A Dean’s Garage post in April, 2011 entitled Harley Earl’s 1951/1954 LeSabre featured a brochure of the 1954 version of the LeSabre. This post features scans of an original 1951 brochure. Thanks to Lou Yerolemou.

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Photo of the original 1951 version of the car.

From Harley Earl’s website, Car of the Century.

Leading up to Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland, certain high members of the Third Reich were flaunting their national pride and power by using a visual cross-reference language or techniques to mesmerize the German public. Politics combined with modern Teutonic engineering ingenuity had never been successfully employed like this before. Germany’s racing propaganda machine was the Mercedes Benz W125, arguably Europe’s most futuristic pre-war sports car. Special notice was taken in Detroit’s auto capital, and Harley Earl vowed to deliver a triumphant message all of his own someday.

When things were settling down in Europe following the war, one of America’s most legendary innovators created a clever comeback in the form of an automobile (according to the Car of the Century website, the Le Sabre was started in July, 1946). Originally planned as a super streamlined car, the Le Sabre comprised more variations on a theme than Bach ever dreamed of—all of which were aimed at winning over a world audience. In the best-selling booked titled, The Fifties, David Halberstam wrote, “Other GM execs drove Cadillacs, but Early drove the Le Sabre, a highly futuristic car he himself had designed; the cost to the company of building this prototype was estimated at roughly $7 million. It is possible that no one exerted as much influence on American style and taste in the fifties as he.”

While this radical concept car had many purposes, the most intriguing one was never publicized. The Le Sabre’s emblem was a flipped Mercedes Benz tri-star logo, surrounded in a bull’s-eye like center target—blending in America’s color of red, white, and blue. Along with the elegant French name symbolizing strength, the Le Sabre was complete. The inverted Mercedes star as a visual hook was truly mysterious, to say the least, as were most of the Le Sabre’s touches. Every one sent out spooky effects to all of its viewers. It’s no doubt the wizardry  was intended to remind the new world community of America’s supremacy and future direction, which of course was opposite of Germany’s pre-war view. Also, in a subtle way, this one automobile clearly pointed out the world’s greatest automaker, too, as well as showing Le Sabre was the most influential car, ever. In terms of numbers and fiance, it is the most expensive car built to date, but because of certain reasons, one being Earl’s secretive nature, this fact has been left largely unexamined. On top of all of this, Harley Earl named Le Sabre as his inspirational muse when originally conceiving his American sports car, the Corvette.

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Thanks to Ron Will for providing an original XP-898 brochure, sketches, and this short account of the XP-898.

At the same time Chevrolet Engineering was experimenting with their own foam sports car. Ed Mertz was the Chief engineer and a young 25-year-old Brook Lindbert was the Project engineer. The engine and drive components were from the Chevy Vega. The Vega tail lights were the only visible link to it’s underpinnings. The first notch back roof prototype was more of a testing mule. The car was rough and made mostly for testing purposes, and extra nose pieces were made for crash testing. I was told that the moment the nose hit the crash barrier, the room turned into a snowstorm of rigid urethane foam as it burst into thousands of tiny pieces. The tests were quite successful because the foam completely absorbed the shock of the crash. In such a crash the rest of the car should have no damage and the passenger compartment would stay intact. I was told that it would be possible to saw off just the damaged section and glue on a new part.

Publicity photo of the XP-898

Randy Wittine and John Q. Adams were in the studio at the time, but I think I did most of the work on the car and helped direct the clay model. All of the Monza, Vega and Camaro work was going on at the same time, so everyone was busy and this was an extra job. Jerry Palmer was the chief and the assistant chief was Ted Schoeder. I still have some of the sketches for the 898. Most of the sketches are not full cars but just the details for the modelers to work from. I think the only full drawings of the car were full size airbrush drawings.

XP-898 Brochure

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According to Automotive News, January 4, 1988, GM’s ‘Image’ Cars (Buick Sceptre/Lucerne, Pontiac Banshee, Chevrolet Venture, SRV-1, GMC Centaur, and Cadillac Voyage) were to be featured at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (like the Motoramas of old) in a show entitled, “GM Teamwork and Technology for Today and Tomorrow.” In the Automotive News article (you can download the entire article in PDF format here or at the bottom of this post), this show was intended to polish a badly tarnished image and silence criticism of the corporation. These image cars became Chuck Jordan’s number one priority when he became Vice-president on October 1, 1986. The article is an interesting read with quotes from Chuck Jordan, Design Staff VP; Lloyd Reuss, executive VP of North American car operations; Phil Garcia, chief designer of Advanced Studio 1 (Buick Lucerne); Allen Young, chief designer of Advanced Studio 4 (Cadillac Voyage); Don Lasky, chief designer of Chevy 1 studio and designer Bob Munson (Chevrolet Venture); Dave North, chief designer of Olds 2 studio (Olds Aerotech); Jim Brinkerhoff, interior designer of the Centuar; and Clark Lincoln, chief designer of Advanced 2 Studio (SRV-1).

