Y-Job (United States of America, 1938)

The Buick Y-Job is widely recognized as the automotive industry's first concept car.

At the time, GM wanted to test consumer reaction to innovative design ideas, as Buick models of the late 1920s had received some criticism and consequently suffered a drop in sales. Hence, Harley Earl, Chief Designer at Buick, conceived the concept car as perfect testing ground.

The show car itself was actually driven for a number of years by Harley Earl, and has over 25,000 miles on it. Only in 1951 he replaced it with a model car. After that, the car was restored at the Henry Ford Museum and in 1993 it was returned to the GM Design Center. After the restoration work that has been done on it, the car still shows the wear and tear from when Harley Earl drove it daily.