From the Historical Vehicle Association:

In our continuing series taking a look at General Motors “Dream Cars” of the 1950s, we spotlight GM’s one-of-a-kind “rolling laboratory,” the first gas-turbine-powered “rocket car” and a Buick with features decades ahead of its time.

1951 GM Le Sabre

Facts And Legends: It’s as if GM told their head of design, Harley Earl, to take every futuristic auto- motive idea he ever had and put it into one vehicle. Taking its name and styling influences from the Air Force’s F-86 Sabre fighter jets, the original Le Sabre””a nameplate eventually adopted by Buick in 1959″”was billed as a “rolling laboratory” for GM construction ideas and technological innova- tion. Some figures estimated a cost of anywhere from $500,000 to a million dollars to produce what many considered the most influential GM concept car of the 20th century.

The La Sabre was a test bed for radical new types of materials, most of which turned out to be too expensive to ever use in production cars. The La Sabre’s body was made of cast magnesium panels and hand-formed aluminum. After Motorama, Earl used the dream car as his everyday vehicle, put- ting 45,000 miles on the odometer to prove its roadworthiness.

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To say that Denise McCluggage opened doors for women in racing, or even women in sports journalism, is a bit of an understatement. In many ways, she kicked down those doors, and then spun eloquent prose about doing so. She hobnobbed with the giants of racing’s golden age, including Phil Hill, Sir Stirling Moss and Briggs Cunningham, and impressed many with her natural ability to drive a race car. Denise died on May 6, age 88, so we thought it appropriate to reprint Jim Donnelly’s excellent piece, “The Lady Arrives,” from the July 2012 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.

Focusing solely on Denise McCluggage’s career as an American sports car racer sells her short. Going out of your way to remind everyone it was a manly exploit would terribly diminish her. She had impressive gifts to explain her personal experiences as an athlete, world traveler and teacher in words and photos. We would argue that no racer, of either gender, has been so fit to archive her experiences as Denise McCluggage.

She has lived in a world that few people could ever imagine. The stars of motorsport are today cloistered away from intruding fans, their motor coaches secured in tight, protected compounds like prairie wagon trains. When Denise was getting known, she would sidle up to a dimly lit table somewhere on the Continent with Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, Denis Jenkinson, Jo Bonnier, Peter Collins, scratching occasional notes. A long, hazardous day would melt into the pleasantness accompanying wine, victuals and conversation.

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