In light of the Victory Liner from Santa Fe Trailways, I thought I’d highlight another leviathan pressed into homefront duty to support the troops during World War II. Crismon gives GM’s pre-Futurliner Parade of Progress van a little ink with the above photo, taken in 1941 at Fort Holabird, Maryland. He noted that a Georgia community had bought the truck and donated it to the Army to use for a mobile stage for USO-type shows at Army camps. “A piano, loudspeakers and electricity have been set up for the forthcoming show, and the huge right side panel has been raised to reveal the stage,” Crismon wrote.
One of six such trucks built in 1936 for the pre-war GM-sponsored Caravan of Progress (later called the Parade of Progress), I thought I’d be able to find out more about this truck in particular in Bruce Berghoff and George Ferris’s book on the Futurliners, or on Futurliner.org, but no such luck. After the Second Parade of Progress kicked off in 1941 with the dozen more modern Futurliners, no mention is given of the first six streamlined trucks. Were they all sold off, as this one apparently was? Which Georgia community was responsible for donating it to the Army? And where did the rest end up?