1951 XP300

THIS ONE IS FANTASTIC! love it.. great car.. LOTS ON THIS ONE! why? well for one.. great car.. two? it was owned by no other then "THE MAN!" Harley Earl.. harley who? The big guy.. yeah at 6'7" he was... the guy that WAS GM DESIGN- he was the president of GM design.. from 1929-1959 LONG TIME ... he was the one that you will see in ANY DESIGN BOOK FOR CARS. He lead the industry and trained the ones that kept GM ahead of everyone in design in the auto industry. 

He was known as Minstrel. He was a cool cat at times.. other times a tyrant.. his rule was never questioned.. he even fired a employee one time for wearing the same tie as him!, but he knew what the pubic wanted. 

OK the car engineered originally by Charlie Chayne.. built in 1951, the XP for Harley had a thing for planes.. and XP is eXperimental Pursuit in airplane talk, so he did the projects XP 300?? well not the motor it was a supercharged Buick v-8 only 550 lbs VERY LIGHT 335hp! it had two fuel tanks behind the seat.. one for premium gas.. the other. methyl alcohol.. that was for FULL BOOST POWER!  which opened a second carb for the alcohol. 

Has (yes notice HAS) two-piece trunk lid.. which could be opened either curb or street side.. A tapered chrome fin extended down the center of the trunk (deck as we designers/customerizers know it) that hid the hinge. the body was ALL ALUMINUM ...expensive! when the doors closed hydro steel bars slid into position like those on a bank vault (NO, YOU'RE NOT GETTING OUT OF THIS RIDE BABY!) The hood could be raised or lowered by a  button and BUILT IN HYDRO JACKS!! at each wheel for those flat tires!! 

Chayne drove this car as his own personal car.. and the 1951 Lesabre  (LeSabre from airplane names) the car?? it is at the Alfred P Sloan museum in Flint MI .. with 10,000 miles on it.. nice car..