1938 Buick Series 80 Roadmaster Opera Brougham (by Fernandez & Darrin)
Designed by Howard “Dutch” Darrin, the Opera Brougham body eliminated running boards for a cleaner lower-body profile, fitted front fenders that swept more deeply than the factory Roadmaster’s contemporary styling, and set the windshield at a sharper rake.
Oversized rear-hinged doors gave access to a generously appointed rear compartment, and hand-painted faux caning across the rear doors added a European decorative accent.
The car was built for the 1938 Paris Auto Salon, intended both to catch the eye of show-goers and to demonstrate the coachbuilder’s capabilities against European competition.
The chassis beneath was the 1938 Buick Series 80 Roadmaster, which that year adopted coil springs at all four corners in place of the prior rear semi-elliptic leaf springs, along with Buick’s robust X-braced frame.
The engine featured revised combustion chambers and Buick’s so-called turbulator pistons, raising compression to 6.5:1 and output to 141 horsepower.
The 320 CI Dynaflash overhead-valve inline eight was backed by a three-speed manual transmission, with hydraulic drum brakes at all four corners. The 133-inch wheelbase Roadmaster was the second-ranking car in the 1938 Buick range, below the longer-wheelbase Limited.
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