The automotive industry is in a mess right now for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is decades of government intervention. But corporate thinking was also often part of the reason why things are like they are now. This article in Automotive News sheds some light on what the thinking was like in the ’80s. Sometimes you have to break some rules to come up with something new. But sometimes something even newer can emerge from staying within the rules and solving old problems in more creative ways. That’s tougher, though.

Pontiac Banshee

The Banshee is a futuristic Trans Am. “The Trans Am is the personification of what a Pontiac is. The car exhibits Pontiac’s requirements of being exciting and performance-oriented through aggressive use of materials and shapes,” stated Chuck Jordan. Again glass is used as sheet metal. Tom Peters designed the Banshee.

I’m probably going to get into trouble here. The Banshee and SRV1 influenced the ’92 Camaro/Firebird designs. That helps explain why the production cars looked the way they did and why perhaps they weren’t as successful in the marketplace as they could have been. The SRV1 was essentially a mid-engine design, and the Banshee was a three-dimensional sketch with no visual clues as to where the engine might be. With the base of the windshield so far forward, it also looked like a mid-engine car. The ’92 F-cars had a similar “cab-forward,” mid-engine look about them. I have no issue with mid-engine designs. But the familiar and popular F-car package consists of a front engined, rear wheel drive package with a long dash to axle, long hood, short deck, and 2+2 seating. They are wheel oriented cars with great stance. In the ’60s they developed a racing heritage in SCCA’s Trans Am series. That’s the car. Always has been. An appropriate design for an F-car will reinforce the architecture for all it’s worth. But the ’92 F-cars had the center of the windshield over the center of the engine! Why force a mid-engine design to work on a front engine car? Don’t get me wrong. A 4th generation Camaro SS will still turn my head, but there is something fundamentally dishonest about the design. And they are a pain to work on with the back half of the motor under the windshield structure. In contrast, Mustangs in those years still looked like Pony cars.

SRV1 (Stealth)

According to Automotive News, the SRV-1 loosely represented Group Lotus. Clark Lincoln, chief designer of Advanced Studio 2, said that it was known internally as the Stealth and designed to be the ultimate advanced two-seater sports vehicle. The car was proposed to have all sorts of electronic gadgetry, including sticks to steer the car, doubling as a shifters (somehow). Communications systems, voice-activated controls, heads-up display, and night vision. Whew. I’m missing the last page of the article so there might be more, I don’t know. The car is a really beautifully executed styling exercise, and influenced the design of the ’92 Camaro. Let’s just let it go at that. I do remember a fiberglass scale model of the car on display in the production studio hallway for quite a while. Like somehow it was supposed to inspire new frontiers in taillight bezel design. Nonetheless it was a gorgeous sculpture.

Buick Wildcat

The Wildcat brochure (you can download the PDF here or at the bottom of the post) explains the features of this running car. It is interesting that even with all of the valve train and fuel delivery sophistication, the DOHC 3.8 litre V-6 developed a modest 230 horsepower and 245 lbs. ft. of torque at 4,000 RPM. Just a few years later the pushrod Buick Turbo V-6 installed in the Grand Nationals and 1989 Pontiac Turbo Trans Am would put out closer to 300 horsepower and 340 lbs. ft. of torque at a stump pulling 2800 RPM. The drive train of the Wildcat was interesting. All wheel drive with the transmission in front of the engine. I don’t remember ever seeing the car at GM or anywhere else.

Oldsmobile Aerotech

The Oldsmobile Aerotechs were a series of experimental high-speed vehicles created between 1987 and 1992 incorporating the latest in performance technology with the intention of breaking multiple automobile speed records. The first such car was driven by four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt to a world closed-course speed record of 257.123 mph (413.788 km/h) on 27 August 1987 at the 7.712-mile (12.411 km) test track near Fort Stockton Texas. Prior to this, on 26 August 1987, the car had posted a top speed over a mile of 267.88 mph (431.10 km/h). The car consisted of a March Indycar single seat chassis enclosed in an extremely efficient aerodynamic body shell. It was powered by a highly turbo-charged version of the 2-litre Oldsmobile Quad 4 engine. The Aerotech body was designed by GM Design staff and was one of the sleekest vehicles ever developed for use on a high speed track. The design of the Aerotech included the capability of adjusting underbody sections to control the distribution of downforce, front to rear. Oldsmobile produced three versions of the original Aerotech to prove the capabilities of the company’s Quad4 engine. Two were short-tailed (ST) versions and one was long-tailed (LT).

