A friend sent me a PPS of photos of this gorgeous custom car today. I had never heard of the Timbs streamliner before (I was only 2 years old in 1948), but this seems to be something completely unique in the history of American automobile design. I wonder if its drag coefficient is as low as it looks.

 

What a beauty! I would like more details, is it a period piece, or a modern creation? What drivetrain did they use, straight six, eight? Its obviously not going to the salt with that paint-job!

 

Google it. Details about the engineering are difficult to find, although from the pictures, it looks like it had a mid-engine straight 6.

 

The front end reminds me of the Y-Job somewhat. There was a guy (whose name escapes me) that built GMC straight sixes to the hilt during the 50s and 60s for rails. Had them running in the low teens and under on alcohol. There is an article about him in The Rodders Journal, I'll try to dig it up....

 

Reminds me of Audi's old 1937 Auto Union V16 Streamline, as featured in Gran Turismo 4.

The Buick has a bluffer front end and way better-looking paint though - the Auto Union one was almost flat up front, like a road-going slipper, and all boring silver.

Was this a race car or just a custom roadgoing model? Either way it looks good.

 

As far as I can tell, it was strictly a street model, a love of labor by a fanatical mechanical engineer. I suspect that the paint on the restoration is far better than the original. If my memory isn't playing tricks on me, the color is very close to (or the same as ) a maroon that Buick used in the late 1940's; the first car I remember as a kid was an early 1950's Buick Roadmaster convertible in a maroon like this. I remember playing with the antenna, which had a knob inside to rotate it for better signal strength.

 

Cadillac called it "oxblood" in 1940. My Caddy was repainted in that color sometime in the fifties. I saw a similar idea without the classy execution sitting in the Chocolate Field at Hershey last fall. It was powered by a WWII surplus Rolls Royce Merlin engine! That sucker was ALL MOTOR. It was a rather slapped together looking deal compared to this thing though....

 

Gotta say I've never heard of it either, but it is incredibly gorgeous. It looks like something out of an Art Deco painting/movie poster/ or tinplate or early plastic toy.

Just fabulous.