Motorama was an auto show staged by General Motors from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy prototypes, concept vehicles and other special or halo models.

1954 Motorama - The Chevrolet Corvair experimental two passenger model.

1954 Motorama - The Chevrolet Nomad experimental six passenger model.

The show officially became known as Motorama when it began to travel around the country in 1953. That year the show had more than 1.4 million visitors. Motorama's opening day in New York drew 45,000 visitors. Exhibited at this venue were the Buick Wildcat, Pontiac La Parisienne, Oldsmobile Starfire, Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac Orleans and Le Mans.

1954 Motorama - The Pontiac Strato Streak experimental four door hardtop.

1954 Motorama - The Pontiac Bonneville Special experimental sports car.

More than 1.9 million visitors attended the show in 1954. It started on January 26 in the Waldorf Astoria, New York. On display were the experimental Oldsmobile F88 and Cutlass, Buick Wildcat II, Chevrolet Nomad station wagon, General Motors Firebird XP-21 and Pontiac Bonneville Special, Cadillac El Camino, LaEspada and Park Avenue; they all had Fiberglass bodies.

1955 Motorama - The Chevrolet Biscayne experimental four passenger model (front view).

1955 Motorama - The Chevrolet Biscayne experimental four passenger model (rear view).

The 1955 show dates were New York (January 20-25), Miami (February 5-13), Los Angeles (March 5-13), San Francisco (March 26 to April 3), Boston (April 23 to May 1). Exhibited at these venues were the Buick Wildcat III, Chevrolet Bel Air Nomad, Cadillac LaSalle II roadster and sedan, and Cadillac Eldorado Brougham.

LINK: See many more automobile brochures and manuals at The Old Car Manual Project.

Those are some beautiful cars.

It kills me to see some of the concept cars that never made it to full production... so many of them were incredibly cool!

Of course, many of those names were used on later GM models.

The Biscayne looks like a 4-door Corvette crossed with an MG and the back end of a Corvair.