GM Special Vehicles Collection with Dennis Gage

ever wonder what GM does with all the great historic and concept vehicles its produced over the years well we'll learn the answer as we get a rare look inside the GM specialty vehicles collections home to hundreds of legendary cars like the turbine powered Firebird 3 1959 s car of the future the stunning 1951 will savor the mid-engine aero vet the insane 700 horsepower tiger shark the voice-activated Buick LaCrosse and many more so join me Dennis gage for an amazing hour of GM automotive history and future well Dennis you found the place okay your directions were good it took me a little while but but I found it and Wow what do you think that is fabulous how many cars do you have here this is only a fraction this is only I got 150 out of all possible as 750 vehicles we've got well you've got such wild stuff concepts and classics and historic sand stuff I I'd like to see it all I don't know how to do it though well then that's you know I realize you got a just a short amount of time that we could do this then but I've hand-picked just a few are the various categories that we build and or control or how was here so you're gonna see the best of the best of the GM collection what are we waiting for let's go John moss is known as the king of performance at GM at the time of my visit he was the manager of GM specialty vehicles collections this unique group of cars and people is part of GM's performance division and is charged with collecting preserving and promoting GM's rich production and concept car history and what's what's this this is just a oh this is a very interesting car let me explain to you what we're doing as you know we're trying to as a manufacturer we're trying to bust into that tuner mark right okay well this is Sunfire that is going into production now this is an ode to sun fire with you know a new hood fascias rockers rear spoiler rear fascia are you gonna be able to order it this way even the trick headlights you're going to be able to order all these components through the service parts organization and up fit your own say used Sunfire now this is really wild - yeah that's it the new Cheyenne man now that means there's that going to be a production vehicle this is the custom lines this is a kind of what you want to call a sneak peek into the future of the of the new full-size pickup of course this this oldsmobile is a another ethical car and you again remember how we're talking about olds and Buick with their white interior both both of those two divisions really did the the real neat interiors where the white and and you know the two toning of the interior but I love the Bengal hair this is this is a it's another great Buick concept they just have such great concept cars always have they've they've really done a very nice job and of course the the Bengal came after the La Crosse that was the next year and when you look at it it's got similar thoughts from the La Crosse carrying into this vehicle and you know the portholes they're a little bit differently some portholes the single arm wiper you know open-air top this was more other kind of the Roadster appearance that they were unlike the lines cross you got this fender line and the rear one and they actually cross at the door I mean this is some great styling oh it's a beautiful beautiful car GM's collection of historic vehicles isn't the world's largest but it's full of rare and original pieces for example this 1905 Buick model C is the fourth oldest Buick on the planet only 14 of these automobiles are known to exist of the 750 cars that were produced and GM is still actively collecting their own history this beautiful 1939 Buick Roadmaster model 81 seat Phaeton was purchased in 1999 only 311 were built and they sold for 1983 dollars power is provided by a hundred and 20 horsepower straight-8 this is also the first car that came with turn signals as standard equipment [Music] the first car John picked is very representative of the unique original vehicles that GM has in their collection this 1932 owes Mobil five windows sportcoupé was a stunning automobile in its day with white wall tires extending wood wheels and contrasting body colors the sport coupe was a three passenger car and featured chrome front and rear bumpers tall vertical grille and surround shell headlamps fender mounted marking lamps and a spotlight this extremely rare model originally sold for nine hundred and seventy dollars John this is absolutely beautiful well Danis this is my personal favorite of the collection let me tell you this is a good taste it is a very very fabulous car we are very pleased to have this in our collection so it is such a rare car in fact I've far as I know it could be the only one in existence and it's a five-window coupe and that's really the rare piece of it right yeah because normally you saw the 32 olds and a sedan the four-door and to have a five-window coupe is a very rare piece well it's really ornate this must have been a high-end model even in its day this was if you had a few bucks you know this is the car you had because if you look at the ordinate dose this is a car you would take to the country club more the single man's car the suiters car he would take it to the country club in fact there's a door back here for your cops to take to the country club so yes this was the car it was kind of the sports car sports car you could almost equate this down to the modern Corvette this was the sports