Subsequently, between December 6–14, 1992, another version of the Aerotech, this time powered by a 4.0 litre Oldsmobile Aurora V8 engine and fitted with lights, broke 47 speed endurance records including the 10,000 and 25,000 kilometre world speed records. Other national and international speed records ranging from 10 kilometres to 24 hours were accomplished by a team of drivers working 24 hours a day for 8 days. These records were also set at the Fort Stockton test track.

I was in Olds 2 Studio when the project was started, and saw it being tested at the wind tunnel.

According to Dave North, “The premise of the Aerotech was an engineering project more than a design exercise. Form followed function more than usual because the car had an assignment…to run as fast as we could.” Dave continued, “We have a car in the studio now…it is a replacement for a production car for the 1990s. You can see some of the Aerotech in it…the areo influence and the smooth, integrated shape—one shape being the whole design of the car, not with pieces tacked on.” I was in the studio at the time, or had just been transferred to Cadillac. The only car I think of that fits his description is the 1992 Olds Achieva SCX Coupe.

Olds Aerotech Video

Video of the 1987 Olds Aerotech concept car driven by racing legend A.J. Foyt at the Fort Stockton Test Center in Texas. Turn your sound off. The background music is awful. But the video is interesting. Ed Welburn is in the tape.

Aero 2002 (Epcot Car)

Gray Counts designed the Epcot Car, so named because it was created for GM’s Epcot display at Disney World in Florida. In the gallery there is a magazine ad that featured the car and the words, “We’re the best GM ever.” The Epcot car, called the Aero 2002 in the ad, was an experiment in low drag aerodynamics. Quite a departure from the Bill Mitchell days.

Cadillac Voyage

The Voyage was originally envisioned as a future Seville, and designed to take the division a step beyond where it is now. Originally designed to have a V-12, the car appeared at the New York show with a V-8. “It’s a question with Cadillac: Is it time to leave all the past behind and join the world? Cadillac has a wonderful heritage but the Voyage was designed to put it into a worldwide arena. We weren’t just doing it for someone in Kansas. This isn’t the mainstay. This is the lead car,” said Jordan. So how do you differentiate the lead car and put the car in a worldwide arena? Glass. Allen Young, Chief Designer of Advanced Studio 4, states,”One of the main design features of the voyage is the use of glass which covers the top of the car. We did things the glass companies didn’t think they could do in the past. We treated the glass more like sheet metal. The use of glass says that Cadillac is a more expensive car and that there are things we can do with glass that Oldsmobile and Buick can’t do.” Apparently Mercedes and BMW thought differently.

GMC Centaur

The Centaur is a mid-engine truck concept with room for five plus a traditional bed in the back. According to Jim Brinkerhoff, the interior designer for the Centaur, the interior design has large buttons and switches making them easily accessible so the driver doesn’t have to take his eyes off the road. This is before cell phones and text messaging. I read once that some state was banning the use of cell phone use in cars. Drivers asked what they were supposed to do with their extra hand.

Lean Machine

The Lean Machine is not in the Automotive News feature article, but is a very significant vehicle nonetheless and needs to be mentioned. It was a great idea that perhaps wasn’t a product for General Motors directly, but GM possibly should have done something with it. The concept has been successfully copied by several companies. Included in the post are two PDFs that can be downloaded either here or at the bottom of the post. One is an Epcot brochure, and the other an article from Road & Track magazine.

Buick Lucerne

First called Riviera, the Lucerne was an attempt to capture the essence of Buick. Jordan stated in the Automotive News article, “The image words for Buick are substantial, massive, substance, graceful, muscular grace. But that doesn’t mean Buick’s got to be a big lump. Buick in its heyday had substance and power, but it had flair, and Buick is going to have flair.” What is flair? Not sure, but that would be the challenge for the designer at the artboard. See if you can come up with something that is recognizable as flare to those that are responsible for defining the term. There are more photos of the Buick Lucerne in the post entitled, “GM Design Photos from the early ’90s, Part 3.”

Chevrolet Venture

The Venture was smaller than the Caprice but larger than the Celebrity and fit in with the division’s mission of being entry level but providing more than the customer expects. “The other part of our mission statement is to make sure we don’t do any boring cars, that whatever we do is exciting and youthful,” said Don Lasky, chief designer of Chevy 1 Studio. “The Venture embodies that new spirit of exciting, youthful design.” Complete with removable glass roof. You know, there needed to be more communication between engineering and design. Air conditioning engineers were planning to make A/C compressors smaller. Those big 40-pound A/C compressors installed in ’66 Buicks were going away along with the R-12 refrigerant that made them work so well. All of that glass looks great, but what we really needed was less glass and thicker roofs with more insulation to compensate for the deteriorating A/C performance. I live near Phoenix, Arizona so that may influence my thinking.

