Buick Century Cruiser

Someday you will be able to drive a superhighway, turn the controls over to a guidance system, and travel across the country in high-speed safety---with nothing to do but twiddle your thumbs.    Buick's experimental Century Cruiser is a glimpse of that day.    In manual operation the driver steers with pistol grips positioned in the arm rests. To change direction he moves one or both backward or forward. To regulate speed he simply squeezes or releases them.    As he enters the automated highway he inserts a punch card (programmed with his specific route) into a slot on the side wall of the car. Control is them taken over "completely" by an electronoc highway center. The car's progress is marked on a strip map projected on a radar-like screen on the front console.    Other innovations include a TV screen that provides a panoramic view of the road behind (eliminating the need for a rear window and side mirror) and a luggage compartment with an electronic system for raising and lowering the floor for easy access.    You can't buy a Century Cruiser today. But from the way our research has been going, who knows about the future? Text from GM advertisement in Boy's Life, November 1968

Much of this has come true, except for the hands free driving. Ed.

Before it was a Buick.......

Publicity photo of the original 1964 GM Firebird IV.

Why waste a good dream car? When you can recycle !