car of that era so you had arrived if you had you have arrived and they tell you so a lot of great chrome on this which you didn't see that much in that era and fabulous pinstriping another detail I love the wheels the wheels that was it was very interesting on that because that is really the design right off the art all artillery carriage of the cannon carriages of the day so this is a very very unique piece and that ornate painting and all that would have gone with this well if you look at this this is where the chroming and the the pinstriping the two toning a very very elegant touch it's a lot like the current the hot rod hot rodders up today would do well in light of other details I mean I love the crank it's a crank down back window crank down back window because if you had the passenger in the rumble seat the crank down the window he could talk to the people in the front and if you didn't you had a nice little window so you got a winter she to keep him out well this would have been this would have been the one to take to the course oh this is a very very very nice car yes the next vehicle shows the origin of the sport utility vehicle the 1936 Chevrolet Suburban carry-all was designed to carry people in a truck type vehicle but in a comfortable manner and with options like white wall tires a radio and heater the carry all was very civilized while still being a hunter's dream to this day the suburban line of Chevrolet trucks remains the ultimate Super Duty station wagon truck and for about the amount of an average payment on a new suburban $685 you could have paid in full for this one oh no John this is a pretty historically significant vehicle here this is really one of the first SUVs right well CES is it's not quite the first one because 1935 is when there when the Chevy Suburban first chest started this is a 1936 and quite frankly very fortunate to have one as you watch the television this is appearing a lot of the current suburban commercials you see little horse farm and but this been used quite extensively in a lot of commercials well it's in beautiful shape and most of these you know didn't survive they were utility vehicles oh yes when they were used basically in agricultural areas you know the most of them we receive with the the panel delivery ban which was most of and we're very rare to find one with seats which really emulates our current suburban yeah and it's it's a Chevy it was a utilitarian vehicle but it's still really beautifully appointed well for Chevrolet especially back on that arrow you see it's a three tone black and and the cream color with a kind of the taupe color but you noticed even the pinstriping you can striping on the chevrolet way back then it's very very unique so what powered this well we have us this traditional straight-6 but overhead valve straight-6 not the Oh flat flat head and 74 horsepower with a synchromesh three-speed amazing and also it was very popularly priced yes out the door six hundred eighty five dollars so today I could take it out the door well it's it's beautiful and it really is a great historic piece for the collection oh it's a great great we're was very fortunate to have it the next car John brought out is one of my all-time favorites the 1953 Buick Skylark anniversary convertible celebrated 50 years of Buick production the Skylark was based on a custom factory built Roadmaster body that was sectioned chopped and featured a special wraparound windshield Buicks new penta roof chamber overhead valve v8 was unique to the industry stunning and fresh in its appearance even today only 1690 were built in 1953 with a list price of about $5,000 each you know Johnny 32 olds may be your favorite but this is one of mine really nice and it's truly fabulous now 53 was a big year wellyes Dennison you mentioned fabulous this was a part or one of the cars of the famous Fab Four for Fab Four which was the you know made up comprised of the 53 Corvette the 53 Eldorado convertible and the 53 olds Fiesta cover and the 53 Skylark now this was a very limited production run - we only made something less than 1,700 these vehicles and what's very unique about this you know we talk about our custom shops are modern customizing shops today but here is a factory customize shop and when I say that this car was chopped and it was sectioned - from a production Roadmaster right out of the sembly line that's right I mean this really wasn't they made this car from another car and and you look at the windshield and it's just it's very no you can see it's chopped its raked at a nice angle Rick - not only that but look at that look at the curvature this was one of the first usages of the curved or a wraparound as it was termed windshield and in the 53 skylight yes it was also first time for the engine well yes this you've heard the term nailhead you know this was derived from this overhead valve three hundred twenty-two cubic H v8 motor and as you noticed most of the engines in most engines today are the valve covers are on an angle and well if you look at these valve covers are vertical or straight up and down and that's exactly the way the valves were they were vertically so look at underneath the valve cover they're all in a line so it looks like nails done that's what I do yes well Kelsey Hayes wheels another feature was it had the Dynaflow flaw well these things were just they were fabulous they looked great in their day and they still look good today you could cruise down the