The purpose of this paper is to provide a clear picture of automobiles in the 1950?s and the impact the automobile had on American society. The 1950?s were a time of economic growth for America, where income exceeded car prices and vision was limited only by one?s imagination. This was a time when ?you are what you drive.? President Eisenhower and his administration were friendly to big business for the first time since Herbert Hoover. For example, new highways were built by Eisenhower administration in 1956. The automotive industry in general was determined to make up for lost time.
Immediately after the war, America began switching from coal to oil in a big way. In 1949 consumption was 5.8 million a year and went up to 16.4 million just before the oil crisis of 1973. These gas-guzzling giants had incredible horsepower. Cars, already too big for basic space needs and ease of parking, became bigger and lower slung so that the slightest bump could smash the oil pan, muffler, or gas tank. Gasoline was cheap and plentiful in the 1950?s, even if you were going across the country. The National Defense Highway Act of 1956 developed a 41,000-mile interstate highway system that encouraged travel. The country?s motels recorded $850 million in receipts in 1958. Not only motels, but also the steel, rubber, petroleum and construction industries all grew rich and dependent on cars. Add to this garages, automobile dealers, drive-ins, carhops, and tourism generally to see how the automobile industry had the world?s most powerful lobby. Cars brought status. The Cadillac was the highest status car, and to firm up its image it brought out the El Dorado Brougham. The least expensive Brougham cost 14,000 dollars complete with vanity case, perfume bottle, lipsticks, dashboard tissue dispenser, and four gold finished drinking cups: American baroque. Ads suggested that the mere ownership of a Cadillac provided instant entry into High Society.
The Homework on The Big Accident Pay Car Time
One nice day in the summer my friends, Yvette, Katie, and Kristi, and I were heading up to the Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys concert. Everything was going fine. We made it up there with no problem, found the Excel Center. When we were parked we decided that we wanted to park closer, so I backed out and all of a sudden we heard a bang and my car wouldn't start. We started freaking out, because we ...
?As automobiles became larger, fancier, and more expensive, commercials for them became louder, livelier, and employed more visual tricks. Ads, like the Ford one being filmed below, for instance, were less about cars than the dream of an auto-centered suburban life. Using such techniques to great effect, the Big Three automakers pushed new automobiles sales to 65 billion dollars in 1955 alone, a sum that represented 20 percent of the gross national product. Sex and power, the ads implied: the modern American dream.?
Television was turning out to be a magic machine for selling products. No company spent more money on advertising or advertised its products better than GM. General Motors Corporation is the largest producer of automobiles in the world. Safety and practicality were not what the auto industry catered to, style was. ?Safe cars appeal only to ?squares,? William Mitchell, GM?s styling director, told a Fortune reporter in 1956, ?and there ain?t any squares no more.? Brakes performed poorly in early cars. The drum brakes on all four wheels became standard in the 1920s. This was brake shoes that expand internally in a drum. When used repeatedly, these brakes ?fade? (when heat distorts the drums), leading to temporary loss of braking power. Discovered in the 1950s, the solution was to use disc brakes, in which brake pads press against a heat-conducting metal disc. Now, cars use drum brakes only on the rear wheels and disc brakes on the front or on all four wheels.
Most cars have used front wheel drive since the late 1950?s in Europe and the early 1970?s in the United States. The first tires were made from solid rubber, but they were superseded by pneumatic (air-filled) tires, which provided a more comfortable ride. A major advance in tires came with the introduction of radial-ply tires in the 1950?s. Their flexible sidewalls give better cornering and longer tread life. In the 1950s, Felix Wankel developed the rotary-combustion engine. Its two trilobate (three-sided) rotors revolve in housings shaped in a fat figure eight. The four sequences of the four-stroke cycle, which occur consecutively in a piston engine, occur simultaneously in a rotary engine, producing power in a continuous stream. Coachbuilt cars combined traditional craftsmanship with elements of mass production. Their bodies could be assembled by hand in large numbers by using standardized wooden components and mechanically pressed exterior metal panel work. By the end of the 1930?s, all steel bodies had become virtually universal, and, by the end of the 1950?s the economic advantages of mass-production meant that the craft of coachbuilding became limited to the restoration of vintage vehicles and the production of exclusive cars. The trim and upholstery of American cars became extravagant in the 1950?s. Auto manufacturers? imaginations went berserk. Soaring tail fins and enormous taillights became standard features. Cars, such as the Cadillac Eldorado, often had large amounts of chrome-plated metalwork and extravagantly upholstered interiors. Some even had gold-plated ?brightwork? (polished metalwork).
