Cars in the world's archives
1–48 of 1,291 films, free to watch, from the world's open archives.
Where these films come from, and who sees what
Every film here plays from the archive that keeps it: the Internet Archive, Wikimedia Commons, the NASA Image and Video Library, the Library of Congress and Open Images (the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision). Nothing is copied to this site. Each film's page names its archive, links to its page there, and states its licence or status as the archive does.
Archive films carry no age ratings, so each is placed from the collections it sits in and the subjects the archive gives it, cautiously. Nothing is left out for being sexual: sexual content and nudity are for adults, placed by what the archive files a film as, never by a word of its title alone (The Naked City is a police film). A film filed as pornography is listed for adults without its picture and plays nowhere yet, as the law where it would play asks for a proof of age this site does not have. A sexual depiction of a child, drawn ones too, is listed nowhere.
| Little Ones | Films for young children by name: nursery rhymes, lullabies, preschool. |
|---|---|
| Kids | Cartoons and animation, children's and family films, and educational films, unless they deal with war, propaganda, crime, horror or drugs, or carry racial caricature. |
| Tweens | Documentaries, science, nature and space, classic comedies, newsreels, commercials and lectures. |
| Teens | Everything else, including anything we cannot tell about; war, crime, horror and westerns go no lower. |
| Adult | Sexual content, pornography, nudity and nudism, striptease, sexual themes (such as the old "sex hygiene" films), gore, surgery, slaughter, beheadings, atrocity footage. |
Internet Archive
Achievement USA
General Motors celebrates production of 50 millionth automobile with a parade through Flint, Michigan.
Internet Archive
How to Go Places
Actress Gale Storm and family take a road trip in their Chevrolet and review the do's and don'ts of auto traveling.
Internet Archive
Automotive Service
Opportunities for employment servicing America's vast motor fleet.
Internet Archive
Design for Dreaming
Set at the 1956 General Motors Motorama, this is one of the key Populuxe films of the 1950s, showing futuristic dream cars and Frigidaire's "Kitchen of the…
Internet Archive
Ride for Cinderella, A
Cinderella relies on a Chevrolet to carry her home by midnight through obstacles and storms.
Internet Archive
American Look (Part I)
The definitive Populuxe film on 1950s automotive, industrial, interior and architectural design. (6383_American_Look_M04199_01_22_19_00)
Internet Archive
Touch of Magic, A
General Motors 1961 Motorama film presenting new cars, appliances and futuristic ideas at their most banal.
Internet Archive
Signal 30 (Part I)
Legendary "shock" driving safety film featuring numerous scenes of mutilated cars and injured/dead people and a voiceover lacking in compassion. Produced in…
Internet Archive
Around the Corner
How the automobile differential allows a vehicle to turn a corner while keeping the wheels from skidding.
Internet Archive
Great New Star, A
Dinah Shore promotes the new Chevrolets and sings "See the U.S.A. in your new Chevrolet."
Internet Archive
American Look (Part II)
The definitive Populuxe film on 1950s automotive, industrial, interior and architectural design.
Internet Archive
Stop Driving Us Crazy!
Rusty, a spy from Mars, pays a visit to Earth and discovers how its inhabitants disrespect one another by driving poorly. The film espouses a Christian…
Internet Archive
On the Run (Part I)
Well-behaved San Francisco teenagers compete in the Mobilgas "Safety Economy Run," driving their cars around the Bay Area under the supervision of experienced…
Internet Archive
American Look (Part III)
The definitive Populuxe film on 1950s automotive, industrial, interior and architectural design.
Internet Archive
On the Run (Part II)
Well-behaved San Francisco teenagers compete in the Mobilgas "Safety Economy Run," driving their cars around the Bay Area under the supervision of experienced…
Internet Archive
Road Runners
Outlaw hotrodders become law-abiding gearheads after a community organizes supervised racing clubs and timing associations.
Internet Archive
Master Hands (Part I)
Classic "capitalist realist" drama showing the manufacture of Chevrolets from foundry to finished vehicles. Though ostensibly a tribute to the "master hands"…
Internet Archive
DOUBLE FEATURE HELL 9 (Teen Terrors 2)
Those crazy kids are back. The 2am Theater management asserts no video editors were harmed in gluing together this double feature presentation. The…
Internet Archive
Down the Gasoline Trail
Cartoon showing what happens to a drop of gasoline from the time it flows into the gas tank to when it is exploded in the engine cylinder. This "fantastic…
Internet Archive
Ingenuity in Action (Part II)
Made for hot rod fans; explains how to prepare and enter a car show; also serves as an ethnographic account of the "nomadic tribe of hotrodders".