street in this and just get looks like wow this would definitely stop traffic I'll tell you that maybe we could go stop some traffic do you think you could actually take this baby out I think dad's you've been really great let's go let's take this over right let's Dynaflow okay well you said you've never driven one your is your absolute chance to drive a 53 Buick Skylark I well what are we waiting for well let's get it going all right let's see it's the floor starter - right here we go here we are Dynaflow here we go [Music] amazed how I will smooth the power-steering is on this well for sure is very smooth and yeah you know we were talking about the Dyna for transmission you know it really really a solid yeah yeah it's just very very smooth likes it with a wheel this size I expected to be you know muscling a little bit more well the big thing is you know the turning rate you know the ratio of the steering is is quite large it doesn't wander really either this you know for a 50s car that it tracks pretty nice yes it does and you know the dirt is very very stable you know and good for kind of sites of course you know I'm Jewish purgatory is for being very very happy Oh Andy and so feeling it's right it's a very heavy solid car and wouldn't you say there was sixteen hundred some of these sixteen hundred and ninety of are made you know and what's really unique is to have a factory custom car come off the assembly lines you know that's always unheard of in today's standard guys like you kind of sticks up over this windshield John good it is really chopped down where there's a lotion windshield yeah that's about 3 inch shop on this on this windshield which really is unique for you even doing things in those days yeah and when you consider you know all the interior room these old cars had versus what we have today you know they really did think of the people on Titan as you can see the light rain kept us from really enjoying this gorgeous car so we decided to head back a little early to preserve this gem for generations to come gM builds quite a few so-called production based concepts a production based concept is a styling and/or engineering exercise based on a car or truck that is currently in production these vehicles allow GM to cost-effectively test new concepts and ideas many of which will make it into production a year or two later a perfect example of this is the 1992 Chevrolet Impala SS the original pre-production prototype fuel car that led to the 1994 Impala SS production car today the car appears in slightly modified form a couple years ago John and his staff did their magic and took the car one step further by adding a massive 510 cubic inch big block that produces 545 horsepower the result is the ultimate Street bruiser and cruiser a return of Chevy factory support to the NHRA and the arrival of the ls1 v8 in the camaro in the late 90s provided the inspiration for this Camaro drag car production concept the idea was simple find out how much performance potential lies hidden in an off-the-shelf z28 the answer turned out to be 580 horsepower from the LS 1 this dramatic Chevy Highlander show truck built in 1994 is based on an extended cab s10 pickup with some extras the Highlander features an adjustable roll bar when the roll bar is in its up position and automatic fabric top rolls out over the bar and can cover the bed and side areas it also has a power rear window that went in the down position the bottom half can be folded flat allowing movement between the cab and pickup bed the Chevrolet Silverado SS T is a perfect example of how GM uses a production based concept to experiment with different combinations of production vehicles and parts for this exercise GM shortened the wheelbase to 133 inches and in several carbon-fiber body panels as well as a trick hood well John this is one trick truck this is what you call your full customized parts yes it is now this is what you refer to as a production concept right what is that well let me explain that to you we hear the term concepts and a lot of the term common concepts get confused we're like the big theme concepts you'd see if the major auto shows well we refer to this as a production concept is this is where we take a a production vehicle that's currently in production in this case of Silverado Silverado and then we modify it to wherever are the division or the marketing brands want this to go take a give it a certain message to so it's both an engineering exercise and kind of a marketing action so yes because when we were looking at this your Chevrolet strategy was like was looking at let's what is it we'd like to bring back this SS moniker that was so popular and in there in the 60s and so what we did was we developed a truck with GM styling on how to bring back that SS cues in a truck so its killer looking what all did you do to it well this thing is really from bumper to bumper quite frankly you know when you look at the power cranes got a very unique powertrain we have a it's basically based off the c5 Corvette you know it's got a heavily modified ls6 motor and then full an independent rear suspension with a transmission 6-speed in the rear and what kind of power in the front 480 horse 180 horse very nice attack well you've also I mean a body you've done a lot to also well you look at the body this is like this is what you call the new clean look if you look at vehicles the customized vehicles or even production vehicles 40 years ago they had lots