General Motors
The General Motors and Ford exhibits both convey a degree of defensiveness about the environmental impact of automobiles. The 1973 oil crisis and the growing environmental movement had brought negative attention to the large and powerful (but fuel-inefficient) "muscle cars" produced by American automobile manufacturers in the 1960s. The "malaise era" of American automobiles had begun.
In the official guidebook, General Motors downplays the role of its products on the environment: "According to investigators, however, only about 10 percent of air pollution is attributable to the automobile on a health effects basis." This claim is misleading at best. Even today, after decades of efforts to reduce emissions, cars are still one of the largest sources of air pollution.
Although their environmental credentials were less than stellar, the "idea cars" displayed by GM at Expo are an excellent window into the ways that the automobile industry was adapting to new regulations and changing customer needs.
The "Basic Transportation Vehicle," or BTV, was GM's entry (in partnership with Vauxhall) into the basic utility vehicle market that emerged in the 1970s. These vehicles were intended to be assembled affordably in developing countries and sold to consumers there (Bowman, 2017). According to Wikipedia, the BTV would eventually be marketed in Malaysia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Philippines, Portugal, Honduras, and Suriname. The market for basic utility vehicles did not last much past the 1970s, as it became cheaper and more desirable to simply import used cars from wealthier countries.
The GM exhibit also showed off a prototype hybrid electric/gas vehicle, the XP-883. Although GM would not offer a hybrid car on the consumer market until the Chevrolet Volt in 2010, a functional hybrid prototype in the 1970s is still a noteworthy technological accomplishment.
"General Motors XP-883 plug-in hybrid concept car built 1969, on display at the 1974 World's Fair in Spokane, Washington." (Link to source.)
The General Motors Pavilion (Official Guidebook, p. 66-68)
America. What a vast and beautiful land! From Penasse, Minnesota, to Key West, Florida; from Capa Alava, Washington, to Lubec, Maine, the United States consists of 3,608,787 miles.
From the lowest depths of Death Valley to the heights of Alaska’s Mt. McKinley, Americans take to their automobiles to seek refreshment, to restore themselves in the beauty of this great environment.
But paradise has become slightly crowded. The gregarious majority of Americans, 210 million strong, enjoy the stimulus and opportunities of urban life. They prefer to live in America’s 100 largest cities. And therein lies a problem: the debris of civilization, pollution in its various forms.
According to investigators, however, only about 10 percent of air pollution is attributable to the automobile on a health effects basis. But this percentage has presented General Motors with a challenge. The General Motors Pavilion and exhibits have been assembled to show that all of GM’s vehicles of tomorrow, including recreational vehicles, will meet the expectations of the environment in which they are to operate.
You’ll be able to spot the GM Pavilion from almost any point on the Expo ’74 grounds by the tall blue and white identification tower. The General Motors exhibit, which encloses 20,000 square feet of exhibit space, is designed in the shape of a blue and white three-leaf clover.
Inside, you’ll have an opportunity to take part in GM demonstrations of environmental advances, to see equipment installed on new cars for a cleaner atmosphere, and observe fascinating exhibits explaining GM advancements in many areas of public concern, including automotive safety, mass transit, new energy systems and space technology.
A gently rolling, richly landscaped site has been created around the pavilion to serve as an outdoor setting where you can see GM’s latest campers, motor homes, station wagons and other recreational vehicles.
Twice each day, General Motors will present its two-man “Previews of Progress” science in action show.
Features of the GM exhibit are several idea cars, including the XP-898, a Chevrolet prototype built with a frameless, fiberglass foam sandwich body and chassis. A 2-place sports coupe, the XP-898 offers a unique look at alternative engineering approaches to future techniques in design and manufacturing.
You’ll also view the XP-883, GM’s gasoline-electric hybrid car. The XP-883 is a small commuter car with a two-cylinder engine combined with an electric motor and flywheel alternator for re-charging the batteries. The GM engineering staff has conducted computer analyses of several powerplants – including internal combustion and electric – as well as the hybrid gasoline-electric, to evaluate their potential in meeting the car’s design purpose.
GM will also exhibit its Basic Transportation Vehicle, a durable, low cost general purpose vehicle designed especially for assembly and use in developing nations.
If you would like to see the inner workings of a Vega station wagon, you’ll want to see the Cutaway Vega. The right side of the car is cut away to expose the suspension, brakes, transmission, drive line and interior. The left front is cut away and the left front tire and wheels have been removed to provide an unobstructed view of the engine, steering gear, brake system and suspension.
The General Motors Safety Exhibit provides the opportunity to test your driving reactions, your knowledge and capacity to make the right driving decisions and to test your knowledge of automotive safety factors. Unusual games, puzzles, films and other displays provide insights into nationwide air pollution, emissions control systems, vehicle power-plant research and passive restraints. Included is a demonstration of the Critical Tracking Task, a method of identifying the unfit driver by providing a task which he must successfully complete before he can start the car.
The main thrust of the General Motors exhibit is to show the great progress GM has made toward taking the automobile out of the air pollution problem. You’ll see that there is ample cause for celebration. Progress will continue until we achieve tomorrow’s fresh, new environment.
According to the organizers of Expo ‘74 - Spokane businessmen who were mainly interested in a way to redevelop a deteriorating area next to the city’s downtown - environmental organizations expected free space merely because Expo’s theme is the environment. From the way the history of the fair is told in Spokane, it appears that a fair of Expo’s limited size had to have some specific theme to be sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions and the environment seemed appropriate at the time - a commitment that falls considerably short of giving away to the Sierra Club what can be rented to General Motors. The arrangement actually makes sense to those fair-trotters who tend to look at fairs as metaphors rather than displays. When General Motors is not paying by the square foot to present its views on the environment, after all, it pays by the full page or by the prime-time minute. Why should the system work differently at a fair? - Calvin Trillin, “Thoughts of a Fair-Trotter.” The New Yorker, August 5, 1974.
