A GM ‘Futurliner’ bus, one of just 12 built around 1940, may have just sold for about US$1 million via—Facebook Marketplace? Yes, you’d expect something this unique, obscure, and, well, large would generate tonnes of publicity via a sale at auction or through a well-known consignor, but apparently its owner for the past 25-plus years, Massachusetts-based Peter Pan Bus Lines, decided to instead just quietly list it on the social media app’s classifieds section.
We can’t fault them—it seems to have worked, with the Futurliner bus now being marked “SALE PENDING” after less than a week on FB’s for-sale pages. The asking price was US$998,900, and we don’t doubt it got that, either.
General Motors built a dozen of these buses in 1940 as part of a “Parade of Progress” that toured the United States: they’d drive around as a caravan, make stops in cities all across the country, set up a bunch of tents, and fold out the sides of the Futurliners to reveal incredible dioramas and exhibits showing off new and future technologies.
The first such Parade of Progress was undertaken in 1936, by eight buses a little smaller than the one pictured here; the stunning new purpose-designed Futurliners buses like this one were completed in 1940, but the Second World War meant they didn’t see their first cross-country Parade until 1953. Their second and final tour was completed in 1956, with the spectacle of a big-top-tent travelling show diminished by the growing popularity of then-new television broadcasting.
The ’40 Futurliners were almost 12 feet tall, 33 feet long, and weighed about 16.5 tons. ran on four-cylinder diesels backed by 16-speed (four-speed, four-range) manual transmissions; dual tires were mounted all around, with six drum brakes – doubled up on the front pair of duals – charged with stopping the behemoths. When built, the buses were equipped with four-cylinder diesels backed by 16-speed manual transmissions, but in ’53, these were replaced with 145-hp 302-cubic-inch six-cylinder diesels. The gearboxes were swapped out for “four-speed Hydramatic units coupled to another two-speed gearbox and a third three-speed power-take-off unit for a total of 24 ratios,” says Hagerty.
Out of the 12 built, one was wrecked in ’56, and most of the other 11 are in various states of restoration or repair. This example sold by Peter Pan, however, is fully operational, and is apparently regularly used for shows and events. It was discovered in the late ’90s falling to pieces in a corn field in New York; Peter Pan Bus Lines, one of the largest motorcoach charters in the U.S., bought and had it restored, initially painting it in the company’s signature green before flipping back to the original GM red.
The original engine was swapped out for a Detroit Diesel 4-71 with an Allison automatic transmission behind it, but the Facebook Marketplace listing suggested that the old powertrain was included in the sale. That Detroit Diesel takes the thing up to 50-plus mph (80 km/h) and an upgraded power steering system helps with tiller-ing duties. (When new, GM had installed an early form of power steering, but it apparently didn’t work very well and needed constant repair.)
We’re not yet sure who the new owners might be, but when we find out, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, we’re keeping our eyes open on Facebook Marketplace for more oddities from automotive history—maybe the long-lost Chrysler Norseman will crop up there next.
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