Watch and learn how the automobile body evolved through the decades in this 1970s film from General Motors.

First, a minor point of clarification: While various sources list this General Motors film as a 1967 production, that can’t be correct. As you will surely notice, there are a number of newer GM vehicles pictured throughout, up to and including some 1977 models. We don’t know how this discrepancy occurred—could be as simple as a typo at one point that was then continually repeated. It’s a small matter, but we thought we should mention it.

Next, the presentation is remarkably dry, even for an industrial film. The tone is downright academic, as if the intended audience was a design school, perhaps. But that’s fine. After all, we are students of the automobile. The title, The Changing Architecture of the Automobile Body, pretty much states the mission: to demonstrate  how the automobile body has evolved over the decades in response to changing needs and tastes. How much ground can we cover in 19 minutes? Quite a bit, as it turns out. Video follows.