See the World's Greatest GM Dream Car CollectionJoe Bortz CollectionJoe Bortz loves the great concept cars GM and other manufacturers made in the 1950s, and you will, too, if you get to the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, before the current display closes in March.Bortz is a collector specializing in Harley Earl-designed GM Motorama cars from the 1950s and 1960s, though his interests include more than just those. His collection recently spent two years on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, and is currently at the Gilmore, but he is also working on getting an East Coast display lined up.It was an Autoweek story that first dubbed Bortz an "automotive archeologist," a term he treasures as much as his cars. Now he wants the cars to stay in the public eye."Having now shown the collection on the West Coast at the Petersen and in the Midwest at the Gilmore, I think it would make sense for the next display to be on the East Coast," Bortz said. No specific location has been found yet.These cars were featured as part of GM's Marvelous Motorama Show in the 1950s."In a time of unprecedented prosperity in the United States, General Motors, the largest corporation in the world, created a traveling showcase for its varied products called the Motorama," the Petersen said when the cars were shown there. "From 1949 to 1961, the Motoramas flaunted not only automobiles but also auto parts, as well as non-automotive goods from GM subsidiaries such as appliance-maker Frigidaire. It was the cars, however, that attracted the crowds."Auto show archeology revealed.Joe Bortz CollectionFrom 1938 to 1955 GM built 38 "dream cars," and another 82 from 1956 to 1977, according to one of several books with the title, Dream Cars. Chrysler built 45 of them from 1941 to 1979. And Ford made 49 Dream Cars of its own from 1953 to 1979. Bortz has spent a good portion of his life tracking down and restoring those cars, starting with a junkyard in Michigan that had four of them."Bortz described his acquisition of the 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne, two 1955 LaSalle IIs, and the 1956 Eldorado Brougham Town Car as 'the biggest archeological discovery of significant postwar American cars ever made,'" as reported in Old Cars Weekly in 1989.The collection has grown, and now the Bortz Auto Collection has been featured at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance several times, most notably in 1990, 2008, and 2025. 1990 saw individual concepts from the collection at Pebble, such as the 1955 Chrysler Ghia Falcon. In 2008, a major gathering of at least eight GM dream cars and concept cars from Joe Bortz and the GM Heritage Collection was featured for the General Motors Centennial. And in 2025, the 1955 Chrysler Ghia Falcon from the Bortz Auto Collection returned to Pebble Beach for the Virgil Exner Idea Cars class, where Bortz was honored with the "Spirit of Virgil Exner" trophy.So get to Hickory Corners now, to see automotive history.1)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1953 Buick Wildcat at the Petersen in 2025.2)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1955 Buick LaSalle II Roadster's deep side scoops later influenced the design of the 1957 Corvette.3)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1955 Chrysler Ghia Falcon at Pebble Beach4)Photo credit: Joe Bortz CollectionThe 1953 Pontiac Parisienne was styled like a 1930s town car, with an open-front landau roof (or "cape top") over the front driving compartment, leaving the rear passenger area fully enclosed.5)Photo credit: Joe Bortz CollectionThe 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne was designed under Harley Earl and Chuck Jordan. It featured a pillarless four-door hardtop layout, rear suicide doors, and a wraparound "stratospheric" windshield.6)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1964 Pontiac Banshee XP-833 was a two-seat sports car created by John Z. DeLorean to challenge, or compliment, the Corvette. It weighed just 2,200 pounds.7)Photo credit: Joe Bortz CollectionThe Pontiac X-400 was an exclusive series of supercharged, custom experimental show cars built by General Motors and Pontiac between 1959 and 1964.8)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1955 Chrysler Ghia Falcon at Pebble Beach.9)Photo credit: Joe Bortz CollectionPontiac Bonneville Special was a concept car unveiled at the Motorama in 1954, the first two-seat sports car prototype the division had ever produced. It was conceived by Harley Earl.10)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1955 Buick LaSalle II Roadster featured a very low, lightweight body designed to rival small European sports cars.11)Photo credit: Joe Bortz Collection1953 Pontiac Parisienne.12)Photo credit: Joe Bortz CollectionMotorama cars at the Gilmore.