GM Futurliner

Originally manufactured for the 1939 New York World's Fair,[5] the Futurliners were later featured in GM's Parade of Progress, a promotional caravan travelling a 150-stop route across the United States and Canada.[4] The Futurliners, along with 32 support vehicles, were driven by 50 college graduates, who also staffed the exhibitions along the route.

Typically arranged at each stop around a large tent and an information kiosk, each Futurliner featured a self-contained stage as well as a prominent deployable light tower, and each vehicle featured a particular subject. The mobile exhibition covered such topics as jet engine technology, agriculture, traffic engineering,[4] stereophonic sound, microwave ovens, television and other innovations. In 1955 a miniature automobile assembly line display named A Car Is Born was constructed for one of the Futurliners.[6] A display titled Our American Crossroads was also used in 1955.[7] This display was narrated by Parker Fennelly and featured a complicated animated diorama that transformed to show progress in road and infrastructure improvements from 1902 to 1953.

Interrupted by World War II, the vehicles were refurbished by GM and the Parade of Progress resumed in 1953. The reborn parade was discontinued in 1956 for the last time, displaced by increasing popularity of network television—one of the very technologies the Futurliners themselves had once promoted.

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  Futurliner number 10 on display with doors open
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  Front right of Futurliner #3 on display in Salt Lake City, UT
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  Futurliner #3 on display in Salt Lake City, UT
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  Cabin of Futurliner #3 on display in Salt Lake City, UT
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  Rear right Futurliner #3 on display in Salt Lake City, UT

The following table lists the original displays and the current status of the units.[8] The three vehicles listed as unknown under Fate does not mean that they no longer exist but rather that the identity of some of the existing Futureliners has not been matched to their original display. Changes in some of the displays also makes it difficult to trace the lineage of some of the buses.

There are still two Futurliners unaccounted for.[9]