Photo Gallery

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Acrobat brochure files

Click on a cover to download the PDF file.

Great shot of the fan nosecone.

One of the highlights of working at GM Design was the opportunity to work in the GM wind tunnel (General Motors Research Aerodynamic Laboratory). Photos just don’t do the shear scale of the place justice. It was completely incredible. On several occasions I was able to walk around the entire tunnel and I was always overwhelmed rounding the corner (slipping between the turning vanes located at the corners of the loop) and seeing the fan with its nose cone, the huge blades, and on the other side, its long, tapered nacelle.

The form transitions inside the tunnel at that scale and in an unforgiving material like concrete were totally amazing. Then there were the echos—it took all of the constraint I had not to create echos for my own amusement. The place had a unique smell. And a unique sound. It generated a deep rumbling sound like the the Star Trek Enterprise on impulse power. It was like science fiction or something. 

As you approached the test area, the concrete rolled up very steeply. The test area with its bright metal surface plate was well lit, but the adjacent tunnels were not, so the test area faded quickly into darkness intensifying the mysterious effect. The control room had a launch control, military feel to it. Outside of the test area were stairs that led to the level above which was all open. Huge. There were glass windows in up there so you could look down on the model.

This shot is fairly representative of the feel of the tunnel.

Testing Sessions

There was a lot of waiting during testing. Engineers had a list of things they needed to test, and it took time to prepare the model and run the tests. Once the air was up to speed, they would go through different procedures to gather the data they were after. Sometimes the model would be angled into the wind and that took more time. Once the session was ended, it took time for the wind to die down enough that you could enter the test area to make changes. You were allowed to enter the test area before the wind completely stopped. The moving air felt more like a flow of water because, I suppose, it was incredibly uniform without any gusts that occur naturally.

A test session could easily last 30 minutes or more. When the engineers would complete their tests, they would set us loose to try things. There might be some things that studio management would want to try, but not always. A designer and modeler would make changes to the clay and the testing process would start over again. So you usually had an opportunity to try stuff to see what worked. The wind tunnel staff was very adamant about not having anything fly off the model and potentially damaging the blades. If something flew off, we’d have to go find it.

A couple of things I remember being told about the tunnel. The fans were made from laminated spruce with metal capped balsa tips. There wasn’t much space between the ends of the blades and the adjacent circular wall section, so a pieces of flying debris could easily damage the blades. The balsa tips were designed to be repaired more easily than the blades themselves. The blades were made from wood because of strength and durability. The test area was capable of 160 mph. It was necked down I think to 3:1 or 4:1 creating a venturi to speed up the air. The reason for this was to keep the air speed relatively low at the fan so the tip speed of the blades would remain sub-sonic. Cool.

There are four rotating pads that have two more rotating pads contained in them that attach to the story-high balance under the floor. Kind of reminds me of Ezekiel’s wheel within a wheel. This is to be able to accommodate different tracks and wheelbases. I never witnessed smoke being used during a test.

Bill Mitchell and aerodynamics

When the wind tunnel was first used, the first clay models to be tested were pretty far along in the design process. They were taken to the wind tunnel to see if there was anything to be done to knock off a few points of drag. Like rounding off a grill molding with an 1/8-inch radius—something that would decrease drag but would not show. There were cooling flow tests made on some models, so there was experimentation with air dams under the front valance. That sort of thing. But nothing radical. Before the GM wind tunnel opened in 1980, Bill Mitchell had made it very clear that cars were designed in the studios, not the wind tunnel. When he was shown a car (I think it was the Pininfarina Studio CNR*) that was aerodynamically designed to lower drag, he said, “Too bad aero had to go that way.” Meaning that was not any sort of look GM is going to have on its cars.

Designers are always looking for something new, however. The first experiences with the tunnel had limited effects on styling. But over time what was learned in the tunnel would start to influence styling trends for all-new car designs. So cars became more aerodynamic because the look became trendy, not so much because some feature was proven to work aerodynamically. What looked aerodynamic might actually create drag and lift. Like spoilers and ground effects treatments. You couldn’t assume something would work just because it looked like it should work.

As the benefits of testing became more appreciated, the tunnel models became more sophisticated. Instead of dragging the studio clay model to the tunnel, a second full-size clay model would be built specifically for testing. It might have a mocked-up suspension, drivetrain, and engine made from wood. A radiator equipped with potentiometers measured airflow, so grill designs could be tested to reduce airflow in the hopes of reducing drag (to the minimum that would still cool the engine). Usually testing revealed the opposite—insufficient flow. (In fact, there was less opportunity for air getting around a front-wheel-drive transverse engine then a longitudinally oriented rear wheel drive engine. That meant that airflow needed to be increased for cooling—the exact opposite of the trend to minimize or eliminate grills). Models sometimes had an interior of sorts that started at the belt line. It would have plexiglass windows and be lined with pillowed foam. A-pillar and outside rearview mirror designs could be tested for wind noise.

