A massive front bumper, bullet-tipped vertical bumper guards, bright egg-crate type grille and expanded glass wide windshield highlighted the front view of the all-new 1948 Cadillac.

On the rear the designers, led by Harley Earl, added small sculpted "humps" to where the taillights were mounted. These were the first ever use of "fins" on a passenger car and they grew in size over the years, continuing on in Cadillac's design theme for all the way to the mid-1960s.

It all started with this car, and as a result of Harley seeing the Lockheed P-38 twin engine fighter plane at a Michigan airfield. A daring styling exercise that made the 1948 Cadillac an iconic design.