The Term Paper on Peugot 206 Electric Cars Ad Campaign Ad Strategy part 1
peugot 206 electric cars - ad campaign - ad strategy Prior to developing an advertising strategy, preparing a creative brief, and preparing a costed media schedule I would like to comment a little on the history of Peugeot so that the customers as well as readers become aware of what this company is about. Peugeot is one of the oldest companies involved in the automotive industry today. Having ...
Seats were made with foam filling that could be molded into the wanted shape, with hand-stitched leather hides with matching wood veneers to trim the dashboard and door cappings. In 1950, Jet 1 was the world?s first successful turbo car, with a rear-mounted 200bhp engine in a Rover 75 chassis. In 1952 it was timed at 151.965 mph. This was also the year tinted glass windows became available on Buick models in the USA. Ford of Dagenham first used the MacPherson strut, which was a combined coil-spring and damper. It was used on nearly every Ford Europe car thereafter. On May 26th, ?wartime? petrol rationing in Britain come to an end, but branded petrols did not appear again until 1953. In 1951, the Chinese Government produced their first private car prototype. The Chinese Government, at this time was under Mao Tse-tung. It was referred to as ?The People?s Car.? Modern-type power steering was offered on the Chrystler Imperial models in America.
The Essay on Cars 3
Life in the 1900's was depressing and was an era filled with extremely hard and strenous work that didn't offer any future for the average canadian in doing better. If you were an average wage earner you would be virtually stuck in the same job for the rest of your life, while rich maintained their wealth mainly caused by the low taxes. Living conditions were poor for average canadians and even ...
As mentioned earlier, disc brakes were developed. In 1952 disc brakes of Dunlop design were fitted to the Jaguar entries in the Mille Miglia, a great sports car race. Manufacture was licensed to Girling and Bendix. They were originally developed for the C-type racing Jaguar, but they were fitted as standard to the 1954 D-types and to the Austin-Healey 100S the same year. In 1956, Triumph sports cars had front discs, and the Jensen 541 got 4-wheel disc brakes that autumn. The Jaguar XK150 was provided with discs in the spring of 1957. In 1952 The Montagu Motor Museum was founded at Bealieu, Hampshire, based on the personal collection of vehicles owned by Lord Montagu. There was a library of motoring books, drawings and photographs to see. The year of 1953 was of importance in the car world for Americans. The first American sports car in the modern idiom was the Chevrolet Corvette. It is also the first series-production car with a fiberglass body. The Covenant System, preventing the immediate resale of new cars on the open market, finally ended. Although expensive cars had been freed earlier. The first tubeless tires to be marketed in Great Britain were manufactured by Dunlop.
In 1954, the Cadillac from USA became the first manufacturer to adopt power-assisted steering as standard throughout its range. The first petrol-engine private car with fuel injection as standard was the 3-liter, gull-wing-doored Mercedes-Benz 300SL from Germany. The first British diesel-engine private car was a version of the Standard Vanguard Phase II. The first production car with front-wheel disc brakes and self-leveling suspension was the Citoen DS of France in 1955. It was also the first with detachable body panels. In 1956 Renault?s Dauphine model was the first French car to sell over two million units. The Rover T3, turbo-engine, 4-wheel drive coupe, with a fiberglass body, was presented at the Earl?s Court Show. After 53 years as a motoring journalist in France, W.F. Bradley retired. He was The Autocar?s continental correspondent, and had been with them since 1919. Before that he was Paris correspondent of the rival publication The Motor. The size of car number plates in the USA, Canada, and Mexico was standardized at 12 inches by 6 inches in 1957. The first car fitted with air suspension was the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham model. The first cars with twin-paired headlamps (four head lamps) were the Lincoln and Cadillac models.
