Here’s a classic General Motors marketing film telling the automaker’s product story for 1955.

A few months back we ran a General Motors factory film showcasing the automaker’s passenger car lineup for ’55 (Video: The General Motors Passenger Cars for 1955; June 13, 2020). Actually, the video was a much-shortened version of a GM production entitled Change for the Better, and now we’re circling back to the present the original film in its entirety. It’s a little long, true, but it offers some interesting thoughts on how the automobile dovetails, in all its endless ways, into the lives of ordinary Americans.

The story tracks the life cycle of a typical GM product—as told from the point of view of the car—as it proceeds through a succession of owners and ultimately ends up in a salvage yard. (The plotline reminded us a bit of the classic DIsney cartoon, Susie The Little Blue Coupe.) The old heap is finally scrapped out and melted down to become a brand new 1955 GM vehicle, and there’s when we meet the product line for ’55 in a Motorama-style stage show. GM had plenty of news that year, including the all-new Chevrolet and Pontiac, each with muscular V8 power, and a four-door version of the stylish Riviera, Buick’s stylish pillarless hardtop. At the finish, there’s a scene featuring the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, then under construction. Video below.