Pop quiz: Why did old Buicks have portholes on their sides?

Answer:  It's actually quite simple!  The portholes--and the amber lights that would flash intermittently inside of them-- were there to mimic superheated exhaust firing out of the headers of a WWII era warplane!  Buick designer Ned Nickles came up with the idea originally (after having done the modification to his personal '48 Roadmaster convertible no less!), and decided to add them to production model schematics only 7 months before mass production.