Warbirds and Airshows- GM Heritage Center 2007

GM Heritage Center, Sterling Heights, MI - October 9, 2007
Contrary to some reports, it is possible to visit the GM Heritage Center. In my case, it was a business meeting where my supervisor rented out the conference room at the center for a day for his monthly meeting of managers. During lunch we were free to visit and wander about the vehicles on display. It also appears that many GM car clubs gather at the Heritage Center for meetings throughout the year. You have to rent the facility out to get in, as it is not open to the public, unless part of a special group.

The Heritage Center at any one time only contains about 20% of the historic vehicles GM has saved. Each vehicle that GM has in its collection is in running condition, and gets two oil changes a year, even though for the most part they are not driven. Most of the vehicles I looked at had the keys in the ignition although I assumed the batteries had been disconnected to keep visitors like me from firing one or two of them up. The photos below are not comprehensive as to what was on display when I was there, but what I thought interesting. There were just too many cars and trucks to take photos of all of them.

Actually it was fortuitous that the boss rented out the room when he did because most of us in the meeting lost our jobs during the Great US Automotive Meltdown of 2008-2009. Even the boss lost his job in 2009 after the he let the rest of us go. One of my co-managers in the group, who was able to survive the earlier purge made it until August of 2012, until he was hunted down and sent packing during another effort at "right sizing." This is now the politically correct term businesses use to justify eliminating jobs.

I grew up in a Fisher Body family and worked there during the summers to put myself through college. It was good to see the coach again.

The Firebird XP-21 or Firebird I. This was the first gas turbine car in the US. Note the Allison Gas Turbine insignia on the tail.

Note the relay and open wiring at the front of the engine bay.

The aviation design is very evident in the passenger area, or should we say cockpit.

This was used for test track purposes only. Note the large exhaust.

A curved dash Olds.

A Delta 88 Indy Pace car from the good old days.

This was a somewhat obscure 50's era song about the famous Olds Rocket 88, the first high compression V-8 engine. For Ike Turner it was before Tina made him famous not so much with her singing, but with her long legs. This was years before she wandered out into the Australian Outback, and became an Amazon Queen in a forgettable movie.

June 16, 1977. More of the good old days.

This was an Olds retro concept car.

In the 60's The Beach Boys sang about a Chevrolet Engine which can still be heard on the radio today!

Of course engines were on display also.

A Pontiac Trans Am Concept Station wagon.

A fastback Grand Prix.

The Monkeemobile was a modified Pontiac GTO.

Many people feel that electric cars are a something new where in fact they have been around off and on since 1828, when the first one was invented. But the concept comes and goes in cycles as each time the lack of range due to low battery energy density makes them impractical in the real world. It will be interesting to see if the cycle in broken in the 21st century by the new breed of pure electric cars.

The GM Electrovan was a fuel cell concept electric vehicle with a tank of oxygen and hydrogen in the back.

Sort of like driving around with a bomb in the back. Remember Apollo 13.

This bus toured the US during the Depression, and had a diorama inside depicting the positive changes the automobile would bring to the country.

Firebird III.

Note the more diffused exhaust and again the Allison Gas Turbine insignia.

Firebird II which was a four passenger family car with dual intakes.

This shows the vast size and rows of great cars lined up for viewing.

An example of one of 60,766 Pratt & Whitney radial engines built at the Chevrolet Tonawanda, NY engine plant during WWII. The plant produced both the R-2800 seen here and the R-1830.