*Pininfarina Studio CNR—“Compasso d’Oro Award 1979 for this Ideal Aerodynamic Shape, outcome of a theoretical experimental research project promoted by the National Research Italian Council. The outstanding drag coefficient (CD=0,20) allowed to achieve a substantial reduction in fuel consumption.”

The turning vanes are visible in the background.

Motor service hatch, stairs, and man with lantern.

Wind Tunnel Stories

I remember going over to the wind tunnel to witness the tunnel testing of the 1983 Riviera Indy Pace Car. The convertible had the top down, four dummies in the car (I mean crash dummies, not idiots), and two yellow flags attached at an angle to the rear bumper. When they brought the air up to speed, that Riv was flying, the dummies were shaking, and the flags shredding. It was floating in the wind with just enough lift to make it a bad airplane, bound to earth only by the shear weight of the thing and the limits of its suspension travel. Didn’t look very stable to me. I was glad I didn’t have to ride in it at the track. If memory serves me correctly, I think they told me that it registered the highest drag of any car tested to date.

There was a story floating around that the Cadillac Bustle-back Seville had a very high drag coefficient when wind tunnel tested. Just for the heck of it they turned the car around backwards and it tested a lot better. However, the Seville came out before the GM tunnel was operational. George Camp doesn’t think the story is true, and Wayne Kady doesn’t remember the car being tested, unless Cadillac division tested it themselves. So it’s probably not a true story. Does make you wonder, though.

The 1983 Buick Riviera Pace Car. All four Buick Pace Cars are in the Alfred P. Sloan Museum.

Before the GM Wind Tunnel was constructed, scale models would be shipped to a tunnel in California (maybe CalTech, I don’t remember). The black dots are from ink put on the model and the trails trace airflow on the surface. Back in those days GM could afford Polaroid film.

Tech Center Architectural Weirdness

By the way, the Tech Center had several very interesting architectural oddities. There was a stairway to adjacent to Buick One Studio that went from the basement up to the second floor. I used to run up and down the stairway occasionally to get some exercise (and to get warm. I was perpetually cold in the studios in the winter). The stairway extended one flight of stairs above the second floor to a landing. There was a locked door there that wasn’t locked one day. On the other side of that door was a walkway that ran latterly down the length of the building lined by electrical conduit, HVAC ducting, and other mechanicals. You could see from one end of the building to the other and look down on the ceilings of the studios.

The weirdest place I was ever in was between the ceiling and the roof of the styling dome. On the north end of the building there was a door that accessed a flight of very steep, narrow stairs. I was at the dome to help set up a show or something and happened to walk to that end of the building. The door was open and I just sort of walked up the stairs. In the space between the ceiling and the roof was a series of metal walkways with metal stairs between them. Above your head was a concave roof, and below you was a convex ceiling. I don’t remember exactly how much space there was between them, but I think it might have been about eight feet. The walkways led to the apex of the ceiling where lights could be directed to light up models. In the movie The Rocketeer there is a scene towards the end of the movie where a struggle is taking place inside of the German airship. The structure of the airship is clearly seen with its catwalks and curved framework. Those scenes reminded me of what the area between the ceiling and roof of the styling dome looked like.

Lastly, the Tech Center buildings are interconnected with tunnels. Some are large enough to take a model through. For example, to get a model to the styling dome the model would be taken to the basement of the styling building using one of three freight elevators. Then it would be taken through a large tunnel that led to another freight elevator at the east end of the dome, and finally up to auditorium floor level. There was another fairly large tunnel to the east that connected to the basement of an engineering building. But there were smaller tunnels as well, perhaps about only eight feet wide. There was one that led north to the west of the main lake. It had a locked door. I wonder where that one went. Weird.

Wind Tunnel Brochure

The Gallery is comprised of pages from the Wind Tunnel brochure. The brochure is available in PDF format. Right click on this link to save the file to your hard drive.

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That’s a Tom Semple rendering in the upper left corner. Photo top center shows Bill Mitchell and Chuck Jordan. Designers pictured are Randy Wittine and John Quincy Adams.

Ron Simms is in the photo in the upper left. Upper right on the right is Jerry Palmer.