of chrome you see this vehicle absence of chrome you know very very slight touches and you've you've done some shortening so what's very unique about this truck is that we have actually chopped and and really shortened the bed and then grafted the bed on to the cab so the the actual body of the cab the truck box is all in one piece it's a very unique look do you it is so sleek and it's it's down let's go I write suspension it's beautiful and like a rock like a rock next John brought out the automobile outrage a concept that definitely lives up to its name but this stunning number Jim took a 1923 Ford or touring car added a lift off top the 4 litre olds Aurora Imps a GTS one racing powerplant for real independent suspension and giant tires they finished off this rad ride with outrageous green paint [Music] whoa like this beautiful music music I must say now what's your excuse for this this is the this is a body rendition of a just a pure California custom right really is it's gorgeous now what did it start in it started out as a Tolls 23 touring you know roadster steel bodies your body full steel body car that is that proverbial dig it out of the cornfield car unbelievable is so much interesting styling going on here this this top and the way that's cut away it's almost got a 60s look - that's right this happened by the way this is a lift off top not it's not a full downwards but this is a full lift off top with a lot of modern technology and well thoroughly modern in a power plant this is the ultimate of technology this is the engine rear a stood the emphasis GTC a GTS series and it was a really a take off of the motor that we raced in IRL it's it's the aurora engine it's a roar engine and we're running 500 horsepower and this one I believe will and then a lot of other modern appointments the latest and greatest I mean I love the reflectors on the bumpers and the wood grain on the the wood running boards but those tires are huge how about 22 is in the back 18 is in that front end look at those very very modern LA custom wire wheels with knockoff hubs it is unbelievable so this thing just kind of goes around and makes people happy those are on shows and oh yeah that's very we've been very popular of course that the hot rod shows and the typical you know moisture events that you see this vehicle at you just have too much fun you know you really do this is beautiful just a gorgeous vehicle the Chevrolet Corvette has had a special place in America's garage for over 50 years deep in the recesses of Chevy's styling and engineering studios this Corvette concept was conceived and built from its jaw-dropping Tiger yellow paint to its massive 7 liter supercharged v8 this vet says get out of the way or prepare to be devoured so John what was the goal behind this project to see how much punch you could pack in a Corvette or what well this is almost like an experimental car you know we always could continue pushing the envelope and this is both not only a look exercise but it's also a part during exercise as well and what we were looking at here is a try and develop how much can you move or push the envelope is see what you could put on the street that's right on they ride adrenaline you know what can you drive and what can't you drive on the street so with our new components that were coming out of our performance parts group we started with a basic new 427 small-block Racing block and we've got the new c5 our racing heads and and we pushed the envelope with a lot of you know really high-tech rods from well all the insides of the the engine and then we attached a Vortech supercharger with an intercooler with about eight and a half pounds of boost and push the horsepower up to about 750 at 6,000 rpm with a really broadband torque range now that's that's an aluminum engine all aluminum everything is all a small-block 427 yes correct now that's with rev limiters on it and everything right now we've got a rev limiter and so if you take the revolution or off it probably is capable of way about 8,500 rpm which would probably put the horsepower up in this easy neighborhood of about 800 825 or 8:1 goodness and that's impressive now exterior wise it's equally impressive the the color is is wild we developed this with PPG as a when we dubbed it tiger yellow and it's a four quote process very very very unique color in fact we've had at the auto shows and people said where'd you get that code so they're thinking about making a refinish product but the hood this takes me back I mean that's the old stingray hood that's exactly right we looked at you know what was made the Corvette very distinct back in the 60s in early 70s you know and in this is very quite frankly just shaped very similar with it with a moniker of the 427 I just like we did in the 20-30 years ago got a driver's hundred it could have well Dennis if you got your politics right I was anxious to see what a 750 horsepower Corvette could do on the open road it's just too bad we couldn't take it to an open racetrack serious breaks on this baby serious this is one of the manufacturer actually buy Brembo upon the racing packages right here just look at it oh I know and it looks lower well when you see this thing out in the Sun you know where this with the color Lord everything this gorgeous machine well what do you say we fire this baby up oh yes that's all right behind you I asked you earlier do you have your pilot place yeah I got my pilot's license here we go five-point