Hall of Wonders (1953)

[Music] [Applause] I know it's not tomorrow yet but uh come on in anyhow for a moment this is the place we call our Hall of Wonders really quite a place this is filled with things that people have wondered about let me show you some of them for example uh one day PA struck a couple of stones together and he got some Sparks and he wondered if there wasn't some use for those Sparks there was fire here's a fell who wondered if there wasn't an easier way to push that big heavy log along the ground so he put some small logs underneath it he found a way now we call it the wheel here's a very famous Wanderer over here Mr C Columbus gentleman who wondered what was over the horizon and the man who went and looked and found the world's greatest and most beautiful real estate development then the American Pioneers they were wers too they kept wondering what was over this mountain range and the next mountain range fact we Americans have been wonders since our very first days we've not only wondered we've dreamed about things and dared to do something about those dreams we've made those dreams [Music] work Alexander Gran Bell here he wondered if he could send a voice through a wire Tom Edison wondered he wondered if he could perhaps light the world through a wire and the right Brothers wondered wondered if man could fly and here are a couple of wonderful people they're wonderful because they inspired those others and they're real people and you ought to know them fact if you don't know them you're not in business because that's the American Consumer family business is wondering what Mr and Mrs America want and then seeing that they get it they've kept invetor and Engineers busy wondering since the earliest days someone wondered if there wasn't a better more convenient way and there is wonder if we can find an easier way to do that we can we Americans have wanted things that we've only dreamed about and things that we've never even dreamed about have often been given to us for example we're the most moving about people on the Earth we've never lost our interest in better transportation yet it took a dreamer to think of getting rid of the horse into the automobile have gone more engineering more designing more knowhow than any other product in history yet it took dreamers hi dreamer to do this job starting way back let me show you one of the ideas that a dreamer had for the car to keep from scaring other horses he put that on the front you really did oh and then there was uh this delight the hand crank you remember this kept engineers happy for years trying to figure out some way to get rid of it they tried Clockwork and compressed air and rubber bands and gunpowder and whatnot but they didn't succeed until one day many years ago when an early General Motors research laboratory engineer named Charles karing who was a very practical man decided to try one of his inventions which he called the electric starter well of course now we use the little key instead of the big old hand crank through the years it's it's been like like that people saying uh why can't we fix this so people will like it better and someone else saying well let's try the closed body gave the uh why can't we dreamers and the let's try Engineers some problems problems which couldn't possibly be solved so they solved them anyway and made Automotive History what started with the trying to get in out of the rain has kept three generations of Engineers Mighty busy this seems to prove that there's more than one way to solve every problem and too it proves that dreamers are never satisfied you know what this is it's one of those old floor mounted gearshift levers once a lot of people wondered if we couldn't get along without these some were researchers looking for things that had never been thought of before and their slogan was I wonder if we can design Engineers developing new ways of making things better said well let's try and production Engineers seeing to it that new products could be manufactured economically they said sure we can make it but we have a few improvements still others were testing engineers making sure that the new products are safe and dependable and durable and many many times they said it works but we can make it better this just because someone wondered what it it be like to drive without having to shift gears and along with the new idea in automatic transmission came new ideas for engines engines with more power and more economy suppose I'd been sitting in a car like this several years ago and I'd said to you gee wouldn't it be swell of steering were real easy like this especially when you're standing still well you would have said to me we're already working on that and so we have been for a long time we make a few thousand drawings and blueprints we build and test or maybe a hundred experimental models then if we and the Practical designers and the hard-headed production men and the skeptical testers have done our jobs right well then the factory men can turn yesterday's dream of effortless power steering into today's reality now that looked easy didn't it and I'm not a bit tired I want you to see an exhibit now of early American art one that I whipped up back in the fourth grade this is the gway dream car a real super duper Mac Ro special I was mighty proud of this I remember of course I didn't have much to go by about this this time I remember dad had just traded in the family car which looked like this for a brand new Beauty every few years the family Pride and Joy would get traded in on a new model and you can see for yourself how more than 40 years have changed her Advanced Styling has always been the result of designers dreaming a little ahead of the Public's desires and Engineers making those dreams practical as soon as the public was ready for them and even while Mr and Mrs America are enjoying today's family car with all its comfort and performance and safety and economy the designers and the builders and the testers are already at work to make it better for tomorrow well there been a lot of change for the better in this department too I remember my mother used to say there's a little of the boy in every man and a little of the Tomboy in every girl I think she was right I I think that explains the way we feel about sports cars these days well here's about the happiest automobile I've ever seen the men who designed this had fun and the builders and the testers had fun and while it's never going to take the place of the family car I for one am going to have a lot of fun owning it now this could never have happened unless the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles had put its tremendous resources back of the job of Designing and building a sports car to uphold American leadership in every field of Transportation they buil her to handle like an angel with every ounce of weight right where belongs for Perfect Balance clean and sleek and efficient looking and light and strong they kept the cockpit simple and practical for the power plant they started with the finest valve and head engine some extra special features of higher compression triple sidedraft carburetors and dual exhaust give her 160 horsepower naturally the automatic transmission quadrants on the floor that's in keeping with sports car tradition in addition to the speedometer there's a tachometer to measure engine revolutions they call her Corvette and she belongs to the highway just for the sheer and simple joy of driving for the open road and the country byway for Mr and Mrs America in a Carefree [Music] mood boy what a car [Music] oh h [Music] oh