valve straight-eight, rated at 152 hp for 1950. A Dynaflow automatic transmission was standard in all 1950 Roadmasters.

In the Mueller photos, the completed SO Roadmasters display 1950 Michigan license plates coded for Genesee County, where Buick’s hometown and headquarters of Flint is situated. This may indicate that the cars belonged to and were registered by the Buick Motor Division.

Our research into the SO 01153 and 01188 Buicks left us questioning a curious and seemingly unique detail observed only on Earl’s SO Roadmaster convertible. This singular difference between the “twins” is the “Fleetwood” script attached to the SO 01153 deck lid. Images of the Curtice car do not show such a script. 

Why did Earl’s Buick have the signature script of Cadillac’s highly esteemed, internal special-order services resource on its deck lid? Although the answer may be forever lost to history, we can still offer some conjecture. 

By 1950, GM Corporate policy had long allowed internal operations, such as the fabrication shops, to handle and bill projects outside of normal channels. Within this context, a Fleetwood special-trim shop connection to the 1950 76C custom builds seems possible.

It would have been Henry Lauve who had the authority, with Earl’s blessing, to assign the twin Roadmasters’ custom interiors to the master trimmers at Fleetwood. 

In early 1950, when the projects commenced, Lauve had only recently been appointed to oversee GM’s newly centralized Color and Interior studios. Even as he became GM’s interior design chief, he was also put in charge of GM Advanced Vehicle activities, where he immediately became immersed in special projects, including futuristic concept cars such as the Buick Wildcat two-passenger roadster, and the development of a basic form for the EX-122 sports car project destined to become the first Corvette.

Steve McDaniel would have monitored and coordinated the execution of the custom Buicks’ exterior and interior work from the Styling perspective, in cooperation with Ned Nickles, who’d succeeded Lauve as Buick’s chief designer.

Earl’s associations with Cadillac and Fleetwood dated back to the beginnings of his career at GM. We can envision him acknowledging their contribution to his custom ’50 Buick by displaying their prestigious script logo on its deck lid. (The “Fleetwood” script may have also helped ensure that the executive garage attendants brought the right two-tone Buick convertible around when Earl called for it.)

Ever a Buick loyalist at heart, Curtice was another story. Even after becoming a GM Executive Vice President based in Detroit in 1948, he maintained his personal residence in Flint, and would continue to do so even as President of GM during 1952-1958. It isn’t easy to imagine him endorsing a Cadillac-associated Fleetwood script on his personal special Buick.

When it was time for Curtice and Earl to turn in their stand-out custom ’50s, the two vehicles were likely returned to the factory-outlet Buick Retail Store in either Flint or Detroit. There, they would be sold as used cars. No further information has come to light regarding their ultimate fates. 

While searching archived newspapers online, the author discovered a Buick dealer’s December 1951 Detroit News classified ad offering a low-mileage Olympia Blue 1950 “Special” Roadmaster Riviera Sedan trimmed with “Cadillac Custom Seats.” Perhaps it, too, reflected a Fleetwood touch?

*Terry Boyce is a past editor of Old Cars and highly respected automotive historian who’s written many articles for various publications as well as several books. 

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