1940’s “Parade of Progress” Centerpiece Restored

GM’s Futurliner Bus Showcased Science and Technology

The Futurliner operators raised the lightbar to demonstrate some of its features as a presentation stage at Eyes on Design.

A cultural artifact of the famed General Motors “Parade of Progress” tours made a grand re-appearance at the 16th Annual Eyes on Design Auto Exhibition at the GM Technical Center in June 2003.

The restored “Futurliner” was one of 12 custom-built buses used in GM’s nationwide “Parade of Progress” tours in the 1940s and ’50s. The vehicles doubled as exhibit transportation and convertible stage as GM sought to bring the story of science and technology directly to cities and small towns throughout the United States. The Futurliners first began touring in 1941.

The red-and-white motor coach shown at Eyes on Design – one of only nine remaining Futurliners known to exist – was restored by a group of some 30 volunteers, with support from GM divisions and about two dozen other businesses that donated parts and services. It is owned by the National Automotive & Truck Museum in Auburn, Ind., and Don Mayton, a retired GM plant manager and an experienced restorer of vintage automobiles, directed the five-year restoration project.

The massive vehicle – 33 feet long, 11 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing 27,000 pounds – contains a mixture of refurbished original equipment and new parts. A local shop recast all of the letters, including the block “GM” on the front and the “General Motors Parade of Progress” insignia on the side. The grille, mirrors, and upper trim are original, while the bumpers were salvaged from a scrapped Futurliner. GM Pre-Production Operations and GM Design supplied a new roof. GM Powertrain restored the transmission, and a technician in Galena, Ill., repaired the Futurliner’s Autronic-Eye control, which dims the headlights automatically when another vehicle approaches and raises them when oncoming traffic has passed.

The old motor coach arrived without any specifications or drawings, and the project has been a real exercise in “learning as you go,” Mayton said. The Futurliners all were hand-built, and included one-of-a-kind components. For example, the vehicle has dual front wheels that rotate independently.

The first version of the Futurliner on the Parade of Progress, in 1941.

There were two dozen exhibits in the Parade of Progress, which covered the research and engineering achievements of the day and offered a glance at some of tomorrow’s possibilities. Among the major exhibits included:

• “Our American Crossroads” – An animated diorama showing the transformation of a rural crossroads community 50 years earlier into a thriving suburban community, and the automobile’s role in bringing the country and city together.

• "Pioneer of Progress” – One of the tour’s most popular exhibits, showing how the application of scientific and engineering advancements improved our comfort, convenience and welfare.

• “Power for the Air Age” – The fundamentals of jet propulsion were demonstrated, using a cutaway of a jet engine.

• “Miracles of Heat and Cold” – A two-part lecture demonstrating how heat and cold serve us in our homes and daily lives.

• “The World of Science” – Two 10-minute talks dealing with the phenomena of friction and the atmospheric ocean.

Between 1936 and the outbreak of World War II in 1941, the Parade visited 251 cities and was seen by 12.5 million people. The Futurliners and the Parade took a break during World War II, and toured again from 1953 to 1956.

In 1998, on a business trip to Palm Springs, Calif., Mayton caught a glimpse of a Futurliner that was restored and converted into a motor home. Mayton began researching Futurliners and eventually found one at the National Automotive and Truck Museum in Auburn, Ind.

Mayton and other volunteers took the Futurliner on a test drive before its debut at Eyes on Design.

“It was just a piece of nothing but rusted metal,” he said. “Any other vehicle this badly deteriorated would have been just scrapped.”

The museum did not want to part with the Futurliner, but lacked the resources to restore it, Mayton said. So Mayton took on the project at his Zeeland, Mich., home. He even built a heated pole barn in 1999 to house the huge vehicle. The Maytons’ home became a gathering spot where volunteers showed up each week to work on the Futurliner.

Meanwhile, the museum maintains ownership of the vehicle and has helped raise about $200,000 to complete the job.