Cars of the 1970's: Is Bigger Better?

Cars of the 1970's: Is Bigger Better?

Ford's newly scaled-down Mustang II

The beginning of the 1970's saw huge changes in how Americans viewed cars. The EPA laws started to make the auto companies struggle on how to meet emissions requirements. Fuel economy dropped and reliability suffered with performance.

To cut costs manufacturers started using a low quality steel. Enter safety laws. In 1974 OPEC or Organization for Oil Exporting Countries who's members were Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and oil production was cut. 

Gas was hard to come by and expensive. At this time, Ford down-sized its Mustang with the Mustang II. General Motors said they would not because they felt the U.S. consumer would not buy them. Eventually all U.S. car makers started to produce smaller cars.

The 1970 Chevelle had scaled-down

 Other automakers tried innovations that worked but some didn't. Some import companies, like Fiat and MG left the market. This trend continued until 1985 when computer controlled cars with fuel injection became more available.

Fiat 124 Coupe

The four cylinder twin overhead engine on the Fiat 124 Coupe was designed by ex-Ferrari engineer Aurelio Lampredi. It sported a 5-speed gearbox, disc brakes, and a double wishbone front suspension. The U.S. model received mild carburation because of emissions constraints. It would set the pace for cars to come after it.

Resources:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/sports-cars4.htm

Cars in the 60's: A Time of Style

Cars in the 60's: A Time of Style

The muscle cars of the 1960's were the love child of World War II and Flower Power. Americans were looking for bigger and better and the muscle cars shone when Detroit was trying to stop the flood of imports led by Volkswagen, Fiat, Renault and Datsun.

It was the Golden Age of the automobile. The Ford Mustang, the Chevy Camaro and the Triumph Fury are all three dimensional examples of the mystique of the 1960s. They were all designed with great attention to detail and with great consideration of the mindset of changing times. 

The year of the stylist started in 1965 with the Ford Mustang. It was called the "pony car" with it's long hood and short deck and made all the other auto manufactures want to copy the look. The "Stang" premiered as a hardtop and convertible and was placed into the compact car category. With every new year, consumers saw an increase in engine power.

The 1964 auto models were designed with women in mind. If fact, one million women a year were buying these beauties. 

Around the middle of the decade front-wheel drive came back into production. There were also improvements made to electric cars at this time and Ford introduced a sodium-sulfur battery that was 15 times lighter than the average battery.

The 1967 Chevy Camaro was based on the Nova. The design had a unibody from the windshield and firewall back and had a separate steel rail subframe for everythin in the front.. It had independent front suspension and the rear axle was suspended by semi-elliptical springs. Typical of the times, the breaks were four drums and the steering was slow but the 140 horsepower shone through. It was $2,466 at the time.

Stylist and designer Giovanni Michelotti came up with the Fury as an intermediate between the Spitfire and the TRs with its steel body and 2-liter, six-cylinder engine. Sadly, it never made it to production.

The two-door convertible was the first monocoque sports car made by Triumph. It's parts included a 6-cylinder engine with a V8 intended. It lost out to the TR5 because of reluctance to invest in new production line and the tooling facilities needed to manufacture the Fury. 

Resources:
http://www.retrowaste.com/1960s/cars-in-the-1960s/

Cars of the 1950's Burned Rubber!!

Cars of the 1950s Burned Rubber!!


"Burn Rubber" is a 50's slang term that was used to talk about hitting the acelerator on a car hard and fast and was directed at "hot rodders" who used to like to race their dream cars." Let's burn rubber and show them what we can do!" 


Picture this: a typical Saturday night in the 1950's. It is Anytown, U.S.A. and teenagers are working on the final tune-ups to their hot rods which will tip the scales and lead their cars to victory over the finish line at the heads-up racing match that begins at sunrise. 

Imagine a row of headlights lined-up on a dirt road waiting for the a sock-hopper's neck scarf to drop, signaling the start of the adrenaline rush and a break-speed race down the dusty road that leads to glory.


In another part of town, the older kids are "drive-in hopping." They are checking out the burger joints that you would drive up to, place your order into the speaker and then a car hop on roller skates glides over to your car,  pops the tray on your window and "bon appetite!" 

In the early 1950's the auto industry came up with a novel idea: the sports car. By the end of the decade, Americans were completely hooked on cars like the Chevrolet Corvette. The auto industry in the U.S. broke the all-time production record with 7,987,000 cars rolling off the assembly line.  The government, however, re-imposed Regulation W which limited car purchases during and after World War II. 

New "small" cars were introduced during 1950 to meet the demand of a second car for middle-class families and also to appeal to the used car market. 

The hard top convertible was the star of the 1951 model year, which was an extension of the previous year's design. 

In 1952, the Steelworkers strike in June and July halted car production.  Defense production continued and a profits from civilian car production continued to grow. Many of the top automotive corporations placed 60% of their output on defense, making aircraft and parts, tanks, cannons, shells and other military goods. The copper and steel shortage was the worst problem the industry dealt with.

By 1953, air conditioners and power steering were introduced and research and engineering teams were working on making the following year's cars less expensive and safer.  Prices and taxes on new car production rose and the price for a new auto was about $2,000 with $650 of that going to taxes.

Packard and Buick Motor Division both attempted to mass-produce the sports car and they exhibited their cars to the public to test reaction and extend the market.

Chevy introduced a concept sports car that was successful.  It was called the Corvette.

Notwithstanding all the shortages and restrictions, the industry had one of its best fiscal years. The government relaxed controls on steel, copper and aluminum. The only slow down was the fire at GM's Hydramatic plant in Livonia, MI.  The materials shortages inspired companies to come up with a new magnesium and plastic-fiberglass auto body.

