1964 & 1965 Official Guidebook & Souvenir Map Entries


The description of this exhibit from the 1964 Official Guide Book

Cover- 1964 Guidebook

The description of this exhibit from the 1965 Official Guide Book

Cover - 1965 Guidebook

The location of this exhibit on the 1964 Official Souvenir Map

Cover - 1964 Official Souvenir Map

GENERAL MOTORS
A detailed knowledgeable look at the technological developments awaiting mankind is provided by this exhibitor, who performed the same service at the New York World's Fair of 1939. The predictions are all solidly based on fact; they picture, among other things, a visit to the moon, a year-round commercial harbor in the Antarctic, a vacation resort located underwater and some surprising aspects of the city of the future. The GM pavilion, one of the most eye-catching at the Fair, is keynoted by an enormous slanting canopy 110 feet high, balanced, by some architectural legerdemain, over the entrance to the exhibit area. In addition to the Futurama, displays show the range of research conducted by GM as well as the variety of products made by the company (automobiles through home appliances). There are three experimental cars and five dream kitchens.
* Admission: free.
 Highlights
THE NEW FUTURAMA. In this updated version of GM's classic ride into the future, visitors sit in individual plastic contour seats equipped with speakers that supply a narration. The seats move along a track that alternately dips and climbs though the two floors of the exhibition hall.
A trip to the moon starts the ride taking the visitor past a scale model whose craters and canyons are dotted with manned "lunar-crawlers" and commuter space ships.
Life under the ice is depicted in a display that shows an all-weather port cut deep into the Antarctic ice shelf. Under the ice cap is a weather station, where technicians prepare forecasts embracing whole continents.
In an underwater scene, drills tap the ocean floor for oil, minerals are hauled away by submarine train, and vacationers relax in a suboceanic resort and, equipped with oxygen, ride about outside on "aqua-scooters."
Visiting the jungle, spectators see a machine that fells towering trees with searing laser light. A road builder, scaled to appear five stories high and longer than three football fields, follows the timber-cutter. It levels and grades, leaving a divided, multilane superhighway in its path. The road serves a city that processes the products (lumber, chemicals and farm commodities) drawn from the tamed jungle.
In the desert, crops thrive in soil irrigated with subterranean or desalted sea water. Machines operated by remote control plant and harvest the crops.
The city of the future is shown complete with midtown airports, high-speed bus-trains, superskyscrapers, moving sidewalks and underground conveyor belts for freight. Around the city is part of an intercontinental highway.
THE AVENUE OF PROGRESS. GM's scientific pursuits, as depicted in this exhibit, range from space age research to product engineering. A cosmic space chamber, applications of solar energy and turbine engines are displayed, as are new uses of metals, plastics and fabrics. There are also examples of the latest techniques in automotive design.

GENERAL MOTORS

In the Futurama, fairgoers are taken on visits to the moon, to a year-round commercial harbor in the Antarctic, to an underwater resort and to a city of tomorrow.

The eye-catching pavilion is dominated by an enormous slanting canopy. Exhibits show the range of GM's research activities and a vast variety of its products, including three experimental cars.

THE NEW FUTURAMA. GM's classic ride, which it pioneered at the 1939/1940 Fair, is presented in an updated version. Sitting in contour seats equipped with speakers, visitors move past animated scenes.
  • In a trip to the moon, visitors see a weird landscape of craters and spaceships.
  • Life under the ice is depicted by an all-weather port cut deep into the Antarctic ice shelf.
  • An underwater scene shows the ocean floor being tapped for oil and vacationers relaxing at a resort beneath the surface.
  • Visiting the jungle, spectators see trees felled by searing laser beams. A monster road-building machine follows, leaving in its path an elevated superhighway.
  • In the desert, crops thrive in soil irrigated by desalted sea water. Machines operated by remote control plant and harvest the crops.
  • Tomorrow's city is shown with midtown airports, high-speed bus-trains, superskyscrapers, moving sidewalks and underground freight conveyor belts.

AVENUE OF PROGRESS. Among the displays are a cosmic spark chamber, fuel-cell developments and a turbine engine, as well as innovations in metals, plastics and fabrics, and new techniques in the designing of cars.

Admission: free.

8.15.02 Revised 9.15.17