Cutaway Cars 1933-1938

I was there

I was there...

My Grandfather was involved with the 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair GM display of the 'cutaway Chevrolet'. My Father, age 13 at the time, spent the summer of 1933 there while my Grandfather maintained the cutaway vehicle(s) on display.

My Grandfather held a position at the University of Michigan in June, 1918 as an "Instructor in Starting, Lighting, and Ignition for the second Auto Mechanics Training Department." Subsequently he was on the initial faculty of Major Sobey's 'trade school' which later became GM Institute (GMI), now Kettering University in Flint.

An Experimental Engineer, Buick Motor Company. 1935 Chicago Auto Show badge and a picture of him demonstrating a 1938 Buick cutaway in a San Francisco showroom window are in the family archive.

Please help with more information about the cutaway vehicle program'

Visits to the Scharchburg Archives at Kettering University and the Buick Gallery at Sloan Museum have revealed little about cutaway vehicle program. There is mention that GMI students worked on cutaway vehicles for public display. Was the cutaway display part of the GM exhibit described in he Making of a Motor Car: Chicago World Fair Guide?

GM's Making of a Motor Car brochure was about the production line set up by Chevrolet showing how an automobile (Chevrolet) was assembled. They actually assembled the engine, chassis, body, interior and the complete automobile at this 1933-1934 Chicago World’s Fair GM exhibit. There is no mention of cutaway vehicles in this brochure and GM is unable to determine if the cutaway car demonstration was part of that exhibit.