GENERAL MOTORS

[HarleyEarl]

General Motors has done more than cars over the years. Buses and trains as well.

Harley Earl designed this:

GM Trains:

Fridgidaire Appliances:

[Sixty8panther]

Some of the GM busses were cool and so were their trains but best of all was the crazy future-liner.

http://www.geocities.com/sponcom26/Futurmobiles.html

[HarleyEarl]

Super krazy.

[balthazar]

I love industrial design as well, especially when 'stylized'. Of course the ultimate GM 'bus' is the '40s Futurliners.

I have my grandparent's 1958 GE Combination fridge over freezer in the basement: semi-circlular rotating shelves, flip-down wine bottle racks, step plate to pop the ribbed stainless steel freezer door... they only replaced it about 5 years ago.

I used to collect all sorts of appliances: TVs, typewriters, radios, phones, and I still have a few, tho I have sold many off. My '41 telephone is hanging in my study closet: unplug one of the computer's phone lines and plug in the phone & talk. The dial takes like 5 seconds to return when dialing zero: would be the perfect phone in a horror movie if someone was trying to dial the police while the creepy killer slowly approached...

[HarleyEarl]

That fridge sounds so cool...pardon the pun. And all the other collectibles. I can't get enough of this stuff. I like industrial 'antiques'....expecially like you say, the 'stylized' type. It says so much about the times they were produced and used.

I like being surprised by many innovations that existed then, that we often think are just being discovered now.

[razoredge]

Hang on, hang on, I need some education here. Frigidare = General Motors or General Electric ?

I had my parents first frig that had the semi circular lazy sue shelves that were on a worm shaft so height or space could be adjusted accordingly. 2 fold down bottle racks. The thing would freeze salt if you wanted it to. The cast door handle eventually broke at the pin and for awhile we had a fine hickory handle I made with a steel rod and recessed cup in the end to push the release trigger and I figured what the heck, the freezers kinda small and they say the new fridges are "energy conserving". Well we bought this new Kenmore and our electric bill went up , it nearly never stops running

but at least I regressed into the future, just kiddin but things really used to be well built and highly functional as well as stylish and user friendly.

Edited January 8, 2006 by razoredge

[Drew Dowdell]

GM = Frigidare

Nash = Kelvinator

[knightfan26917]

Holy cow what a cool thread!

Thanks for starting it, HE!!!!

*gazes at pics*

Cort, "Mr MC" / "Mr Road Trip", 32swm/pig valve/pacemaker

MC:family.IL.guide.future = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/

Models.HO = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort/trainroom.html

"I wonder if it's too late" ... Nickelback ... 'Photograph'

[TurboRush]

They also made aircrafts and aircraft parts too..... wasnt their shining point but they did it...

[cmattson]

My brother in law bought a house about 5 years ago. The house was built in the 40's. I'm not sure how old the furnace was, but he had to have it replaced (even though it was running strong) when he put central air in about 18 months ago. The old furnace that was removed? Made by General Motors.

[NeonLX]

They also made aircrafts and aircraft parts too..... wasnt their shining point but they did it...

Was Allison part of GM during WWII when they made the wonderful Allison V12 aircraft engines?

[tmp]

My '41 telephone is hanging in my study closet:

After years of wanting one, I finally got one on eBay. I happily plugged it in as my bedside phone. Then the LA Times called me at 8am on a Saturday to see if I wanted to subscribe.

After peeling my fingernails off the cieling, I retired the phone. The ringer could wake the dead.

[PurdueGuy]

While I understand that this is kind of a look at the old things that GM did that some may not think about, many not only don't realize that GM made trains, but that they still do. Not sure how well GM's Electro-Motive Division (EMD) is doing against GE these days in the locomotive arena, but they're still big.

[Sixty8panther]

BTW:

I think it's time for taht Tatoo I keep talking about:

PROPERTY OF:

Edited January 10, 2006 by Sixty8panther

[balthazar]

They also made aircrafts and aircraft parts too..... wasnt their shining point but they did it...

Not sure I get your meaning behind "not their shining point"...

Buick alone built just under 75,000 aircraft engines during WWII, built plenty more for WWI and jet engines for the Korean conflict. Guess there's some real weight to the '58 tagline: "Air-Born B-58 Buicks".

Tons & tons of aircraft, aircraft engines & other parts built by different divisions of General Motors, and by the car divisions themselves directly.

[razoredge]

Imagine the world today without the industrial might offered by the N. American automotive industry during the world wars and personal sacrifice of millions of Americans & Canadians & Brits

[Ghost Dog]

Buses, Trains & Fridges

Weren't John candy and Steve Martin in that?

[balthazar]

After years of wanting one, I finally got one on eBay.  I happily plugged it in as my bedside phone.  Then the LA Times called me at 8am on a Saturday to see if I wanted to subscribe. After peeling my fingernails off the cieling, I retired the phone.  The ringer could wake the dead.

LOL... Ahh, but mine is apparently an 'extention' phone: no bells. Has the 'cyclops' swivel dial on top.

You could put some sound deadener on the bells in yours: tape or adhesive rubber strips or something...

[NeonLX]

I showed my now-11 year old daughter a dial phone in an antique store. She had no idea how to make it work. So I showed her, then had her dial our phone number. She got about 1/2 way through the number and then her finger slipped, which of course allowed the dial to return and would have screwed up the call. I told her she had to hang up and start all over again.

Her only response was, "that must have sucked".

[Teh Ricer Civic!]

I showed my now-11 year old daughter a dial phone in an antique store.  She had no idea how to make it work.  So I showed her, then had her dial our phone number. She got about 1/2 way through the number and then her finger slipped, which of course allowed the dial to return and would have screwed up the call. I told her she had to hang up and start all over again.

Her only response was, "that must have sucked".

heh i still got one of those

[razoredge]

I just got one for an extension. However its one of the green ones......yikes. I love the sound of the bells. They are also the most comfortable to talk on for sure. We had our old black one but I think it was givin away because SOMEBODY cant find it............. I like the sound of the dial running back too but its "just like home" so thats why. Id like to come up with an old black wall phone for the shop. Cordless would be really nice. No keys just the handset.

Remember the old long cords ? lol they were pretty tuff for the beating they took.

[Robert Hall]

I like the old tube-shaped Electrolux vacuum cleaners... very cool style.

Industrial design, architecture, etc are all interesting to me..anything that is designed and goes beyond purely functional to being stylish is interesting...

Imagine if GM still had Frigidare appliances or branched out into home electronics--a Frigidare plasma TV would be neat.

[razoredge]

My parents had one of them too, only vacumn they ever bought new. We must be on our 4th in 15 years and thats starting to leak dust out too. "Plastic, changing the quality of products........forever !"

I remember that Electrolux when she got it, it was one of those door to door salesmen, came by and did the demo.

[HarleyEarl]

I have my grandmother's old Electrolux tube shaped vaccum...all metal, it still works well. A classic.