Excelsior Forever Upward! tells the life story of a WWII combat veteran and the love of his first car, a 1939 Ford Fordor. As a tribute to WWII combat veteran Gordon B. Lofquist and the crew he served with on a B-17 for the U.S. 8th Air Force, this special shows how Lofquist used his imagination to get himself through difficult missions during WWII when he thought he was going to die.