History GM Concept L'UNIVERSIALLE Van

I was flipping through a magazine yesterday when I stumbled upon an article on the GM L'Universialle concept van. Designed by Harley Earl and his team in 1954-55 the truck debuted at a few auto shows but never saw the light of day.

I think its pretty damn cool.....

 

wow thats cool, its like a nomad rear with a van front. Lets go vannin!!!

 

There are so many neat things in this design.
Too bad it never made production.
r

 

I would drive the piss outa' that thing!

 

The front end reminds me of the Corvair vans. Harley was on top of his game for sure.

 

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My thoughts exactly. that thing is sweet!

Where is John, if you squint, it kinda looks like the Boogie Van

 

Hmmm, I've got an old Corvair Greenbrier here... Anyone got a spare Nomad ass??? hmmm...

 

neat lookin' van... did I just say that?

 

What an awesome era for GM.
BTW...What magazine was that in?

 

Very cool indeed.

It's especially interesting because none of the big three were even making vans at the time, and GM wouldn't produce one for another 6 (corvair) to 10 (fullsize) years.

I think you could build a clone with 55 chevy passenger car (quarters), panel (roof), and COE (cab) parts.

Rich

 

Somebody should clone that car!! It has got to be the coolest GMC ever

 

I'm really diggin' this thing..talk about a stylish hauler.
Very cool!

 

More info....




1955 GMC L’Universelle Concept Vehicle
Though Chrysler executive Lee Iacocca and his designers generally are credited with inventing the minivan in the early 1980s, Earl came up with a remarkably similar concept a quarter-century before them. The L’Universelle, a front-wheel-drive car/truck hybrid with the driver’s compartment in front of the engine, was nearly a foot lower than conventional panel trucks, yet had as much space inside as much larger vehicles

 

One of my favorite concept cars(truck).Car Collector magazine did an article on it awhile back.The drivetrain is a Pontiac V-8 and Hydra-Matic turned around to facilitate the front wheel drive.I believe there were actually two built but have no idea what became of them.

 

The L'Universelle also had some of its driveline adapted from GM buses, but my memory fails me as to just what was used. The Pontiac engine was mid-mounted, though.

It would be great to build a working version of this and use it every day.

 

I like it. Wish I had the talent, time and patience to build it.

 

wow. too cool. way ahead of its time.

 

So If someone posted a build thread on this thing would it get bashed? It's definitely not a traditional hot rod...

Sure is cool though. Looks like a good project for Kustom7777...

 

If anyone has anymore pics of this van, please post them. I'd love to see more....

 

That is really cool looking, I think I saw a few pics on here last month, same one`s posted here. Would be sweet if someone built it.

 

I wonder if it's still in existance? Maybe in a GM warehouse somewhere?

 

lol,,,,i was just thinking that..

 

Wow, if you study it with the date in mind, there's a lot of recognizable features on that van other than corvair. Tail lights, trim, and the body line all evoke tri-5 and the original vette.

A quick google turned up this site with a decent sized picture
http://www.strangecosmos.com/content/item/125499.html

 

Link to Official Harley Earl Website w/ loads of info on his L'Univ dream concept :

http://carofthecentury.com/imagineering.htm

 

Here are some more pix I found:

 

WOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!

Please tell me this still exists somewhere!!!

I MUST have this on display at this years Concours d'LeMons!!!

We are featuring the Mini-Van and the SUV.

 

great looking van... wonder how it would have sold if they had actually built them

 

Sombody already did.

Looks like a cross between a V Dubba Micro bus and a corvair. Pretty slick actually. Really unfortunate thing about concept cars is that they very seldom see the light of day. Its kind of like a custom show car that a select few of the factory guys get to build.