In 1956, Chevrolet produced this cinematic tribute to science and technology called American Engineer.  

Back in March of 2020 we ran a short excerpt from this film, and now, as promised, it’s time to show you the entire 28 minutes. Produced by Jam Handy for Chevrolet in 1956, the production is entitled American Engineer, and, long story short, it was designed to demonstrate how engineering shapes and improves the world around us. Despite  chairman Alfred P. Sloan’s surprisingly conservative views about innovation (“Never be first at anything,” he reportedly once said) General Motors was, as much as anything, an engineering company in those days, and its technical resources were second to none. And it was in 1956 that the corporation dedicated its world-class engineering campus, the General Motors Technical Center, in Warren, Michigan.

Beautifully filmed and narrated, American Engineer includes striking vignettes—a radio telescope, breathtaking examples of modern architecture and civil engineering—along with intriguing and amusing predictions of future technology. (At around the 12-minute mark, check out the “telephone TV.”)  There isn’t much here in the way of technical detail in automotive engineering; rather, American Engineer is more of a tribute to the industrial arts in creating the ultra-modern world of 1956. As we watch, we can’t quite get over the fact that 1956 is now more than 60 years ago. Video below.

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