FREE ESSAY ON AUTOMOBILE'S OF THE 50'S

AUTOMOBILE'S OF THE 50'S

Automobiles in the 1950's
By
Preface
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. 
"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). 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.

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 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. 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. 
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.
Endnotes
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