The Term Paper on Ford Motor Company 6
1.0 Introduction The Ford Motor Company finds itself in a dynamic business environment where new technologies and practices offer the potential to alter in a significant way the landscape in which it operates. Henry Ford was in his time an innovator in offering “cars for the masses”. He introduced to the car industry methods and systems innovative in their day. Ford needs once again to ...
The technical editor of the French L?Auto, Charles Faroux died. This ended 53 years? service with that publication, which is the longest any motoring journalist has worked for the same paper. The 1000cc Toyota Corona was launched in May of 1957. The year of 1958 was the year of the Ford Edsel, a V8 engine of 5.9 or 6.7 liters. The Lincoln-Mercury Division of Ford in Detroit launched it. Their appearance was quite strange with a wrap around windshield, prolific fins, lots of flashy chromium plating and a radiator reminiscent of a horse?s neckwear. Only 35,000 were sold in the first six months, and the Edsel was out of production by 1960. The car was named after Henry Ford?s son, Edsel, who had died in 1943. By the time it was officially launched, the U.S. auto industry was in a slump, with sales particularly affected in the Edsel?s market segment. It was also a victim of it?s own hype, with their predicted 200,000 sales in the first year. It fell so short of the claim that it was almost instantly dubbed a failure. Today the Edsel is an emblem, a comforting reassurance for the little man that mighty corporations can get it wrong. And, of course, its comparative failure marks it as a prized collector?s piece.
The world?s first production car with all fiberglass construction, chassis as well as body, was Colin Chapman?s Lotus Elite from Great Britain. The Elite was the first Lotus designed for road use rather than out and out racing. The first British saloon car with disc brakes all-round was the Daimler Majestic. Automatic transmission was the standard. Automobiles changed Americans? entire way of life. People no longer had to stay in the same town they grew up in. They could see different cities and towns with ease. Now people didn?t have to live in the city to work in the city. The new ease of travel gave rise to the development of suburbs. Teenagers found new freedom with automobiles. They were no longer forced to steal kisses on the front porch swing. They could get out of the house in dad?s ?Rebel? or ?Dragon.? A new youth culture was created around the car. Drive-in movies and diners became popular. At some drive-in diners orders were sent from the kitchen directly to the customers in their cars by a ?track? the trays would move along. During the fifties, kids started spending less time with family and more time with friends. For housewives, they were no longer tied to the house.
The Business plan on Strategic Plan Alignment: Ford Motor Company
... cars worldwide. Ford Corporation includes Ford North America, Ford South America, Ford Europe, Premier Automotive Group, Ford Asia Pacific and Africa/Mazda segments. Volvo, Mercury and Lincoln motors. ... domestic auto companies, GM and Chrysler. Fortunately, the current substitute products ... loss must stop today, last year Ford market share was 15.7%. ... one-third of our US car sales will be hybrids, and ...
In one short decade, her headquarters moved from the kitchen to the car. Those were the days in the fifties (and sixties), when ?sports cars radiate nostalgic messages. This Triumph TR2 sales brochure evokes laurel wreaths, checkered flags, and bravado-a glamorous, innocent world when men were men, cars were cars, and the girl in the passenger seat always wore a headscarf and pearls.? It is a true British car, born in the golden age of the British sports cars. But, it was aimed at the American market on the inexpensive sports car arena. Suburban families began purchasing their second or third car throughout the 1950?s. In 1950 the United States produced two-thirds of the world?s cars, and by 1955 it was producing three-quarters. The U.S. auto industry was on top of the world. Most of America?s cars came from Detroit?s ?Big Three,? which were General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. ?General Motors was the largest, richest corporation in the world and would, in the coming decade, become the first corporation in the history of mankind to gross a billion dollars.? Each year the profit expectations went higher and higher for sales. There was in all of this success for General Motors a certain arrogance of power. Cadillac secured the top position as America?s luxury car by 1949 with the introduction of the overhead valve 331-cubic inch V8 engine. The 331 would remain until 1956, although it would gain significantly more horsepower over the years. General Motors had a limited edition car to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Only 532 were produced of the Eldorado, at the hefty $7,750 price tag. This was the cream of the crop. By the following year the price was dropped to $5,738 and sales shot up. GM made many more cars during the 1950s.
