The Chrysler pavilion had several BIG exhibits. When a structure towers over you, it can't help making an impression. Plus it is a proven fact that people enjoy feeling like ants.
Here's the "World's Biggest Automobile"! Interesting styling, with its two rows of triple headlights. Fair literature tells us that the car was 80 feet long and 50 feet wide. How tall? I'll have to guess. I say 35 feet. The tires were two stories tall, and if a man could sit in the driver's seat, he wouldn't be able to reach the steering wheel. When you walked beneath it, you could see "all the working elements of a real car".
Over on "Engineering Island" there was the "World's Biggest Engine". Here it is from the outside; the fan turned, as did the air filter. All of the best cars have spinning air filters.
In a touch of fantasy, the giant engine was powered by a "50-foot dragon", which you saw as you walked through the heart of the thing. The ... twisting, squirming dragon (he's enormous!) drives three 8-foot pistons. They're animated, too. Giant hands operate the engine valves. A monstrous "spider" descends upon a hapless fly. Two huge paddles toss a ping-pong ball endlessly between them. These are just a few of the delightfully imaginative goings-on. If you use your imagination, you can just make out the anthropomorphic faces on the piston
I wonder what the tall structure with the scafolding was on the left side in the big car photo?
ReplyDeleteThe BIG front end of that Chrysler isn't making it any less ugly....
ReplyDeleteI want that giant engine installed in my '78 Buick.....
Hey Major, don't think the orange text coloring has gone un-noticed, I like it!!!!
The structure under construction was the Hall of Science - which opened in September, 1964.
ReplyDeleteThe Hall of Science was planned to be a permanent structure from the onset, and is one of the few buildings from the Fair that's still standing today...
Anonymous 1 & 2, I meant to mention that scaffolding and the Hall of Science... thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteAnd VDT, yep, I like orange! Especially against the black background.
You know, the Flintstones visited this exact spot during the World's Fair
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That picture was "borrowed" from Jeffery Pepper's "Boom Pop" Blog. He's got highlights from an official Hanna Barberra World's fair souvenir you all will want to see.
http://boom-pop.blogspot.com/2008/08/fair-going-flintstones.html
Katella, I have one of those comic books, but I didn't know about the other one, so thanks for that! And I would LOVE to see that episode of the show in which they travel to the Fair!
ReplyDeleteConnie, yes, I am very cool (ha ha)!
i agree.....Major "Cool" Pepperidge. finally, we know your first name!!!
ReplyDeleteman, i so would have loved this Fair....big stuff is one of my favorite things, like B-52s, space ships, aircraft carriers, GORT and so on....
I remember seeing the episode as a kid! It made a huge impression on me since I knew my parents had visited the Fair right after it opened. I was fascinated by their black & white snapshots - the giant buildings, the way everything looked so...so...futuristic (this was in the mid 70s), and seeing the Flintstones there made it that much cooler.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Katella, for sharing!
Chrysler's answer to the Edsel.
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