harness I think you need it [Music] a great sound incredible feel you can just you know you know we did have this curve down in town today oh they finally sanded 175 slower down it's not a full-blown race car oh man well you can see why you want a five-point harness in this guy you know that I love feeling the road because sometimes they've just they've kind of eliminated the feel of the road you know the roads here on this house oh yeah it really wants to be unleashed six-speed transmission and it's close ratio at it's just boom boom boom very positive personally everything in this vehicle you can't buy from General Motors performance parts little costly but but it can be done so you can find response you could do this to your own c5 yeah kids gonna be able to be out here so and so what you see is you know someone can be able to do it virtually don't located well to be able to have that 427 hood 27 has such history Joe you know look at the late seventies where the 427 block not only gave you a NASCAR but what I did for the street everything else this was just the ultimate ultimate performance for so it was a dominating engine desk you saw that badge and you knew it you know those trouble you know right the most blameless and exciting cars companies produce are their concept cars they're designed and built from the ground up to test engineering concepts and to dazzle the public with their futuristic styling over the years GM created some of the wildest concept cars ever the idea for this concept 1954 is Firebird one came from the legendary Harley Earl then VP of styling at GM the idea was to test the feasibility of equipping automobiles with gas turbine engines of course Harley added futuristic styling borrowed from jet aircraft of the time the radical fender design of the 1954 Buick Wildcat to makes it one of the most attractive of the General Motors concept vehicles the Wildcat - like the 1953 Wildcat one and the Chevrolet Corvette reflect GM's interest at the time in developing small powerful cars with lightweight fiberglass bodies though Buick stayed out of the two-seat roadster business until a development the Reata elements from this car made it into production years later Buick enthusiasts will recognize the sweep Speer chrome on the 1956 Centurion concept as being similar to the 1957 production Buicks they might even recognize the rear fins as being like those on the 1959 models the rest of the car however is one-of-a-kind the 1956 Firebird 2 concept was unveiled by Harley Earl amid much fanfare it represented a progress report on the feasibility of gas turbine powered vehicles unlike the original single-seat Firebird one that developed 1250 degree exhaust temps the four seat Firebird 2 featured a regenerative gas turbine engine that operated nearly a thousand degrees cooler other features included the first use of four-wheel disc brakes fully independent four-wheel suspension and a sophisticated electronic guidance system for use on the electronic highway of the future the 1959 Cadillac cyclone concept was designed to test new styling and a host of high-tech engineering ideas the two passenger automobile has a clear plastic top that fits snugly against a panoramic windshield to give the driver true 360 degree vision when it's not in use the power operated canopy folds backwards beneath the surface of the trunk deck among its advanced engineering features is a radar locating device that scans the highway and warns the driver of objects in his path the air ovett concept is an experimental mid-engine coupe it was developed in 1973 to test high performance design and engineering concepts that were not planned for production it featured a steel and aluminum body of birdcage construction with fiberglass skin the bifold gull wing doors with thick side windows helped reduce the body weight a 400 cubic inch v8 is mounted transversely near the middle of the chassis more recently GM created the Corvette served 3 this high-tech vehicle featured a prototype carbon-fiber body and chassis power is supplied by a transversely mounted twin turbocharged lt5 v8 this rocketship is all-wheel drive with four-wheel steering in 2002 GM unveiled the autonomy concept looking more like a Mars exploration vehicle it was designed to test advanced engineering technologies related to chassis design and packaging it also featured a fuel cell powertrain in 1951 the LeSabre was one of the first show vehicles produced by GM styling following World War two reflecting Harley Earl's fascination with jet fighters the LeSabre adopted many of the design and engineering features found in high-performance aircraft lightweight materials like cast magnesium and aluminum were used in many key areas like the deck lid and the hood the wraparound windshield was an industry-first the convertible top and side windows are electrically operated and raised automatically when moisture hits a sensitized spot located between the seats mica Dodi showed me this incredible concept car well now this is probably one of the most beautiful design cars in the fleet I think this is the 1951 LeSabre not a LeSabre but the lazier favored this was the first car ever done with the name LeSabre on it it was really highly Earl's baby wasn't it yes it really was after this vehicle came off the show circuit Harley RL actually drove this car personally around the Detroit area back and forth to work on a daily basis this car actually has 51,000 miles on by far the most of any