In 1964 General Motors Was Inviting People To The World’s Fair And Futurama

Friends, I want to thank Mark Savary – a friend on Facebook who was kind enough to share this short YouTube video that he had come across, presenting a look back at the 1964 New York World’s Fair courtesy of photographs and 8mm film. In particular this short film shows off the concept cars that General Motors had on display for the 51 million or so visitors to the fair to gaze at – dreaming of what the future or futurama as it was advertised might bring. Apparently the designers and businesses that brought the World’s Fair to life thought the attendance numbers would have hit 70 million… even if the exact number fell short of that goal, thanks to this 8mm film we have a beautiful slice of history – frozen in time for the likes of us all to enjoy 56 years later.

I am not a car person, far from it if I am being absolutely honest with you all… but I respect and appreciate design as well as style. And I firmly believe that the concept vehicles that were being shown to the public by General Motors certainly had both of those and in abundance. While I may not be able to get this time machine in the Vault to work properly to see it for myself, I have read online that guests to the General Motors exhibit sat in chairs that traveled through highly elaborate miniature landscapes – showing the cities that one might possibly see in the future. Of course it isn’t like GM was the only company involved with the 1964 World’s Fair – although it appears to have received the lion’s share with 26 million people visiting it’s pavilion during it’s two years in operation.

It is my understanding that the last World’s Fair that was held in the States was back in 1984 – watching these vintage film clips makes me think that it is high past time for it to return, don’t you agree?