The General Motors Firebird is a trilogy of three prototype cars designed by Harley Earl, and engineered by General Motors for the 1953, 1956 and 1959 Motorama auto shows. They were very much inspired by innovations in fighter aircraft design at the time. None of the designs were intended for production, but instead were to showcase the extremes in technology and design that General Motors was able to achieve. The cars were recently placed on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and still make regular car show appearances.

General Motors had done research on feasibility of gas turbine engines in cars as early as the 1930s. It wasn't until the early 1950s that they began building an actual engine, with Emmett Conklin leading the project. The top speed of all 4 of them are 200 MPH.

The third design, the Firebird III, was built in 1958 and first shown at Motorama in 1959. It is another extravagant concept with titanium skin, and no fewer than seven short wings and tail fins that were tested extensively in a wind tunnel. It is a two-seater powered by a 225 hp (168 kW) Whirlfire GT-305 gas turbine engine, and a two cylinder 10 hp (7.5 kW) gasoline engine to run all the accessories. Its exterior design features a double bubble canopy, and more technical advancements to make it more practical, such as cruise control, anti-lock brakes, and air conditioning. It also featured "space-age" innovations, such as special air drag brakes, like those found on aircraft, which emerged from flat panels in the bodywork of the car to slow it from high speeds, an "ultra-sonic" key which signaled the doors to open, and an automated guidance system to avoid accidents and "no hold" steering. The steering was controlled by a joystick positioned between the two seats. This gave the car a more futuristic feel and simulated the experience of flying a plane.
Specifications
Wheelbase = 119 in (3,023 mm)
Length = 248.2 in (6,304 mm)
Height = 44.8 in (1,138 mm) (canopy top)
Ground clearance = 5.3 in (135 mm)

Developmental model for GM’s Firebird III could fetch $30,000 at auction

Daniel Strohl - Hemmings Daily

GM’s Firebird III concept car envisioned plenty of far-flung futuristic technologies, from turbine drivetrains to automotive autonomy, but the process used to design and build the concept car relied on tried-and-true methods, as we can see from the two-foot-long resin model that GM’s design staff used in developing the concept car, which will come up for auction later this year.

Long before CAD, holograms, 3D printing, and other rapid prototyping technologies made their way into Detroit’s design studios, the staff at General Motors needed a way to envision all the canards, fins, bubbletops, and other surface elements of the 1958 Firebird III, a car never intended for production, rather for showing off GM’s technical capabilities in the jet-age and gewgaw-obsessed Fifties.

According to the auction description for the 24-inch-long, eight-inch-wide, and 6-1/4-inch-high model, GM design staff had it built in 1957 and lacquered in all black to study the highlights of the form “and to facilitate surface development”; it may also have been used during presentations to management. It accommodates canopies in four different shades: matte amber, transparent amber, opaque black and clear. A subsequent full-size model was later built, also in black, to finalize the car’s shape before construction of the actual concept car.

GM reportedly presented the model as a retirement gift to an unnamed employee, who sold it to the current owner. According to Wright, the auction house handling the sale of the model, it’s the only Firebird III developmental model to have ever come up for auction.

The third (though not final) in a line of gas-turbine concept cars from GM, the two-seater Firebird III, also designated XP-73, Shop Order 90238, was intended as a sort of sports-car Firebird—a middle ground between the racy single-seat Firebird I and the family-minded four-place Firebird II. It showcased a myriad of wild design cues (no less than seven tailfins, for example) as well as GM’s latest iteration of its regenerative gas turbine engine, the 225-hp Whirlfire GT-305, mounted as a unit with the transmission and differential behind the passenger compartment. And in keeping with the times, it had plenty of gadgets to boast of, including joystick control, the Firebird II’s Autoguide autonomous technology, an early form of cruise control, and a keyless remote system.

After it debuted in August 1958, it remained on the show circuit until 1961 and then went on display at The Henry Ford, before eventually returning to GM’s Heritage Collection, where it remains today.

Wright, which two years ago sold a styling studio model of the Gyron for $40,000, has put a pre-auction estimate of $20,000 to $30,000 on the Firebird III model. It will cross the block at Wright’s Important Design auction in Chicago, scheduled for December 11. For more information, visit Wright20.com.