When I got home from the race, I wrote a letter to General Motors Design Staff about how one becomes a car designer. I was fifteen years old. A few weeks later I received a letter signed by Lee Knight and a few publicity photos of several show cars, including the Monza GT. I still have those photos. The letter suggested some books I could buy about car design. They were Automotive Design by R.H. Gurr, published in 1955 by Post Motor Books, and You Can Draw Cars by Bill Jenks, published in 1960 by Sports Car Press. I still have the books. Nine years later I was a real car designer working in Advanced Chevrolet. Ron Hill was the Studio Chief, and Gaza Loczi was his assistant.

An AC Delco ad with another page from the Monza GT brochure.

These are the photos sent to me by General Motors.

Monza GT photographed at Michigan International Speedway about 1977.

Firebird III brochure.

According to the text, the Firebird III was ready in case of nuclear attack by the Ruskies (Dr. Strangelove, remember?).

GM’s Firebird III at the Desert Proving Grounds, Mesa, Arizona. Photo from GM Styling.

GM’s Firebird III posed in front of GM Styling. Research Staff is on the opposite side of the lake.

The stunning Firebird IV was the model of restraint as compared to the Firebird III. Photo from GM Styling.

Brochure Text

FIREBIRD III

This is a story of one experimental car, the Firebird III. But the imagination that conceived this one car, the engineering and research that put it in motion, and the leadership that combined these skills…these you will find in every General Motors car for 1959.

And that idea very simply introduces and explains the purpose of all the Firebird cars that have been built: the Firebird I for high performance, then the Firebird II for futuristic family car design and now the Firebird III that refines the outstanding features of both and adds some startling innovations all its own in the field of human engineering. The Firebird III is a joint effort by the General Motors Research Laboratories and the Styling Staff with the cooperation of the Engineering Staff and many participating divisions of General Motors.

Don’t be deceived by this Firebird III—it may look like a dream car, but it is a practical workshop for testing advancements that could very well improve your General Motors car of the next few years. It is this exciting possibility that makes the Firebird III not just a car of the future but an automotive laboratory of today!

FIREBIRD III… meeting the challenge of “human engineering”

Automotive engineers have long recognized an area of development known as human engineering. Never has its real potential been exploited, however, as it has in the new General Motors laboratory on wheels, the Firebird III.

In this car, the driver has been viewed as a challenge rather than as a limitation to automotive engineering possibilities. Here is an opportunity to use new simplified control devices, to provide improved air-conditioned comfort, and the armchair ride of an entirely new high pressure air-oil hydraulic suspension system.

The power roar and hot exhaust from the early Whirlfire GT-302 turbine engine of the Firebird I have been gentled in the more efficient, more compact Whirlfire GT-305 turbine of Firebird III.

The automatic guidance principle presented in the Firebird II has now become a reality. At the General Motors Technical Center a test car may be seen any day cruising around a special stretch of road without the driver steering, safely guided by electronic impulses sent from a buried cable and picked up through the guidance receivers on each side of the car.

Automatic guidance is only one phase, however, of the electro-hydraulic control system designed for the Firebird III. In this latest Firebird, the driver can handle the car completely through a single control—no steering wheel, no clutch pedal, no brake pedal, no transmission lever. Sounds fantastic? It’s all very real and operational, today, on the new Firebird III!

CONTROL for the FIREBIRD III—Imagine the experience of driving the Firebird III.

Point the ultrasonic key at the access door, formed by the body panel and forward bubble section, and it gracefully swings upward and forward. Step into the car without stooping and seat yourself in a comfortable individual lunge-chair seat. The position is relaxed, you’ll notice, because there is no steering wheel. That control stick extending just a few inches above the center armrest does your steering when moved from side to side. Yes, and it’s also your accelerator when pushed forward, and your brakes when pulled back. Shifting, too, is easily accomplished by twisting the hand-fitting knob on top of the same control stick. This is Unicontrol—one control does everything!

Push a button to start the accessory engine as you and your passenger settle down comfortably. This powers the air-conditioning system to cool or warm the car automatically—even before you enter the car if you preset the timer to put it in operation. It also powers other accessories and the control mechanisms.

The main engine is started when you push the ultrasonic key into the receptacle in the instrument panel. Surprisingly, the sound of the gas turbine located behind the passenger compartment is barely more than the whirr of a large fan.

Glance at your instruments—there are only three! Just a tachometer, speedometer and fuel gauge. Yes, human engineering says that instrument watching does not go with superhighway driving, so all other instruments signal the driver only as warning lights.

Now simply twist the control in your hand to forward drive position and push forward to accelerate. Swinging the control to left and right as you travel slowly, you’ll notice a strong steering response. As your speed increases, this response lessens to prevent swerving and to give smooth, easy steering.

