Produced in 1949 by the Jam Handy Organization for Chevrolet Motors, “Transportation Unlimited” shows Chevy trucks serving in various roles. The film proudly points to the American system of transportation as the best in the world, and shows how the components of the system — air, water, land — are all linked by trucks. In 1949 one in every three of these trucks was a Chevrolet. This film contains excellent footage of Chevrolet trucks from the mid-1930s to 1949, carrying out more than fifty specific tasks. Dozens of different models of Chevrolet trucks and buses are show doing everything from hauling huge logs from the forest to transporting children to school.

The phrase “Transportation Unlimited” was also used as the moniker for General Motors’s first post-World War II auto show, the precursor to its traveling Motorama exhibitions. The “Transportation Unlimited” event was staged first in New York City and again three months later in Detroit. Transportation Unlimited grew from interest within GM’s executive ranks to preview the company’s newest innovations to consumers in order to gauge public interest. The exhibition drew hundreds of thousands more visitors in Detroit and the total audience for both the New York and Detroit shows exceeded 600,000. The total cost for Transportation Unlimited was more than $1.6 million, a significant sum back in 1949.