More than 7,000 General Motors employees, retirees, and their families gathered at the company’s Milford Proving Ground site in southeastern Michigan Saturday to mark the 100th anniversary of the company’s flagship vehicle testing facility.
Rarely open to visitors, Milford covers 4,000 acres and features nearly 150 miles of roads for testing GM vehicles. Guests at the event were offered a self-guided tour of the facility, which includes a 2.9-mile racecourse, steep hills, both paved and dirt roads, and a 67-acre swath of blacktop known as Black Lake. As part of the celebration, GM also displayed hundreds of classic vehicles, including rare models like a 1910 REO Model R and a 1922 Cadillac Type 61 Victoria Coupe.
“The Milford Proving Ground is at the heart of GM’s long history of innovation that has revolutionized the auto industry, from safety technology to Super Cruise – it’s where vehicles get better, and it’s where I started my career as a summer intern working on V6 noise and vibration,” said Mark Reuss, president, General Motors. “Today, we celebrate 100 years of Milford and look forward to its next century of leadership in vehicle testing and development.”
As part of the event, GM created a temporary museum curated by the GM Heritage Center and the GM Proving Ground Retiree Club that included vehicles, artifacts, photos, and historic videos.
The collection included memorabilia from the five key periods in Milford’s history:
The Early Years, 1924-1940
Milford Proving Ground opened Sept. 25, 1924, under the leadership of GM President Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. The facility was developed to analyze vehicles under controlled conditions. New vehicle testing methods developed during this period included the evaluation of vehicle speed, handling, fuel economy, durability, brake effort, hill climb, and safety. New crash and rollover tests were developed to evaluate damage to vehicles and enhance passenger protection. Maurice Olley, a GM engineer who was an early pioneer in ride and handling technology, introduced the concept of formal suspension and chassis analysis by studying the human body’s response to vehicle inputs.
The War Years, 1941-1946
During the war years, Milford served as a vital part of the “Arsenal of Democracy” as it tested tanks and other vehicles for the U.S. military to ensure they could meet the demands of combat. In that period, the number of employees stationed at Milford jumped from 165 to more than 500 in the first half of 1942. During the war years, GM engineers evaluated more than 680 different military vehicles and drove them over 850,000 miles at Milford.
The Growth Years, 1946-1970
After the war, Milford expanded its territory, and many new roads were added. By 1954, 51 miles of test roads were available, carrying combined traffic of more than 10 million miles. In 1964, the 4.5-mile Circular Test Track and the Salt Splash Road were completed, followed by the Ice Surface Facility and the Vehicle Dynamics Test Area (the formal name for Black Lake) in 1968.
The Regulatory Years, 1971-2000
In the 1970s, new regulatory fuel emissions and economy standards were introduced. Milford engineers responded by developing catalytic converters and fuel injection system advancements and dramatically improving fuel economy. As safety standards continued to evolve, Milford pioneered the development of crash test dummies, airbags, child seats, and anti-lock brakes. Starting in the 1990s, the facility developed and tested alternative fuel vehicles, including the groundbreaking EV1 electric car.
The Road to Zero/Zero/Zero, 2001-Today
Milford has been instrumental in supporting GM’s goal of zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion through a variety of initiatives. GM’s current lineup features one of the industry’s broadest EV portfolios. MPG’s testing facilities have evolved with the development of autonomous vehicles. The Active Safety Test Area Facilities are where GM tests features like crash and pedestrian avoidance and lane keeping.
During World War II, Milford Proving Ground served as a vital part of the “Arsenal of Democracy” as it tested tanks and other vehicles for the U.S. military, ensuring they could meet the demands of combat.
SOURCE: General Motors
