seat, and top as standard equipment. The Dynaflow was introduced, the first passenger car torque converter transmission. Optional on Roadmaster in its first year, it became standard equipment for 1949. Overall sales were just under 80,000 in both 1947 and 1948, over four times greater than in any prewar year. 1949–1953 The Roadmaster received its first major postwar restyling in 1949. Its wheelbase and overall length were reduced but its weight was marginally increased. The biggest change was a much larger two-piece, curved glass windshield that the sales brochure described as like an “observation car.” It was also in 1949 that Buick introduced "VentiPorts." Four were displayed on each of the Roadmaster and Century's front fenders, with three on the fenders of the Super and Special to denote junior level products. The sales brochure noted that VentiPorts helped ventilate the engine compartment, and possibly that was true in early 1949, but sometime during the model year they became plugged. The idea for VentiPorts grew out of a modification Buick styling chief Ned Nickles had added to his own 1948 Roadmaster. He had installed four amber lights on each side of his car's hood wired to the distributor to flash on and off as each piston fired simulating the flames from the exhaust stack of a fighter airplane. Combined with the bombsight mascot, VentiPorts put the driver at the controls of an imaginary fighter airplane. Upon seeing this, Buick chief Harlow Curtice was so delighted that he ordered that (non-lighting) VentiPorts be installed on all 1949 Buicks, with the number of VentiPorts (three or four) corresponding to the relative displacement of the straight-eight engine installed. Dynaflow was now standard equipment, and engine horsepower was increased to 150 through a slight increase in the compression ratio. This contributed in conjunction with the now-standard Dynaflow in giving the new Buicks a top speed of . In the middle of the year, the Riviera joined the body style lineup selling 4,314 units. Featuring power windows as standard equipment, the 2-door Buick Roadmaster Riviera, along with the Cadillac Series 62 Coupe de Ville and the Oldsmobile 98 Holiday, was among the first hardtop coupes produced. The Riviera Hardtop was conceived by taking the convertible and welding a steel roof in place, which simplified manufacture and the appearance. The Riviera was also notable for its popular optional "Sweepspear" chrome body side molding, which would soon become