1954
Firebird I
This was probably the most advanced car designed by General Motors in 1954. There were actually three Firebirds built. The Firebird I was the first car ever designed around a single stick control system which eliminated the conventional steering wheel, brake pedal, and accelerator. You simply pushed the stick forward to accelerate Moving it to left or right steered it in those directions, and pulling back on the handle applied the brakes. The control stick was located in the center, so that either the driver or passenger could operate the car. A two-passenger gas turbine-powered car, the Firebird resembled a modern-day jet plane,
with a pointed nose, high dorsal fin at the tail, and plastic bubble canopy like the cockpit of an aircraft. The car had a 110-volt generator which provided 60-cycle electrical power. With this, you could plug into the car for power to run household appliances if your home electrical power went out. Other novel features of the Firebird included special drag brakes at the rear which opened like the jaws of an alligator to help slow the car down, a lighting system that turned on automatically when it got dark, an ultrasonic key which opened the doors by high frequency sound waves from as much as fifteen feet away; and a timer which you could preset to start the car before you entered it.
|Home|
|List Concepts By Year|
|Contact Us|
Ron Brown & Associates
Email: mail@pontiac.cjb.net
(c) 1999-2000 Ron Brown & Associates