of our historical fleet as far as a concept it Sun sort of for a concept car 51,000 miles is a lot again very flight influenced yeah this vehicle was designed after actually a French fighter plane the Harley had seen and was influenced to design this car after that type of look it's an aluminum body right yes with some cast magnesium in this vehicle and the engine it's an all aluminum v8 it's got hemispherical heads supercharged two carburetors in 51 1951 now it's a really interesting grille up there Annette that's that doesn't get doubles is there yeah actually that is also the headlight system which I'll show you how this works it's it actually rotates 180 degrees and the two lights will come back on that's incredible it really is it's an early hideaway headlights system well there's a lot of other design cues here that showed up in other cars I mean that's Corvette 53 Corvette cockpit right there another one on Harley Earl's famous designs 253 Corvette along with the wraparound windshield that you see on this vehicle it's got the front bumpers on it actually ended up in a similar to that to the early 53 Cadillac and along with the rear tail fence now as I understand it there's there's fuel cells in this car yes sir as there's fuel cells in each side of this car this side has actually got gasoline in it that side holds alcohol and what the alcohol would do is at a certain rpm with this vehicle if you were stepping into the throttle would induce into the supercharger and give this vehicle an extra boost of power yeah it wouldn't take off kicking any afterburners absolutely and that's sort of what the tail looks like yeah it resembles afterburner when you apply the brake it's one big light in the center when you step on the brake at all lights up in red it kind of looks like an afterburner yeah it's just stunningly beautiful and all original even with 51,000 miles right 51,000 miles on this car and what you're looking at is a unrestored 1951 motor ram a car by General Motors all original paint on this car this car has never been restored it's got a few gotchas here and there but generally this cars in its original form don't ever touch it we try to do preservation and not restoration it's beautiful yes the Firebird 3 was the third and final gas turbine powered car developed by GM in the 1950s to test the feasibility of turbine engines in everyday use the Firebird 3 concept was unveiled to the world in New York on October 16th 1959 everything about this amazing car was space-age from its combination jet fighter rocket ship styling to its joystick driver control and onboard computer technology in short the Firebird 3 was the most advanced car on the planet in 1959 and some of the same technology would be used to put a man on the moon ten years later well Mike now we're in the realm of true design vehicles and this has got to be one of the wildest GM ever did Firebird 3 1959 Firebird 3 yeah it was it was a real wild on of styling and big on the fins in the back definitely airplane influenced here on this was a third in a series though right was a third new series GM was toying with the idea of building turbine engines back in the 50s they had a series of these cars Firebird 1 2 and 3 and H one of them served their own specific purpose for their test bets this was the final of the series in 1959 and this was the one that the GM through all their greatest technologies into at the time well it's it's such a wild Flash Gordon Buck Rogers design it's actually it's Harley Earl right yeah this is Harley Earl's one of his finals that he did before he retired and left GM styling you can see a lot as influenced Harley was very heavily influenced by these by the airplanes of the time all of his concept cars if you were to go back and look you can see the influences that Harley had definitely defends give give it all the way as being Harley also he was big into that but this really was a test platform for possibly looking at turbine engines for passenger cars right yes well turbines were beginning to be the engine of the future at the time a lot of military applications were being used and definitely in the aircraft industry so the the automobile industry was taken a look at possibly doing these same type of engines so they had to build something that to test these vehicles and see how feasible it was they did learn that these vehicles they ran really hot this car runs about 1,500 degrees yeah that's pretty hot and it stays out all day too and it also it's too fuel consumptions really big on this car it drinks a lot of fuel well there's actually two engines in this though right yeah there's a gasoline engine in the front of this vehicle it's a two cylinder gasoline engine and what it does is power all your accessories in this vehicle your your alternator your power steering pump and your air conditioner this vehicle is actually an air conditioner welcome the regenerative gas turbine is in the rear of this vehicle and it does nothing more than power the rear wheels and that's what gives this car rolling well I love the the fighter jet canopies can you open up the car Wow yeah it actually has a going type of configuration here the way it opens but it allows for maximum accessibility to get into the vehicle there's no steering wheel no steering wheel no gas pedal no brake pedal in this car everything is run by the joystick and a center console as you move the joystick left and right it will turn the wheels if you push the joystick