Your passenger can share this new driving experience by taking over the control handle at any time. And if you both wish to relax and enjoy the scenery, drive to the nearest highway with the built-in Autoguide beam. Set your automatic road-speed control, the Cruise-control, and then release the manual control. Your car will be steered electronically at the speed you select, regardless of curves or hills. This is automatic car control!

As the airplane progressed by necessity from manual to electronic control, so may the automobile.

The Firebird III is the first completely electronically controlled car. It was designed and built by automotive men who quite deliberately studied aircraft techniques. They do not intend to take to the air with this vehicle. but they do feel that the lifting of previous limitations imposed on automotive design will serve to bring you better cars of the future.

FIREBIRD III

The delightful sweeping horizontal and vertical planes of the Firebird III were obviously borrowed form the skyways—their vital function is to provide stability and safety on the superhighways.

This is admittedly a test car, imaginative in design, with no pretense of being a family sedan. However, radically improved driver control, safety and comfort features perfected through this vehicle will certainly be advantageous to be enjoyed in family cars to come.

POWER FOR THE FIREBIRD III…
We’ve seen that an electronic brain controls the Firebird III—now let’s look at the muscles that make it function.

This is a unique dual-power system complementing the gas turbine engine with an important new automotive concept—the accessory engine.

The Whirlfire GT-305, a 225-horsepower regenerative gas turbine engine, has been assigned the task of propelling this vehicle. With no other demands made on this engine, all of its energy goes toward driving the wheels and it does this with full efficiency and power to spare. This engine produces power by directing hot compressed gases through a turbine which is connected to the driving wheels, as shown in the large cutaway view. Air enters inlet 1 and is compressed 2 to over three atmospheres. This compressed air absorbs exhaust heat 3 while passing through rotating regenerators, and this heated air enters combustors 4 where nozzles add fuel 5 for combustion. Combustion gases pass through turbine vanes 6 and drive gasifier turbine 7. gases then drive the power turbine 8 (there is no mechanical connection between turbines) and hot exhaust is cooled 9 as it passes through self-cleaning rotating regenerators so that relatively cool exhaust (300 degrees F. -500 degrees F.) is directed out ports 10. Power output shaft is driven by a single stage reduction gear 11 and the engine equipment drive shaft is driven by the gasifier turbine through a set of reduction gears 12.

The new GT-305 embodies many inherent advantages. These include high power to weight ration, the ability to use low-grade fuel, elimination of the conventional radiator and cooling system, and inherent smoothness. Also, the mechanically separate power turbine provides a “built-in” torque converter action which produces maximum torque at stall.

The accessory engine on the Firebird III is a two-cylinder ten-horsepower engine. Made of wear resistant high-silicon aluminum, this accessory plant supplies the electrical and hydraulic power for all the cars control and accessory requirements, whether cruising or parked with the main engine turned off.

Because this accessory engine operates at constant high speed, accessory components can be made smaller and more efficient. Demands of some accessories such as air conditioning and steering even increase when driving slowly or standing still—no problem for a constant-speed auxiliary.

The accessory engine also powers a very versatile electric system, including a 12-vold a.c. generator with rectifier, and a 110-volt a.c. generator. The 110-volt generator provides 60-cycle 110-volt power with many uses, such as a Civil Defense emergency.

Additional power take-off from the accessory engine supplies the air-conditioning compressor, a 3,000-pound-per-square-inch hydraulic pump for the air-oil suspension system, and a 1,000-pound-per-square-inch pump for all other hydraulic units.

FRAME AND POWER TRAIN for the FIREBIRD III

Central member of the unusual Firebird frame is the giant spine which serves as a housing for the car’s operating control and “nerve system,” the vial electrical and hydraulic lines running through its entire length. Welded to this center spine, the front frame section includes the side rails, cowl and integral front wheelhousings.

To the rear of this primary structural member, the frame sweeps out into a housing for the powerful gas turbine engine—actually functioning as part of the air inlet duct to the turbine compressor. The engine silencer is a series of baffle plates within the housing. the rear side rails are an extension of this air intake housing.

The frame and all supporting stringers for the body are welded into one unit with provisions for mounting separate Fiberglas body panels. These panels are easily removed for servicing and repair.

Th GT-305 gas turbine engine, transmission and differential are coupled together and mounted as one unit behind the passenger compartment.

The Firebird III trans-axle includes a Hydra-Matic type transmission mounted directly to the differential case. In this De Dion rear axle arrangement, a short drive shaft with two universal joints is used between each wheel and the differential. The axle drive shafts are mounted to the differential carrier by means of ball and trunnion joints. With this efficient power train arrangement, the usual propeller shaft and universal joints are eliminated.

