Some cars are destined to define a decade. In the US, the Ford Model T defined the 1910s and 1920s, the Willys Jeep the 1940s, and the Ford Mustang the 1960s. These designations are usually made in hindsight, and are often the subject of considerable debate. And, of course, in Europe and elsewhere, the cars selected would be different.

The car that defined auto design in the 1950s in America was the General Motors LeSabre of 1951. Conceived by the flamboyant GM design chief Harley Earl, it was meant to set out the programme for the cars of the new rocket age.

Earl had conceived of the idea several years before, while still driving his iconic 1938 Buick Y Job. In a 1946 meeting with Harold Curtice, chief of Buick at the time, there was mention of retiring the Y Job and creating a new ‘halo car’ for for the brand. Earl, never one to miss an opportunity, convinced Curtice to build two cars: the XP-8 which would emphasise styling, and the XP-9, which would focus on engineering and be completed under the leadership of Buick’s senior engineer Charles Chayne. The two cars were developed in tandem over the next few years at the then-astronomical cost of a million dollars (roughly 20 million in today’s dollars)