The General Motors Parade of Progress was a traveling road show that crisscrossed the country during the 1940s and 1950s, stopping only for WWII. Its purpose was to show people new advances in engineering and technology and how they would have a beneficial effect on their lives. Our favorite part of the traveling caravan are the amazing GM “Futureliner” trucks that actually housed the exhibits. Only a handful exist today, so footage of them in the wild is rare stuff, this video has tons.
Aside from the grueling travel, these truck drivers were men to be envied. When they arrived on the scene they were no doubt treated like rock stars. Hell, the shot of the driver, sitting way above the road in a clear glass or plastic bubble stopped us in our tracks.
This is beyond cool, although touting tetraethyl lead is a little premature, considering the ill health effects that were discovered to be caused by the stuff.
One of the TV car shows rebuilt one of these a few years ago, It had a jet engine inside on display. Think it took them a few years to do the job.
Wonder if the trucks had AC? Sure looks like it would be hot under that glass bubble!