WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The 12 Famous GM Parade of Progress Futurliners

May 22, 2024
Posted by Barrett-Jackson

First occurring in 1791 in what was then Bohemia, the World’s Fair was designed to be a large global exhibition to showcase the achievements of nations. Each iteration over the years featured its own distinct, vibrant character and mesmerizing spectacles that unfolded in diverse corners of the globe, stirring imaginations and sparking wonder with its innovations and marvels. Nearly every World’s Fair had a large centerpiece that displayed the abilities of its host city, which led to the creation of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Space Needle in Seattle, Washington, to name a few.

At the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, the theme was “A Century of Progress,” which emphasized color, lighting and technological advancement. The General Motors display at the event featured the world’s first automotive research organization, the GM Research Laboratories ‒created to accelerate GM into a leading transportation technology company. The Research Laboratories later evolved into the General Motors Research and Development department.

The success of the display at the World’s Fair inspired Charles F. Kettering, then vice president of GM, to develop a mobile exhibit that became known as the Parade of Progress. The traveling show could be enjoyed by anyone for free and drew millions of attendees across the country.

The inaugural Parade of Progress tour began in 1936. Central to the parade were eight large, red-and-white Streamliners, custom-built at the Fleetwood plant of Fisher Body. The parade covered over a million miles and visited 251 towns across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and even Cuba (that’s right, they loaded all the Streamliners and support vehicles on a ship!). The parade entertained some 12.5 million spectators.

Following the triumph of the initial Parade of Progress with the tour buses, GM upgraded its fleet in 1940, introducing a new set of 12 now infamous and grand vehicles known as Futurliners. Constructed by GM’s Yellow Coach and Fleetwood Fisher Body divisions and designed by Harley Earl, each Futurliner measured approximately 33 feet in length, 8 feet in width and 11 feet in height. These imposing and impressive vehicles featured a futuristic Art Deco-inspired streamlined design. Inside, they showcased cutting-edge exhibits and displays, spotlighting advancements in transportation, science and industry.

The Parade of Progress was paused when the United States entered World War II. The vehicles were relocated to Ohio for storage, and it wasn’t until April 1953 that the parade resumed, maintaining its 1940 format with support vehicles and personnel comprised of young men from colleges across the country. Many Futurliners had been updated and rebuilt after sitting in storage during the war and were retitled as 1950 models. Fred Huddle’s Aer-O-Dome tent, a signature component of the Parade of Progress, with its external aluminum arches and vinyl-canvas skin, was enlarged to hold 1,500 people. New exhibits featured jet propulsion, the atom, stereo technology and metal-powder-forming, alongside exhibits retained from previous parades.

The postwar Parade of Progress struggled to attract the same level of attention as before, largely due to the invention and rise of television, which had been one of the scientific advancements the parade had showcased years before. This shift in entertainment preferences led to the demise of the parade, prompting GM to disband the caravan permanently in 1956.

Despite their popularity during the Parade of Progress tour, the fate of the Futurliners varied over the years. Some were donated to the Michigan State Police, while others were sold to private collectors or museums. A few were even abandoned or scrapped. Today, only nine Futurliners are known to exist, scattered across the world.

It is important to note that most of the remaining Futurliners don’t have their data plates, making it extremely difficult to correlate them with the exhibits they originally hauled. According to Bruce Berghoff’s book, “General Motors Parade of Progress & A Futurliner Returns,” the identification plates seen in many of the old photos were swapped around during the Parade of Progress for different placements and setups in small towns.

One of the Parade of Progress Futurliners donated to the Michigan State Police was used as a “Safetyliner” display, educating the public about traffic safety and police department activities. After its time of service there came to an end, the Futurliner was driven to a junkyard, where it resided for a few years before ending up in Chicago, Illinois. In 1997, the Futurliner was imported to Canada, restored with a FIDO blue and white paint job, and was used as an exhibit vehicle to sell cell phones. In 2005 it was restored to look like an original Futurliner with a red and white paint scheme.

