Here’s a vehicle that never fails to get my juices going. I remember seeing pictures of them in some old magazines or such as a kid, but then they fell totally off the radar. I remember having daydreams about finding one and turning it into the ultimate motorhome. But the ongoing frenzy to restore old GM show cars from this era inevitably led to the Futurliners being “rediscovered”; and with a vengeance. One sold for $4 million at auction back in 2006. dmala77 posted this at the Cohort, shot on parade at Agawam, MA. Now that’s my idea of a parade vehicle. Of course, the original genuine Parade of Progress would have been the one to see, with up to twelve Futurliners rolling into town:
Here they are, rolling into the next town on their tour of America. The Parade of Progress was first undertaken in 1940-1941, and then again from 1953-1956.
A big tent was erected, and the Futurliners all opened up their big rear side doors for their various exhibits.
Like this one showing off the latest jet engine behind that 1954 Olds 88. Futureliners were obviously built on GM bus chassis, end the earlier ones used a Detroit Diesel 4-71 engine and manual transmissions. Later versions reverted to gas engines, the big 302 GMC six and a four-speed Hydramatic. Now that wasn’t very forward looking!
Very cool. I wondered why they didn’t look practical for passengers (no windows). Now I know.
I spent 10 years as a bus driver and wouldn’t like to drive this one.It looks like you drive from the top deck of the bus.Nice looker though
Looks more to me like “What if a train could drive on the road, what would the locomotive for said train look like?” 😛
A glorious period in GM history. The only problem was that in the minds of management, that period lasted into the early 2000s. I look at the Futureliner and I see the mindset that brought us the Dustbuster minivans as well as all of the cladding on latter Pontiacs. Too bad the Pontiac cladding could not have been stainless steel like this.
I am really glad that some of these have been rescued. These are really, really cool (though completely useless) vehicles.
The story of the restoration of this vehicle is fascinating…
http://www.futurliner.com
I believe that’s actually a different one. I don’t know the story of this one, but I believe it’s owned by Peter Pan, a bus line based out of Springfield, MA. You can see their logo on the side just below the “Parade of Progress” script.
EDIT: Ah, nevermind… here it is: http://www.futurliner.com/pan.htm
I wonder if these inspired The Big Bus movie from 1976:
And here’s the poster:
Don’t move that man!
You eat one lousy foot, they call you a cannibal.
On the occasions when I insist to my wife that cocaine was responsible for much of the 1970’s social milieu in this country, this film is always cited as an example. No kidding.
whither MegaBus?
us.megabus.com
These had a dedicated chassis to Futurliner, not much related to any of GM bus chassis. Ever seen anything else with dual front wheels?
You might interested to note that in WWII the army experimented with duals on the steer axle of CCKW 2 1/2 ton trucks in an effort to decrease ground pressure on soft, sandy beaches.
The exercise was not successful because it took a driver of almost superhuman strength to turn the steering wheel on the non-power assisted trucks. Seeing duals on the steer axles of Futurliners, I have wondered if they were power steering, as that was very rare on heavy vehicles at the time.
Back in the ’70s Ebro trucks in Spain had four front wheels that steered.
Slightly off topic: Recently I’ve noticed that some tractor-trailers seem to have replaced their dual wheels with extra-wide single tires! The ones I’ve seen have a central tire inflation system, like Humvees. Anyone know whats’ going on with these? Are dualies on their way out???
They’re called Super Singles and they are supposed to improve fuel economy through the reduced rolling resistance of not flexing as many sidewalls. Some drivers like them, most hate them for increased cost and if a tire blows you’re done right there instead of being able to limp to a shop. In any event, fuel economy rules at the major fleets so the trucking industry will more than likely see SS’s take over.
Great! So the torn tire carcasses that litter every hot Interstate will be getting larger and larger? I can’t wait till I hit a ripped retread the size of a deer.
Very interesting… are they more/less likely to blow out in the first place? I was also wondering if the CTIS had anything to do with that.
How about tandem front steering axles? No duals though, and no power steering either.
In the early 80s there was one of these parked for quite a while on a side street in the San Fernando Valley. Nothing near it but a lot full of weeds, so it sat there by itself in all its semi-restored glory. It looked to be in fairly good condition, but work seemed to be progressing at a very slow pace. By the time it disappeared it had it had gotten to the primer stage.
I had no idea what I was looking at – the big GM logo on the front wasn’t there.
According to this page, three Futurliners wound-up in California. My guess is that you saw the one that was converted into a motor home.
http://www.futurliner.com/other.htm
I’m pretty sure that I saw the Fido Futurliner once, but I was young enough to not know what it really was. I may even have a picture of it somewhere.
I really like the pioneering use of quad headlights; and in the center, too! But the sight lines from up there must have been terrifying. Kids, you see a Futurliner coming your way, duck ‘n cover!
It is a really cool looking design though.
Wow, that was interesting! They do remind me of some of the German diesel locomotives.
“Too much”
I always loved the Futureliners and would like to see one in person.
Now if only someone would have photos of the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair – the last great railroad fair when railroads just fell off the throne as king of travel!
TRAINS magazine did an article on the fair many years ago.
Interesting that you mention the ’49 Fair, as when seeing this I immediately thought of the EMD BL1/BL2, as well as those EMD Aerotrain power units.
(By the same token, thank GOD the fluted stainless steel panels did not make it onto the BL-series…)
I thought the NATMUS museum in Auburn IN has or had one. My wife & I went in 2009, but the Futurliner wasn’t on site at the time.
I can heartily recommend a NATMUS visit, as it’s right next door to the Auburn Cord Duesenbueg museum. You could do both in one day, but start early!
(Looks like this site that was posted earlier has the details: http://www.futurliner.com/ )
Around 1990 when I worked in the Chicago area there was an un-restored Futureliner in front of a garage in the Waukegan area. The dual front tires are what got my attention since the rest of it looked pretty tired I’ve wondered since what became of it; hope it was restored.
I have some experience with Futurliner #10, it was restored in Zeeland, Michigan, which is down the road from me about 20 miles or so. My former company printed many of the early promotional materials for it, and we did a number of the DVD covers, too.
In 2008, we still had a huge stamping facility here in Grand Rapids, and GM brought a bunch of current and older cars for a show on the plant’s grounds. I got to see #10 close up finally (after having printed much of their brochures), it was really neat. It too, had a display in the middle of the vehicle, but I was more interested in the Saturn Astra and Pontiac G8 that was on display at the time.
After the BK, the stamping plant became a casualty, now leveled. At least #10 is still roaming around. IIRC, it may be on display this winter at the Gilmore Museum between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo (gilmorecarmuseum.org), but don’t quote me on that…
One was spotted on the SoCal freeway by a HAMB member that had been converted into a pickup truck.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=821893
One is in Sweden under restoration. http://jonssonpower.com/ the page is in swedish, fordon means vehicles, bilder means pictures (look under media).
A friend of mine was one of the driver during the 1953-1956 period. He said it was interesting and fun. Imagine all of these young and single GM engineers arriving into small towns across American in Futurelines and GM convertibles. My friend got the job at GM as an engineer after they discovered during the interview that he had driven trucks while working his way through college. Lots of engineers applied at GM but little did they know that they needed truck driving experience to go to the front of the line.