GM’s Pebble Beach Motorama, and a Big Red Bus

GM's Motorama exhibit at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance included 19 of
the company's historic show cars and one "Parade of Progress" Futurliner
(background), one of the big red buses that carried GM's science and technology
shows to small-town America in the 1950s. In the foreground is the 1954
Firebird I, a turbine-powered airplane-with-wheels "Dream Car." An earlier
version of this car nearly killed GM development engineer Charles McCuen
in a high-speed crash.

Some of them went off to junkyards to rust quietly for decades before being rescued. Some were spirited off into the night by GM employees who didn’t have the heart to send them to the crusher. Some slumbered nearly forgotten under tarps in GM warehouses. It wasn’t until the mid-’80s that General Motors realized it needed to move fast to locate, preserve and restore the surviving Dream Cars from its Motorama era.

The truth is, no one really knows how many Dream Cars GM built in the 1950s -- the record-keeping was lousy back then -– so it’s hard to know the actual losses. But it’s remarkable that so many pristine examples found their way to the lawn at Pebble Beach for GM’s Motorama display, part of its centennial celebration at the recent Concours d’Elegance.

(Click for Motorama: GM's 1950s' Dream Cars photo gallery)

Among the cars were GM design czar Harley Earl’s personal car, the Buick Y-Job, which is still the best concept car the company ever made (though, strictly speaking, not a Motorama car). Others on display included Chuck Jordan’s first car, the bubble-top Buick Centurion (with rear-view camera); Pontiac’s riff on the early Corvette, the Bonneville Special; and the three Firebird cars. With technical innovations such as turbine engines, intelligent highway guidance, air brakes, titanium construction, air-oil suspension, joystick operation and magnetic keys, the Firebirds –- though a bit silly in their aping of rocket-era styling –- were real laboratories for future technology, some still out of our practical reach.

A few years ago, at a high-bank track in France, I had a chance to drive the Cadillac Le Mans Motorama car. It was great to see it again at Pebble Beach, to be reminded of just how enormous the two-seat car is (196 inches). It had Cadillac’s first wraparound windshield. Words fail to convey how cool this car is.

Lording over all was GM’s big red bus, a beautifully restored Futurliner, one of 12 built by the company to move its Parade of Progress exhibits as they barnstormed across America. This bus, restored and owned by the National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States, is the most correct and accurate of the 10 remaining Futurliners.

For a quick history of Futurliners, click here. Well worth it.

-- Dan Neil

[Photos: General Motors]

Comments

[Steve]

Correct me if I have this wrong, but wasn't all of GM's 1950s innovation just a facade? I mean, show me GM "innovation" that ever made it to a car that could be purchased. Seems to me GM channeled its creative forces into creating gimmicks like tail fins, then into marketing them. All real advances in automotive engineering came from overseas, which is the real reason GM and other American dinosaurs are is failing now.

[Mike]

Steve,

Just out of curiosity......what was the state of the German and Japanese auto industry at the time? They were both on the losing end of a bombing campaign which completely destroyed their manufacturing infrastructure. Innovation? More like trying to get back to basics.

The Italians? The British? The French? Who else made cars then? The Russians?

All real advances came from overseas? Sure they do.....

[guido]

For 40 years the Japanese have nibbled away at market share in the U.S. and now GM wants government loan guarantees.
GM could not see the freight train coming right at them.
Then all those silly European ideas...disc brakes, overhead cams, front wheel drive. Ah the 50's, when you jack up a car by the bumpers.