That Time Forgot: GM Ultralite
I kind of like this new life of mine, being able to pursue my own interests and stuff. However, I feel it is a disservice to keep this blog inactive, hence why I’ve decided to put this post up to show that this blog is not dead. Anyway, enough talk about this, and let’s talk about what you’re really here for: to talk about this car.
“100 mpg in the ‘90s? Impossible.” Is what many people will say... but they’ve definitely not seen this car before. Let’s talk about that.
This is the General Motors Ultralite, a car from 1992 that still looks futuristic... even today. Designed by Burt Rutan, Jim Lutz, Steve Small, Bill Rohlfing and Jim Bieck, the Ultralite was designed as a four-seat car that could comfortably carry all four passengers, have adequate performance and produce low emissions and astonishingly high miles per gallon.
First introduced at the 1992 Chicago Auto Show, the Ultralite was not just your normal concept car; it was actually fully functional. But then again, pretty much all of GM’s concept cars of that time were functional. This car featured a RR layout; or for those who don’t know, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive. A ten-minute promotional video was also produced.
The body of the Ultralite was made of carbon fiber and built by Scaled Composites; the entire body only weighed 420 pounds (191 kg)! With the body on, the car weighed about 1400 pounds (635 kg).
Performance of the Ultralite was expected to match or better that of GM’s quintessential compact sedan, the Chevrolet Lumina. As the body itself was so light, the Ultralite didn’t need too big a power plant to power it. The rear-engined car was powered by a 1.5L inline-3 two-stroke engine producing 111 horsepower, mated to a Saturn 4-speed automatic transmission; GM claimed top speeds of up to 135 mph (217 km/h). It also had a claimed 0-60 time of about 8 seconds, which, if you think about it, is pretty darned good for an engine of this size...
The Ultralite’s engine was placed in the rear in what was termed a “power pod” configuration, which was basically GM’s term for “removable engine”; this reminds me of the IAD Alien which had a very similar concept. This “power pod” had a number of advantages, including easier service and the added modularity of fitting different types of power plants.
The shape of the Ultralite was highly reminiscent of that of the older Ford Probe concepts designed by Ghia.
The interior looked somewhat futuristic and honestly quite nice, but the best part of the Ultralite’s appearance... were those doors.
Yep, that’s right; the Ultralite sported gullwing doors. It also... had no B-pillar.
Regardless, the Ultralite was probably one of the most futuristic cars ever conceived. Featuring fiber-optic headlamps and LED taillamps, the car also featured an airbag suspension on all four wheels, allowing it to ride high or low depending on what speed the car was going at. It also had an astonishingly low drag coefficient of 0.19, far lower than most cars of the time.
While the doors were (and still are) quite impressive, quite possibly one of the most impressive things about the Ultralite was its fuel economy. The car (being fully functional) was actually tested and rated by the EPA, clocking in a staggering 88 mpg; GM claimed the car could clock in 100 mpg if the car was driven at a sustained 50 mph (80 km/h) cruise.
GM did consider putting the Ultralite into production, although with a body made of carbon fiber it would have never been affordable. Additionally, with California’s zero-emission vehicle mandate looming, GM made a decision to scrap the Ultralite and produce the EV1 (above) instead. And we all know how that went...
However, not all was lost. Now, with the introduction of ever-tighter Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, carbon fiber has become almost mainstream and smaller and smaller engines have become the norm to meet these strict standards, something the Ultralite was able to achieve... twenty years before the competition.
A total of two Ultralites were produced. Normally, I believe they sit amongst a sea of other innovative cars at the GM Heritage Center, but one Ultralite currently sits proudly amongst a sea of iconic movie cars in the Hollywood Dream Machines: Vehicles of Science Fiction and Fantasy exhibition at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Oh, speaking of movies... we’ll get to that bit now.
Due to its unique and futuristic shape, the Ultralite has been used in various science fiction movie productions, usually representing a car of the future. It had a number of big breaks in a number of science fiction films, all of which will be detailed below.
The most notable of the Ultralite’s appearances was in 1993, when it appeared in the film Demolition Man, alongside some seventeen other GM concept vehicles. Representing a 2042 Chevrolet police vehicle, this Ultralite was driven throughout the film and played a highly prominent role.
Twenty fiberglass replicas of the Ultralite were produced, which were used throughout the film as either police cars or civilian cars, recognizable by whether they have the “siren dome” or not; civilian Ultralites usually played minor background roles. There exists a rather grainy picture showing three of these replicas. Whether the two actual carbon fiber Ultralites took part in the filming is unclear, although it seems unlikely.
