Eight huge streamlined vans were commissioned and built at Fisher Body’s Fleetwood plant in Detroit. Six of these ‘Streamliners’ formed walk-through exhibits when linked together. Another opened up to form a stage while the eighth was a hauler. The first Parade of Progress was a huge success, running from 1936 to the point where Hirohito decided to remodel Pearl Harbor. By that time, the Parade had put well over a million miles under its wheels, had pitched camp in 251 towns throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Cuba, and had played to some 12.5 million people.
The early (pre-953) models were powered by 4-cylinder diesel engine with four-wheel drive transmissions. The 1953 versin got a bit more grunt, in this case a 302 inline 6-cylinde OHV GMC engine. The engine is coupled to a four-speed Hydramatic automatic transmission that is bolted to the backside of another two-speed gearbox, delivering eight forward speeds. There was also a separate power take-off gearbox which made driving the Futurliner a bit more involved. To engage this gearbox, the driver had to walk to the back of the vehicle and manually select one of the three gears, effectively giving 24 gears. Amazingly there is yet another gear reduction system onboard but this was rarely used. Top speed? Not much better than 60km/h. The future was clearly not something to be rushed.
