| The GM Motoramas for 1953 and 1954 were used to showcase the new
cars and products to the public. They opened at selected cities around the country. |
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GM used these Motoramas to test the public's reaction to new
designs known as "show cars" which depending upon the results helped influence
the design of production models. |
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| The Motoramas were staged like Broadway productions. With
elaborate costumes and dancers |
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Each car was introduced to the waiting crowds as if they were the
headliners |
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| The cars were also displayed in large ballrooms for the public to
view. |
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A show car that helped influence the development of the Corvette
was the Chevrolet "Corvair". If this name sounds familiar its because Chevrolet
used it in the 1960s to introduce a low priced model to compete with Ford's Falcon. |
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| Celebrities played an important part of promoting automobiles and
here is Dinah Shore looking at the "Corvair" during the Motorama. Ms. Shore
would go on to host the Dinah Shore Chevy Show, another tie-in to Chevrolet. |
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Here's one of the car's that benefited from popular response to
the Motorama show cars. The Corvette was promoted as "America's only true sports
car" for many years to come. |
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| Here's another Motorama show car called the "Waldorf
Nomad". This car's popularity at the show influenced the production of the Chevrolet
Nomad station wagon introduced in 1955. |
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With the show over it was time to pack up all the props and cars
and transport them to the next town. The crews setting up and tearing down these shows
would make a circus envious. |