Number	Image	Original Display	Fate/Status/Current location
1		Miracles of Heat and Cold	Displayed the “Miracles of Heat and Cold” exhibit, featuring Frigidaire products. Current whereabouts unknown.
2		Our American Crossroads	Displayed the “Our American Crossroads” exhibit. GM retained the exhibit at the end of the Parade of Progress. The exhibit of this Futurliner is kept at the General Motors Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The whereabouts of the vehicle itself are unknown.[10]
3		Power for the Air Age	Displayed the “Power for the Air Age” exhibit, featuring a cutaway Allison J-35 jet engine and passed through the Joe Bortz collection in the 1980s. It later sat in storage in a warehouse in Dana, Indiana, before Phoenix, Arizona, resident William Pozzi bought it and in turn sold it sometime in the late 1990s to Brad Boyajian of American Movie Trucks in Chatsworth, California. In 2011, Boyajian sold it to an anonymous owner, who employed Kindig-It Design in 2013-2014 to restore it.[11] The restoration of Futurliner #3 was the subject of two episodes of the Velocity Channel show Bitchin' Rides. It underwent a 19-month restoration, intended to be the most authentic, complete, and period-correct restoration of all that have been attempted so far. It is now kept in Ankeny, Iowa.
4		Diesel Power Parade	Displayed the “Diesel Power Parade” exhibit; also displayed the “Power for the Nation’s Lifelines” exhibit, which also focused on diesels. Current whereabouts unknown.
5		World of Science	No. 5 displayed the “World of Science” and “Versatile Metal Powder” exhibits. Purchased by Brad Boyajian in 2002. Boyajian said he believes that the Futurliner that he converted into a custom flatbed car hauler is No. 5, powered by a 230 Cummins diesel. Futurliner No. 5's rear axle and body section went with Futurliner No. 8 to Sweden, and its front axle went to the NATMUS Futurliner No. 10 restoration project. As of 2018 Futureliner #5 has been sold to Chrome Cars in Germany, the 3rd Futurliner they have purchased and transplanted to Germany.
6		Energy & Man	Displayed the “Energy & Man” exhibit; also displayed the “High Compression Power & Energy” exhibit. This bus is believed to have been restored and owned by Peter Pan Bus Lines. They have a 2nd Futurliner, in poor condition, in storage. Peter Pan Bus Lines supposedly owns a total of two buses, one in poor shape, and another in good condition, although which buses they are, is still largely in question.
7		Out of the City Muddle	Displayed the “Out of the City Muddle” exhibit, focusing on urban and highway congestion. It was purchased by Square D, however, the company only owned it until 1960, when an unnamed New Hampshire-based motorsports team bought it to use the Futurliner as a service vehicle.That motorsports team then ran No. 7 until 1964 when the Futurliner ran out of gas and the team members pushed it under a tree at a nearby scrap yard and left it there. It remained in that scrapyard for 20 years until New Hampshire-based restaurant operator Kendrick Robbins bought No. 7 intending to transform the Futurliner into a salad bar. Robbins partially dismantled No. 7 – then powered by a GMC V-6 gas engine rather than by the GMC 302-cu.in. inline-six cylinder gas engine – but for the most part, let it sit for another 20 years until he sold it to Maine-based heavy equipment operator Tom Learned. As of 2017 Learned has sold No. 7 to Chrome Cars in Germany, the same owner of No. 9, who shipped it to Ilmenau, Germany.[12]
8		Around the Farm House Clock	Displayed the “Around the Farm House Clock” exhibit, focusing on the use of modern appliances on the farm. This bus was rear-ended while on the Parade of Progress, and removed from use. One of two (#11) given to the Michigan State Police, then later sold to Jack and Bill Braun of Spring Lake, Michigan, to promote their junkyard. In the mid-1980s it was sold to Brent Knight of Roselle, Illinois; in the late 1990s, found in a junkyard in Yuma, Arizona. Sold to William Pozzi; later sold to Brad Boyajian with No. 3. Boyajian sold it to Nicklas Jonsson of Sweden. Currently under restoration, scheduled for March 2018 completion..
9		Reception Center	Hosted the exhibit reception center. No. 9 was previously restored and modified by Bob Valdez of Sherman Oaks, California. Valdez's Futurliner was reportedly once used as a Makita Tool Display Van and possibly used as an executive motor home before Valdez bought it in 1984. In 2016 Valdez sold No. 9 to Chrome Cars in Germany. As of 2018 Chrome Cars of Germany, who is currently working on restoring No. 9.
10		Opportunity for Youth	Displayed the “Opportunity for Youth” exhibit, which included winning model cars from the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild contest; also displayed the Three Dimensional Sound exhibit. Initially sold to musician Vic Hyde, then later toured the Midwest promoting Goebel beer and also promoting Dreisbach and Sons Cadillac-Chevrolet-Oldsmobile in Detroit. Passed through the Joe Bortz collection in the 1980s, donated to the National Automotive and Truck Museum in 1993. Restored by Don Mayton and his team beginning in 1999. Currently on display at NATMUS except for occasional excursions to auto shows.
11		March of Tools	Displayed the “March of Tools” exhibit; also displayed the “A Car is Born” exhibit. According to Berghoff and Ferris, GM sold it to evangelist Oral Roberts, who in turn sold it to preacher David Wilkerson. Later ended up in a field in East Meredith, New York. Futurliner Bus No. 11 sold for a record US$4,000,000 (plus premium) to Arizona-based real estate developer Ron Pratte on January 21, 2006 at a Barrett-Jackson auction in Arizona and was driven to its new home in Chandler.[13] Mr. Pratte sold the same bus on January 17, 2015 at Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction in Scottsdale, AZ to an anonymous donor. The selling price was again US$4,000,000 (plus premium), the proceeds from the sale benefiting the Armed Forces Foundation, a charity that assists military members and their families.[14]
12		Precision and Durability	Displayed the “Precision and Durability” exhibit. Current whereabouts unknown[15]

• List of buses

Wikimedia Commons has media related to GM Futurliner.

• The GM Futurliner Restoration Project
• The General Motors Futurliner: A History
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. IN-114, "GM Futurliner, 1000 Gordon M. Buehrig Place, Auburn, DeKalb County, IN", 5 photos, 1 color transparency, 28 data pages, 1 photo caption page