forward it'll apply power to the rear wheels if you pull back on it it applies the brakes it's really a different type of thing to get used to you have to take everything you know it's driving the vehicle today and throw it right out the window because you you don't have a brake pedal to step on or anything else but that's the only and you can actually drive it from either side right you can drive this vehicle from the left side or the right side you know probably the kids today would be a lot better with this with the video games the adults might have a little harder time with it the kids they would probably have no problem driving this van I believe it I believe now it's wild great car the Buick LaCrosse is an excellent example of the type of concept cars GM is building to get feedback on designs and to test technologies they'll be using five or ten years down the road this five-passenger sedan combines roominess and comfort with an elegant exterior design that immediately says Buick with its sweet sphere side profile vertical bar grille portholes and cross car rear lighting so Mike this would be an example of the latest greatest from GM design and decidedly Buick yes this the Buick LaCrosse is definitely a graceful and stylish luxury sedan was actually unveiled in 2000 at the Detroit Auto Show you see the Buick styling in this futuristic concept vehicle with the portholes here on the fenders all the way up to the grille that shows some early Buick design it's got 21 inch wheels also it's stylish it says Buick all the way inside with the woodgrain on the dash to the beautiful leather seats inside this vehicle it's so sleek and just I mean it's just like let's slide through the air and it's got all these you know these trick features like the glass roof and overtrain it's got also does all sorts of electronic trick yeah voice-activated yeah this is a voice-activated card a new airplane show me something sure what we do is you give the command to the vehicle we'll say lacrosse driver's door open oh yeah pulls back and and it will open oh just that easy grace look and it's a suicide door car so yes it is open and you'd have the great entrance again other things like the hood hood where the hood also the same weight lacrosse open hood well that's cool now just like the early Buicks which you'll notice with this hood as it comes straight up it will tilt to the side yeah that's the piano with the grand piano that's correct underneath the hood of this vehicle we have the all-new 4.2 liter v8 its dual overhead cam multi-valve 265 horsepower absolutely beautiful man I would love to see one of these on the road something yeah you know I'd love to close this up can I do this sure how do you do it just give a command what you would say to this vehicle right now is lacrosse go to sleep lacrosse go to sleep hmm and that closes everything that is so cool well I tell you you know John actually let me drive a couple of his discards you know we've talked about three very cool design vehicles I love this one but that Firebird is just too office awesome the Firebird 3 and I understand you're one of the few people on earth that can drive it is that true that's that's true so can we fire up the Firebird I think that's a great choice let's do it let's go for a ride all right you're not gonna kill me right no we're gonna go slow ooh ohh nice day we're on dump the fuel into the igniters we're gonna watch our temperatures are gonna climb up to around 1200 degrees she's lip it's kind of ironic don't you think taking a present-day drive in 1959 s car of the future some of the Firebird 3s engineering and design we take for granted today but turbine power never really proved feasible it's a great car to go for a cruise with somebody you really don't want to talk to because you really can't hear each other the time for reflection you know [Music] watching someone drive a car without a steering wheel or foot pedals is very strange the unit control steering stick was designed so that either the driver or the passenger could drive or not drive you see GM was working on a driving system that would take over the controls and auto guide the car along a low frequency powered cable that was implanted in the road and I have to tell you the sensation of writing in this is more like a space vehicle in a car it's kinda like you're just taxiing everywhere [Music] if Mike only knew I was gonna whack it over there and steal this thing and there were even more Firebird innovations including remote keyless entry automatic starting to ensure a properly heated car when you got in to a radio communications with a central control station or control towers lining the sides of tomorrow's highways and a lighting system that could detect when it gets dark and automatically turn the headlights on [Music]

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Rating: 4.7928286 out of 5

Keywords: My Classic Car, Classic Car, Dennis Gage, GM Special Collections, GM Heritage Center, GM Heritage, GM Collection, GM concept cars, concept cars, chevy concept cars, buick concept cars, LeSabre Concept, Corvette Tiger Shark, Firebird III Concept, Firebird 3, Firebird III, Oldsmobile Outrage, Aerovette Concept, Buick LaCrosse Concept, Buick Wildcat II Concept, John Moss, Jet powered car, turbine car, Harley Earl, GM Design, Harley Earl GM, Corvette concept, GM history

Id: m4vUjWXvUvg

Length: 40min 44sec (2444 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 22 2016