What’s
Happening! |
- One of the major accomplishments lately
has been the resolution of the sagging upper doors. You might recall
that the original design had one long piano hinge across the top of
the 16' doors. We found that when the doors were fully open, there was
a significant sag in the center. We also verified that they had this
problem in the 1950's also. After arrangements were made to have the
doors removed and Sparta Steel offered to make a stiffer structure,
the crew looked long and hard at the situation. The root cause was a
piano hinge that was welded to the original door that had a bow in it
creating a bind that twisted the door in the up position. They
replaced the piano hinge with 3 heavy-duty regular door type hinges
and the problem was solved. These big doors were on and off the
vehicle a number of times in the process and they have devised clever
attachment points to make it manageable (with the help of Ed DeVries'
big fork lift truck).
- As we have also mentioned in the past, a
display trailer is being built to show the complete engine,
transmission and axles of the Futurliner since you cannot see them in
the actual vehicle. We have a spare 6-cylinder 302 cu in. engine, a
military type Hydramatic transmission and the rear transmission that
will comprise the working display. The trailer axle will consist of
the spare dual front axle and the front section of a GMC Korean war
army truck frame. There was a lot of commonality between the
Futurliner powertrains and the war vehicle since they were built in
the same time frame. Part of this work is being done at Del Carpenters
house nearby.
- Work continues on finishing all the
little details (although the door hinge issue was not minor) in areas
such as providing a good 110 VAC source inside the vehicle (to replace
the various extension cords now in temporary use), installing lights
in the display area along the ceiling and sidewall, adding flooring in
the display area (thanks to another donation), finishing all the door
seals.
- The cockpit is nearly done with new
upholstery and interior panels plus the instrumentation is done on the
dash.
- Mechanically, the vehicle is running
well and is started up frequently to move it out of the garage for
work on the large doors.
- Vos Glass, the local automotive glass
people that installed the front windshield are now working on the side
1/4 windows. These 1/4 windows were originally curved and this has
been a challenge for them to duplicate the curve as well as make these
windows open.
- Historical information for the archive
arrives almost weekly and Mike Ball and Al Batts continue to do an
excellent job of recording and filing this material.
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| History
-- Fisher Body Craftsman Guild |
The Fisher Body
Craftsman's Guild was a design and build model car competition sponsored
by Fisher Body. Fisher Body was the car body and stamping division of
General Motors. They sponsored this competition with the grand prize being
various levels of college tuition. The competition was for young people
going on to college. Fisher Body developed the guidelines, which included
building a scale model car of a certain scale starting with a clay model
and then advancing to a wood model. Completion of the model included trim,
painting and installing the wheels.
Allen Dickerson, from nearby South Haven, Michigan
called in Sept. and explained he was a winner in both 1953 and 1954 with
the model car he built for the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild competition.
He also stated he had a photo of himself and other winners in 1953
standing in front of the Futurliner that showcased Fisher Body's Craftsman
Guild. Don explained to him that the Futurliner he was standing in front
of in 1953 when he was 13 years old was the one we were restoring.
On 9/21, he was reunited with that Futurliner and he
also brought along his winning model cars. Of course photos had to be
taken. Al has changed a little since that first photo was taken 51 years
ago.
Allen will, in the future, fill us in more about the
Fisher Body Craftsman Guild and this competition.
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| American
Truck Historical Society (ATHS) |
- The only national show that the
Futurliner will be presented in for the 2005 year will be the ATHS
show in Auburn, Indiana; June 2 - 4, 2005. There will be over 1,000
trucks at this show and if you are making your summer plans, plan to
meet us in Auburn. The show is open to the ATHS members on Thursday
and Friday, however they welcome guests. The show is open to the
public on Saturday June 4, 2005.
- While in Auburn plan to visit all of
the five museums. You will not be disappointed in the museums as
each of them feature different aspects of the automotive and truck
history.
- For you Paraders a block of rooms has
been set aside in Fort Wayne (15 miles south of Auburn) at the
Marriott Hotel (260) 484-0411 at $79. If you call ask for Jennifer
and ask for the GM Futurliner rate. Parader Jim Morris and Ray
Borowiak have set this up.
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| Financial
status: Poster, Hats, "T" Shirts & now a Video: |
- A great video has been developed by Don
Bratt documenting the restoration project. It is titled "Miracle
at Beaverdam", is 42 minutes long, available on either VHS or DVD
and is available from NATM for $25 (including S&H). Again
proceeds help cover the cost of the project.
Just a year ago, Don Bratt took on the challenge of
making a video of the Futurliner history as well as the restoration of
the Futurliner, specifically Futurliner #10. Working with Mike Ball,
Don took all kinds of data, photos, and archives to Alabama on his
winter vacation and came home with a complete script. Don next,
through a request that we put out, found a student (Kevin) at Calvin
College that volunteered his time and expertise to do all the editing.
Next Don managed to talk the Dean of Communications at Calvin College
into letting Kevin and Don use the equipment in the communications
department to do the editing. Don had us take the Futurliner out for
video shots around this area. The summer went well with very few
students at Calvin. However, once fall began and all the students
returned, Don had to sandwich in his time with the equipment and also
around Kevin's schedule. Don put over 500 miles traveling to Calvin
and back and the video is now complete.
- The premier viewing of "MIRACLE AT
BEAVERDAM" was on Jan. 3 by the volunteers. Beaverdam is the
small Michigan town close to Don Mayton's house and the restoration
site.
- Posters and hats are available thru
NATM for $10 each plus $3 shipping. Quantity orders will have a
break on shipping and will be approximately 20% above the single item
shipping charge. Contact Bobbie Smith at NATM for specifics for your
quantity. An order form and additional info is on the web site and the
mailing address is below on the Donation Form. You can also see the
poster (along with its history) and the hat on the web site (http://www.futurliner.com/poster.htm).
- "T" shirts have been printed
and are available for $20 with a color photo of the Futurliner and the
words "Miracle at Beaverdam".
- These items have been added to the form
at the end of the newsletter to facilitate your ordering them from
NATM.
- Your contributions are still needed even
thought the restoration is getting close to done. The key is paying
for the trailer which we now have available to haul the Futurliner
around the country but we still have an outstanding debt of about
$25,000. Thanks to all of you who have continued to support the
project financially.
- Also, the Futurliner model being built
by John Betts from Retro 123 is now for sale. This is a large-scale
model (33" long) with excellent detail including all doors and
the top light bar that operate. They have obtained a licensing
agreement with GM for its production and a portion of the proceeds
will go to NATM to support this project. With the complexity of the
model, they are making just a few dozen each month. Cost is $1845 +
shipping and handling. Photos are on our web site. To purchase one,
contact Retro at 815-338-7693 (in IL) or check out their web site at
www.retro1-2-3.com. All sales and shipping are being handled directly
by Retro.
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| Miscellaneous: |
- If anyone has a copy of the April 1949
issue of Popular Science, there is an article about the American
Crossroads exhibit. We would certainly like to get this issue for the
archives.
- A number of the work crewmembers and
other supporters chipped in and bought Don a Futurliner model. It was
presented to him at the AACA Christmas party and was a complete
surprise to Don. Don had one ordered for himself but a clever series
of events and white lies managed to keep his from being delivered
until the gift one was presented at the party. That is the least we
could do for all Don has done for the project. Be sure to check out
the photos of the model on the web site.
- John Martin Smith has retired as
President of NATM after 16 years but he remains as Director Emeritus
and will continue to have two major responsibilities with one of these
the Futurliner project. His successor is Len McCollough.
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