On a cold and drizzly day in mid-March, a huge crane rumbled into the GMC Truck &
Coach Division display area at the New York World's Fair. It's mission was to erect
a new exhibit called the "GMC Tower of Power"
The exhibit would consist of a pyramid of four truck. Stacking up the top three would be
the job of the crane. Before the crane's arrival, the bottom truck, a GMC model DBWI7005
with flatbed trailer, had been rolled onto 18-inch reinforced concrete slabs and bolted down.
The preliminary work looked easy, but it didn't happen by chance. Every move in erecting
the "Tower of Power" had been pre-planned weeks in advance. When the unique exhibit
was conceived by GMC Truck's Advertising Department, Richard T. Jennings, ad
manager, assigned Lyle B. Gately to spearhead the project.
A veteran shows and exhibits manager, Gately left nothing to luck. Before sending the
trucks and their tie-downs to New York, he erected the Tower at GMC Truck's
headquarters in Pontiac Michigan. Any bugs that could crop up later were eliminated at
that time. The components were then shipped to New York. They went to the GMC Truck
exhibit site where the base for the display had been prepared.
After the bottom truck was rolled into place on the concrete base, the crane moved
alongside it. Slings were put under the frame of a GMC Model WA5029 and it was hoisted
onto the bottom truck's flatbed trailer.
The third truck, a GMC model LV4011, was raised and lowered onto the flatbed of the WA5029.
The final truck, a GMC Handi-Van cargo carrier with a large GMC Trucks sign mounted
atop, then became airborne. By now the stack was nearly three stories high, and
the Handi-Van looked like a toy truck as it dangled from the crane's 70 foot boom
before being lowered into place on top of the LV4011.
With all four trucks in position and bolted together, the exhibit became a reality. Visitors to
the GMC Truck & Coach Division display area behind the General Motors Futurama building seen
a unique exhibit, Truly a "Tower of Power" weighing 30 tons and towering high into the sky.
The exhibit was part of the 1965 New York World's Fair that opened on April 21, 1965.
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Last Updated January 1, 2006.