The Business plan on Ford Motor Company 2
Ford motor company manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. The company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Under the leadership of CEO Alan Mulally, Ford Motor Company transformed their manufacturing operations to enable a complete turnaround of fortunes between 2008 and 2010. In 2010 ...
It was once said to Henry Ford, ?It will take a hundred years to tell whether you have helped us or hurt us, but you certainly didn?t leave us like you found us,? by a popular comedian, Will Rogers. Henry Ford made a difference in the world with his Model T, taking people places they could have never seen, and providing new opportunities. The assembly line was used for the Model T. In 1912 the assembly line revolutionized the manufacturing process. As the assembly line was perfected, the time required to assemble a car was reduced from 12 ? hours to 5 hours, then to 2 hours and 38 minutes. By January 1914, Highland Park was making a Model T every 93 minutes. As the output of cars went up, the company had to hire more and more workers. In 1914, Ford announced his plan to share the Ford Motor Company?s profits with workers, paying them five dollars for an eight-hour workday. It used to be a nine-hour workday. ?It?s a new economic era,? said one newspaper. Another called the revolutionary five dollars a day ?the most generous stroke of policy between a captain of industry and worker that the country has ever seen.? As the excitement of the five-hour workday died down, the Ford Motor Company started to take an interest in the home life of its workers.
Ford set up a Sociological Department that set up English classes at the Ford factory. Department members visited homes giving advice about health, money management, homemaking, shopping for food and clothes. They discouraged smoking, drinking and gambling, which Henry Ford disapproved of. In 1933, Ford successfully resisted efforts to unionize workers at Ford plants. Ford did the most for the American worker. He also did much more, like supporting the U.S. war effort by converting his plants to manufacture ambulances, helmets, airplane motors and other war materials. In 1951, the Chrysler Crown Imperial was the first car with power steering, along with the Mercedes 300SL. The Imperial was marketed as a separate line of cars by Chrysler. Chrysler was in the number two spot in automotive sales, behind GM for almost seven years, but in 1952 Ford became second in total sales. There is probably no better example of an automaker?s rise in fortunes in the 1950s than Chrysler. From plain to dramatic, Chrysler turned from the unremarkable years of 1949 to 1954 to produce the ?100 Million Dollar Look.? The Chrysler C-300, 1955, had some detail work, like the two-piece grill, chrome fins and full interior leather.
?The Volkswagen Beetle set new standards of cheap reliability, overtaking the Model T as the most popular car ever produced–more than 20 million were sold by the early 1980s.? It was small, round, and oddly reminiscent of the prewar cars, with its bulbous fenders and fastback-style rear end. ?It was powered by a puny 36- horsepower rear-mounted engine.? Imported from Germany, they began to become more and more popular by the late 1950s. Below is a picture of Stirling Moss in a Jaguar XK120C at Le Mans in 1951. This was the first time for the Jaguar to win this 24 hour race. The Grand Prix was another race. Rallies were also going on in the 1950s. There was the Swedish Rally, 1000 Lakes Rally, RAC Rally, Safari Rally, Acropolis Rally and many more. The 1950s was a remarkable decade. The outrageousness of these finned behemoths is an expression of everything that was best about the 1950s: the enthusiasm and optimism, the belief that anything was possible, even the awareness that an escape was needed from the dull conformity that was overtaking many other aspects of middle-class life. People?s automobiles in the 50?s said something about who they were. Throughout this paper many different automobiles have been mentioned, yet there are some left out, like the Crosley, and the Chevy. Hopefully this paper provided a better understanding of the automobiles of the 1950s.
Bibliography:
Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster, The Century, 1998, page 335 Douglas T. Miller and Marion Nowak, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were, 1977 Quentin Willson, David Selby, The Ultimate Classic Car Book, 1995 David Halberstam, The Fifties, Villard Books New York 1993 Rob Leicester Wagner, Fabulous Fins of the Fifties, 1997 Jacqueline L. Harris, Henry Ford, 1984 The Twentieth Eventful Century, The Way We Lived, The Reader?s Digest Association, Inc. 1999 The Twentieth Eventful Century, The Way We Lived, The Reader?s Digest Association, Inc. 1999 Rob Leicester Wagner, Fabulous Fins of the Fifties, 1997
