1951 Buick 40 series question

[our51super]

Hi all,

I was recently looking at some Buick pictures and noticed that the 1951 Specials had (at least in the ads) a chrome piece on top of the front fenders with what looks like a signal light up front. Does anyone know whether this feature made it to production and if so might these fit on a Super? I really like the way they look. Please see the picture below:

Thank you in advance.

[Guest Dynaflo2]

Crin,

I've seen the same detail in literature of the time, but have never seen it in real life. If you'll notice, the parking light cans have no lights in them in the pictures. My guess is that the stylists couldn't decide whether to put the parking lights/signals on the fender or the bumper, so the artists depicted both in the literature until the cars went into production.

I must be off...

[OldCarPosters]

You will also notice that the artist also illustrated a split windshield on the '51 brochure, but, I believe all Buicks had a single-piece windshield starting with the Second-Series (mid production) 1950 models. Do you have a split-windshield? I have a Second-Series 1950 Buick Super which is descibed 3 different ways depending on which brochure you read. Some say Super Riviera 126, some say Super 126 Tourback Sedan, and some say Super Tourback. I don't think the engineers and production and stylists and the advertising people were always on the same page ... and changing designs in mid-1950 added more confusion. Of course, they didn't have the benefit of instant computer-generated graphics software.

[Centurion]

"Seventy Years of Buick" makes note that some of the 1951 Buick brochure illustrations show the fender-top parking lamps and long chrome bezels (ala 1949 Buick), but further indicates that these did not reach production.

[Pete O]

I believe I read somewhere that the sales brochures were printed before production began, and some late changes in the actual production cars (such as removing the fender top lights that had been planned) were made after the brochures were printed. Interestingly, there is a whole series of cars described in the brochure that were never produced. This is the Custom Special Series. (see the copy of the brochure attached). If I'm right, I believe that the regular Special series changed from the GM B body used in 1950 to the GM A body in 1951. I believe the Custom Special Series would have used the B body like the 1951 Super and Roadmaster, but would have been de-contented to sell at a lower price.

I have seen on eBay a 1951 sales brochure that did not show the fender top lights. It was described as a Canadian Brochure. But I'm wondering if any US brocures were re-printed later on in the year to reflect the production changes that were made. Does anyone know?