Hickory Corners, MI – General Motors was the largest corporation in the world in the 1950s and the Motorama show was taken to the general public to tantalize the audiences on how the cars might look in the future. The GM Motorama traveled each year from 1953 until 1962 to all the major cities and even some smaller ones in the United States.

From 1949 to 1961, General Motors’ traveling Motorama shows turned new-car introductions into Broadway‑style spectacle. Held in grand hotels and auditoriums across the country, Motorama combined concept cars, orchestras, singers, dancers, and dramatic lighting to immerse visitors in a vision of the future. Promotional films such as ‘Design for Dreaming’ carried this experience even further, using song, dance, and fantasy sequences to sell not just automobiles, but a complete modern lifestyle.

In an era before television, the internet, and social media, Motorama was how millions of Americans first encountered cutting‑edge automotive design and technology. The eight Motorama cars displayed here from the Joe Bortz auto collection—survivors of a show that was meant to be temporary—offer a rare chance to feel that excitement again. As you move through the exhibit, imagine the crowds, the music, and the spotlights, and experience these ‘dream cars’ as audiences did then: as rolling promises of the world to come.

Beginning in April 2026, and continuing for twelve months, the Gilmore Car Museum will present a special exhibition of eight original General Motors Motorama dream cars from the collection of Joe Bortz Auto Collection. Bortz invites today’s enthusiasts to step back into the 1950s and 1960s Motorama era and experience the same excitement and sense of wonder that greeted these futuristic automobiles when they first appeared under the spotlights.

The Eight Motorama cars
to be on display

1953 Buick Wildcat I

1953 Pontiac Parisienne

1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special

1955 Chevrolet Biscayne

1955 LaSalle Roadster & 1955 LaSalle Sedan

1960 Pontiac X-400

1964 Pontiac XP833 aka Banshee Roadster

Please check out the Motorama videos below to get a real feel for the theatrics that accompanied the presentation of the dream cars of tomorrow. 

6865 W Hickory Road,
Hickory Corners, MI 49060
(269) 671-5089
https://gilmorecarmuseum.org/

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