In 1933, General Motors engineers developed this test mule with a tubular backbone chassis, four-wheel independent suspension—and a surprise under the hood.

The results didn’t always appear in the showrooms, but throughout the 1930s the R&D departments of the Motor City were bustling with activity. Times were uncertain and nobody knew what the future might hold, but whatever it was, the automakers wanted to be ready for it. One ambitous, forward-looking project from General Motors in 1933 was the Albanita, reportedly named after Harold H. Albinson, a GM Research engineer with numerous patents to his credit. Since the Albanita was a GM Research effort, it wore no division badges.

The body (including a grille that brings to mind the ’37 Chevrolet) was designed by Harley Earl’s Art & Colour Section, while the fabrication and assembly were performed at the GM Research facility on Milwaukee Street directly behind the GM Building in Detroit. Most of  the photos included here were taken on the roof of the Research building. Although the aerodynamic bodywork with its sloping roofline was unorthodox, the Albanita was even more radical underneath.

The central backbone chassis consisted mainly of a single steel tube 4.75 inches in diameter with a forked crossmember fixed at each end. All four wheels were sprung independently, with swing axles at the rear and a Dubonnet-style modular spring-and-damper unit at each corner. The Dubonnet Knee Action setup would soon appear on the production 1934 Chevrolet and Pontiac. (See our Knee Action feature here.)

The Albanita’s proportions indicate that the engine was placed well forward in the chassis, an advanced feature for 1933, but if civilians had gotten a look under the hood, there they would find another surpise. The prototype was powered by a 221 cubic-inch Ford flathead V8. Engineers had planned to use an experimental Oldsmobile overhead-valve V8, but when the engine didn’t work out the brand X powerplant was substituted to keep the program moving.

The Albanita was tested extensively at GM’s Milford Proving Ground northwest of Detroit between 1933 and 1938. Among other things, there it was determined that the central-tube chassis lacked sufficient rigidity for a heavyweight production car. GM vehicles would use conventional ladder frames for the next two decades, until the controversial X-frame chassis (see our feature here) arrived in 1957.

It’s well known that all the Detroit automakers actively spied on each other in this period, and Chrysler personnel were often spotted hanging around Milford, eyeballing GM’s test fleet. Historians have therefore suggested that the 1934 Chrysler Airflow’s similarly  unconventional styling must have been inspired by the Albanita. However, the theory is not a good fit with the available timline, as Airflow prototypes were already rolling in 1932.