The Ultralite was seen again in the old television series seaQuest DSV, albeit only very briefly, in the episode The Fear That Follows which aired in 1994.
The Ultralite was seen again in the 1999 film Bicentennial Man starring Robin Williams, although again very briefly. Sure, it’s a cool car that’s in the movie, but there’s probably other reasons as to why people don’t remember this film...
Finally, a police Ultralite appeared in the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence starring Haley Joel Osment. This was the last of its known appearances... well, according to IMCDb anyway.
It also appears that at least one of these fiberglass replicas was auctioned off by Warner Bros. around 2012, although with some generic police livery; as you can see, it looks pretty worse for wear...
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the reason why you’re here: the history of the casting.
This casting was introduced in 1993 in the Demolition Man series, alongside eight other cars that appeared in the movie: these were the Oldsmobile Aurora, Olds 442 W-30, GM Lean Machine, Corvette Stingray III, Pontiac Salsa, Pontiac Banshee, Buick Wildcat and the Chevrolet ACC Camaro (’93 Camaro), intended to represent the Chevrolet California IROC Camaro Concept. The designer of this casting is not known with any certainty, although I suspect it was done by Larry Wood. The Hot Wheels version of the Ultralite depicts the famous police Ultralite as seen in the movie, as evidenced by the siren dome up top.
Like all other Demolition Man castings, the Ultralite was packaged in a box containing a Cryo-Cube (essentially a Park’n Plates box with a picture of the real car instead of a license plate). The windshields and doors of this casting are molded into the body, and as such, are completely opaque; as a result, this car has no interior.
The rear replicates the rear of the real car somewhat well, although the wing up top seems a bit high and the rear “vent” seems a little bit too big as well compared to the real car.
A picture of the real Ultralite’s rear is shown above.
Early versions will say "‘93 WARNER” instead of “1993 MATTEL, INC”; I presume the license with Warner Bros. had expired, so they just scrubbed off the Warner licensing information and put their own on. Something else interesting to note is that this casting has a practically centered center of gravity; as it has a plastic base, this casting would be thought to be quite light, but it is in no way light. As the body is one huge hunk of metal (again, the windows are opaque), the Ultralite is supremely heavy, with all the weight concentrated around the center of the car. This theoretically makes the car better for downhill races, although I would seriously doubt the car’s ability to clear a loop.
The Ultralite enjoyed various releases in the Hot Wheels lineup, most of which having the SAPD-style police livery on it, whether it be with or without SAPD graphics.
This casting was also given the generic name “Police Car” for one of its releases.
Another release simply titled it “Police”, although I believe this is an international only release and doesn’t seem to be documented all that well. Both “Police Car” and “Police” would be used on future releases of the Holden Police Cruiser Hot Wheels released in 1996.
The Ultralite enjoyed the privilege of being released quite often when it was in the lineup, but ultimately this casting was doomed in 2001 for one reason, and one reason only: the Final Run Series. For three years, this casting had not been seen, and then it was thrown into the Final Run series.
The Final Run Series started in 1999 and acted as what I would consider a very glorified funeral for a casting; Hot Wheels would give these cars special tires and paint, in exchange for vowing to never produce them again by cutting their toolings in half. The Ultralite was unfortunately one of the castings to fall victim to the Final Run Series, and although it might not have been one of the more popular castings to retire that year, it was still retired regardless. As the second batch of cars to be Final Run, having been introduced in the 2001 series, the Ultralite will never be seen again in the Hot Wheels lineup unless a new tool and die is created for it, which I believe is highly unlikely. The Final Run Series itself has been on hiatus since 2006. In total, the Ultralite had seven releases.
Of note is that the image above has some interesting details. The Ultralite was released simply as the “Ultralite” in the Final Run series, but its full name is spelled out in the rear of these cards. “Garbage Truck” refers to the Recycling Truck, but it gets a pass since the casting was actually titled that for release. “Porsche 911” refers to the P-911 casting, but that gets a pass for the same reason. And finally, “Scullrider” refers to the Skullrider (or Grim Creeper) casting; this is simply a spelling error and the casting received the correct spelling on the actual production card.
Always on the receiving end of police-styled decals due to its fame in Demolition Man, the Ultralite will be dearly missed (by me, at least) in the Hot Wheels lineup, and I wouldn’t mind seeing a modern recreation of the Ultralite return to the Hot Wheels lineup as a premium piece.
I hope this post has given you a better idea on the history of this futuristic GM concept car, and the history of its small Hot Wheels counterpart. As usual, I’d write something like this any day.