In designing an automotive vehicle for mass production, it is advantageous to make changes of an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary nature. Therefore, the opportunity to develop a radically new concept does not occur too often. Just such an opportunity however, occurred in 1954 when the General Motors Styling Staff conceived the idea of a new front-wheel drive panel delivery truck.
In cooperation with the General Motors Engineering Staff and GMC Truck and Coach Division, GM Styling actually con- constructed a prototype model which had such great appeal when shown to 1955 GM Motorama audiences that it is now being considered for production. In the spring of 1954 executives and designers of the General Motors styling staff met to discuss plans for the next GM Motorama, scheduled to open in January 1955. Within the intervening ten months, a new and different group of experimental "dream cars" were to be designed and built. In addition to the usual assignments to be discussed, there was a challenging new idea on the program. With all the attention in past years going to automobiles for Motorama display, why not develop a *dream truck?" Such a truck should not only be new and good-looking but entirely different from conventional trucks. The group decided that it was to be a panel delivery truck. That briefly, is how GM Styling inaugurated the "dream truck" developmental program first designated as experimental Vehicle XP-39 and now known as L'Universelle all- purpose vehicle.
In the case of the L'Universelle truck, no plans for production were in the offing in April 1954 The immediate objective was to design and fabricate a show-truck for us in the 1955 GM Motorama. Primarily, it was a styling experiment in a new concept of design. However, it also had to be practical and feasible enough to suit the most critical observer. Many of the designers on the Styling Staff have engineering educations and backgrounds. Within each studio design group are a number of automotive engineers. These men are just as interested in the mechanics of automobiles as in their appearance. In addition, there is a large Engineering Department. So, in the case of L'Universelle truck, the beliefs and guesses and recommendations of styling had a basis in practicality.
During the early developmental stages of L'Universelle, many factors such as overall height, engine location, and driver's seat position were considered, In many instances sketches were made by Styling designers as a visual aid in arriving at a successful solution to the problems raised by all factors under consideration, worked like a truck and could run like a station wagon. It was the first radical change in truck design since World War 1. objectives in size, loading capacity and new ease in truck driving. Engineering and Styling worked closely together on such innovations as the dropped axle, the rooftop cooling system for the engine and the torsion bar suspension. Chuck Jordan and his colleagues decided to drive around in a Chevrolet Carryall, a station wagon on a truck chassis; and in a new Volkswagen bus, a neat, 9-passenger.
11/2-ton load carrying vehicle with a 4-cylinder engine in the rear. They noted the assets of both, but were determined to imitate neither. In- Instead, they started from scratch, and consciously forgetting any existing body shape, panel delivery, pickup or stake, they thought out their objectives:
1) to carry a maximum load in a minimum package size
2) to provide complete access to any part of the load:;
3) to give the driver bus visibility and passenger-car comfort.
They ended up with a slightly greater load volume than the 1/2-ton MC panel truck, and the wheel base fell into place at 107". The L'Universelle was longer than the Volkswagen bus whose wheel base is 94.5" - as well as lower and shorter than the conventional delivery truck at 115". This phase of the L'Universelle represents what Jordan calls "more than skin deep" styling, the down-to-earth engineering fundamentals which had to be worked out in order to fulfill their objectives in size, loading capacity and new ease in truck driving. Engineering and Styling worked closely together on such innovations as the dropped axle, the rooftop cooling system for the engine and the torsion bar suspension.