Two GM Motorama Concepts Resurrected at 2008 Pebble Beach
LaSalle II Roadster and Chevrolet Biscayne
by Frank de Leeuw van Weenen April 23, 2008 3:39 PM
Filed Under: American, Classics
Joe Bortz can truly be called an auto archeologist, he has been resurrecting 50s and 60s concept cars since 1978. This year at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance he will be displaying the 1955 LaSalle II Roadster and, for the first time since its debut, the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne.
In the 50s and 60s the General Motors Motorama took its concept cars on tour throughout the country, in 1955 at the Chicago Auto Show the General debuted the Chevrolet Biscayne, the concept GM referred to as the Miracle Car since it managed to draw such big crowds. The Chevrolet Biscayne was considered "one of the most desirable and beautiful concept cars of all-time," said Bortz. The Biscayne's defining lines eventually reflected in the 1960 Corvair, while the original concept car was, like most of GM's concepts from that time, taken apart and crushed at the junk yard.
The 1955 LaSalle II Roadster was also destined for demolition but was in the end only taken apart. Bortz found the two cars in junk yards in the Detroit-area and pieced them together after salvaging parts.
"I had to dig pieces out of the ground. The body of the car was fiberglass, so it didn't oxidize, but other remaining parts were almost hopeless. The body had to be glued back together from all the bits and pieces; it was like resurrecting a dinosaur,” Bortz said about the Biscayne.
Source: Pebble Beach Company
Press Release(Click to expand)
RESCUED GM MOTORAMA CONCEPT CARS TO BE SHOWCASED AT 2008 PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS d'ELEGANCE
The latest discoveries by Auto Archeologist Joe Bortz will be among the many historic GM Motorama "Dream Cars" on display
Fifty-three years ago, the LaSalle II Roadster and the Chevrolet Biscayne were among the concepts that showcased General Motors' vision of the future in its traveling Motorama. After the debut of this automotive eye candy, these cars were not only discarded but destroyed.
Joe Bortz, who was a young boy when he saw these "dream cars" at the 1955 Chicago Auto Show, found their remains decades later in a Detroit-area junkyard and worked laboriously to resurrect them. Now Bortz will bring these rescued vehicles to the Aug. 17 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance as part of the 100th anniversary celebration of GM.
Throughout the 1950s, the General Motors Motorama took concept cars on tour to cities throughout the United States, inviting the public to enter the future by stepping through the doors of a GM automobile. After each cross-country show was concluded, these futuristic cars were relegated to the trash heap. In fact, since most of these vehicles had not been road tested, GM often ordered their total destruction to prevent legal problems.
"A GM executive was required to watch each of the dream cars get cut into pieces and crushed," said Bortz, who is retired and living in suburban Chicago. "The GM exec took the LaSalle Roadster and Biscayne to the junkyard, and he figured the guys at the junkyard would finish the job properly, so he took off early to go Christmas shopping. The junkyard workers never crushed the LaSalle, instead leaving it in many pieces."
The Biscayne's chassis was crushed, but the junkyard owner managed to save all the pieces of the original body. "I felt like an automotive archeologist," said Bortz, who first showed some of his concept cars on the upper lawn at Pebble Beach in 1989 and 1990, drawing a crowd that couldn't believe any of the cars still existed. "I had to dig pieces out of the ground. The body of the car was fiberglass, so it didn't oxidize, but other remaining parts were almost hopeless. The body had to be glued back together from all the bits and pieces; it was like resurrecting a dinosaur.
"I've been doing this since '78 - being a treasure hunter and restoring concept cars. These cars are a treat for the eyes and a study in history, and I'm excited to bring several of these gems to Pebble Beach."
"These and other historical treasures from Motorama demonstrate the forward-thinking that led GM to the front of the pack," said Sandra Kasky Button, Chairman of the Concours. "Joe Bortz has somehow managed to rescue and resurrect concept cars from that era, allowing us to see the sometimes-radical GM designs that influenced industry styling for decades."
General Motors will also be bringing nearly a dozen dream cars that the company itself has saved, and these cars will join the Bortz Collection and Motorama treasures owned by other collectors during the Concours' celebration of the General Motors Centennial. "These Motorama cars fit perfectly with Pebble Beach's history of showing only the rarest vehicles and they allow us to emphasize the importance of preserving our automotive history," said Button.
Lines from the 1955 LaSalle II Roadster can be found in such icons as the '56 and '57 Corvette, while lines from the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne are visible in the 1960 Corvair.
The Chevrolet Biscayne was considered "one of the most desirable and beautiful concept cars of all-time," said Bortz, who's restoring all aspects of the Biscayne in collaboration with Kerry Hopperstadt and Fran Roxas. "It was called the 'Miracle Car' inside General Motors because it drew the largest crowds of any of the concepts shown in Motorama.
"Pebble Beach will be the first time the Biscayne will be shown publicly since 1955. Since the windows weren't flat, we had to create a wraparound windshield. And the door mechanisms are made with the help of Swiss clockmakers. It's not fully restored. It's still a work in progress."
The "junkyard fresh" LaSalle II Roadster has been seen in public only a couple of times since 1955. In addition to the Harley Earl-led stylists, GM engineers got involved in creating this car. The LaSalle II was equipped with an aluminum-block, lightweight V-6, double overhead cam, fuel-injected engine and independent rear suspension. While innovations of this type were features that would appear in European cars in the '50s and '60s, GM would not incorporate them for decades.
The Motorama cars that will be appearing at Pebble Beach will be joined by a rare assortment of GM Woodies, Cadillac V-16s and GM-powered sports cars.
joelynn The prototype concept cars were for design study only and not meant to be street vehicles so the manufacturers were concerned about liability issues and would order these works of arts destroyed. Many of the designers would be devastated when they would be advised that the dream cars/concept/prototype cars were going to meet the crushers fate. Some of these cars were literally "dug up" out of junkyards where they had been hidden for years.
What's up with GM? Making new cars looking old, why? Japps resurect old models and make them look ahead of everyone else. What is GM thinking? PTcruiser resurected Hitler's car. I hate it.
what are you talking about? This has nothing to do with any current GM cars. and the PT Cruiser is not a Gm product its Chrysler (Diamlerchysler to be specific.)