Internet Archive
American Harvest (Part I)
This institutional film was designed to promote Chevrolet's corporate citizenship rather than any specific model of automobile. While it forcefully…
Internet Archive
Give Yourself the Green Light
Advocacy film produced to garner public support for the creation of the Interstate Highway System.
Internet Archive
Coach for Cinderella, A
Imaginative cartoon that breaks down the parts and features of a Chevrolet automobile into units that can be understood in terms of plant and animal life:…
Internet Archive
Inside Story of Modern Gasoline, The
Combination animation/live-action film showing how gasoline is refined and used. With striking images of gas stations, auto travel, and automobiles.
Internet Archive
Signal 30 (Part II)
Legendary "shock" driving safety film featuring numerous scenes of mutilated cars and injured/dead people and a voiceover lacking in compassion. Produced in…
Internet Archive
Henry Ford's Mirror of America (Part I)
Compilation of images and sequences from the Ford Film Collection, with excellent footage of United States history, culture, industry and daily life between…
Internet Archive
From Dawn to Sunset (Part I)
This classic example of "capitalist realism" depicts a day in the life of Chevrolet workers in the U.S., while attempting to convince them that their own…
Internet Archive
Something for Nothing
Cartoonist Rube Goldberg creates a little animation to explain how fuel is converted to power in the modern automobile engine.
Internet Archive
Ingenuity in Action (Part I)
Made for hot rod fans; explains how to prepare and enter a car show; also serves as an ethnographic account of the "nomadic tribe of hotrodders".
Internet Archive
American Harvest (Part II)
This institutional film was designed to promote Chevrolet's corporate citizenship rather than any specific model of automobile. While it forcefully…
Internet Archive
Olds Minute Movies [Futuramic 1948]
Theater advertisements for the first all-new automobile to be placed on the market after World War II, the Oldsmobile Futuramic.
Internet Archive
Princess and the Pauper, The
Nicky Nome, a spinoff from "A Coach for Cinderella" and hero of this cartoon, rescues a treasure-laden pauper from the Valley of Jewels, taking him to the…
Internet Archive
American Engineer (Part I)
A 1956s promotional and recruiting film about American engineering. It opens with radio-telescope "sounds of the sun and the stars" and issues a repeated…
Internet Archive
All-American Soap Box Derby, The (1936)
Tribute to the American boy as inventor, engineer and sportsman. Shows contestants building their vehicles and the final competition at Derby Downs in Akron,…
Internet Archive
Chevrolet Leader News (Vol. 2, No. 3)
Promotional newsreels featuring a variety of Chevrolet-centric stories. Contents include: bathing girls dive from top of Chevrolet automobile; owner of 1913…
Internet Archive
Corvair in Action, The
Promotional film for the controversial Chevrolet Corvair.
Internet Archive
1955 Chevrolet Screen Ads
Ten short theatrical "screen ads" promoting the 1955 Chevrolet models.
Internet Archive
American Engineer (Part IV)
Tribute to engineers and their role in improving American life through technology.
Internet Archive
All-American Soap Box Derby (1936)
Official film of early Soap Box Derby competition in Akron, Ohio; tribute to ingenuity of the American Boy.
Internet Archive
Wonderful New World of Fords, A (1960 Ford Spot)
Ford commercial linking new compact cars to futurism and the space frontier.
Internet Archive
Master Hands (Part IV)
Classic "capitalist realist" drama showing the manufacture of Chevrolets from foundry to finished vehicles. Though ostensibly a tribute to the "master hands"…
Internet Archive
Sailing Along
Plymouth Division, Chrystler Corporation presents Sailing Along, produced by Wilding Picture Productions, Inc.
Internet Archive
Master Hands (Part II)
Classic "capitalist realist" drama showing the manufacture of Chevrolets from foundry to finished vehicles. Though ostensibly a tribute to the "master hands"…
Internet Archive
Free Air
Dramatic depiction of how gasoline and air mix to provide power in the automobile engine.
Internet Archive
From Dawn to Sunset (Part II)
This classic example of "capitalist realism" depicts a day in the life of Chevrolet workers in the U.S., while attempting to convince them that their own…
Internet Archive
Your Permit to Drive
Talking driver's license narrates this hymn to the beneficial effects of highways, cars, and driving.
Internet Archive
DOUBLE FEATURE HELL 10 (Teen Terrors 3)
Big trouble in Teen Town is exposed by this shocking 2am Theater double feature: The troubles begin with coming attractions followed by hot rods and medium…
Internet Archive
Live and Let Live
Set in a toy tabletop town, this film uses brightly colored model cars and trucks to demonstrate a range of driving safety scenarios. The number of…