The GM Futurliner, a ‘40s-era driving concept from General Motors’ Parade of Progress, is set to make an appearance at the Wings and Wheels event at the Willow Run Airport in June.
For those readers who may not know, the GM Futurliners were concept vehicles styled by Harley Earl as part of the General Motors’ Parade of Progress, an exhibition of futuristic technologies and engineering that visited towns and communities across North America, with lectures and demonstrations showing off things like radar, television, and a jet engine. The Parade was staffed by recent college graduates, who also drove the vehicles and set up the exhibits when the parade arrived in town.
The GM Futurliners were originally produced for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. In total, 12 GM Futurliners were built, each 33 feet long, eight feet wide, and over 11 feet tall. Nine examples are believed to have survived as of 2007. The exterior design was influenced by art deco styling, with chrome siding and red paint, plus a streamlined shape and high driving position. The original vehicles powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine and manual transmission, and later models powered by a straight six-cylinder gasoline engine and automatic transmission. The Futurliners also contain mechanically animated exhibits.
Now, a GM Futurliner is set to make an appearance at the Wings and Wheels event at the Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan, presented by The Yankee Air Museum. The event will take place between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 13th. The event will also feature dozens of classic cars and historic aircraft, which should make for a perfect fit for the classic GM Futurliner. Advance tickets are $20 through the Yankee Air Museum website, and $25 on the day of the event. Kids aged 15 and under are admitted free. Participants interested in showing their car or truck can apply through an online application on the event website linked below.
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Source: Yankee Air Museum
Comments
Back when GM ruled the industry. Now they just stagger around trying to figure out what others are doing…
Yup, and their stock price and corner show it, oh wait, stock is climbing, so are profits, ATP’s are up significantly, products are moving and they are making noise in the electric vehicle field. Guess your statement isn’t true then…
Have another gallon of Kool Aid.. The euphoric effects dont last long…
Actually today they are spending their money on future tech and not just parading around.
I got behind the wheel of one of these once I can only imagine what it was like driving in a line of these down the road.
GM was on top and stayed there for years. Maybe partly because of the advertising with these buses?
they were on top because the rest of the world was on its a$$ after ww2.
I miss Pontiac !!
Saw the rebuilding of one of these on the TV show “Bitchin’ Rides”. Took a very long time. They had to fabricate many of the body panels, etc. Many of these just got dumped in fields and rotted away to nothing. Back then, folks didn’t think of what they would be worth later in life. They were/are just awesome.
That was a great episodes with Dave Kindig’s shows.
Always thought that they would make an awesome motorhome.
Hopefully the futureliner will make a comeback as an EV.
Looks like a futuristic Trail ways bus.
In fact, the Parade of Progress started in 1936 with the GM Streamliners, which ran till 1940. It is said that none of the 8 Streamliners exist anymore. This first parade attracted a total of 12.5 million people in total.
A second Parade of Progress ran in the 1941-1946 period, of course interrupted by WW2. The first Futurliners were indeed built in 1939/1940 and served in the second Parade period. Eleven of the Futurliners were originally equipped with supercharged two-cycle diesel engines. A twelfth Futurliner (sponsored by the Ethyl Corporation) used a 451 gasoline engine.
Then they were refurbished by GM in 1952 (and equipped with the 302 six-cylinder GMC engines used in Korean War military trucks) and ran a third Parade period starting in 1953 and ending in 1956.
They’re into building lower quality Kia clones to do much innovating these days. Apparently, their exec’s don’t understand that building Asian knock-offs that don’t last 100,000 miles and spend half their time in the shop, isn’t going to make them a lot of money. My last 3 GM vehicles have been nothing but shop queens.
The front is styled to look like a railroad locomotive.
Remember, GM actually did build locomotives in past times.