SUSPENSION for the FIREBIRD III

A new suspension system that eliminates uncomfortable pitching motion to provide a softer ride is an outstanding feature of the Firebird III. Through interconnecting air-oil springs on front and rear, any vertical force acting on a front wheel is simultaneously applied to the rear wheel. As a result, pitching motion is suppressed for smooth riding on an even keel.

The air-oil unit also has a variable spring constant. In other words, it acts as a strong spring when the car is heavily loaded, as a weak spring when lightly loaded. The car rides just a smoothly, too, when fully loaded as it does when the driver is alone.

Height control valves always maintain the same road clearance, regardless of the load being carried. Body and frame always stay the proper distance from wheels and the car can travel over tough roads or grade crossings without “bottoming.”

The new air-oil suspension of the Firebird III uses a 3,000-pound-per-square-inch system powered by the car’s accessory engine. Previous systems operating on lower pressure required larger operating components. These are replaced on the Firebird with compact units, easy to maintain and more efficient in use.

Another noteworthy departure on the Firebird III is the use of solid front and rear axles, each suspended on four control arms pivotally mounted on the frame. These solid axles are responsible for excellent stability in cornering since the wheels are maintained perpendicular to the road and afford resistance to skidding.

FIREBIRD III…ON THE MOVE!

Striking feature in the front view of the Firebird III is the unique low-beam lamp system—a wide sweeping fluorescent-type lamp mounted in a specially designed parabolic reflector. Complementing high-beam headlights are sealed-beam aircraft-type lamps mounted at each side of the long low-beam.

These lights on the Firebird are turned on or off automatically through a control system actuated by three light-sensitive pick-ups mounted on the body of the car. This system serves as an on-off control for the low-beam lamp, high-beam headlights and the running lamps, including parking and taillights. Two inertia-operated emergency lights at the rear flash on during sudden emergency stops. During normal slowing down, three warning lights flash on at the rear. Three turn-signal lights, located on each of two side fins, flash on in sequence and remain on to give the impression of a giant arrow indicating the turn direction.

The Firebird III on the move is quickly brought to a safe stop by the car’s Turb-Al brakes. In this primary braking system, wheel and brake drum are combined in a single aluminum casting with 36 cooling air passages. Sprayed metal rubbing surfaces on the drums and sintered metal linings provide excellent wear-resistance and positive action even when wet.

Additional braking for the Firebird III includes a grade retarder mounted on the rear of the differential. Through a series of friction disks, this retarder provides braking torque on the rear wheel drive shafts.

An important safety feature of the braking system is a new anti-skid device that detects unusual traction conditions when the brakes are applied. A sensing element, a sort of “magic box,” automatically evaluates premature wheel slowdown and maintains the proper line pressure to prevent brake lockup.

This almost instantaneous action not only prevents skidding, but provides optimum braking capacity and steering control even under emergency stop conditions.

Supplementing the Turb-Al brakes and grad retarder are three air brake flaps at the rear of the car. These open automatically in conjunction with the grade retarder on down-hill grades to direct air through its oil coolers, and they also function with the Turb-Al brakes when applied at speeds greater than 30 miles and hour.

And now, with brakes released, air brake flaps retracted, and full cruising power applied, the Firebird III rolls swiftly and safely down the test track. It will be studied by engineers of every applied science. It will be torn down, tested, run again and studied more.

And while all this is going on, there’s a bustle of new activity evident in the Styling, Research and Engineering Staff sections at the General Motors Technical Center. What new projects absorbs the varied skills of all these men? Perhaps they’re beginning the Firebird IV. Imagination in Motion!

Exterior of GM Styling Staff at the General Motors Technical Center, Warren, Michigan.

Clockwise from the top left: Stairs in the Administration Building. The main entrance lobby can be seen on the ground floor. The upstairs on this end of the building had a gallery area at the top of the stairs. The Administration Building cafeteria is to the right, and to the left were several executive offices. Bill Mitchell’s office suite was at the end of the hallway. Other photos: Color Room, Styling Auditorium, and a night shot of Styling with the Styling Auditorium dome in the background.

Introduction by William L. Mitchell

Clockwise from the top left: Cadillac Studio (Wayne Kady is seated on the right). Fridgidare Studio, dummy in seating study fixture, Cadillac scale model, Chevrolet Studio working on the Monza GT (Bernie Smith on the right), an interior studio shot (center).

Brief description of the different departments at Styling.

Clockwise from the top left: Full size ’66 Toronado airbrush rendering, Dave North sketching with a Tornado production model in the background, Tech Stylist working on Tornado packaging, design review of a GM showcar (Bernie Smith second from left, and Bill Mitchell is in the center), full size production clay model of the ’66 Toronado.

Description of the design process.

Back cover. Mitchell’s Corvette Mako Shark II show car.