Prices changed little in 1954 but new changes were made. Wire racing wheels became popular in larger cars. The wrap-around back window was added to more models and a front windshield of the same style was added on the 1954 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Starfire, named after the Lockheed F9413 Starfire Fighter Jet, bringing back the nostalgia for the war.

The  population boom brought about the growing need for the continuing of the station wagon.  It had been available for 30 years but production had never been more that 1% before WWII.  The new models were built with strong steel bodies and a no frills approach. Cars were getting safer and less expensive and most had power steering and automatic shift. GM introduced the "Autotronic-Eye" which dimmed high beams when another car approached and turn them back on after it stopped.

By 1958 many design changes were taking place and at this time, more cars were imported than exported. The auto industry was aiming for the end of the one-car family and was dreaming of different cars for different uses: family trips, commuting to work, etc.  In keeping with this idea, Ford introduced a full line of luxury Continentals and kept up production of the mid-priced Edsel.  The 1958 Oldsmobile sported a new-designed body.

Resources:
http://coolestwords.com/content/top-15-slang-words-50%E2%80%99s#sthash.Pl7gK2mN.dpuf
auto.howstuffworks.com/hot-rod3.htm
http://www.retrowaste.com/1950s/cars-in-the-1950s/

The U.S. Dominates the Car Industry 1940-1950

The Auto Industry during WWII and After

The auto-industry turned it's attention to Europe in 1942. All domestic auto production in America ground to a halt with efforts focused on arming the 11% of American soldiers, as well as Allied forces with massive amounts of military equipment produced by men and women on the home front.

P-38 Bomber-inspired lines

General Motor's designer Harley Earl, top in his field in his day, changed the face of Cadillac when he drew inspiration from his tour of Lockheed's hanger and the fighter jet, the P-39 he saw while there. The jet's twin engines, booms and tails gave Earl the idea to incorporate this look into the Cadillac and perhaps draw the American public to buy into the glamour surrounding fighter pilots. The P-38 remained one of the only U.S. made military aircraft to stay in production throughout the war.

Earl's design stayed popular into the early 50's when the "Dagmar" twin spinners evolved into the huge, sweeping tail fins that became icons of the era.

Bomber-inspired designs



From 1942 to 1945, the United States auto industry produced about 20% of the total U.S. war material output used to fight World War II. That accounts for a whopping $29 billion!

With all that effort going into the war, civilian stock of autos was seriously going down. Nearly half of the 25 million registered vehicles driving on American roads were over ten years old.

In 1942 the Volkswagen Bug appears on the market for the first time. But in 1944, under threat of Allied bombing, the German car company halts production.

In fact, by February 1942 all of the major America auto makers were shut down and all existing stock of automobiles were managed by the government for the war effort, rationed out for civil and military use. No new automobiles were produced in 1943 or 1944 but about 800 were assembled during those years from existing parts. During this freeze, automakers became exclusively defense contractors.

The war department o.k.ed the production of some light and heavy cars for staff from Chevy, Ford, Plymouth, and Packard and Buick respectively.

In an interesting bit of local lore, the Willow Run Plant in Ypsilanti, MI Ford churned out parts for the B-24 Liberator long-range bomber every 6.3 seconds. Each bomber had 1, 555,000 parts in all!!

The Chrysler company made fuse bomb noses, shells, cartridge cases, tanks, anti-aircraft guns,  Ford build aircraft for the British government and General Motors built over $12 billion dollars worth of war materials.

Auto production resumed in 1945, business as usual, and the models were built for the 1946 year. Most of the designs were just repeats of 1942 designs with GM's first real post war designs not coming out until 1949.

Cars and the Great Depression

Cars and the Great Depression

During the Great Depression when people could barely afford to put bread on the table, the auto industry was churning out luxury cars with innovative features. Electric wipers and front-wheel drive were just some of these features that were ahead of their time. Most of these cars sold for a mere $4,000-$5,000 which was much more than most people could afford at this time.

In the early 1930s car manufacturers added features to increase the comfort and safety of their products. Foot boards made alighting onto the vehicle much easier and cars had sunshades added to windshields as well as rear lights. Security glass was added to windshields and wipers were added as well.

The most obvious change to cars in the 1930s was the design. Gone was the steel box look of the Model T and replacing it was a more artistic variation. Flowing lines and sweeping fenders changed the way we look at cars.

Most of the new designs of the 1930s did not spring from the Big 3: Chrysler, Ford or GM. The smaller car designers poured their resources into new designs and style and, subsequently, suffered greatly from the depressed economy.  The Big 3 borrowed from their ideas and because of shear size, survived the depression.

General Motors introduced the idea of the face-lift for cars during the 1930s. Prior to this idea you could design your own car, adding different features along the way. Now a car was designed as a whole instead of piecing parts collectively.  

Cadillac would not have survived the Great Depression had it not been for General Motors. Large, expensive motor cars were seen as an extravagant display of wealth and no one wanted to take that kind of risk in the economic environment. Cadillac released the luxury V16 sedan called the Sixteen in 1930.

With glamorous new lines, the car became a symbol of hope for the future during the 1930s. Aerodynamics and streamlining had the added benefit of aiding in fuel costs.

Chrysler was the first in the auto industry to use aerodynamics and streamlining in their designs. The first model, the Airflow, was produced in 1934 and was the first of its kind in the world.

Ford Motor Company won a legal battle which would benefit all American auto producers. George B. Selden,  held a patent on a "road engine" giving him royalties paid by all American car companies. Ford overturned the patent and opened the road to the American auto industry.

Ford went on to improve the industry when, in 1934, he introduced the one piece V-8 engine allowing Ford's cars to outperform all competitors at that time. 

Source:

http://www.anythingaboutcars.com/1930scars.html