This Ultra Rare GM Futurliner Is Rotting Away in a Storage Lot. Here’s How It Got There
General Motors’ post-war boom in the 1950s is one of the most celebrated periods in American automotive history. Instant classics poured from the company’s factories in the Motor City, tailfins on Cadillac’s chrome-laden land yachts grew to monstrous proportions, and transportation technology advanced at a speed never seen before. Seated at the top of the heap, GM figured it was time not only to celebrate its own success, but the triumph of all American technology. Refreshing an idea from the automaker’s pre-war days, it assembled a fleet of a dozen futuristic vehicles to spread the news of exciting new technology around the country. This mechanized march from coast to coast, the “Parade of Progress,” lasted until 1956, and the stars of the show were 12 crimson behemoths: the 11-foot tall, awe-inspiring Futurliners.
After the show ended, all of these incredible vehicles were sold off to meet a variety of fates. Decades passed with the Futurliners existing in relative obscurity, and it wasn’t until relatively recently that people realized what they represented. In 2006, a restored Futurliner sold for a shocking $4.1 million at auction, and with only three known to exist at the time, the hunt was on to find the rest of the machines. Or at least, what was left of them.
A few months ago a reader spotted one of the Futurliners, restored in all of its glory, parked on the street in Ludlow, Massachusetts, and got in touch to share his incredible pictures. We got to the bottom of that situation, but since then, we’ve got in contact with the vehicles’ owner, Peter Pan Bus Lines, and taken things one step further by getting behind the wheel. We drove the Futurliner, and you can read that story here. But just as piloting one is an incredibly rare opportunity, so too is getting up close with the ruins of another—that’s right, Peter Pan has a second Futurliner rotting away in its back lot.
Bought for spare parts a while back, it’s not drivable. It’s probably not even salvageable; in fact, it’s barely recognizable. A hulking mass of rust and tangled wires, its only purpose in life is to provide the unobtainable. Walking around it, it’s impossible to avoid the sense that it’s an unburied corpse, deserving of far more dignity than being strung up like a medieval cautionary tale. Given the Futurliner’s rarity and value, it’s remarkable to compare the fate of this one to its multimillion-dollar brethren. But, parts trucks are parts trucks.
Of the 12 Futurliners built, eight were rescued, restored, or otherwise preserved. Another three were destroyed or lost over the last 70 years, and the records are maddeningly thin. That leaves this one; we were fascinated by this battle-scarred survivor living alongside its pampered twin, and set about decoding as much of their histories as we could. And as far as the lives that cars live, this one—likely Futurliner number 11—has had one heck of a ride.
What’s in a Number?
Before we go any further, it’s worth noting that even though GM only made 12 of the damn things, it’s surprisingly difficult to tell which one is which, because for the most part the number wasn’t recorded anywhere on the vehicles themselves except for the original license plate. Peter Pan Bus Lines says its restored model is number 7, while its parts model is number 11. However, other Futurliner owners also claim theirs is 7 and 11. Does it matter? Not especially. They’re all mechanically identical, the only difference being the little exhibit each held in its side-opening bay. Dig around on forums and niche sites and you’ll see there’s a fair amount of debate about which bus is which in the Futurliner community, which yes, really does exist.
As a result, most Futurliners are known more for their individual histories as physical objects after being sold by GM rather than GM’s official numbering scheme. That doesn’t make it easy to track them, of course. But surprisingly it’s the story of Peter Pan’s restored Futurliner that’s hazy, while the path the parts bus took to ruin is a lot easier to follow.
The Carcass
According to Scott Macdonald, a former Peter Pan employee who was involved with the restoration, ol’ rusty 11 was taken from a field in upstate New York near the small town of East Meredith back in 1997. Previously, he claims the Futurliner was owned by Oral Roberts, the famous preacher and televangelist. “Peter found it in New York,” Macdonald said, referring to the bus company’s late owner, Peter L. Picknelly. “[That’s] the Oral Roberts one.”
According to Futurliner.org, Roberts acquired it in the 1960s and used it to tour all over North and Central America, renaming it the “Cathedral Cruiser.” It’s unclear how long it toured for, but Futurliner.org confirms it went as far south as the Mexican region of Veracruz, and perhaps further. Following this long journey, it was reportedly sold to another member of the clergy named David Wilkerson, according to the 2007 book General Motors Parade of Progress & A Futurliner Returns via Hemmings.
Things get a bit hazy after this, however, what we do know is it almost certainly ended up in the northern suburbs of New York City by the early 1970s.
This is substantiated by a number of replies made by several people under another Hemmings article from 2013 about a different Futurliner getting restored. We were able to reach one of these users, Gary Kline, for comment. He said he saw a Futurliner parked across the street from his elementary school in Mount Vernon, New York, around 1969 or 1970 and was immediately fascinated. “I had taken notice of a peculiar-looking bus painted red with polished steel paneling. It was parked on the grass, about five to 10 feet from the sidewalk,” he told us. “I noticed a ‘CLERGY’ badge affixed to the inside of the windshield just above the dashboard. I don’t know if the bus was serviceable then. It seemed to be parked in the same spot for a long period of time.”
Kline included a map of the vicinity of the elementary school he attended and using the location of a nearby church as a marker, he was able to remember where the Futurliner was reportedly parked. “The church that may have owned it at the time is a building that looks to still be there. [In] the image, you can see a building just north of the [marked bus location] with a curved front. That building looks like a giant pope-like hat.” Below, you can see the hat-shaped building in question. Kline’s map put the Futurliner in the front yard of the white house next to the church.
Amazingly, Kline says he took a picture of the vehicle when it was there, though he’s since lost it. “I remember taking a photo of the bus then because I thought it looked so cool and futuristic,” he told us. “Unfortunately, it appears that the photo has been lost to the ravages of time. I combed through a batch of photos I had from my childhood and couldn’t find it.”
Kline’s claim is backed up by another user named Frederick Mutz who says he saw the same vehicle in the same area. “I grew up in Mount Vernon and remember seeing this vehicle (that I now understand to be a Futurliner) and just being awestruck,” he said. “My dad worked for the railroad and I just remember it being like a rubber-wheeled locomotive.”
Another comment made after this one by user “Steve from NY” has much the same to say. “I [saw] this vehicle in a [scrapyard] in Mount Vernon around 1970 or 1971, which had to be a Futurliner,” he said. “I remember that it looked like a streamlined locomotive, but on rubber tires.” Steve’s comment also includes a vital detail: The owner of the scrapyard near Mount Vernon reiterated the fact that it was owned by a preacher.
