1958
Firebird III
General Motors' experimental Firebird III was the first space age inspired car. Beneath its missile-like shape, the tools of the space-age-transistors, computers, and electronics—were employed for the first time to give automatic guidance and improved passenger comfort to automobiles, Firebird III was the first car ever designed around a single stick control system to eliminate the conventional steering wheel, brake pedal, and accelerator. The first Firebird, a single-seat car, introduced at the GM Motoroma of 1954, was the first gas turbine-powered automobile built and tested in
the United States. Firebird II, a four-passenger car introduced at the Motoroma of 1956, carried forward gas turbine progress and featured significant advances in passenger comfort. The second Firebird also presented a concept of a car under automatic guidance on an electronically-controlled highway of tomorrow. Firebird III carried this concept into reality Through electronic "sniffers" located beneath the car, it could follow low-frequency power in a cable in the highway to automatically guide the car. It had a fiberglass body and was pearlescent silver-gold in color. The car measured
44.8 inches at the top of the bubbles and 57.3 inches at the tip of the dorsal fin, Firebird III had two engines—a 225 horsepower Whirlfire gas turbine engine located in the rear and a 10 horsepower aluminum engine located in the nose which drove all the accessories. Featuring the most advanced passenger compartment design of its day, the car had the first single-dial electronic temperature system. Through electronics it could maintain a single temperature setting even if the car were driven from the North Pole to the Equator. Large gull-wing doors swung diagonally up to offer effortless passenger entry.
Other features included a lighting system that turned on automatically when daylight turned to darkness an "ultra-sonic key" which opened the doors by high frequency sound waves, and a timer which could be set to start the accessory drive engine prior to passenger entry to precondition the temperature.
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