In 2006 at Barrett-Jackson’s 35th Anniversary Scottsdale Auction, this grand bus – now known as the “Barrett-Jackson Futurliner” – was added to the docket and crossed the block on Saturday, January 21. It was well known at the time of sale that the consignor was hoping for a mid-six-figure winning bid. When the hammer fell, it was a shot heard around the world. After a heated round of bidding, renowned collector and philanthropist Ron Pratte won the Futurliner with his $4.4 million bid, making it the second-highest-selling American-made auction vehicle at that time. The shock and awe of everyone in attendance reverberated throughout the giant tent that housed the auction arena.

Fast forward to 2015, when ‒ after a painstaking concours-quality restoration ‒ Pratte sold the Futurliner during the Scottsdale Auction in front of an equally ecstatic audience that went wild when the hammer dropped on a bid of $4 million. This time, illustrating the incredible generosity for which Pratte was known, 100% of the sale benefited America’s military through the Armed Forces Foundation.

According to the National Auto and Truck Museum (NATMUS), the Michigan State Police received two Futurliners: the Barrett-Jackson Futurliner and a second one intended to be used for parts. According to Hemmings, in 1956 the second example had been rear-ended by another Futurliner that had lost its brakes on a mountain road. The damage was significant enough that GM opted not to repair it, and it was decommissioned. After spending some time alongside the Barrett-Jackson Futurliner in the same junkyard, it changed hands in the mid-1980s and was later discovered in a Yuma, Arizona, junkyard in the late 1990s. After two subsequent sales, it was acquired by a collector in Sweden in 2007. As of March 2018, this twin to the Barrett-Jackson Futurliner was undergoing restoration in Sweden.

After it was decommissioned by GM, another well-known Futurliner that once displayed the “Power for the Air Age” exhibit seemingly disappeared until the 1980s, when it reemerged in the possession of a concept car collector. A decade later, it was acquired by a truck collector in California, and was sold at auction to an anonymous buyer in 2011. Following the sale, its new owner commissioned a full restoration ‒ including its cutaway Allison J-35 jet engine display ‒ by Dave Kindig of Kindig-it Designs at his Utah-based shop.

Two more Futurliners belong to Chrome Cars in Germany. According to a 2013 Hemmings article, one of the Chrome Cars Futurliners underwent modifications to become a car hauler while NATMUS reported the other was converted to a motorhome complete with an Art Deco-style bar. The motorhome Futurliner received a distinctive “Stars and Stripes” paint scheme in the 1980s, which it still wears today. Both Futurliners can be seen on the Chrome Cars website and social media platforms.

Peter Pan Bus Lines, an intercity bus service in the Northeastern United States, also owns two Futurliners, one for parts and one that previously wore Peter Pan’s green and white colors but has since been returned to its original 1953 red and white scheme.

NATMUS has a Futurliner of its own within the museum. According to their records, the Futurliner displayed the “Opportunity for Youth” exhibit, which included winning model cars from the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild contest, and it displayed the “Three Dimensional Sound” exhibit in the Parade of Progress. It later toured the Midwest promoting Goebel beer and then Dreisbach and Sons Cadillac-Chevrolet-Oldsmobile in Detroit. The Futurliner was donated to the museum in 1993 and underwent restoration by Don Mayton and his team in Michigan from 2000 to 2007. In 2014 it was selected for inclusion in the National Historic Vehicle Register and it has remained on display at the museum since 2017.

Despite their age, the Futurliners continue to capture the imagination of anyone who has the unforgettable experience of seeing one in person. As symbols of a bygone era of optimism and progress, these towering vehicles serve as reminders of the ingenuity and innovation that defined mid-century America. Whether displayed in museums or cherished in private collections, the Futurliners stand as testament to American ingenuity and the legacy of automotive design and technology.

Photos provided by General Motors Archives.