The year was 1949, the television had yet
to become a mass marketing tool. The best way of advertising your product was to expose it
in as large a gathering as possible. GM discovered a fantastic way of accomplishing
this, it was called "Motorama". There were eight shows held between the years of
1949 and 1961. These were the grandfather of the modern automobile show. During those 12
years they played to an audience of more than 10 Million people in a total of eight
different cities.
The shows introduced such well known car
names as Corvette, Nomad, Biscayne, Corvair and Impala. Actually the first shows of
1949-50 were called "Transportation Unlimited" and not Motorama.
They were held
in New York and Boston and over half a million people attended.
As a result of General Motors military commitment to the
Korean War no shows were held in 1951 and 1952.
1953
In 1953 the term "Motorama" was
first applied and the extravaganza began. It opened in the Grand Ballroom of the famous
Waldorf Astoria Hotel on New Yorks plush Park Avenue.
The budget was guessed to be close to one
million dollars. Remember this was 1953!
The 1953 Motorama was the birth place of the American sports car. This was the year
Chevrolet would introduce a two seat, fiberglass sportscar named Corvette. It would be
rushed into production in just a few short months from this day.
This year more than one and a half million
people viewed the shows which were also held in Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas,
and Kansas City.
1954
New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco
and now
Chicago had replaced Dallas and Kansas City.
Attendance was now over two million people and the crowd
was treated to a peek at the experimental "Corvette Nomad".
The crowd feedback was so positive that Harley Earl then
head of General Motors styling section called Detroit and asked to see the car ( Nomad )
on a 1955 Chevrolet. The 1955 Nomad would be displayed at the next years Motorama and
could be purchased as well.
1955
New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco
and Boston
was added again.
The show was now costing more than two million dollars
and was used to display G.M.s huge line of products ranging from household appliances to
earth movers. But the big attraction was as always the dream cars.
1956
New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco
and Boston.
The show budget had now escalated to five million
dollars. One needs to remember this was 1956 dollars !! This year Chevrolet introduced the
Impala, a car which would be changed a bit and then introduced in 1958 to replace the
aging 1955-1957 models. It was longer and lower and would represent the things to come for
Chevrolet owners.
Logistics
The Motorama caravan had now grown to 125 trucks to
carry the show which was now including a full orchestra, dozens of automobiles and full
mechanical stages that would lift the cars over the crowds heads.
The show was becoming a logistical nightmare of cost and planning.
In 1956 car phones were unheard of but some
of the Motorama trucks had them.
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